Richard Gere Wants You To Boycott 2008 Beijing Olympics

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by Michael Parrish DuDell March 17, 2008
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gere1.jpgActor/vegetarian/long time Tibet activist Richard Gere is urging the world to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics in response to China’s brutal attack on the recent Himalayan protest.

Gere, chairman of the International Campaign For Tibet was disgusted with the violent treatment of demonstrators who were protesting against Chinese rule in Tibet on Friday. So far it’s been reported that at least 10 people have been killed and numerous others badly injured.

Richard says, “In this situation if the Chinese do not act in the proper way, change their ways, acknowledge what is going on, allow free access to communication, then I think that absolutely we have to boycott. It would be unconscionable if we continued as if things are hunky dory and everyone’s happy. It’s impossible. Tibetans have been much marginalised in recent years, much more than before. And that’s why you see this pressure cooker effect in Tibet where religion has essentially been outlawed, where pictures of the Dalai Lama, who is essentially their Jesus Christ, are not allowed.”

What do you think Ecorazzi readers? Is Gere spot on or is he taking this too far? Click on the comment button below and tell us what you think!

  • http://curiositykilledthe.com/ Brookie

    China has been pissing me off with how they handle the Tibetan protesters and how they “clean up” their cat overpopulation issues. Down with the Olympics!

  • tara

    Richard Gere is absolutely right in his statement. He is a man of concious. No one can turn a blind eye to the bloodshed in Tibet for protesting silently by the unarmed monks for a genuiane cause.

    As its been too long since the illegal invasion of Tibet by the Chinese in 1959. The Tibetans have suffered immeasurably, being dislocated and separated from their loved ones and on top of that their belongings were snatched at gunpoint and many thousands were killed and torutred tilldate.

    Most Tibetans have lived in FEAR in their so called country, not being allowed to keep even HH the Dalai Lama’s photo, leave alone practice their religion or have any sort of freedom to do anything. Even their mails are opened by the chinese. Kids are not allowed to learn Tibetan etc witch is inhuman. So, they have failed in keeping up with their human records, which according to them was suppose to improve and set right before the OLYMPICS. But its far from over. And its very touching to learn of the unarmed Tibetans in the hands of brutal Chinese.

  • Ellie

    I agree- I don’t think that China should ever have been awarded the Olympic bid- now that they have it should serve as another way to pressure them on their constant human rights abuses. FREE TIBET!

  • Stephanie

    Not only have they killed humans, but China is also killing dogs and cats for both human consumption and their fur. They have now taken the cats and dogs out of the city of Bejing so the world will not see their barbarinism, cruelty and shame. Also, they are holding captive in cramped cages, the”Moon Bear” that they place unsanitary catherders in their stomach to drain the bile, they think it some kind of Chinese crap. Please google both these topics and you would digusted, sickened and heartbroken of the pictures on these sites.

  • http://www.uniquebizcard.com david jowett

    hello i have been following the protests in Tibet and as i have lived here for some 7 years in china i am at ore as to the sweeping under the carpet sort of speak. I am shocked as there was 21 people killed that day and the army rounded up 99 locals and were all shot. No court hearing just to keep it all quiet from the rest of the world, thats how they work and i hope and pray that anyone who is thinking about the 2008 Games. I feel that to Boycott is a wise thing to do, Richard Gere my hats off to you

  • Gere

    Open your eyes, there are way more Han chinese being killed by the terrist tibetan in this riot.

  • Flamingo

    China has no right to have the Olympic Games.

  • hysteria

    In connection with Tibet.

