Tibetan musician embarks on march from Bern to IOC headquarters protesting “genocide games”
DHARAMSALA, 28 Jan: Calling the soon to be held 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a “Genocide Olympics,” Tibetan musician Loten Namling embarks on ski boots walk from Bern to Lausanne to call on the Swiss government to announce the diplomatic c boycott of the games while urging the Swiss athletes to boycott the games.
Protesting against the games, Swiss-based Tibetan musician Loten Namling has said that he wants to draw the attention of athletes in Switzerland to the oppression of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Southern Mongolian and Hong Kongers by the Chinese government as he began his walk from Bern, the capital city of Switzerland to Lausanne, home to the International Olympic Committee headquarters with skis and ski boots and a Chinese flag trailing behind him on Wednesday.
The ski boots, representing Winter Olympics is my way of appealing to the sportsmen and women of Switzerland to kindly think of the suffering that the mountainous people of Tibet and others are experiencing under the oppressive Chinese regime and to do the right thing in boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics,” he has said.
Owing to the Chinese Communist regime’s violation of human rights and rule of law, Namling has said that “Several influential countries such as the United States, Australia, United Kingdom and Canada have announced a diplomatic boycott of the competition to protest Beijing’s ongoing abuses.”
He further hopes that the Swiss government too will also announce a diplomatic boycott of the games while urging the Swiss athletes to boycott the games by stating that “for people of Tibet, Eastern Turkestan, Southern Mongolia and Hong Kong, who consider Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as ‘Genocide Olympics’ the realisation of a complete boycott of the games would be the best result.
To the athletes, he said, “I know for many Olympians this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity but by siding with the oppressed people of the world you will be on the right side of history and will be showing the human side of the people of Switzerland.”
“Now is the time to stop China and I humbly urge the athletes in Switzerland to take the lead in boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics”.
“China will use the games to ‘sports wash’ its dismissal record on human rights abuses, including genocide,” he adds.
Today marks the third day since he began his protest march. The Tibetan musician was delighted that renowned Swiss poet, performer and Writer Jurg Halter came to see him off as he launched his 26 Jan to Feb 3 protest march.
“Thank you so much Juerg Halter for coming to see me off. It meant a lot for me and for Tibet!” he said.
On Thursday, he said he “met so many wonderful people on the way. More and more people I meet on the way, more I am convinced that common swiss people think it’s not good for the Swiss Athletes to participate in Beijing Olympic 22.”
The Tibetan musician will conclude his protest march on 3 Feb, a day ahead of the games before the headquarter of the IOC.
The Games are scheduled to be held over 4 -20 Feb, but calls to boycott it continue to get steam over China’s crimes against humanity and genocide.
So far, the US, the UK, Lithuanian, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Kosovo and Taiwan have all announced the diplomatic boycott of the winter games.
Besides, the Olympic and Paralympic Committee of countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Dutch and Australia have all reportedly issued similar advice to their “athletes, coaches and staff to refrain from using their personal electronic devices while in China due to surveillance concerns, and use ‘burner’ phones rather than their cellphones.”
