There is an French senator who is talking about the Olympics and Tibet issue, I find this is very fair :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTm0xrG-v4&eurl=http://www.anti-cnn.com/

Host：Here, Mr. Melenchon, on this issue, I find that you hold an opinion very distinctive compared to the other. We said that we should not humiliate the Chinese people and it is meaningless to act like this.

Melencho: yes, right. This is only my personal opinion. I find it pitiful. If we did not want china to hold the Olympic Games, we should not have allowed Peking to be one of the candidates. Nor should we have given them the right to host the games. I observe that all of this occurred after the recent events in Tibet, so who exactly intends to protest against or criticize Beijing. Each time the Olympic Games took place, we protested against the hot country.

Host: but we can at least say that china is not a model in terms of human rights.

Melenchon: It is obvious that they do not have the same vision as we do. I noticed that there were also protests against the Olympic Games in US, and in Moscow too. We can talk about it later. If we want to protest today, that must be under the idea that I agree with Dalai Lama’s claims concerning Tibet. For me, we should see it clearly and stop being so naive. It is unbelievable to see certain French people, who are arguing terribly about the separation of the church and the state, and in the same time agree to transform a religion into state in Tibet. I will talk it through . Here is one of my fundamental positions: The rights are universal. However, we can’t ask for universal rights and then find it normal to see theocracy in Tibet.

Host : the theocracy means the government is led by the church.

Melenchon: I am not talking about the person (dalai Lama) nor his religion . I respect the religions, for example. The monks in France. But I do not agree that France be governed by them. And it is what some people find normal concerning Tibet. They can even accept some absurdity saying that China invaded Tibet. It’s absolutely wrong ! it was an event inside the Chinese revolution. We can always not approve this. The intervention of Chinese army was due to the fact that the Tibetan feudal lords refused to abolish the serfdom. What the communists did is discussable, but I approve them in this case. Still we are not going to tell all the absurd stuff on the Chinese people. They see and they hear all this…as “ Hey, listen, Concerning the Olympic games , we have decided that it is normal that a quarter of Chinese territory get away from the Chinese authority”.  There is not a single country in the world who recognizes Tibet as a state.

Host: Tibet I not claiming its independence.

Melenchon: on these subjects, you know how it happens as I do. It is not a simple affair about an association or a NGO , There are interests related to the international stability Neither did Kosovo demand any independence, but it ended like this, with a US military base. So do not pretend to be naive. And to say that no geopolitical or geostrategic issues are behind this, people are manipulated.

Host: does it means that you feel we are asking the athletes to respect the Olympic spirit and do what they politicians did not do, because after all everybody went to China before included the presidential candidate Segolene Royal . and at that time, human rights were talked about in a very “gentle” way.

Melenchon: Yes, all this is kind of hypocrite. Today there is no candidate who does not talk about china at election. Because it's a powerful country and you have to talk with them and now the NGO are protesting.

Host: the Reporters Sans Frontieres

Melenchon: the Reporters Sans Frontieres is an organization which is rather ideologically involved.

Host: it means?

Melenchon: It means they function around those targets appointed by the American conservatives.

Host: Menard is directly influenced by the conservatives?

Melenchon: Ideologically yes. They work always around those gargets appointed by American conservatives. For example they are against Venezuela. In a word, we know his ideological attitude. He’s not neutral at all.

Host: he does not simply defend the human rights.

Melenchon: I think he defends the human rights as many people , but he does it in  certain conditions and not in others. We never see him protest against the illegal torture in the US , or when the prisoners of Guantanamo had no lawyer. Let’s leave him aside. Further your question I want to aim the hypocrisy of the situation. If we protest, why not protest in front of the headquarters of Airbus or Areva ? They signed the contracts with the Peoples Republic of China. I’ll tell you what I think. There is an anti Chinese racism behind all this. We put forward the events in Tibet and we forget to mention that those incidents started with Han businessmen massacred, bludgeoned n the streets. Go to the website Arret Sur Image, you will find the reportage which proves these facts. And we just consider it as nothing? Listen, do you find it normal that after what happened in France, the Chinese ambassador who represents the 1.4 billion Chinese people in Frnace and who arrived the March 8^th, is always unable to deliver his letter of credit to the President of the Republic of France.

Host: In parallel, we boycotted the Olympic games of Moscow because the soviets have invaded Afghanistan and we created then Al-quida. But in the future the Tibetans will not become any international terrorists . It's not the same

Melenchon: Terrorism and religious oppression are both detestable, either internationally or national. I do not agree that monks govern Tibet and I say it clearly. Let me remind you about the Olympic games of Moscow : it was necessary to boycott the games because the red army attacked the communist Afghanistan government. This is already an old story , but we can still learn the lessons. In order to fight the communism , we supported all the mess ! We armed the Taliban and man Al-Qaida at the period. Do you think the result is glorious? Since then should we rush blindly into any religion claims without any doubts? I do not say we should approve the violent repression.

Host: so what should we do ? We should at least give some pressure concerning the human rights in China. How should we do ? Should we say . “Continue to beat people and put them in jail” there is a certain number of Chinese defender of human rights who have been arrested , interviewed and put in jail.

Melenchon: we agree on this. We can already gain some more credibility if there are not always two different criterions. If we show the same indignation against, what I mentioned, the legalized torture in the US, the death penalty and the secret prisons, All these do not seem to move any people. So at first we are not credible when talking to Chinese people if our indignation is not always shown at the same side. Secondly we could be more credible if we address directly to Chinese authorities. Our president our prime minister should address to the president of the PRC. Who has a name by the way, not as generally as “ The Chinese people”. His name is Hu jingtao, the prime minister is Wen jiabao. We can send them our questions. Now we do not even receive the Chinese ambassador, we do not even accept his letter of credit. I find this attitude of disregard is really unacceptable.

Host: Gordon Brown said he is not going for the inauguration ceremony.

Melenchon: Then he is still going for the closing one, isn’t it hypocrisy ?

End/