    Tibet is Chinese since the fourteenth century. Lhassa was under Chinese authority and then under Manchu authority long before Besancon or Dôle were under the authority of the french kings.. To speak “about the invasion” of 1959 to qualify an event inside the Chinese revolution is totally aberrant.Do we say that France “invaded” the Vendée when the armies of our Republic entered there to fight the royalist insurrectionists. The Dalaï LAMA and the other tibetans lords accepted all what communist China proposed to them and what China offered, such as for example the post of vice president of the popular assembly that “its holiness” the Dalai Lama occupied without balking. That until 1956 when the communist regime decided to abolish serfdom in Tibet and the areas bordering it. In a negation of thetibetan traditions, which I entirely approve, the Communists suppressed the codes which classified the population in three categories and nine classes in which the price of the life was specified, classes which gave the owners of serfs and slaves the right of life, of death and of tortures on them. One does not evoke the satut of women under the traditional tibetan way of life. But it is possible to get that information for those who have a well hung heart. The communist authority put an end to the violent fights between local tibetans chiefs as to the various bloody punishments that the monks inflicted with those which contravened the religious rules of which they were the guards. The tibetan version of Charria ended with the Communists. The revolt of 1959 was prepared, armed, maintained and financed by the USA within the framework of the cold war. Veiled are the charming traditions of the Dalaï LAMA before the Communists and the horrible ” invasion” which put an end to it. Since, the schooling of the children of Tibet reaches 81% .It was only 2% at the blessed times of the old traditions. The life expectancy in the contemporary “Chinese hell” prolongs the life of the tibetan slaves from 35, 5 to 67 years. The “destruction of the Tibetans” shows clearly by the doubling of the tibetan population 1959… from one of a million to two million and half. For all that, the situation deserves better, more circumspection, more respect for the Chinese than the ridiculous stereotypes than people who would never want for themself, their partner or for their children a way of life as lamentable as that the one lived under the rule of the king of the buddhist monks of Tibet. At present I do not have any sympathy to “the government in exile of Tibet” where its holiness is the ultimate decision maker on practically all the questions, where a number of members of his own familyseats, which is completely unusual to most governments, even those in exile. This without speaking about their presence in various key positions of finance and businesses . I respect the right of his holiness an his partisans to believe what he wants , but I too, have the right to be in total dissension with the idea of their theocratic rule. I am also hostile with the enrolment of children in the monasteries. I am opposed to the existence of serfdom. I am laic and therefore I am completely opposed to the political authority of monks, even of those which the album “Tintin in Tibet” showed to be so sympatic but however never were. I disapprove also the standpoint of the “king of the monks” against the abortion and his view on homosexuallity . Even surrounded by rather tempting smiles, his declarations on these two subjects are in my eyes as antiquated as his theocratic political project. I never supported the Ayatollah Khomeiny, even when I was against the Shah of Iran. I the same way, I do not support the Dalaï LAMA, neither in his religion , neither in its political claims of which I disapprove, nor in his secesionnist attempts . I may ask the following; why, to exert and rule his religion would the Dalaï LAMA need a State? A State which to be created up would cut down China by the quarter of its surface!

  • sue

    Tibet (Xizhang) is part of China, which is undisputable fact. China has the right to keep her own country united. And 1.3 billion Chineses want to see the country united. Chinese has all the righs to hold 2008 Olymics juat like all other countries in the world! It is a terrible insult to 1.3 Chinese people and 7 billion earth people to mix politics with Olypmics, and try to stop the Olypmics torch using force! It is unacceptable!
    I am totally disgusted by Richard Gere’s ungly performance on this issue. All Chinese people including Tibtets are rejecting this man!

  • wangjch

    tell you the truth about “3.14″ in china’s tibet.
    many han chinese ware killed in the riot.
    my dear friends. historical records tell us tibet is an inalianable part of china.
    Don’t believe in Dalai Lama saying, he present false information.

  • Richard G.

    I confess that I was completely ignorant about Tibet’s history and the miserable lives of slaves living under the so-called Free Tibet.

    I also confessed that I cannot distinguish between Tibet “protesters” and Tibet “rioters”. Tibet “protesters” resort to violence and attacked inocent passer-by, burned shops (5 innocent woman shopkeepers were burnt alive in a shop), and destroyed numerous properties. The Chinese government have every right to use any means to restore law and order.

