Protests in Tibet

rajiveanand

Will check it tom'w.

R.

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dzibead

dzibead raises her hand. Also referring to the Dalai Lama as just "the Dalai" -- really grates. Of course, Tibetans don't usually use the term "Dalai Lama" when referring to him, either, except when speaking English to non-Tibetans. Instead, they use "Gyalwa Rinpoche" or "Kundun".

Parenti's piece is not well-informed or well-researched history; it's just, as one commentator on the Schei article said, "blinkered ideology." His focus on the Marxist class struggle stuff just completely misses the point. Tibetans don't think their country was either Shangri-La before the Chinese take-over, or a living hell, and they certainly didn't need to be colonized by the Chinese in order to solve whatever social and economic problems they had (and we see how well that colonization has worked out for the Tibetans, don't we?) Tibetans they aren't longing for a return to "old Tibet" (whatever that was), but they do want their own country back and they want to maintain their own cultural identity and their most profound "selfhood". They definitely want the Chinese to get the hell out. If the Chinese "liberated the serfs", why are so many of them dying (literally) to escape the armed camp that is now Tibet and the predominantly ethnic Tibetan areas outside the T.A.R.? I don't care what people think "old Tibet" was like - nothing - nothing - justifies China's imperialistic aggression against Tibet (and East Turkestan, and Mongolia ...), and that's exactly what it was and is, which is ironic given China's own obsession with resisting Western imperialism.


Everything Schrei says in his critique of Parenti's article is consistent with my experience of Tibetans (both from inside Tibet and from the exile community) and their attitude toward preserving their own political and cultural identity. Anyone who wants to get a fairly balanced (neither starry-eyed about "old Tibet" as Shangri-La nor venomous about it as a hell on earth for serfs) history of Tibet, that is very well-researched and well-informed, would do well to read something like Melvyn Goldstein's exhaustive two-volume history of modern Tibet rather than the likes of Parenti, or (shudder) Tom Grunfeld, who is just an embarassment (how that guy can hold an academic position is beyond me). Also well worth reading, especially for anyone interested in Marxism and Tibet, is the autobiography of Phuntsok Wangyal: A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phüntso Wangye .

Shiver me Timbers

Here in Ireland, there's been a bit of a fuss kicked up in the past couple of days, after the leader of of the Green Party condemned China's recent actions at the Green Party convention (the Greens are currently in the government here).

Check it out....

Chinese Ambassador walks out on Gormley

Gormley defends comments on Tibet

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Sama

http://www.jewelheart.org/pdf/2008/NY_Times_4-9-09.pdf


"The Torch and Freedom -
After facing major protests in London and Paris as the Olympic torch makes its way to Beijing, the Chinese government is said to be looking for a public relations firm to patch up China's image before the 2008 Games in August. In the spirit of the Olympic ideals, we are prepared to help China -free of charge....

Here's what you do.....

....China has only itself to blame for messing up its coming-out party."

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sama: Pali/Sanskrit: that state of consciousness which reflects neither attachment nor aversion

Nick-H

Ha! The very fact that a PR firm is involved makes people know something is wrong! That'll make it worse.


I wish Doonesbury was covering this --- but GT must be on holiday, as they are running repeats at the moment.

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vistet

That´s a wildly unfair way to present a perfectly logical position.The Chinese have inherited the role of the Mongol empire , and will settle for the land they controlled : Tibet . And Burma . And Korea and Lithuania , and the land in between .

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ind_pal

Maybe it was a bit unfair to the Chinese. You're probably nearer the mark.

Their position may even be that, any land that a Chinaman has ever set foot upon.

Dilliwala

Well, if they can come out with statements like "The Indian Ocean is not India's Ocean".........

Hmm, listening posts in the Coco Islands? Building a port in Baluchistan?

I reckon it's time we made moves in and on the South China Sea.

Munivar

^ and maybe a few nukes to Taiwan while we are at it.

Won't be the first time somebody proliferated to a breakaway province with a blood feud.

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chAos

Late entry to the thread, but here's this: The Dalai Lama was (is still?) in Seattle recently and there was a pro-China protest. I don't think it's on the website, but one of the signs being carried actually said "Dalai Lama, where is your compassion for the Olympic Torch?" !!!!

Dilliwala

And two Seattle-walas posting consecutively! What are the chances of that?

chAos

Clearly we've just had our coffee and are avoiding actual work...

Dilliwala

capt_mahajan

Avoiding work. Then go to the needle for the view

chAos

hmmm, there might just be one today ... not too grey. Hey, you know, now you can even see the view on a rainy day; they have monitors/screens that show what the view would look like if the sun were shining.
Besides, if we went, we'd then have to admit we're avoiding work. shhhhh....