My name is Tilly Lavenás, and I have absolutely no credentials for telling people what they should do. I'm merely a long-time Amnesty International member who has grown increasingly alarmed at the way the Chinese government flouts human rights. (I do want to emphasize, however, that this is a non-Amnesty-affiliated site.) There are individual websites dedicated to Tibet, to Darfur and to media freedom. Yet I found none that revealed the full extent of Chinese oppression. I decided to create www.beijingolympicsboycott.com so that people can make an informed choice about whether to go to this year's games or not.

Like many people, I was appalled when Beijing was awarded the Olympics bid. But I quickly realized that we can turn this into an opportunnity to put pressure on the Chinese government. Perhaps it could draw attention to the dreadful state of human rights in China and the regime's support for tyranny abroad. We can urge our politicians to ask some tough questions about China's ongoing abuses. Some have already spoken out. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico said the United States should boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics if China does not agree to help end the conflict in Darfur. Former Democratic presidential candidate and Senator John Edwards backs the idea as do Congressional Representatives Maxine Walters and Dana Rohrabacher, both from California.

I hope this website and blog are only the beginning of a dialog about human rights in China. Please let me hear what you think!