From: Maureen and Jerry Fiori
Date: 2008/4/8
Subject: RE: FW: Olympic Torch Relay
To: Daniel Fiori
Hi Daniel
I am glad that there are a number of protests going in support for China. Certainly it wasn't very pleasant for the protestors in Vancouver with all that rain and the silent one in Germany made me cry.
The editor of the newspaper in charge of "letters to the editor" called me to say he liked my article and that he was planning to put it in the paper tomorrow. It seems that it is timely in that there is expected to be more problems when the relay race goes off in the US. He made a few slight changes to the wording though in order to make it clearer.
While the Chinese Canadians have been working hard to make their voice heard – I am not sure too many non-Chinese have publically supported their viewpoint. I hope what I wrote gets enough people thinking about it.
Love Mom
Jerry and Maureen Fiori
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From: Daniel Fiori
Sent: April 8, 2008 5:42 PM
To: Fiori
Subject: Re: FW: Olympic Torch Relay
Hi Mom, the news is upsetting, and I'm proud you actually wrote in a letter! Would be great if it goes in the paper.
I'm not sure if you're aware, since I don't think the media has provided much more than a sliver of coverage to the fact that there've been a number of rallies in support of China too.
A rally in Toronto March 28th had up to 2000 people showing up in front of the Eaton center. It was covered in local toronto news anyways.
http://www.ctvtoronto.ca/servlet ... ?hub=TorontoNewHome
However half of the news was generally devoted to interviewing some free-tibet protestors whom denounced the rally and claim it was orchestrated by Chinese government and/or VISA students. Additionally they say only hundreds showed up. However, look at the pictures I attach and you can see it was not simply a bunch of students, and it was very big.
There have been several rallies in Vancouver. One on March 29th, I couldn't find any official news on it but there is a video, and here's what the person had to say on a non-mainstream news website:
Approximately 200 pro-China protesters have gathered on the steps of the Vancouver Public Library this afternoon. They are wearing white t-shirts with "Anti Riot and Explore The Truth" on their backs, and held the banners, "Human rights≠ riots" and "Stop media distortion". They chanted both politically charged and altruisitic slogans, including "We love China, we love Tibet", "We want justice", "We want truth", "Stop violence", and "Stop media distortion". A poor quality video I took with my camera phone can be seen here.
Automobile commuters can be heard honking in support of the protesters. The protest comes one week after Tibetan protesters burned Chinese flags and chanted in front of the Chinese consulate (source). The steps of the Vancouver Public Library has been a forum for discontent for many years. Weekly demonstrations are common.
I've attached some pictures of some other vancouver demonstrations. They look very nice in the rain!
Another rally occured in Calgary, it was reported in the Calgary Herald as having 500 people.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryher ... 12d672b&k=35518
There's been a number of interesting demonstrations in Germany. Here's a video of an interersting "silent protest" they held.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nOeaHTuHYg&feature=related#
Also here's a video of a large rally in London on April 6th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8cuVFuwKbk#
and another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlA6vJhnYFE
The BBC reported that day on free-tibet protests but I don't think it reported on this.
There are on-going demonstrations in support of China, but they don't get much media attention... I gather one is going to happen in Ottawa next weekend though.
On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 3:20 PM, Daniel Fiori wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Maureen and Jerry Fiori
Date: Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Subject: FW: Olympic Torch Relay
To: Daniel Fiori
Hi Daniel
I was really upset reading in the newspapers about the Olympic Torch Relay
and watching it on the news on Sunday night so as I walked home (from
walking with Dad to the bus stop) I decided I had to write to the Citizen
newspaper. I felt that if enough people wrote that they might print
someone's views to counteract the standard media view of the supposedly
"Chinese crackdown in Tibet"
I hope all is well with you and we look forward to seeing you at the end of
April
In a short while I will be getting ready to go out to lunch with Aunty Bert
and Janice - to a restaurant that in my mind has the best pizza (even better
than mine)
Take care
Love Mom
Jerry and Maureen Fiori |