The number of people from the global community to sign the petition since this advertisement was published in the Financial Times worldwide has risen to almost 700,000. It's not surprising that the ad was rejected by other newspapers like the South China Morning Post and the Singapore Straits Times. Perhaps if the international community were to seriously consider boycotting the 2008 Olympics, China would actually rise to the occasion instead of expounding pathetic excuses for not doing so.
Some of the responsibility of supporting the ruling junta does rest on our own heads:
"The country's military rulers rely on sales of precious stones such as sapphires, pearls and jade to fund their regime.
Rubies are probably the biggest earner - more than 90 per cent of the world's rubies come from Burma." Read the full article here.
According to CNN, there's a loophole big enough to drive a truck through in the ban on the import of so-called "blood gems". As long as the gems are cut and polished outside the U.S. then imported, then it doesn't matter where the raw stone came from.
So please remember when looking for that perfect sparkling gift for your sweetie this Christmas: Chances are you're funding oppression and even murder, somewhere in this world. Taints it a little, doesn't it.
No comments:
Post a Comment