San Fran Divided over Olympic Torch

When it comes to the Olympic Torch, San Francisco is a city divided against itself.

A city official, known as a 'supervisor', successfully carried a resolution yesterday that called on Mayor Gavin Newsom to accept the Olympic Torch with 'alarm and protest.'

The report, in the San Fran Chronicle, quotes Supervisor Chris Daly as saying, 'The eyes of the world will be on San Francisco, and, let's be honest, if there is not alarm and there is not protest in San Francisco when the torch arrives here, that too would be news, and that would be San Francisco complicit in the human rights violations that are happening in China and around the world.'

His resolution before the Board of Supervisors also called for an international investigation into China's treatment of Tibetan dissenters and was passed by a vote of 8-3.

The television channel NBC11 showed a round of cheers erupting from protesters as the result was announced in the Civic Center.

However, a spokesman for Mayor Newsom was afterwards quoted as saying, 'It is highly unlikely the mayor is going to let Chris Daly put words in his mouth.' He also said that the mayor had discussed the situation with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and the Dalai Lama.

In other words, it is a short term political victory but will not carry through to Wednesday's event.

Mayor Newsom who regardless of his views on human rights is also the figurehead of the only North American city to have the Torch, was seen on televison and quoted in the Chronicle pleading with protesters to not disrupt the Torch procession but to remember that the Olympics are about athletics and not politics.

'Don't protest the torch bearers,' he said. 'Please separate your condemnation from the person who's running or in a wheelchair carrying the torch.'

The Chronicle also reported on a letter from the Chinese American Association of Commerce signed by 105 city-based Chinese organizations.

The letter called on officials to 'prevent the city from being kidnapped by a few political extremists who want to make use of the Olympic Games to advance their own political gain.'

The Chinese Consulate, too, opposed any official city protest.

Olympic Torch Route

The Olympic Torch route was revealed yesterday to the delight of protesters who have been pressurising for details.

The opening ceremony of the Torch will be alongside the baseball park, home of the San Francisco Giants south of the city. It will then be carried along the Bay front, past the Embarcadero, up to Fisherman's Wharf and just beyond where it will loop around before returning to the waterside.

Bearers will carry it back to the Embarcadero where it will be received by Mayor Gavin Newsom in the Justin Herman plaza opposite the ferry building

It is a route of six miles estimated to take about one-and-a-half hours, details of which were released by the mayor yesterday afternoon. He had delayed publicising the Torch route because of protests.

About 10,000 protesters are expected and protesters are planning their protest points and strategies.

By early this morning NBC11 were broadcasting an interview with a senior city police officer who said with confidence that the police would be able to handle the situation on Wednesday.
The SFPD were well experienced at managing big events, he said.

This evening NBC11 interviewed the city's police chief who said that police leave on the day of the Torch run was cancelled and extra officers would be on duty.

It sounds as if everyone is getting nervous.

Spanish Civil War

There was a piece of living history in San Fran on Sunday when a war memorial was dedicated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

It is the first memorial of its kind in America even though the war was between 1936 - 1939 and was before the Second World War.

A member of the Brigade association said there are now only 39 veterans alive, five or six of whom live in the Bay Area. It was fitting that the memorial was in San Fran given the leftist politics of the city, he added with a wry smile, referring to the republican versus nationalist cause of the war.

The monument is composed of panels that show scenes from the war and faces of soldiers. It is at the Justin Herman plaza opposite the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero.

Pictured are two of the guest veterans, both in their nineties, beneath the memorial. They beamed with pride as they sat in the sun during the afternoon after the ceremony with the public milling around taking photographs.

Greek Independence Day Parade

The Greek Independence Day Parade wound a colourful way through the streets of San Francisco on Saturday. It marked the 187th anniversary of the freedom of the Greeks from Turkish Ottoman rule and celebrated the rich Grecian culture.

The parade showcased dancers in traditional costume, the Olympic Games, the Greek Orthodox Church, Hellenic schools and youth groups from the Bay Area and Hellenic and Cretan associations.

In honour of the forthcoming Olympic Games in China, there was special inclusion of an enchanting children’s troupe of ribbon and fan dancers from the city and an Olympic float that had made its debut in the Chinese New Year parade.

Firefighters were there in one of their engines, Naval officers, a vintage fire engine was playfully driven around, and the Consul General of Greece and other civic dignitaries rode in vintage and open-top cars

‘It is very important to demonstrate our culture for the San Franciscan community who are very much polyethnic and to remind our children of the customs and culture,’ said one of the organizers.

The parade ended at the Civic Centre where Greek, Cretan and fan dances were performed in front of a stage that had been set up. However, crowd numbers were low with just a few hundred people and Metropolitan Gerasimos, leader of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, challenged the Greek community.

‘I know that we can do much better,’ he said, adding, ‘We as Orthodox Greeks and Hellenes will need to become much more aware of our faith and our culture.’

A benefactor of the parade whose family tree links him with the original 1821 uprising against the Turks, was presented with a copy of a letter written by his ancestor.

In the letter were the words ‘What good is life without freedom…God gave us minds, hands and wisdom…God is with us…we either liberate ourselves or we all die.’

