By Andrew Austin

When the Olympics are done, will we lose interest in the human rights in Tibet?
With the Olympics Games starting on Aug 8 the host country China is in centre of international media's attention. China has been in the news recently also because of the turmoil in Tibet. Reporters have been banned from Tibet and the "Great Fire Wall of China" doesn't really allow for Tibetans to communicate with the outside world, so it is very hard to know what exactly is going on inside that country. The Chinese government has been blaming the riots on the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile, claiming that he has instructed Tibetans to create chaos. With the Chinese government in control of media reports coming out of Tibet, how can we trust anything that their officials say?
Protesters against the Chinese occupation of Tibet and those who hope to draw attention to China's poor record on human right at home have seized the opportunity provided by the traditional Olympic touch relay to promote awareness of their cause. Supporting the protestors' attempts to stop the torch relay is justified. In fact, more should be done.
Some argue that allowing the Olympics to come to Beijing will have a positive impact on human rights issues there. If it wasn't for the Olympics that China's human rights issues wouldn't have attention at this moment.
It seems obvious considering how China is handling the protests in Tibet, not to mention the unyielding grip on the media in China and Tibet, that China has no intention of changing its ways.
Recently China has threatened to intensify its "re-education" campaign for the Tibetan populace. This propaganda campaign is support that China is not planning to improve social conditions in Tibet but instead suppress opposition with a campaign of information suffocation.
Exiled Tibetan leaders have said around 140 Tibetans have been killed in recent protests, but the Chinese government has claimed the Tibetan rioters have killed 18 civilians and two police officers. Since independent media are barred from these areas, we can't really trust any of these statistics.
We have to make sacrifices for our follow humans; we must make it known that we will stand for Tibetans' right to self-determination.
Athletes have been placed in an awkward position. They have difficult choices to make: either to turn a blind eye or to act on the issues of Tibet; they can boycott the Games and miss an opportunity of a lifetime or speak out against the oppression when they are in the public eye; ignore the human rights violations participate in the Games as usual.
Protesters have been impeding the travel of the torch and need to continue their current campaign against the flame. There is a contrast between the message of the torch relay and the reality in Tibet, the torch relay is a symbol of peaceful competition between nations but, in reality there is nothing peaceful about the occupation of Tibet. Hopefully the repression in Tibet will not be forgotten when the Olympics Games are done.