    I feel so sorry for the innocent people (both ethnic Han people and Tibetans) who were killed or hurt by the “protesters” during the “protest”.

    I appeal to the Free Tibet protesters to give up on violence.

  • Allan L.

    I am a Canadian now living in China.

    I saw a Tibet rioter slashing passers-by with a 14″ knife in Lhasa on Chinese TV which western TV will never broadcast. I also saw Tibet rioters breaking into shops, burning properties, etc.

    Can any western TV show us any video to prove that Chinese army are firing on peaceful protesters?

    We cannot only listen to special interest groups such as Free Tibet to provide sef-serving information.

  • Tony

    Did Richard Gere organize a boycott against the US government on the mistreatment and torture of Iraqi prisoners at Guantanamo Bay detention camp?

    Did he organize a boycott against the US government for the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison?

    He is just a hypocrite. So are the others who go along with Richard.

  • Elton

    Did Richard Gere boycott the USA for racially discriminating against the blacks after the April 1992 riot in Los Angeles?

    I am afraid that Richard is just an opportunist at best. He should mind his own business in the USA first.

  • Samson

    Richard should boycott America for discriminating against the blacks first.

    Long live Martin Luther King!

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  • Jessica

    Richard Gere has been totally misguided on the Tibet issue and history of Tibet. Tibet has been a part of China since the Ching Dynasty.

    I am visiting Shanghai, China. There are many temples, monasteries and churches here. People are free to practice their own religion. I just went to a Catholic church last Sunday. I assure you that there were no police beating or army shooting.

    They even have subway stations named after famous monasteries. You can Google for more information.

    As a matter of fact, more and more monasteries and temples are being restored or built in China.

    Richard Gere should come to China and have a look himself.

    The March 14 riot in Lhasa has nothing to do with freedom of religion or peaceful demonstration.

  • Victor

    Richard Gere should examine both sides of the facts before boycotting the Olympics.

    He should go to Tibet to have a first-hand look at the carnage, ruins and burned buildings left behind by the so-called peaceful demonstrators. Many innocent passers-by were killed by the ‘peaceful’ demonstrators which were not reported by western media.

    It was the same western media who fed you the crap about Soviet threat during the Cold War days. There is no evidence to this date showing that the former Soviet Union was preparing to invade Europe or America.

  • Athanasia

    Richard Gere has a point but it isn’t the hole problem. Are you aware that human rights are not respected in China, or perhaps that animals are brutally treated? If somebody can torture an animal before consuming it, I can imagine what that somebody can do to humans….
    The Olympic ideals represented peace, truce among all the ancient cities, friendship and dignity. What exactly happens today is thousands of miles away, its time to exclude from the Olympics countries that disrispect human and animal rights. It would be much better if they could be organized permanently in the country were they were born, in Greece.

  • Words of wisdom

    Historical Facts:

    Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela fought for their people/their cause that has made them into the greatest of MEN ever born.
    Then there is a man-made God the Dalai Lama. A politician/leader of an off shoot of Buddhism invented after the death of the first Lama the title an honour given to a brave man by the then Chinese King. Historians also noted this present Man-God escaped to India leaving his people to face their so called doom what a fine Godly example for his masses some might argue, it is best for their leader to do a runner in the time of upheavel and war but what credibility is left for such a leader others have questioned?

    The one and only Gere with his great Ego the self made spokesperson for the world
    as some say! To others a man with so many missions to accomplish in between coping with his mid-life crisis drools/ brave exploits of sexuality, now has another fight to keep his boundary wall standing! A rich sex symbol/stunning/
    talented/ spiritual to others. To me a man… A kind hearted soul looking for answers in the wrong place overjoyed to have found his man-God on earth and expects the world especially women to bow down to his majesty…Great Expectations!

