There are layers of irony surrounding the protests over China's occupation of Tibet and the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing that would make an onion envious. From the signs that read "Free Tibet" to the fact that China was even awarded the Olympic Games in the first place it's hard to know where to even start. What do people have in mind when they demand a free Tibet? What were the International Olympic Committee (IOC) thinking when they awarded a country that depends on slave labour and has one of the world's worst human rights records in the world the Olympic Games?
The Dalai Lama has captured the imaginations of people in the West for the past few decades in the way that no other spiritual leader, except maybe the last Pope, has been able to. He is welcomed in nation's capitals the world over, and people of all faiths hang onto his every world as if he has some particular insight into the human condition that everyone else has missed. Supposedly, he is the reincarnation of a previous Dalai Lama, and was anointed as such when he was a young child by the hierarchy within the Tibetan Buddhist priesthood.
The royal families of Europe use to have this quaint notion call the Divine Right of Kings, (and Queens). Since they were God's appointed rulers of their country's they were above reproach from lesser beings, like their subjects, and their word was law. Who, after all, could gainsay them if God had put their buts on the throne. That was all very well and good as long as the majority of a country's population remained downtrodden, and dependant on their feudal lord for survival.
Once the economic picture started to change and a middle class of educated and monied people started to emerge, people weren't willing to buy that line anymore. Kings and Queens were reduced to being merely human and lost most of their authority. That doesn't mean there aren't countries in the world that are either theocracies or ruled by someone who considers themselves a divine ruler. Prior to the Chinese invasion in 1950, Tibet was one of those countries.
What freedoms are people demanding so vociferously on behalf of Tibetans exactly? The freedom to revert back to being the feudal theocracy they were prior to the Chinese invasion? Where every man, woman, and child who was not part of the priesthood spent their lives in servitude to the monks. Much as in feudal Europe the labour of many was used to sustain a select few who claimed that God had selected them to rule.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Hello Dalai
Um, China does not depend on slave labor for its economic success.
Otherwise, an interesting commentary.
2 - Zheng
Well I'm from China. But the bad things you said about China don't piss me off at all. Actually this is the best article I've ever seen after what happened in Tibet in March.
Totally agree that among all the constructive pressures they can impose upon China, the whole western world has chosen the most meaningless one.
Actually I've been to Tibet myself and I've seen a lot of local people. The living standard there is way above what it was 50 years ago. But those exile monks who've lost previleges during the economic development process prefer to call this "cultural genocide". Well that's irratating, after all the tax that the chinese government spent in that region, but understandable. They don't own any slave any more they should be pissed off. But the western media, along with their governments seem to favor that phrase and that cause. Well that looks weird.
Well come to think of it, i'm pretty sure the western people are no fool at all. They do this for a reason.
And I think that reason is the only missing piece in this insightful article. Otherwise everything said in here is just perfect.
3 - Dave Nalle
I think I can see where this is going, Richard. You lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Or more to the point, make servile excuses for the Chinese and their shills will stop in to pat you on the back.
Dave
4 - Horatio
I agree with Richard.
If Western activists really want to "force" China to change, they have to quit their own corporate jobs and stop buying corporate goods.
Otherwise, they are just spending corporate salaries to protest.
In the end, it's all just feeding corporate sponsorship of China.
Not that I would suggest boycott of the corporations. (A more direct analogous way would be self-immolation). Ie. burn yourself to make a point. But I doubt Western Activists are that fanatical.
5 - nodragon
Well, crying out for a free Tibet is a just cause,also it clearly points out what you call the real problems in the country. I as a Tibetan will be more than happy to live under a Tibetan Theacratic rule eating Tsampa rather than the chinese communist rule who are used to eating everything that moves, moreover our govt. in exile is well based on democracy. i can not deny that i really liked your critical thinking.
As for my chinese friend i would ask, who are you to pass judgements on Tibetan lives? What was the living standards of chinese people like before 50 years? In these 50 yrs. the living standard of the world has improved, surprised? We will make the same improvements with or without the chinese, although 99 percent of tibetan people will be happier without the Chinese. Ok. i will teach you chinese a way of thinking, think of yourself as world citize and not as chinese, this will lessen your arrogance, self pity, false pride and what not.
6 - Moe Bius
"Who are you to pass judgment on Tibetan lives?" Well, who are you to criticize the Chinese for "eating everything that moves"?
Racist comments like that certainly don't help the Tibetan cause.
7 - Jax O'Toole
Only comment I can make is that, if we really want to defend the Tibetan cause, why boycott only the Olympics, and not all products made in China? Ok, this would entail living without a lot of appliances, clothes, food, technology...
8 - zingzing
um, moe... the chinese do eat just about anything. and they make it taste good too. i ate a duck's asshole over there. and the things that make fish float. that was some gooooood shit. wonderful. that's the best thing about the chinese diet...
as for the article, richard does make a good point. what would life be like in a free tibet? i figure it's worth trying out, if that's what the people of tibet want.
sadly, the chinese gov't is really good at getting what they want. and flouting their methods all over the place without consequence. it's ridiculous what they get away with. sound familiar?
9 - Dave Nalle
It's my impression that the reason Tibet is such a hot issue is that a coterie of latter-day hippies nad Buddhist converts place a special emphasis on Tibet as a sort of holy land and that they are the ones trying to direct attention to it as a particular issue. Lord knows there are plenty of other reasons to object to letting China host the olympics, but we give them so many unmerited concessios, what is one more? How is this any different from letting them or other human rights abusers sit on the UN human rights council?
