10 Comments

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  Kwaabish at 10:49 AM JST - 26th March

  I love it. The CCP is even censoring and blacking out ther protests overseas to assure the Chinese public that all is well...

  I hope the public is not oblivious to all the negative PR that China is subjecting itself to...

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  tashidelek at 11:20 AM JST - 26th March

  China dont feel shame Because China is big tero country,do china know What is Human no THR in A Tibetan woman covered in fake blood was also seen running out on the road, while others nearby chanted, ‘‘Free Tibet.’’I dont see it World of TERO organizing Olympic Would you support Beijing Olympics because of China's crackdown in Tibet no Soon China's crackdown in the world Because of waters you will see soon no joks OPEN your eye...

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  adaydream at 02:00 PM JST - 26th March

  "win people’s hearts" ha!!

  The People's Heart is the communist govt.

  I don't think a few thousand Tibetian protesters will change anything.

  But at least with the internet, people will hear about it.

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  SuperLib at 02:59 PM JST - 26th March

  I figured most people here would be on board with China's brutal enforcement of "relative stability." Maybe back when we were young it would be unacceptable, but this is 2008. I haven't even heard anyone make the case that Tibetans are "ready" for independence from China yet.

  If there's anything we've learned in the past few years it's that dictators have their good points. Freedom and democracy aren't for everyone. Who says Tibet should be any different?

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  Betzee at 11:06 PM JST - 26th March

  ARE THE TIBETANS doomed to go the way of the American Indians? Will they be reduced to being little more than a tourist attraction, peddling cheap mementos of what was once a great culture? In Tibet itself, that sad fate is looking more and more likely. And the Olympic year is already soured by the way the Chinese government is trying to suppress resistance to just that fate.

  The Chinese have much to answer for, but the end of Tibet is not just a matter of semi-colonial oppression. It is often forgotten that many Tibetans, especially educated people in the larger towns, were so keen to modernize their society in the mid-20th century that they saw the Chinese communists as allies against rule by monks and serf-owning landlords. The Dalai Lama himself, in the early 1950s, was impressed by Chinese reforms and wrote poems praising Chairman Mao.

  Alas, instead of reforming Tibetan society and culture, the Chinese communists wrecked it...If Tibetan Buddhism has been severely damaged, Chinese communism has barely survived the ravages of the 20th century. But capitalist development in China has been even more devastating to Tibetan tradition. Like many modern imperialist powers, China claims legitimacy for its policies by pointing to the material benefits. After decades of destruction and neglect, Tibet has benefited from enormous amounts of Chinese money and energy to modernize the country. The Tibetans cannot complain that they have been left behind in China's transformation from a Third World wreck to a marvel of supercharged urban development....

  The Chinese have exported their version of modern development to Tibet, not just in terms of architecture and infrastructure but people, wave after wave of them: businessmen from Sichuan, prostitutes from Hunan, technocrats from Beijing, party officials from Shanghai, shopkeepers from Yunnan. The majority of the people living today in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, are no longer Tibetan. Most people in rural areas are Tibetan, but their way of life is not likely to survive Chinese modernization any more than the ways of the Apaches did in the United States....

  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-buruma26mar26,0,7225447.story

  Glyph, your comments on the other thread anticipated this Op-Ed piece. The protests are, to a large extent, a way for Tibetans to vent frustration with these changes, evident in the number of bars and brothels within a stone's throw of the Potala Palace, and the second-class status which they have reinforced.

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  adaydream at 02:43 AM JST - 27th March

  The Tibetians are trying to stand up and take a stand, tell China and the World that they want their independence. Not unlike the states that used to be a part of the USSR and are now independence countries, i.e., Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldavia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States.

  The Tibetians have watched other countries through out the world in recent history get their independence, whether they expressed a want for it or not.

  We saw what happened in Tiananmen Square in China in 1989. If the world doesn't raise it's head and say something before it happens, there will be 1,000s if not 1,000,000s of deaths.

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  tako10 at 03:47 AM JST - 27th March

  There is no perfect political system for any people, but nothing is worse than the current CCP’s dictatorship over Tibet. The CCP removed Dali Lama from the Potala Palace, and they make the Potala Palace the most prominent place of tourist attraction in Tibet rather than a place of worship. Imagine if the Archbishop of Canterbury was kicked out from the Church of England by the CCP. Thanks to the investment of the CCP, the number of tourist come to the Canterbury Cathedral was skyrocketed, and the British has to vent frustration with these changes.

  I think it is absolutely inappropriate to compare those communists with the Americans who removed Saddam Hussein from Iraq.

  I also do not think Tibetans should immediately adopt democracy. How long did it take for the British to achieve universal suffrage? I think Tibetans should take enough time to be ready for democracy. Asian democracies such as Taiwan, South Korea, and recently Bhutan took a long time until they become ready for democracy. In my opinion, the Tibetans should follow their path.

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  adaydream at 03:58 AM JST - 27th March

  At the current pace, it'll never get it's independence. People haver to start grassroots efforts in Tibet, they have to get the peoples of Tibet to start talking freedom.

  I applaud their efforts. Many will die because they want their freedom from China. But many died in the independence of this country. Many freedom seekers had to stand up and fight. Tibetians will ahve to do that, in the end. Their freedom won't be given to them.

  No, they aren't ready to take their independence today, but tomorrow looks a little better.....

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  Betzee at 10:55 AM JST - 27th March

  "The CCP removed Dali Lama from the Potala Palace, and they make the Potala Palace the most prominent place of tourist attraction in Tibet rather than a place of worship."

  In fact he fled himself. The monks are chafing under political oppression which restricts their right to practice their religion. Savvy-Tibetan exiles have gotten pictures of them out for the world to see which counter the images circulated by the Chinese government of the destruction caused by looters. Those who engaged in violence and destruction are probably less motivated by political oppression per se than angry about their status in a tourist economy where their culture is hawked to leisure travellers.

  Tibet has long drawn Western tourists, mainly of the backpacker variety (since older tourists have a harder time adjusting to the altitude). Now it's attracting Chinese, particularly honeymooning couples. This has created "tourist prop" jobs in which Tibetans dress in traditional garb and pose for pictures as "the exotic other" with the cell phone set from Beijing in front of a fake landscape.

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  tako10 at 05:49 AM JST - 28th March

  Betzee - Thank you for your kind correction and additional information. I understand those Chinese wounded are victims too, especially those who happened to be there for honeymoon. My wife is Chinese American, and I have knowledge that one of the largest constituents of the supporters of Dali Lama and Tibetans are also Han Chinese. For now, I just hope the CCP will do something drastic to change the current situation for the better. Probably China needs new leadership instead of President Hu Jintao who is the champion of oppressing minorities.

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