    Historians noted Ancient knowledge has been and still is being abused. Sordid rituals involving women/ superstitious beliefs/ infighting/blunders in choosing the re-incarnated Lama’s that resulted in ritual murders of child lama’s since its inception and the later murder of a 5th Century Lama within the Tibetan Monasteries that finally caused a break in Tibetan Buddhism and the introduction of the Shudken branch.

    For those who know little of the Tibetan history the introduction of Lamahood that was a mere title… A sort of Knighthood that has later been turned into a re-incarnation of the so called holy men of Tibet.

    Buddha was an ancient Indian man of wisdom born in around the 6th Century BC never called himself God nor demanded his followers to/never mentioned he would be reborn time and time again in the form of Tibetan Lama’s when he himself was Indian. What is this culture that the present man-God-escapee demands to be preserved…Is it the Lamahood that has been dogged by controversy since its introduction? Are the Chinese Government correct in demanding that the face of the Lama’s should not be worshipped as it is not pure Buddhism… only the statue of Buddha should be worshipped. Are the Chinese correct in demanding a multi-cultural land for all those who reside in Tibet?
    As the demands to Free Tibet is heard and sides are taken. The joyful togetherness of the world is ruined yet again with Political agenda’s as Olympic torch relay is disrupted with riots and death. Demonstrators with their good intentions to some and dubious to others behaving like lunatics as some may say. To solve any problem one must stop to have a clear understanding of what demands are being made and are they justified? Were they the demonstrators justified in breaching other innocent people’s human rights by their erratic behaviour many have asked?
    Ancient chants of a certain kind can raise the dead…Telepathy and Black Magic have been misused to break the spirit of the enemy armies at war by ancient priestly classes this too is noted by historians.

    Magic in Buddhism can be ‘cultivated’ which means ‘learnt’ by meditation alone. White magic is good and Black magic is frowned upon in all religions including Buddhism. Very few people really know the extent of damage whilst meditation if the Kundalini is raised too fast when the person is not spiritually ready for it to be raised in the present lifetime the Buddhist scriptures warn…Sometimes it takes many lifetimes and for those who are too naive/ or so eager to break the rules in order to gain forbidden knowledge this can lead to insanity!

    It is also mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures that Magic can be misused to harm humanity making human spiritual slaves…as a wise Buddhist master warns in one of his lectures… ”Although magic can be used to punish enemies and to help the needy, it can also be used to endanger humanity. When a RICH person does not believe in doing good, would it not be nice if MAGICALLY his money could be used to give to the poor.” How exactly can this magically happen one stops to ponders: By brain washing whilst meditation or by telepathic manipulation to make the individual a spiritual human slave so he will part with his money and sanity at the same time?

    Karma comes back with a vengeance and EMPTINESS…is the only cure for Black magic.

    This is the year of 2008 fingers of blame are pointed to each other and the world ticks closer to its own doom. The ice melts in the Arctic and Global warming is the greatest threat that mankind has been and due to experience, it goes last on the list of world agenda’s. How high will the rising sea-level rise?

    Great Man-Gods, Politicians will come and go. Espionage and counter espionage that has shaped the world of yester-years and that of the future will rise too with every dawn. One thing for sure until radical changes are made by those who have taken this responsibility for whatever reasons, and if the World Leaders/ Religious leaders slowly lose their moral battle to do what is right for humanity there will be no hope for our future generations.

    The leaders of both the Communist Countries/Democratic countries, religious leaders must look at the bitter reality of where they are leading their people in the name of Religion and they must serve by example. Diplomacy is the one and only way!

    With best wishes to all including Mr Gere…I wish him well with his cause this time in running a restaurant.

