What a bunch of goofs. My Special Day Song is always a hit.

Posted by Todd at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Here's a copy of the "compromise plan" referenced in today's story. Police rejected it, citing security concerns:

Plan D

I.Goal

To hold a dignified human rights event before the Rose Parade to call the world’s attention to China’s unfulfilled promise of improving human rights for the Beijing Olympics and the continued worsening of human rights condition in China, Tibet, Sudan, Burma, North Korea, and other countries as the result of the Chinese regime’s exploitation.

II.Key Components
a.A marching band (see explanation below) of 100 people.
b.A Cushman Super Truck with microphone and speakers (see explanation below)
c.Marchers carrying banners representing various victim groups, including Falun Gong, Tibetan, Chinese Christians (underground churches), Chinese pro-democracy activists, Darfurians, Burmese, and various human rights groups, including local Amnesty International chapter, Visual Artist Guild, Justice for Americans in China, All Saints Church, Conscience Foundation, etc.
d.Grandstand on Euclid Street side of City Hall
e.A Human Rights Torch.

III.Timing Sheet

a.Preparation
i.At 0100 the 16’x 24’ grandstand is erected at Euclid Street behind City Hall
ii.At 0500 Cushman Super Truck is pre-positioned south of the intersection of Colorado Blvd and Terrace Drive
iii.At 0530, the marching band and marching groups will gather and line up along Terrace Drive

b.Opening ceremony
i.At 0620, the marching band will form behind the Cushman Super Truck
ii.At 0630, the marching band will play a short piece.
iii.At 0633, the keynote speaker will ascend the Cushman Super Truck and begin to speak about the Event
iv.At 0638, the Human Rights Torch will be lighten, and delivered to the first torch bearer, marching band starts to march east along Colorado Blvd.

c.Procession
i.After the marching band, the keynote speaker will introduce the first group of marchers;
ii.The first group starts to march with their banner
iii.The keynote speaker introduce the second group of marchers,
iv.The second group starts to march with their banner;
v.The process will repeat until all groups are introduced and start march
vi.The last group will start marching no later than 0705

d.Ending ceremony
i.The whole procession will arrive at the grandstand at Euclid Street at 0730
ii.Several speakers will give short 3-minute speeches.
iii.Conscience Foundation awards are presented to Kenneth Hardy and Chris Holden.
iv.The campaign to hold up Universal Declaration of Human Rights during the Beijing Olympics will be announced.

I.Justification for the Cushman Super Truck:
a.To provide a podium for the keynote speaker
b.To provide sound system for the keynote speaker

II.Justification for the marching band;
a.To provide sound and rhythm to the Event
b.To help to attract audience attention and clear the street

Posted by Todd at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Here's the open letter from James H. Zimmerman, Jr. of Amnesty International USA referenced in today's story. It opens with a friendly overture that on second read is dripping with sarcasm.

20 December 2007

Dear Mayor Bogaard,

Amnesty International USA has learned, with gratification, of your proclamation of December 10 as Human Rights Day in Pasadena. This day, as you know, has been celebrated internationally for the past fifty-nine years, and we are pleased that your city has now joined the rest of the world in celebrating it.

I copied you earlier on correspondence with Mr. C.L. Keedy of the Rose Parade, and will not repeat what I said in that letter. Rather, we are concerned with the reports in the press in which you are quoted as characterizing the record of Chinese human rights violations as "allegations." In an earlier letter, I had said that I would not recite the long list of these violations, as they are widely available and, indeed, some were cited in the report and recommendations of your own Human Relations commission. Evidently you need more persuasion however, so I am taking the liberty of sending you, under separate cover, a selection of Amnesty reports.

(Continued below)

These are not just "allegations," and the use of such a term by an elected public official in an official statement, unfortunately tends to give credence to denials by the Chinese government, and confuses the public. These reports are based on evidence, of the sort which might hold up in a court of law, were it possible for it to be presented there. It is true that we cannot cite sources for some statements, because many come from relatives or friends of victims who might be subjected to harassment if they were cited. In many cases, however, publicly available sources are used. And there are also many, many other human rights violations for which there is suggestive though not conclusive evidence, and from which we therefore do not draw definite conclusions. As an example of the latter category, I might refer you to the reports of the Falun Gong organization, or to the recent report issued in Canada by David Kilgour, M.P. and David Matas. We do not take positions on these or many other "allegations," but those on which we do issue statements, we can prove to be well founded.

