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GUEST: Minky Worden, Media Director of Human Rights Watch, editor of China’s Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges

With less than a hundred days before the start of the summer Beijing games, the Olympics torch finally made its way back to China. The flame returned to the host country on Wednesday after the twenty-nation corporate-sponsored Torch Relay was met by protests of thousands of human rights activists from London to San Francisco. The Chinese government deported seven protesters before the torch’s arrival as five activists reportedly tried to disrupt the Olympic flame’s welcoming ceremony. Torch protests are just one illustration of how China’s human rights record has come under increased international scrutiny as a result of the Olympics Games. A major Tibetan uprising earlier this year, and China’s subsequent violent crackdown intensified the criticism. Ahead of the torch’s planned ascent up Mount Everest, pro-Tibet organizations called on sponsoring corporations such as Coca-Cola to publicly disassociate from the summer games. Meanwhile “China’s Great Leap,” a new book edited by Minky Worden, assesses the controversial issue of human rights and the 2008 Olympics. Contributing authors examine the international and domestic attention the Beijing Olympics have brought to China while speculating prospects for societal change.

For more information, visit www.hrw.org.