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Canadian and Taiwanese Artists Uses Music and Drawings to Show their Support on Human Rights

#BeijingWinterOlympics has begun since #Feb04 with boycotts voices circulating the world.

Some artists show their dissatisfaction with #HumanRightsViolation in China with paintbrushes and music notes. A Canadian painter creates "Genocide Games" to mock Beijing Winter Olympic while a Taiwanese band composes "The Times Looking After the Righteous (#時代看顧正義的人)" to criticise dictatorship.

Both works show support to the belief in democracy and freedom.

The Canadian artist, Ricker Choi, is originally from Hong Kong but emigrated to Canada when he was 13. Yet, he is always concerning the situation in Hong Kong. Ricker has created lots of artworks since 2019, supporting Hong Kong democracy movements.

When the winter Olympics was approaching, his heart was filled with emotions. As a result, he picked up his pen and produced a picture "#GenocideGames".

Ricker said, "China claimed to improve the human rights issues in 2008 #OlympicGames, to be free, democratic and open. In fact, the reality is, however, the opposite. They suppress #Uyghurs and #Tibetans, persecuting Hong Kong, threatening Taiwan. Letting them host the Olympic Games again is the greatest sarcasm."

Ricker Choi's Twitter post:
https://twitter.com/RickerChoi/status/1478919590520438785

Source: RFA #Jan17

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/lf-01172022161411.html?encoding=traditional

#Genocide
#UN rights chief falls under wheels of China's propaganda machine

Beijing's propaganda machine has outwitted the UN human rights chief on her visit to China, campaigners say, leaving the envoy accused of playing a role in whitewashing abuses against minorities in Xinjiang.

"She must have the political courage and integrity to speak out when her words and her visit are being distorted," said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute. "If she is not prepared and able to do so, she should not visit."

Michelle Bachelet's long-planned trip in late May has taken her to the far-western region where Beijing is accused of imprisoning over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, forcibly sterlising women and running labour camps that fuel global supply chains.

The United States and multiple western lawmakers have labelled the actions a "genocide", allegations vehemently denied by China which says it has only conducted necessary security operations to squash extremism and beef up development.

Bachelet has come under fire from rights groups and Uyghurs overseas, who say she has been suckered into a slickly choreographed Communist Party tour including a conversation with President Xi Jinping later portrayed in state media as a mutual endorsement of China's high ideals on rights.

It is "as clear as day" that China has so far used the visit "to promote its own narrative and defend its poor human rights record", said Alkan Akad, a China researcher at Amnesty.

The goal is "to show the world that it can bend a top UN human rights official -- and thus the very concept of human rights -- to its will," said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

London-based Uyghur activist Rahima Mahmut slammed the visit as "window dressing".

"This is not the neutral, independent, unfettered investigation that we were promised," she told AFP.

Instead, Beijing was seeking "a free pass to continue carrying out repression, surveillance, torture and genocide against communities like mine", she added.

The hard details of what Bachelet saw and who she met during the visit have been largely withheld on a trip carried out in a "closed loop" by order of Beijing, ostensibly due to Covid risks.

China has filled the information vacuum, with state media running gleeful readouts of meetings between her and Xi as well as foreign minster Wang Yi.

They reported that Bachelet said she "admired China's efforts and achievements in ... protecting human rights" during the virtual call with Xi.

A spokesperson for Bachelet did not confirm whether the reports were accurate when contacted by AFP, instead saying the UN would not publish readouts of bilateral meetings.

A later, hurried "clarification" by the UN stopped short of denying that she had praised China's rights record. But neither side mentioned Xinjiang in their readouts.

Norway-based Uyghur activist Abduweli Ayup said he was "disappointed" that Bachelet had appeared to allow Beijing to "misinterpret" her words.
"They have already used (her) for propaganda," he told AFP.

Read the full article:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220527-un-rights-chief-falls-under-wheels-of-china-s-propaganda-machine

Source: France 24 #May27

#Uyghur #Genocide #UN #HumanRights #CCPPropaganda