You do not need to believe us, however, because there are so many victims of the Chinese government's repression in greater Los Angeles, indeed in Pasadena itself. You might want to meet with them, as I have done, and if you do, I doubt you would be inclined to dismiss their stories as mere "allegations." Indeed, though you are perhaps unaware of it, the repressive actions of the Chinese government are not limited to China itself, but in all probability are taking place every day in Pasadena at Cal Tech and other universities and most certainly at other places in the United States. Chinese students abroad are kept under regular surveillance, and are often threatened with reprisals upon return to China, if they get out of line. I have testified as an expert witness in numerous political asylum cases, and have had personal experience that this is so.

Let me now turn to the issues posed by the float. I have reviewed Mr. Keedy's letter to you of Oct. 26. He states therein that certain organizations “requested the inclusion of additional units in the Parade to help publicize their cause. We believe this would be inappropriate for a variety of reasons..." One might ask, what might those reasons be? Why is it "inappropriate" for a Parade which highlights the Olympics--to which we certainly do not object--to "publicize" the cause of human rights and Olympic ideals as well? Many of your constituents obviously agree, as witness the actions and petitions of recent months.

I had said earlier that we wished to engage in a dialogue about how this might be done, and I hope this would still be possible. The irreducible conclusion is that, while the float in itself may not be controversial, its inclusion in the Parade, without any attempt to represent the issues of human rights and Olympic goals as well, threatens to do irreversible harm to the reputation of your city both nationally and internationally.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

James H. Zimmerman, Jr.
Country Specialist, China

Cc: C.L. Keedy III

Posted by Todd at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No safety valve for dissent.

Compromise fails, police reject plan for rights protest
By Kenneth Todd Ruiz, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/20/2007 11:28:44 PM PST

PASADENA - Negotiations over whether to permit a human-rights march before the Rose Parade broke down Thursday, according to those involved.

Police Chief Bernard Melekian rejected a scaled-back plan Thursday from critics of a Beijing Olympic float seeking to counter what they insist is undeserved propaganda, given China's poor human rights record.

Citing unspecified "operational and public safety" issues, police officials turned down organizer John Li's compromise plan, which had excluded several large vehicles and would have steered clear of the parade's "security zone."

Despite being "very sympathetic" to the protesters' message, Melekian said Li did not appreciate the "huge operational and security concerns" associated with the event.

"I've given Mr. Li three different options, none of which seem to work for him," Melekian said. "Most police departments would have told him no, and now I wish I had, too."

March organizers said their "Plan D" eliminated all but two of Melekian's initial objections: a truck to carry VIPs and a marching band.

Where it could have done nothing, the city has bent over backward by offering options Li then rejected, Melekian said, including getting everything they wanted on a different day.

Protesters could have held a stand-alone event behind City Hall, filmed several runners from the Human Rights Torch Relay on the street, or held their full event on Dec. 31, under those options.
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There was nothing to negotiate, he said, as organizers had not chosen one of those options by a Thursday afternoon deadline.

After meeting with police Wednesday, organizer Shizhong Chen said the officials refused what specific changes would make the plan work.

"We made major compromises," Chen said. "We made modification to every item they had specific objections to."

Chen, president of The Conscience Foundation - a rights group linked to Falun Gong - compared the police officials' attitude to what he'd expect from China's Communist Party.

"They deliberately do not give you specifics so they can give you a catch-all excuse," he said.

March organizers want to garner attention the same day the Beijing Olympic Games float rolls down Colorado Boulevard. By steering clear of the security zone, they won't have any opportunity to get the attention of television cameras, Chen said.

Chen repeated his colleague's accusations that the Police Department's decision is politically motivated.

Security objections, he said, mask a politically motivated effort to quash their speech rights in favor of China's much-celebrated entry in the parade.

Legally, the city has no obligation to accommodate any free-speech rights along Colorado Boulevard, Melekian said.

"The only people who have First Amendment rights along the route are the Tournament of Roses," he said.

Chen and Li blamed Mayor Bill Bogaard, who was instrumental in bringing the float to Pasadena, for influencing Melekian's decision.

Bogaard did not return a call seeking comment Thursday, but did confer with Melekian.

In a sharply worded letter Thursday, officials from international human-rights group Amnesty International urged Bogaard to accommodate a human rights message on parade day.

Including the float without representing human-rights issues "threatens to do irreversible harm to the reputation of your city, both nationally and internationally," the letter said.

Amnesty International officials have been among human-rights, religious-freedom and free-speech proponents criticizing China's worsening rights record in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games.

