World Champion Surfer, Women's Activist Boycotts China

Dharamshala: - In an effort to raise awareness about human rights issues in China, the reigning Women's World Longboard Surfing Champion Cori Schumacher recently took a drastic step in deciding to boycott the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Longboard Tour this year.

One of the events will be taking place on Hainan Island in China and when Schumacher, an avid women's rights activist, received the invitation for the event, which would be subsidised by the Chinese government she was faced with a dilemma, "I felt like I had two choices: I could go with my reservations and wear a 'Free Tibet' shirt. Or, I could stand up for what I believe in and hopefully call more attention to these issues through a boycott," she told the Del Mar Times.

Schumacher pointed out that the decision to host the 2011 World Tour in China, "followed an important US congressional hearing on China's 'One Child Policy,' a policy sanctioned by the Chinese government that is implicated in gendercide, sexual slavery, forced sterilization and forced abortions." wrote lifesitenews.com.

In her much lauded career as a long-board surfer Schumacher has chosen not to be sponsored but rather work a regular 9-5 job to support herself in order to be able to speak her mind without contractual restrictions. Women's Rights Without Frontiers (WRWF), a human rights group that focuses on China, applauded Schumacher for her decision, calling her a woman of "tremendous courage, conviction and backbone - a shining light not only to female athletes, but to all women who are struggling for basic human dignity, all over the world."