  • terencio

    Regarding Lhasa Riot, sure there’s five killed unfortunately but does that mean you have to now close down Tibet from the world and send in thousands of Chinese military troops fully loaded with machine guns and tanks inside Tibet while you remove and deny any access to journalists or foriegn media?? what is happenning inside Tibet is brutal, words cannot describe the nightmares that is happening inside Tibet as we speak! Beijing promised to let journalists and media to have full access in China when bidding for 2008 Olympic! You can never trust this brutal regime. I praise anyone who speak up for Tibet at this critical moment, we in the freeworld must act to help the voiceless Tibetans. To the Chinese citizens, haven’t you questioned your own gov’t what is REALLY happening in Tibet?? What are the voice of mass Tibetans inside Tibet?? I urge you to open your eyes and heart to find the real truth! Ask your own gov’t, question your gov’t and find Tibetans and ask them what they feel!!! Thank you to the Radiohead and Richard Gere for lending your support and voice, we need more people like you!

  • mattias

    I’ve been to Tibet twice and realized that Tibetans are not happy at all under the Chinese regime. More Chinese are coming inside Tibet and taking all the jobs and higher gov’t positions, Tibetans are minority in their own country, they resent Chinese and Hui Muslims for treating Tibetans as second class citizens.. this I feel is one of the main reasons why Tibetans protestors stood up to burn the Chinese shops in Lhasa recently. I feel they are fed up with not having any freedom of religion that they are so devoted to. Not being able to have picture of Dalai lama is like for Catholic to not allowed to picture of Pope! Chinese don’t seem to have respect for Tibetan way of life and belief, they just view them as backward and needs to be “civilized”. This is the mentallity that I noticed when visiting Tibet. What kind of human race would like to be treated as second class citizens in your own homeland???

  • Words of wisdom

    The interesting books I have recently been pointed to read…The Rampa story…Third Eye…Thirteenth candle, The Hermit, Wisdom of ancients written by Lobsang Rampa touch on deeper topics very few have the courage to admit. The education of the ‘to be lamas’in the monastaries of Tibet…meditation, telepathy, trasmigration of souls…(his true story), Astral travelling an eye opener of how ancient knowledge of magic has been used/misused. I am visible shaken by what I have read. Some may call him a lunatic others may find answers in his truth!

  • Words of wisdom

    My heart and prayers goes out to all who have died in the China Earthquake/ Tibet riots/ and families who have lost loved ones in Burma. God rest their souls.

  • Words of wisdom

    The Dalai Lama was at the centre of an unholy row among scientists in Florida over his plans to deliver a lecture at a prominent neuroscience conference. His talk stems from a growing interest in how Buddhist meditation may affect the brain, Jianguo Gu, a neuroscientist at the University of Florida who has helped to organise a petition against the Dalai Lama’s lecture, said: “I don’t think it’s appropriate to have a prominent religious leader at a scientific event. The Dalai Lama BASICALLY SAYS THE BODY AND MIND can be SEPARATED and PASSED to other people.”…

    Which in other words means a person’s mind can be switched to another during group/ or during one to one meditation when the victim is a novice in meditation. THIS CANNOT BE PROVED BY SCIENCE AS IT IS A SUPERNATURAL IN NATURE…DALAI LAMA and all his monk lamas are given this training in which telepathy plays a very big part…The Dalai Lama IS A MASTER IN MIND MANIPULATION AND YES THIS CAN BE DONE…AS THE BOOKS OF LOBSANG RAMPA TOUCH OF THIS SUBJECT training he received AND mind swapping or brain washing has BEEN DONE ON MOST OF THE HOLLYWOOD STARS/ POLITICIANS/ WEALTHY INDIVIDUALS those WHO HAVE BECOME TIBETAN BUDDHIST AND FANATICAL FOLLOWERS OF THE DALAI LAMA.

    BE AWARE: Meditation to reduce stress is an excellent tool…but do not be fooled to meditate in a group or one to one with anyone. If one should chose to do meditation one is advised to do it in the confines of ones own home, when they are alone in the wilderness as all great wise men and prophets have done in the past, circling oneself in a circle of golden light, or facing a candle at home cutting off all unscrupulous influences demanding the return of one’s mind in its original form in this present life birth form and never allow the swapping of minds.

