The day of the Olympics has arrived. A time when we all globally come together to celebrate the striving of the human spirit to obtain that glorious laurel wreath and a moment to don the metal medallion of regalia.

I personally am struggling with this celebratory event. How can we stand aside and just shut our eyes and ears to a country that has a long-standing track record of human oppression? Is it just because we like our sports and our gluttonous wanton of sporting events takes precedence over injustices? It is a travesty and a shameful fact that the United States as well as many other countries continue to be bedfellows with a government that rules by fear, force and tyranny. Not only against their own men, women and children but also upon the peaceful people of Tibet. It is hard for me to stomach as each day I pick up a materialistic item and see a made in "China" sticker.

This cycle we have been caught up in and the drudgery of indecency it has shown itself to be will be our own undoing. Western civilization doesn't want to work for a pauper’s percent to make the goods we consume. Western civilization doesn't want the menial task jobs- no we want only jobs that require us to sit on our fat backsides, punch keyboards and make a handsome income. So we outsource the intricate parts of our machinery, we outsource our sustenance to give us nourishment, we outsource to those who are but mere children slaving away for pennies a week.

We have created China... we have become the whore in a bed that produced Tiananmen Square and invaded Tibet in 1950. The Himalayan region, where Tibet lies, had been under its own governing power for centuries prior to Beijing’s invasion- yet even today the Dali Lama is in exile as nations join themselves under the guise of Olympian colored circles flying “free” in the wind of a land called China. China’s own people are not free to choose their religion, they are not free to choose their education, they are not free to release their media, they are not free to speak their own minds, they are trapped in a thunderous and monstrous dictatorship as the rest of us help feed this grotesque mockery of a government.

One may ask, “Oppressive governments abound and this has always been a problem. What in the world can I do?” It is true this world from the time humankind arose from the dust has striven to take what isn’t theirs to control, to rule, to dominate. According to Reporters Without Borders, who report annually on this, these are the Top 10 most oppressive nations listed in descending order:

1. Vietnam
2. China
3. Nepal
4. Cuba
5. Libya
6. Burma
7. Iran
8. Turkmenistan
9. Eritrea
10. North Korea

We can change this though. Transformation happens when one person at a time strives to make a difference in their corner. Be the pebble that creates the ripple, which becomes the wave to wash the human spirit in the baptism of freedom.

Find that you can’t live without your Olympics… then maybe you need a month’s vacation in a sweatshop and a taste of repression to change your mind. I for one though will not be joining the luminescent glow of electronic sparks this Olympic go around.

Now for the art:

In the Name of~

Love

Hate

Pride

Want

Desire

Fair

War

Justice

Religion

Faith

God

Humanity

Music

Innocence

Hope


Normally I am not a staunch advocate thumping my way through the streets with my hands and voice raised... this though I felt was needed. We are no longer a segregated people- we are a global entity and we must begin to take notice of our neighbor. Think of it this way- if I care for someone else and they care for someone else and so on... it all comes back to roost upon our own individual doorsteps. It is the circle of life. Shall we strengthen our bond or shall we burn it to damnation?

Please visit each artist that has contributed. Leave them a kind comment. Thank you- KLMT CGZ 2008 http:www.klmarsala.com

All works of art are copyrighted by their own individual owners. Words are copyrighted by KLMT CGZ 2008 No part of any or all may be used without written expressed permission from individual artists used or words written by KLMT CGZ 2008. This order of copyright falls under the Worldwide Copyright Protection Organizaton.