Dave
10 - holla
i do not like when people are racist to the chinese
11 - Zheng
It's me again. I'm here to respond to my Tibetan friend.
As a freedom lover who's spent more than 20 years under Chinese Communist Party's rule, I hate Chinese Government for a LOT of reasons, but apparently not including "eating everything that moves". Why not? Because they don't. Who gives you the idea that it's what every Chinese does to eat? Well China is huuuge and anything could happen in SOME part of the country. And I can assure you that people with this uncomfortable preference is definitely a minority in China.
Please, do some background research before making an accusation. It's good for both you and me.
Or perhaps you've known this already? Oops you made a mistake on purpose? Well I don't know but that explains a lot.
12 - Baronius
It's easier to look at what a country is doing to a neighboring country. A person can argue about how a government responds to its own people. It's tougher to defend what a government does to people in another country.
Dave's right; Tibet has a mystique that appeals to Americans. So does the cause of the people in Sudan - note that Spielberg bowed out of the Olympic ceremonies because of that. But to look at the oppression within China is terrifying. It's too big. A BILLION people deprived of basic rights, subject to torture and murder on the government's whim. How do you even start to think about it?
13 - Dan Miller
The most important question for me is not what China is doing in Tibet -- although I must confess to a preference for those in Tibet who are resisting Chinese pressures, or what the people in China eat or do not eat.
It is what China is apparently doing in other countries, such as England, not vassals of China, to silence protesters as the Olympic torch makes its grand progress to the Olympic Venue.
The following article just appeared, and relates how "thugs" sent from China for the purpose have taken over "security" to protect the progress of the torch and the reputation of China.
This sort of thing is very bad for China, the free world, and for relationships between the two. It is getting out of hand, and the consequences should it continue may well be horrific.
Dan Miller
14 - Zheng
To Dan,
I really need to say that I admire your ability of choice of words, along with that of the guy who wrote the article that you referred. I, whose English does not come as the first language will never have the chance to catch up.
But I do know what "thug" means and, to be totally honest, I don't really like it.
First of all, could you please explain how on earth they "silenced" the protesters? As far as I'm aware of, protesters are all over the world and as long as they don't come up and try to snatch the torch, there will be no direct contact between the "men in blue" and the protesters. The protesters could shout anything they want and they can get all the media coverage and the pity from all around the world and there's just no way some 30 guys could stop that. Sorry, maybe my English is too poor, I just don't understand how the word "silence" came up.
And obviously, the "thugs" have not taken over the security, at least not yet. Here's the video of what happened in London.
If you look at it really careful, maybe you'll agree that the writer of your article might be a little bit careless, since it was the British police who "wrestled the protester(s) to the ground"(5th paragragh of the article).
OK, maybe I'm too stupid to get anything straight, but I'm gonna tell you my judgement of right or wrong anyway.
There is the right of protesting and they did not stop anybody from protesting peacefully.
And it's just not right to attempt to extinguish the torch for any reason (don't believe it? ask the police who's protecting the torch), so they tried to protect it.
Last but not the least, so far there is no jurisdiction issue since they have not in any act on behave of law. No handcuffing, no arresting and all.
Again, I'm really not in favor of Chinese Government in any way. But I do have a dream, that everybody could just tell the fact as it is, without manipulating the rhetoric, without using words that could be very much misleading.
Ever since the unrest in Tibet, there has already been a lot of mutual resentment going on between the Chinese and the western people without twisting the stories. I, as a Chinese living in the US, really don't want to see it escalated.
If we really do anything wrong, just say it. We really appreciate it. But, please, no trick.
15 - Dan Miller
Zheng,
I wasn't there and have no personal knowledge of what happened. The news reports suggest that the "thugs" behaved in, at best, a culturally insensitive way. Here is one link you may find interesting.
I wrote an article about these things in Blogcritics, which you may also find interesting. It is here.
Dan
16 - K T Ong
Richard, you've said for me absolutely everything I would ever have wanted to say regarding China, Tibet and the Olympics. Thank you so much! Seems we're pretty much of the same wavelength!
17 - Clavos
Dan,
You've probably surmised by now that the Chinese are very adept at setting out search bots for articles involving the C-word.
About a year and a half ago, we had an article that only peripherally involved China, but which attracted enormous attention and hundreds of comments from there.
It'll be interesting to see how long this thread lasts...
18 - Dan Miller
Clavos,
"This is the way the thread ends;
This is the way the thread ends;
Not with a bang but a whimper."
Dan
19 - Clavos
Hmm, Dan,
I hope I didn't jinx your thread...
20 - Dan Miller
Clavos,
It wasn't my thread; it was that other guy who wrote about the Olympic stuff.
Dan
21 - peace
To Lord Dave,
Anyone who has a different opinion with you will be a shill of bad guy? Anyone has same (or shame) opinion with you will be the stand of justice, not a member of gang at all?
22 - Dr Dreadful
Peace,
Yes, basically, that's Dave to a tee!
23 - peace
to nodragon:
more interested in your choice in detail: you want to be a slave or slave master in your wished Tibet?
24 - Clavos
@ # 20:
Oops!!!
[Tiptoes sheepishly back to the other thread...]
25 - Zedd
Richard,
Since things have gone astray... [Thanks a lot Clav] may I ask, why the subversive stance? Why an iconoclast?? Have you no value for the effort that has been put forth over the millennia by humanity. Symbols and institutions are monuments to our efforts to organize and create. Outside of the imagery, they serve to stabilize society, create a foundation, order and meaning. What's wrong with that?