Since controversy over the float erupted this summer, Bogaard has carefully avoided saying anything critical of China, where he has made several visits to Pasadena's sister city in Beijing.

Amnesty International's letter chastised him for characterizing China's human-rights violations as "allegations."

"These are not just `allegations,' and the use of such a term by an elected public official in an official statement unfortunately tends to give credence to denials by the Chinese government, and confuses the public," the letter said.

Making an unprecedented gesture, Tournament officials had been quietly talking with protesters for weeks about allowing a march before their parade, after city officials deferred to their judgment last month.

Tournament Chief Operating Officer Bill Flinn said Thursday they remained open to the idea and were in "waiting mode."

"The Tournament has never at all devalued the message the individuals are trying to bring forth," said Flinn. "We respect that, and on numerous occasions met to be able to see if there is some way that we can be conciliatory to the message points they're trying to get across."

Chen said he didn't question their "good-hearted" sincerity.

Blocking the march could invite more provocative efforts to steal the spotlight from China.

More confrontational elements within the coalition of groups opposing the float might call for more than "turning their backs" on the float.

"From early on there was a difference in the approach," Chen said. "By being cooperative and finding a way to give human rights a voice, John and I hoped the more disruptive possibilities would be minimized. However, it now proves we were naive."

todd.ruiz@sgvn.com

(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444

www.insidesocal.com/pasadenapolitics

Dear Mayor Bogaard,

Amnesty International USA has learned, with gratification, of your proclamation of December 10 as Human Rights Day in Pasadena. This day, as you know, has been celebrated internationally for the past fifty-nine years, and we are pleased that your city has now joined the rest of the world in celebrating it.

I copied you earlier on correspondence with Mr. C.L. Keedy of the Rose Parade, and will not repeat what I said in that letter. Rather,
we are concerned with the reports in the press in which you are quoted as characterizing the record of Chinese human rights violations as "allegations." In an earlier letter, I had said that I would not recite the long list of these violations, as they are widely available and, indeed, some were cited in the report and recommendations of your own Human Relations commission. Evidently you need more persuasion however, so I am taking the liberty of sending you, under separate cover, a selection of Amnesty reports.

These are not just "allegations," and the use of such a term by an elected public official in an official statement, unfortunately tends to give credence to denials by the Chinese government, and confuses the public. These reports are based on evidence, of the sort which might hold up in a court of law, were it possible for it to be presented there. It is true that we cannot cite sources for some statements, because many come from relatives or friends of victims who might be subjected to harassment if they were cited. In many cases, however, publicly available sources are used. And there are also many, many other human rights violations for which there is suggestive though not conclusive evidence, and from which we therefore do not draw definite conclusions. As an example of the latter category, I might refer you to the reports of the Falun Gong organization, or to the recent report issued in Canada by David Kilgour, M.P. and David Matas. We do not take positions on these or many other "allegations," but those on which we do issue statements, we can prove to be well founded.

You do not need to believe us, however, because there are so many victims of the Chinese government's repression in greater Los Angeles, indeed in Pasadena itself. You might want to meet with them, as I have done, and if you do, I doubt you would be inclined to dismiss their stories as mere "allegations." Indeed, though you are perhaps unaware of it, the repressive actions of the Chinese government are not limited to China itself, but in all probability are taking place every day in Pasadena at Cal Tech and other universities and most certainly at other places in the United States. Chinese students abroad are kept under regular surveillance, and are often threatened with reprisals upon return to China, if they get out of line. I have testified as an expert witness in numerous political asylum cases, and have had personal experience that this is so.

Let me now turn to the issues posed by the float. I have reviewed Mr. Keedy's letter to you of Oct. 26. He states therein that certain organizations “requested the inclusion of additional units in the Parade to help publicize their cause. We believe this would be inappropriate for a variety of reasons..." One might ask, what might those reasons be? Why is it "inappropriate" for a Parade which highlights the Olympics--to which we certainly do not object--to "publicize" the cause of human rights and Olympic ideals as well? Many of your constituents obviously agree, as witness the actions and petitions of recent months.

I had said earlier that we wished to engage in a dialogue about how this might be done, and I hope this would still be possible. The irreducible conclusion is that, while the float in itself may not be controversial, its inclusion in the Parade, without any attempt to represent the issues of human rights and Olympic goals as well, threatens to do irreversible harm to the reputation of your city both nationally and internationally.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

James H. Zimmerman, Jr.
Country Specialist, China

Cc: C.L. Keedy III

Posted by Todd at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)