A logical continuation of yesterday’s blog entry by John Whitehead.
The Chinese record on Tibet is sickening, and has been since the initial invasion of 1950. But what’s more sickening is the willing complicity of those who rule us (legally and illegally, with or without our consent). And now that they have pretty well destroyed our economy and our dollar, they probably don’t dare say too much to the Chinese even if they wish to, because the one who pays the piper still chooses the tune, regardless of whatever pretense is universally agreed to.
From the online San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2008/03/21/notes032108.DTL
Friday, March 21, 2008 (SF Gate)
Note to China: Please Implode
Could the Olympics rain down shame on Chinese oppression and Tibet abuses? Let’s hope
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
I hope it all comes crashing down on their heads.
Is that wrong? Is it ill-minded and somehow unfair to wish that the
Chinese government’s notorious record of human rights abuses and
absolutely horrid treatment of Tibet be exposed to the world–and
the Chinese people themselves–to the point where it is shamed and
humiliated and perhaps even forced by unprecedented international scrutiny
to upheave its oppressive ways and improve conditions and even (heaven
forfend) honor religious and political freedom within its borders? No, I
do not think it is.
Let me admit outright: I am no expert on Chinese-Tibetan relations. I do
not know the full histories, the deeper conflicts, the enormous
prejudices, the religious oppression that goes back decades and
generations.
But I do know something of Tibet, of the Dalai Lama, of his unadorned
messages of peace and love. And I know something of Tibetan Buddhism, of
China’s abduction of the true Panchen Lama, of the brutal oppression and
the massacres and the cultural genocide, the forced relocation of Han
Chinese into Tibetan holy land, of the Tibetan’s peaceful rallies and
chanting and nonviolence, all contrasted with images of jackbooted Chinese
riot police stomping on the heads of protesters marching in the street.
And I know whom I tend to believe when I read “unconfirmed” reports of
soldiers firing on Tibetan protesters, of dead bodies in the streets of
Lhasa, of tanks rolling through crowds and hundreds of students arrested,
Tibetan monasteries being locked down and Tibet again under martial law,
all media cut off, all access denied, as sour and rather vile hardline
Communist leader Zhang Qingli steps up to a microphone and calls the Dalai
Lama — perhaps the gentlest, kindest human soul on the face of the
planet — a “wolf in monk’s robes, a devil with a human face but the
heart of a beast.” Yes, I think I know where the truth lies.
It doesn’t take much. Truly, you don’t need to see many photos of, say, a
black-clad Chinese riot cop raising a huge, four-foot stick over his head
with both hands and running straight at a praying, barefoot, red-robed
Tibetan monk–a monk who is facing the other way and who is merely
walking humbly on a protest march–ready to whale that stick down
on the monk’s humble head, it does not take many photos like that to wish
a deep and profound ill upon the government that promotes such aggression.
You don’t even need to be reminded of Tiananmen Square, or of all the
ongoing crackdowns on students and dissidents and journalists, the torture
and torment of humble Falun Gong practitioners or even the harsh control
of Chinese Christians to know that the few images and stories of brutality
and oppression that do trickle out are just the tip of a very ugly, bloody
iceberg.
So then, this is the profound wish, the hope for this upcoming Olympic
Games, held in a country run by an oppressive dictatorship, a country
brutally divided between new wealth and extreme poverty, eager to be taken
seriously as a new global superpower and also a country never before so
open to cameras and reporters from around the globe: May your human rights
atrocities be exposed. May your violence against peace-loving Tibetans be
shamed. May we honor and respect China’s culture and history even as your
government’s nauseating attacks on peace and intellectual freedom are
revealed like the appalling cancer they so very much are.
Is that fair to hope? Sure as hell seems like it.
But here’s the catch: It ain’t gonna come from the United States. Hell,
NBC’s Olympic coverage is traditionally so slick and safe and cheesy and
jingoistic it borders on nauseating, not to mention how NBC is wholly
owned by General Electric and all coverage will be sponsored by companies
like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s and Johnson & Johnson, companies that
largely adore China’s cheap labor and most of whom would happily turn a
blind eye to a pile of dead Tibetans if it meant a foothold in the
exploding Chinese economy.
Put another way: The odds of Bob Costas cutting away from hyping our cute
perky Coke-drinking gymnastics team to show a shocking image of a dead
monk lying in the street of Lhasa? About one in a billion.
What’s more, America’s not exactly a saint when it comes to human rights
ourselves. Our own president endorses torture. We still have the death
penalty. We have had atrocious foreign prisons and sinister Homeland
Security and illegal wiretapping and the Patriot Act and a vice president
who would gladly shoot a war protester in the face just to buy a gallon of
milk.
And it’s also worth mentioning that China (along with Japan) owns a simply
staggering portion of America’s reeling debt, Chinese banks having
basically floated the United States over $1 trillion to keep President
Bush’s nightmare economy afloat. Oh yes, Dubya will be there at the games,
cheering and waving a little flag and holding hands with Premier Wen
Jiabao and mispronouncing everyone’s name. Wonder twin powers, activate!
But the “good” news is, China’s leaders already seem to be getting a bit
desperate, having been caught off guard by the widespread uprisings and
protests happening now across the world. The premier has already accused
the Dalai Lama of trying to sour the Olympics by inciting violence, which
is a bit like Dick Cheney accusing a butterfly of murder.
But these comments also reveal a curious and telling thing about China’s
leaders, normally so controlled, so removed from the intense gaze of
international media: They don’t realize how utterly absurd and offensive
they sound to the world audience. Nor do they seem to know the true power
of the Internet, of the vagaries of global coverage, of what Olympic-sized
media attention could reveal in the coming months. They never had to care.
Until now.
Indeed, it will likely very much be up to the foreign press and foreign
leaders, or perhaps even the athletes and visiting celebrities themselves,
to speak out, to crack the armor further, really get the media’s
attention. Already some foreign leaders are considering a “mini boycott”
of the opening ceremonies, which would be a huge insult to China. It’s a
start.
Could it all unravel for China’s dictatorship? Maybe. The vast majority of
Olympics coverage will be hugely positive, upbeat, every outlet in a swoon
for the “New China,” all glittery and whimsical and shiny and culturally
rich, as this extraordinary new superpower puts on its best, most modern
face for the world.
But somehow, among all the thousands of reporters and news agencies and
bloggers covering the games, a handful might have the nerve to sneak
outside the carefully guarded press boxes and Olympic stadiums and find a
way to report on the real atrocities, the real abuses, and beam them to
the astonished world like never before. Can we hope for that? Let the
games begin.
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