Receiving the letter was George Marcus, one of the Regents of the University of California, who thanked people for his gift and said that those words could ring true for other courageous uprisings including the American Revolution.

A Greek American lady in the crowd said that what she liked of the day was ‘seeing different Greek customs, seeing them dance, seeing different organizations. It is good to support our culture,’ she said. She explained that Greeks arriving in the Bay Area had set up associations that reflected their original counties in Greece.

The parade was inaugurated in San Francisco in the 1950s and but for a pause in the 1970s is an annual event.


Click for pics. Click to enlarge.

Olympic Torch City Protest Request

City officials are expected to announce tomorrow if they will agree to a request that the Olympic Torch is publicly received at the April ceremony with 'alarm and protest.'

A city Supervisor put forward the resolution at a City Hall committee meeting last week. He has been supported by the dean of the city's main church, Grace Cathedral, who was reported in the San Fran Chronicle as giving it his 'unreserved and enthusiastic support.'

'This is a tremendous opportunity and we should not underestimate symbolic acts,' Dean Alan Jones said, adding that, 'with the recent events in Tibet and China, surely the time has come for the wider global community to stand in more visible solidarity with the people of Tibet and China ... who seek freedom by nonviolent means.'

Bay Area Tibetans gave evidence at the committee meeting of abuses by the Chinese government.

'This struggle is not against the Chinese people, it is against a Beijing regime that is very brutal,' Ngodup Tsering, president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California is quoted as saying.

Some people at the meeting spoke in defense of China.

Olympic Torch Protests

The hot news in San Fran this week is about the Olympic Torch and protests against the Chinese government for human rights abuses especially against the Tibetans.

With San Fran being an Olympic showcase for North America on April 9, protesters are amassing. Outside the Civic Hall today are Tibetans and others supporting the Free Tibet campaign. On NBC 11's evening news broadcast tonight one of the protest leaders said that their computers have been infected with viruses. They suspect the Chinese government but NBC 11 were not able to draw any comment from the FBI.

Protests are also going to be against China's support for the government of Sudan against the people of Dafur and, according to the San Fran Chronicle, perhaps even on behalf of the Burmese monks.

Darfur Coalition spokeswoman, Martina Knee, is quoted as saying they expect to have at least 1,000 protesters on the streets from all over the country. They have also bought signs on 80 Muni buses: 'Tell China to stop sponsoring genocide in Darfur.'

The Chronicle reports, too, that China has requested the eight-mile route be shortened to six miles. Controversy has raged over the route. Mayor Gavin Newsom has confirmed that the protests will be allowed but has only today released some details of the route.

The starting point is at McCovey Cove, an area of the Bay waterfront south of the city that is near the baseball park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The finishing point will be further north along the Bay at the Justin Herman Plaza opposite the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero.

Exactly which streets the route will take is still unknown. Mayor Newsom is reported in another Chronicle article as saying that details are being held back because of worries about possible attempts to stop or disrupt the procession.

'But no one will be denied the ability to protest all along the parade route if, indeed, they find that it is a great idea because they want to disrupt what should be a unifying event and try to make it more divisive,' he said.

Chinatown Will Not See Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch is on it's way to San Fran giving the city the honour of being the only North American city to host the legendary flame. But it is unlikely to go through Chinatown Mayor Gavin Newsom was reported to have said in the San Fran Chronicle.

This, he said, is due to the narrow streets and congestion and nothing to do with the prevailing political unease against China. Or the arson attack on the Chinese Consulate last week or the request that during the ceremony a city official publicly records a protest at China's human rights record.

Certainly Chinatown's streets are smaller and the pavements are a crush of people and stalls. And when the flame came to San Fran in 2004 it did not go through Chinatown.

But how do the Chinese community feel about this as the Games are in their homeland?

I wandered through and spoke to traders and shoppers. Their responses surprised me especially as this is the oldest Chinatown outside of Asia. Call me naive but I am new to San Fran and have not browsed in Chinatowns around the world.

I had great difficulty in getting my question understood. My first encounter set the scene for what was to follow. Two older, smartly dressed ladies who had been chatting on the pavement struggled to interpret my words. Finally, between them they smiled encouragingly at me:

'I've no idea at all.... you go ask the police!'

After that other people gave me blank looks and stares, the occasional shake of the head mixed in with such phrases as 'No speak English,' 'I speak Chin-eesey,' 'I'm sorry, no English.'

In one shop a customer joined in with staff to try to help. As we stood there, fat white dumplings steaming behind the counter, the three women made an effort but gave up with apologetic glances. Even a girl handing out leaflets for a new Chinese health centre wasn't able to converse in English.

Some said blankly, 'I don't know about it.' One said, 'I don't care,' while another lady's offering was that the previous procession had been in another street. Did she mind? She didn't seem to know. All of which conversations were conducted with linguistic difficulties and gesticulations.

Finally, I met a friendly couple in a healthfood store who easily understood my question. What do the people of Chinatown think about not having the Olympic Torch in their streets?

'Some people would like it but some don't know about it,' said the woman. The man smiled broadly. 'I would like to stand outside the door and see it!' he said.

Did I ask anyone in Chinatown what they thought of Tibet? There was no point. They wouldn't have spoken in Chinese either!

The Olympic Torch processes through the streets on Wednesday, 9 April.