Tibet

Today at the main gates of campus there was a pro-China Olympic gathering of sorts. (I can't really describe it as a demonstration because they weren't against anything explicitly, just trying to distract attention from the anti-China protesters.) I doubt they'll get much joy here in Bloomington, which (for such a small town) has a sizable Tibetan community (enough for two Tibetan restaurants). It seems like almost every-second car has a "Free Tibet" bumper sticker; the others have "Support our troops".

I would have liked to stick around to watch but it was too small for anything interesting to happen, I think. Conversely, at Duke university a Chinese girl just trying to keep the peace has been labelled a traitor and her parents threatened. A shame.

I'm still watching keenly to see what exactly will happen as the torch goes through Canberra. After Sebastian Coe, the head of London's Olympic body, described them as thugs; apparently some runners weren't to happy about being jostled either.

But Big Kev assured us that the Chinese para-military will not guard the flame in Oz. What a loss of sovereignty that would be; it should be Australian police brutalising protestors! Then we heard from The Disgraced* Kevan Gosper that they will actually be there, confined to a bus, but that they might be called upon if the Australian security can't handle it themselves. Then the ACT Chief Minister explained that a couple of the Chinse guards might jog with the torch to be quick with the Zippo if it goes out. But -- and this is why I love Lateline -- Virginia Trioli was sharp enough to ask "If some protester did lunge at the torch, you couldn't possibly stop one of the Chinese guards from overstepping his mandate and coathangering the protester, could you?" And she also asked what they'll do if the Chaser turns up!

I guess it's fair that people don't take eggs or water bombs but not allowing soft-drink cans sounds like overkill.

Update
With the huge barricades being erected, one has to wonder what the point of it all is, if not to give the public access to the spectacle. When the torch for the Sydney Olympics went through Penrith I didn't bother going to see it; I'm not much one for sporting triumphalism. But I don't think they had any sort of barricade and I doubt the escorts would have been paramilitary. I remember thinking it a shame that the Olympic officials made a point of deactivating each runner's torch after their leg was over, so it could never be used again (wouldn't it be great to have an Olympic torch to light light the barbie?). That sort of control pales in comparison to what's going on now.

And now there's talk of plain-clothes Chinese operatives:

Australian Federal Police refused to confirm well-placed information that plain-clothes Chinese security officers would infiltrate the crowd, on the grounds the information was "operationally sensitive".

That's scary.

*That honourific was bestowed during the torch relay for the 2000 Olympics, I believe. As I understand it, he keeps it for life, like retired MPs with The Honourable.