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Thursday, September 28, 2006

Why does China have the Olympics again?


I have never been happy with China having the Olympics. While western consumer culture feed from a massive jump in wealth (at a terrible expense to the environment), may make China seem cuddly and friendly, scratch below the surface and you have a totalitarian brutal government that censors the internet and continually breaches international human rights. One of the dirtier abuses is the forced harvesting of human organs from executed prisoners sold on the black market to the wealthy. This from the BBC

The sale of organs taken from executed prisoners appears to be thriving in China, an undercover investigation by the BBC has found.

Organs from death row inmates are sold to foreigners who need transplants. One hospital said it could provide a liver at a cost of £50,000 ($94,400), with the chief surgeon confirming an executed prisoner could be the donor. China's health ministry did not deny the practice, but said it was reviewing the system and regulations.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes visited No 1 Central Hospital in Tianjin, ostensibly seeking a liver for his sick father. Officials there told him that a matching liver could be available in three weeks. One official said that the prisoners volunteered to give their organs as a "present to society". He said there was currently an organ surplus because of an increase in executions ahead of the 1 October National Day.

China executes more prisoners than any other country in the world. In 2005, at least 1,770 people were executed, although true figures were believed to be much higher, a report by human rights group Amnesty International said.

6 Comments:

At 28/9/06 10:50 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought you said the other day that they were a successful example of communism?

 
At 28/9/06 12:17 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

...
Grin - yeah the measure of a successful Communist regime is brutal repression on top of a capitalist facade, China is very successful at that

 
At 28/9/06 6:41 pm, Blogger barvasfiend said...

It seems incongruous to claim foul play over harvesting deceased prisoners' organs. If your government has total control over your life, (nothing says control like the ability to execute you) then complaining about harvesting the organs seems like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

 
At 28/9/06 10:22 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So typical socialist/communist country then Bomber?

Though obviously George Bush is still the worst world leader lol

 
At 29/9/06 11:39 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The reason China has a successful economy is that they have explicitly rejected Communist economic principles while remaining an authoritarian, one-party dictatorship. Which makes their regime more akin to Fascism than Communism today.

 
At 5/10/06 12:42 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

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Well said Peter, it is the same for Amerika...

The reason Amerika has a successful economy is that they have explicitly rejected Democratic economic principles while remaining an authoritarian, one-party dictatorship. Which makes their regime more akin to Fascism than Democracy today.

 

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