Protest in the Square

This is the first protest of anything I have seen here – a rally objecting to the Olympics in 2008 because of Chinese human rights violations. The sign on the platform compared Peking 2008 with the Berlin Olympics in 1936, pretty serious stuff.


The protest, complete with rock singers and young people handing out flyers in several languages, was held in Hlavné námestie (Main Square), a popular tourist area in the Pedestrian Zone of Old Town. International flags had been strung along the side of the protest area.

I’m glad to see this exercise of free speech in today’s Slovakia and hope to see more. Given the old ties between Beijing and Moscow, I imagine this sort of thing would have been impossible under the Communist regime of years past. Free speech is a right never to be taken for granted, as this part of the world well knows.

I have not yet seen one word about Iraq here, as I did in London last fall. I gather a debate is raging in the U.S. about President Bush’s claim last night that 36 countries are participating in the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” in Iraq. Which 36? Token participation from many countries a few years ago has been withdrawn. It appears that most of the old Soviet bloc satellites sent forces of 35-100 soldiers, although it’s not clear that they were in combat. Slovakia sent 100 soldiers, but they were pulled out in January 2007, which probably accounts for the lack of concern here now. Some sources on that Coalition claim:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004186.php

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