Action urged on Chinese Olympic float for Rose Parade

PASADENA - A local Falun Gong organizer called on Mayor Bill Bogaard to recuse himself from debate over a Beijing-approved entry in the Rose Parade as a commission released its recommendations Tuesday urging the city to make a statement on human rights.
Pasadena resident John Li, president of Caltech's Falun Gong club, questioned Bogaard's support for China as he and members of the Tibetan and Burmese communities thanked the Human Relations Commission for its 11-page recommendation urging the city to make a strong statement to China on its human rights abuses.

"What I heard from the mayor is that the City Hall can do nothing about the parade, but that's not the truth," Li said before suggesting Bogaard should recuse himself when the matter comes before the council.

China outlawed Falun Gong in 1999 as a "dangerous cult," and many members have reportedly been imprisoned or worse for practicing their faith.

After the meeting, Bogaard said he had yet to see the report.

"I'm waiting for the recommendation from the Human Relations Commission and will consider what my thinking might be at that point," he said late Tuesday night. As for the parade, the commission asked the City Council to convene a special review

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
committee and issue a resolution to Xicheng -- a Beijing district and Pasadena's sister city -- in support of human rights.
In its report, the commission acknowledges the "political sensitivity and complexity of the issue" but doesn't believe those reasons "should preclude the City Council's review of the matter.

Although Falun Gong members such as Li have most frequently raised their voices to protest, the parade controversy has drawn a chorus of complaint. Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, Los Angeles Friends of Tibet, China Ministries International and other human rights organizations have urged the council and commission to put pressure on the Tournament of Roses to take action, such as inviting the Dalai Lama to sit as co-Grand Marshal.

The commission also heard from people supporting the float, according to the report, including the Roundtable of Southern California Chinese American Organizations, the Caltech Chinese Student Association, the Chinese Scholars Association and others who focused on Falun Gong and dismissed its complaints as politically motivated.

Although the commission heard from some float supporters, it was "troubled" by their characterization of human rights concerns as solely politically motivated. The commission concluded that documented reports of human rights abuses perpetuated by the Chinese government were credible, "not political sloganeering."

"The Commission is troubled by the position expressed by this majority of float supporters," the report read. "To equate the expression of concerns over basic human rights violations as mere expressions of political viewpoint -- even if one sincerely beielives wthat politics should not be involved in the Olympics -- suggests a profound insensititvy to the plight of fell Chinese."

While a United Nations council Tuesday condemned the violent suppression of protests by Buddhist monks in Myanmar -- formerly Burma -- local Burmese expressed their unhappiness this week about China's participation in the Rose Parade.

Wrapped in a saffron-colored robe, Gunissara Ashin, a Buddhist monk and teacher from Burma, told the council Monday the brutal reign of Rangoon's government wouldn't be possible without Chinese support, specifically, weapons supplied by Beijing.

"The military government gets their weapons from China," Ashin said. "So China supports our military government, and the military government use those guns to kill our people."

The council has yet to schedule a meeting to consider the matter.