Beijing bans blacks from bars

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Beijing bans blacks from bars

What three things do basketballer Kobe Bryant, tennis player James Blake and soccer player Ronaldinho have in common?

1) They're black.

2) They're each among the most talented Olympians in their sport.

3) They're not allowed into any bars while they're in Beijing.

The litany of human rights abuses committed by the Chinese dictatorship has been well documented, if not by the NBC/General Electric family of Olympic broadcasters. But for most abuses, the regime tries to hide or outright deny them. But while perhaps less severe than forced labor, arbitrary arrest and religious repression, the regime is more brazenly open about its racism. Beijing authorities have explicitly banned bar owners from serving blacks during the Olympics. Oh, and Mongolians can't down a pint either.

If the 2012 London Olympic authorities banned Asians from bars, somehow I think international criticism would be a little louder.


On a sporting note: Congratulations to Michael Phelps for his record breaking haul of eight gold medals and to Usain Bolt for being the first person to break the world records for both the 100 and 200 meters in the same Olympics. After the 100m, some criticized Bolt for slowing up toward the end. It's a mark of how amazing his performance was that he could visibly slow up in such a short race and still break the world record.

Olympian shame

Isn't ironic that a regime that murders its own citizens among the countless other ways it wages war against its own people has decided to take extraordinary measures to protect fire...

Manufacturing's race to the bottom

While not a universally negative phenomenon by any stretch, globalization has clearly created a race to the bottom in the manufacturing industry. This isn't exactly old news, this NPR story has a twist, new yet old at the same time.

The signature of the NAFTA "free trade" agreement opened the door for countless American factories to flee to Mexico, where industry wasn't burdened by government regulations demanding terrible things like clean air and fair treatment of workers. Workers in Mexico then got uppity so many factories then fled to other places, including China. But now even the costs of Chinese sweatshops are 'too high' for the sharks so many factories are being moved from China to Vietnam.

I wonder where the factories in Vietnam will move to when workers there start demanding more than two cents a day and the ability to go to the bathroom during work hours.


Note: PBS' NOW program a good dossier about how a provision in NAFTA is being used by corporations to undermine democracy.