Hong Kong: Olympic Torch Relay, the Virtual and the Real · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The real Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong has been criticized as a political decision as most of the non-athletic torch bearers were from the pro-China political clan. In the street, the Beijing supporters also out-numbered the protesters for human rights. However, in the virtual torch relay organized by local bloggers, the viewpoints are much more diverse.
The virtual torch relay, blogtorch08, was organized by More than one on April 8, dukedom of Aberdeen wrote:
如果香港要有火炬手，應該找些不是垃圾的運動員，應該找些平民百姓甚至弱勢社群，而不是給那些政治人物或富貴人家來曝光。
我是這樣的想法，你也可以有你的想法。我還是覺得，同一個世界，最好有更多不同的夢想。
This is what I think, you can have your own opinion. I still feel that one world is better to have many diverse dreams.
Up till now, there are more than 70 blog posts. Many of them criticized the arrangement of real torch relay. Ngsezhin pointed out that:
主辦大國以一幫錦衣衛護著那可憐的小火點到處跑。與其說是傳聖火，倒不如說是示威罷？其實這也是有跡可尋。傳聖火的起源不是古代奧運會，而是 1936 年柏林奧運會中希特拉用以宣傳納粹德國的公關手段！
Nikita also pointed out that the Beijing Olympics has been politicized since the very first day:
中共在申奧時聲稱會改善人權狀況，北京申奧委副主席劉敬民的話：「由北京舉辦奧運會將有助於中國的人權事業發展。」(出處)，將政治和體育混為一談的始作俑者是中共當局…
Stannum from Sidney talked about the history of Olympic torch relay protest in Australia to explain that there is nothing “Holy” about the torch. Tintin also pointed out that the Chinese translation has missed interpreted “Olympic flame” into “Olympic sacred flame”. Ah Tong followed the discussion and wondered who was the idiot to state the rules that “the Olympic sacred fire shall never be put out, not even for one second”? Singsit referred to ancient Greek mythology and pointed out that the sacred fire is originated from Prometheus’ action against the Gods, stealing fire from heaven:
假如當年普羅米和我們一般的昧著良心，不為正義去挑戰權力，不肯冒險作公民抗命的話，今天，世上還有火可以給舉起來嗎！？討厭那些人一手把人類最重要最寶貴的人權自由都沒收在手裡，然後涎著臉胡說：「聖火」不容侵犯。
Richey disagreed with the connection of Olympics and human rights issue and wanted to voice out his discontent towards the people who are using the Olympic as an excuse to force-feed something that is totally irrelevant to the Olympic game.
Daihung made fun of the Olympic torch relay protest and said that Torchsnatching has turned into an official competition in 2008 Beijing Olympics. He even made a poster for this event:
Edmund Hui on the other hand tried to figure out how to create an inextinguishable Olympic torch. Harry Potter’s magic is one of his suggestions.
Infilmity noticed that the official name of the 08 torch relay is called “harmonious trip” and he foresaw that news and information regarding the Olympics would be “harmonized”. Technologypark complained about the harmonized measure (deleting photos with pro-Tibet protesters) in mainland China BBS forum and exclaimed that “Let’s all die in Harmony”.
Rosery joined the “Human Right in Tibet” demonstration in London and she was happy that the torch would not past through Taiwan this time.
Heart of Kafka tried to explain the Chinese logic in the Torch relay protect campaign:
中國很辛苦的掙了個資格。現在錢我交了﹐場地我建了﹐你才和我玩杯葛? 還要搶火熄火? 西藏問題這麼多年你不出聲﹐現在就比CCTV更CCTV的說中國的不是?
不過也好﹐西方傳媒與那些連西藏也不知道在哪的示威份子達成了一個中國共產黨也不能做到的目標 – 團結海外華人的”愛國”心。
Well, western media and those protesters who don’t even know where Tibet is have help the CCP to achieve a goal – united overseas Chinese.
Shadow Cabinet pointed out that the fate of China is still caught in the victim imagination during the war time. It is unreasonable that a strong country would feel threaten by a non-existing country – Tibet.
Back to the real Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong today, Tsang Hin Chi (a pro-China businessman) and Leung Chun-ying (an Executive Council member) are two most controversial figures. Point South supported both for them because their existence is a proof on the political character of the Beijing Olympics.
Chonghead has a summary of today protest action with photos and video clips:
10:35am: Protest Banner action at Tsimshatsiu: One protest banner “Human right repression” was confiscated while another one on “Release Hu Jia” was hanged out at Chungking Mansion during the relay.
10:45am: Human rights and free Tibet protesters were surrounded and attacked by pro-China cheering team.
13:00pm: Students’ protest placards were confiscated by police.
16:00pm: A protester was surrounded by cover-up polices who confiscated his protest placards and threatened to arrest him.