Petitioners seeking redress for alleged government abuses have questioned in a letter to lawmakers whether China’s Communist government is ‘civilized’ enough to stage the Beijing Olympics, a watchdog group said on Friday.At least one person who helped organize the open letter has been seized by police after its release, according to China Human Rights Defenders, an international network of activists and rights monitoring groups.“Petitioners like us whose human rights have been abused and are unable to find help, we think: If a country can’t even protect basic human rights, then obviously it is not a civilized and modern country,” said the letter, addressed to members of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber stamp legislature, which convenes next week for its annual session.“The Olympic Games are supposed to be a competition with civilized rules and civilized people. Countries lacking the spirit of modern civilization do not meet the qualifications to participate,” the letter said.A copy of the letter was posted on the Web site of the Epoch Times, a newspaper banned in China. It was not known whether it was delivered to any Chinese officials.A growing number of activist groups have sought to leverage China’s determination to stage a successful Olympics to shame the host country into changing its policies on human rights, press freedoms and diplomacy. The government has angrily denounced what it calls attempts to “politicise” the games.
