Blog comment #8 posted by Will Shetterly Author Profile Page, March 16, 2008
10:56 AM
For anyone who wants to understand the complexities, I highly
recommend two articles that are very critical of both sides:
From the Atlantic Monthly, Tibet Through Chinese Eyes. http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99feb/tibet.htm
And Michael Parenti's Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth. http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html
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The Black Power Olympic protests: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute
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Maybe the solution would be to start a worldwide movement for the citizens of
the world to rename China, Tibet.
Anytime someone uses the name China in any context they insert Tibet in place
of it. That might solve a lot of problems.
- LL (there are many interesting comments (64 so far, most pro Tibet)
following the main article in this Blog entry)
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Tibet: China blocks YouTube, protests spread, bloggers react http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/16/tibet-china-blocks-y.html
Posted by Xeni Jardin, March 16, 2008 9:50 AM | permalink
* According to Shanghaiist (and now, mainstream news outlets), YouTube was blocked in China over the weekend, likely
because of content related to the flood of pro-Tibetan-sovereignty protests in Tibet and elsewhere:
http://shanghaiist.com/2008/03/15/youtube_gfwed_a.php
International news channels such as CNN and BBC are also getting routinely blacked out. While we think this is a
really poor way to deal with all the shit that's going on, we have been there many, many times, and survived. Time to
turn on your VPN again, people! An
For those living in the West who didn't realize that there's little sympathy for Tibet independence among ethnic
Chinese in the PRC, this blog post on Global Voices
(http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/03/14/china-fire-on-the-streets-of-lhasa/) will be a shocker. John Kennedy has
translated chatter from Chinese blogs and chatrooms that generally runs along the lines of: those ungrateful minorities,
we give them modern conveniences and look how they thank us... where have we heard this before? Reuters has a roundup
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031500633.html) on the Washington Post that
begins: "a look at Chinese blogs reveals a vitriolic outpouring of anger and nationalism directed against Tibetans and
the West." (...)
* On Friday, protest in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, erupted into violence when police, army troops, and ethnic Tibetan
demonstrators clashed. Some accounts place the death toll at 30, some at 100, some at 300. It's hard to separate rumor
from truthful first-hand account, and hard to know exactly how many have been killed or injured, because communication
in the region is so difficult. Foreign journalists are not allowed in, unaccompanied by official escorts. Internet and
phone communications are routinely blocked by Chinese authorities when unrest occurs; some blogging tourists in Lhasa
wanting to upload photos of what they witnessed have reported the presence of authorities inside 'net cafes.
Pro-Tibetan-sovereignty sites like TCHRD (http://www.tchrd.org/), SFT (http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/), and
Phayul (http://phayul.com/) are posting first-person accounts online. Some of those reports are difficult to
independently confirm, given the circumstances. The website of the Central Tibetan Administration (part of the
government in exile, led by the Dalai Lama, based in India) posts this update.
(http://www.tibet.net/en/flash/2008/0308/16A0308.html)
Demonstrations erupted for the second consecutive day in the city of Xiahe in Gansu Province, where an estimated
4,000 Tibetans gathered near the Labrang Monastery. Local monks had held a smaller protest on Friday, but the
confrontation escalated Saturday afternoon, according to witnesses and Tibetans in India who spoke with protesters by
telephone.
Residents in Xiahe, reached by telephone, heard loud noises similar to gunshots or explosions. A waitress described
the scene as “chaos” and said many injured people had been sent to a local hospital.
* China's government has declared a "people's war" against the Tibetan independence movement
(http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSP10739920080316), in "propaganda and security" measures, and has
implemented what amounts to martial law in Lhasa.
"Fight a people's war to oppose separatism and protect stability ... expose and condemn the malicious actions of
these forces and expose the hideous face of the Dalai clique to broad daylight," senior regional and security officials
announced after a meeting, according to the official Tibet Daily on Sunday.
''Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place,'' said the Dalai Lama,
the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. He was referring to China's policy of encouraging the ethnic Han majority to
migrate to Tibet, restrictions on Buddhist temples and re-education programs for monks.
I am visiting Beijing on business, and staying at a hotel that caters to Westerners. There have been reports that
China was loosening controls on the media ahead of the Olympic games, in order to give visitors the impression that the
media is unrestricted, but that is not the case in the last day.
While watching CNN in my hotel room, the station goes dark during the top-of-the-hour news flash on the riots, then
returns when the synopsis of "what's to come" is given about other stories, and then goes dark again while the coverage
switches to Lhasa.
Coverage returns with the anchor asking users to send in their first-hand reports to ireport.com, after all mention
of the incident is over. Same results for BBC as well.
The China Daily newspaper I grabbed from the lounge has a small article on the bottom of the front page, titled
"Dalai Lama behind sabotage", and states that his "clique" has "organized, premeditated, and masterminded" the beatings,
looting, and arson, which "has aroused the indignation of, and is strongly condemned by, the people of all ethnic groups
in Tibet."