Beijing Olympics like Hitler’s Games: Calgary MP
Comparison to 1936 competition called ‘ridiculous’
Richard Cuthbertson; Don Martin and Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, April 18, 2008
Calgary West MP Rob Anders is drawing fire for comparing the upcoming Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Games held in Berlin when Germany was under Nazi rule.
Anders, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, said Thursday that Beijing was the wrong choice to host the Olympics.
“I absolutely 100 per cent think it compares to the Berlin Olympics in 1936,” he said in an interview.
“You’ve got Fal..un Gong practitioners, which are not allowed to participate in the Olympics. Adolf Hitler had issues with Jews being able to participate in the Olympics in 1936.”
Critics were quick to take Anders to task for his remarks.
“Any comparisons between the Games of China and those under Hitler are ludicrous,” said Bob Rae, foreign affairs critic for the Liberals.
“There’s lots of work to be done to improve human rights in China, but that comparison is ridiculous. Let’s get the focus back on the athletes.”
The comments came the day before Anders is to meet the Dalai Lama in Michigan. The MP said he is seeking to speak with the Tibetan spiritual leader today about what he calls the “cultural genocide” in Tibet.
On Thursday, Anders accused the Chinese government of running slave labour camps; and using “goons” to run with the torch relay.
“I think that China is the worst human rights violator in the world, right now,” he said. “And, I think, their record in terms of deaths and atrocities far overshadows those in the Second World War.
“If you look at the people who were killed during the Great Leap Forward and the cultural revolution under Mao, it makes the deaths on the Russian front in the Second World War look small in comparison.”
Anders stopped short of calling for an outright boycott of the Olympics, but he did say no Canadian politician should attend the games, nor should any Canadian athletes be used as “propaganda tools.”
The president of the Chinese Professionals and Entrepreneurs Association of Calgary said he “totally disagreed” with the remarks comparing the Chinese and German Games.
“He’s gone too far,” said Hujun Li, who lives in Anders’ riding.
But Anders said he’s spoken with many Canadians of Chinese heritage who are frustrated with the Chinese government.
Anders’ Tory colleagues were tight-lipped about his remarks.
Calgary East MP Deepak Obhrai, who is parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said Anders was speaking as an individual and his comments are not reflective of government policy.
But New Democrat MP Pat Martin said comments like those made by Anders is why Prime Minister Stephen Harper keeps his MPs “muzzled.”
“When they open their mouths, out comes this sort of bombshell,” he said.
In Alberta, Calgary Tory MLA Teresa Woo-Paw disagreed with Anders, but called it a “complex” issue.
“He has the prerogative to state what he believes, but personally I don’t think they are the same,” said Woo-Paw, a board member of the Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary and an active participant in the Chinese community.
Anders has been a longtime supporter of Tibet.
In 2000, he showed up at a Chinese New Year celebration on Parliament Hill wearing a T-shirt that called for China to get out of Tibet. He was asked to leave.
Anders has been criticized before for controversial remarks. He once called former South African president Nelson Mandela a terrorist and a communist.
with files from Don Martin and Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=72d597f9-c2e5-4d3e-bf0c-1fb56a1f4f42