  • Words of wisdom

    Dalai Lama has openly claimed to the Neuroscientists…”THE BODY AND MIND can be SEPARATED and PASSED to other people during meditation”…and it makes one wonder how many minds he has swapped during this lifetime to make people his fanatical followers. It has made me wonder why all the Hollywood stars have suddenly turned to him in such facination? Suicidal tendencies come to every individual at certain times in their life brought on by stress. But to try to gain an upperhand by using supernatural powers to take over the mind of an innocent victim just because he is rich and famous, looking for answers to all the WHY’s is WRONG. Do these talented individuals really realise who they are really dealing with? Is Dalai Lama a saint or the Devil re-incarnated? Out of all the male Hollywood Stars I wonder whose minds he has swapped…my heart says it’s Stephan Seagal/ and with Gere himself he has swapped his mind with…Gere the world admits is the shadow of the man he use to be a few years ago, suddenly aged…more than other stars his age? Stephan Seagal has been told he is a re-incarnated Lama! America/Britain are charismatic countries but one must really open one’s eyes to see clearly the bitter reality of what Hitler succeeded in doing during his lifetime on Earth…and not allow mistakes to be repeated that allows anyone to become innocent scapegoats by secret mind games as one searches to find their God/peace in their souls in this crazy world. There is more than meets the Eye with regards to Dalai Lama. His insistence that the Shukden Deity should not be worshipped. He banned them in 1996 with accusations that they are the followers of Black Magic…by him just saying that clarifies the point that Black Magic exists in Tibetan Buddhism…He himself has been taught this art over time and over time and he has used it for his benefit…what is he trying to hide… One wonders??? As the saying goes when one points a finger at others there are four pointing back! Trying to portray the wrong people to be devil worshippers when they are true followers of Buddha isn’t honourable. The excuses he gives is that the followers of the Shukden Deity is bad for his health…when in fact misusing Black magic is bad for anyone’s health…OR can it be that they can see through him like a few other onlookers who have somehow managed to rise above the mind-games played by this scheming man?
    Many have begun to now admit that he is bad for the health of Tibetan Buddhism not only because he has succeeded in bringing this great ugly shadow by the misuse of ancient knowledge which has got nothing to do with the real Buddhism that the Indian/ Chinese/Sri Lankan follow but was integrated into Tibetan Buddhism alone by the Lamas. No other ordinary people have their hands on such knowledege. This knowledge was merely included as information about ancient religions that pre-dated Jainism and Buddhism.
    Since he has laid the discreet challenge to the Neuroscientists to prove how this mind swapping can be done…he should go a step further to show the world himself how this could be done…or should be made to admit that it can only be done by Black Magic alone.

  • Richard

    Well, Richard Gere would have a lot more credibility with me if, in his spare time, he’d lead a protest or two of the brutal occupation of Anglo Americans of Mexican territory. If you didn’t know this, about 150 years ago the American government, under specious circumstances, invaded Mexico and took over 1/3 of its territory, which includes the current American states of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Once they occupied these territories, they proceeded to flood the region with Anglo settlers who, with the full backing of the Amercian legal system, took the lands of the former Mexican citizens – who are now also suppose to be Americans, except for their different ethnicity. The Anglo Americans then enforced a century of dominance by monopolizing the levers of political and economic power and instituting severe forms of racial discrimination to keep the Mexican Americans in their place – directly contravening many of America’s own constitutional provisions that suppose to protect the rights of all of its citizens. The current American argument against any restitution to Mexico is, well, hey, it’s been 150 years, and the majority of the people are firmly against being returned to Mexico. THAT’S JUST THE KIND OF EXCUSES THE CHINESE WILL HAVE IF WE GIVE THEM ANOTHER 100 YEARS!!! Back to Richard Gere, he should start the protest by giving his Malibu estate to the Mexican people. Freakin’ hypocrite!

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