HONG KONG – On May 2, the mishap-prone Olympic torch run, behind its barricade of local police and mainland guards, will reach the streets here. Then too many people may forget what’s really important.

The Olympic Games create an entertaining spectacle and sometimes build global goodwill. But compared to struggles for survival and justice, they’re insignificant.

Tibet’s long resistance to China’s heavy-handed rule is a matter of life-and-death, one that deserves global attention at every opportunity. Protestors along the torch-run routes have acted with legitimate fervor.

China’s bloody crackdown on student protesters, killing hundreds, likely thousands, in the infamous Beijing Massacre on June 4, 1989, still stains the country’s reputation. The Communist dictatorship fails to realize that this blood splattered on its hands doesn’t wash away, not even after 19 years and with help from Olympic athletes.

Beijing still imprisons dissidents, the people most determined to denounce unfairness and corruption. For nine years, China has persecuted, jailed and tortured members of the Falun Gong, a peaceful group intent on tranquil exercise and meditation. The Falun Gong had gained popularity, staged a few protests and triggered paranoid fear in the Communist Party.

Despite the waves of Games-related propaganda rippling across China, it’s the Tibet issue, the Beijing Massacre and the treatment of dissidents, including the Falun Gong, that best expose China’s true nature and how it’s governed. The Olympics can’t deliver the wide respect that China’s leaders and people crave. That comes only by accepting human rights, like free speech, real elections and independent media.

Why not turn away from the Beijing Olympics? As much as possible, ignore them.

What better way to demonstrate what’s really important?

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