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The Purple Rose of Darfur

Posted May 2, 2008 at 01:00 PM by Os Davis

Section: Beijing 2008, Culture/History, Socio-Political, Featured Writers, Os Davis

Torch relay logo Mia Farrow, of all people, becomes a key player in the Olympic protest movement with the delivery of a speech scheduled for Friday at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club. The subject of the talk is to be Sino-Sudanese relations and citizens’ rights in Darfur, an issue for which Farrow is an ardent activist and spokeswomen, and promises to “provide a key test of how free the Chinese territory is allowed to be while hosting the Olympic torch.”

Last Saturday, sculptor/activist Jens Galschiot and his sons were denied entry based on the known intent to protest the torch relay in the province. Galschiot is known locally as the creator of the Pillar of Shame, a memorial to the Tiananmen Square Massacre on the University of Hong Kong campus.

On Wednesday, the torch arrived; turned away were “several” activists which Hong Kong authorities reported had planned protests. Farrow has stated that she may join a torch relay protest.

The official word from immigration yesterday was, “The Hong Kong government will not comment on individual cases. The Immigration Department has the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control so as to ensure Hong Kong’s public interest. The department will handle all entry applications in accordance with the law and prevailing policy and having due regard to the individual circumstances.”

This morning in Hong Kong, Farrow was allowed admission into China on the proviso that she not participate in any protest.

As is fashion these days, media report on media coverage, with the Associated Press story on Farrow reporting that “AP Television News filmed Farrow as she arrived in Hong Kong on a flight from New York. After she stepped up to the immigration desk to have her passport stamped, an officer talked to her briefly and called over another official...” The blow by blow description is available here.

The torch will be run for 33 kilometers through Hong Kong by 120 torch-bearers and the marshaling forces of 3,000 police.

After leaving Hong Kong, the fabled run up Mount Qomolangma (a.k.a. Everest) will follow, but the date remains unknown. State meteorologist Yang Xingguo, who is tasked with providing the forecast for the torch’s ascent, stated in part that “There is also a distinctive diversity of weather modes between the south and north slopes of the Mt. Qomolangma, so it is really hard to predict precisely. I think at least it is impossible to scale the mountain in the next three days.”

Whenever it does go off, the Everest relay will be run in tandem with the ground-bound torch, whose relay will continue through August.