Olympic torch protests in Paris, San Francisco, and now New Delhi are getting wide media attention and are captivating the world's attention. However the question that interests me is not whether Tibet should be its own country. My own political convictions aside, I think the answer depends on who you ask. Rather, the question people should be asking is -
are the torch relay protests helping or hurting the cause of Tibetan independence?I believe the protests are
hurting the Tibetan cause. The struggle for Tibet is one that ongoing for a half century and has included the suppression of numerous uprisings and has involved significant bloodshed on both sides. In this context the worldwide protests that have been occurring in recent weeks in response to the violence seen in Tibet last month seem nothing less than a gross politicizing of the Olympic games. If so many foreigners felt this strongly about Tibet, where were these protests last year when China completed it's Lhasa express railroad? In fact, where were they in the '50s when they invaded Tibet in the first place? Clearly, foreign protesters are using the Olympic torch as a rallying cry to express their hostility on the topic of Tibet and other pent up frustrations.
Why is this bad for Tibetan independence?
The reason, according to the Chinese government is the Olympics should not be used as a forum to advance a political agenda. I think that it goes much deeper than that. One must try to understand the Chinese perspective. I do not think that westerners realize how much importance and emotion the average Chinese person has invested into these Olympics. Much like the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese have been anticipating the 2008 Olympic games as a global showcase of how far they've advanced as a prosperous competitive free market economy. A Chinese friend of mine once described the Beijing Olympics as a the nation's "Coming Out Party". Since 2001 the Olympics have been a part of the national dialogue and a great source of pride for the people. Hence for many Chinese, a protest against the Olympic torch is construed not only as a protest against it's Tibet policy but a protest against the greatness of China itself.
The hope of the protesters (I assume) is that by drumming enough
popular support they can effectively negotiate terms with the
government of China. This is ridiculous. If protestors really wanted to see change they should be using different means to achieve their goal and/or direct their anger at someone else. China is not France. It is not a country that has more transportation stoppages due to strike than it has due to bad weather. Especially on these matters the Chinese government is a straight communism and it does not care whether someone protests against them or not - especially when it's a bunch of hippies off in some other country.
By using the Olympic torch relay as a platform for their protests the Chinese government has no choice to become even more defensive and maintain an even harder line with it's position on Tibet. Anything else would constitute a massive loss in face. The demonstrations, although well intentioned, are making the prospect of a free and independent Tibet far more unlikely.
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Also, I realize I am detracting from my series on Japanese Population decline. I apologize for this but I thought that I should write about this while it is topical.
Comments (8)
Hey Toshi, Thanks for the post! Totally agree with you on this one. While I understand the plight of the Tibetans and their desire for self-rule, it doesn't change their current condition. There's a great article which I had posted up about how the Dali Lama, while good at raising public awareness (and well....sort of viewed as a God) isn't good at being a savy politician in terms of getting what he and his people desperately need: better economic and living conditions which will one day lead to a better, healthier, more educated populace who can then realistically actually stand up to the Chinese government. See article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/opinion/22french.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin)
I'm so weary about these protests because I often think many protesters don't even know why they're protesting. So what if Tibet was free tomorrow? Will the vast majority of Tibetans be better off immediately? I think not. More importantly, I think these Tibetans need better economic opportunities, better education, and better preservation of their culture. Ofcourse outside of the grasp of Chinese rule, Tibetans can better preserve their culture, but even many of the Tibetans who have escaped to Dharsalama, India have unsuccessfully maintained their own culture. Unfortunately Tibet has poor infrastructure and this will not change overnight if Tibet were to be "free". Furthermore, all these protests is only pissing off the Chinese government and the last thing the gov't will do is bend to the will of these protesters and "lose face" If anything, the Chinese will be harsher in terms of their restrictions on Tibet. If foreigners really cared, I think they should find more diplomatic routes to solve the problem, like pressuring the Chinese gov't to actually sit down and talk to the Dalai Lama (I think China is being very silly for not entertaining this idea). In addition, all this moral superiority some of these political leaders are exhibiting...really annoys me, because they probably don't even know what they're talking about either. Besides, from the country that invaded Iraq, why would the Chinese gov't even want to listen?
I think I read some quote by some US coach back in the early 70s which is very fitting, "The Ancient Greeks believed the Olympic arena so sacred that they stopped their wars for them. Now we believe our wars are so sacred we stop our Olympics for them."
As for the Chinese citizen reaction to all these protests...yeah, they take it personally. Especially when they see some moron of a protester tackle a girl in a wheelchair in order to blow out the torch....come on....whatever happened to regular human decency? And yes, this is China's "Coming Out" party. Given that China is a 1.6 Billion people country which merely 20 years ago still had food rations, they do have some things to be proud of. And yes, some of the progress have been at the expense of others, but almost everybody in China will tell you that they are better off today than they were 20 years ago. That is progress. And the Chinese want to show this off to the world....not out of conceit, but just to say...hey...20 years ago, I was wearing Mao suits and eating crap, but today I'm wearing tacky, poorly mismatched suits and I'm eating McDonald's, but tomorrow we will be better dressed than you, more educated, and eating healthier. Regardless of the truth, every person, every nation should be entitled to their dreams and not have the world judge them.
i could not have said this in better words. you are exactly right.
How do I put this in a way to describe how I (as a Chinese American) feel about the free Tibet protesters? I was walking around in downtown Portland on Friday, minding my own business, happy to see the trees blooming and enjoying the fresh air, until... an ill-kempt, abnoxious man, started yelling at me "Jesus is the only way to heaven. No Jesus, No Heaven, Only Hell". I walked away, trying not to be bothered by his ignorance or anger. Well, I read and watch news and it's getting really hard to ignore protesters saying things like "Communist China", "Stop the genocide in Tibet". Seriously, can you say there's a genocide in Tibet? Stop the cold war rhetoric. This holier than thou attitude is beyond abnoxious, but it certainly works to convince an ill-informed public. Case in point, George W's rhetoric got majority support for the Iraqi war. You villainize an entire people and suddenly all kinds of attorcities can be committed by the
"good" people. It's really frightening to see this villainization of the Chinese.
I grew up in America listening to Western media, and despite the constant press for media bias in China, I can say that Western media has strong biases of its own. I was in Beijing when they won the Olympic bid in 2001, and was in the midst of an euphoric celebration. It's like the largest New Year celebration you can imagine except people were drunk on pride instead of alcohol. Then I read on article on CNN (yes I read CNN in China at an internet cafe) about the horrible mob that amassed in Tiananmen following the winning of the Olympic bid. This article was written by a guy in New York who was not even there for the article he wrote about. If you don't believe everything that the way Western media portrays it, you can believe God's messenger shouting at me from the sidewalk.
That is not to say that China is perfect. There are overwhelmingly massive problems that need to be solved (the environment, press freedom, distribution of wealth...), but as mentioned earlier, wow, it has come a LONG way in 30 years. China is a work in progress. Instead of focusing on all the lapses, how about once in a while, lauding the accomplishments. The Tibetan highway is a great thing. As far as I see it, providing better modes of transportation and interaction and communication is a good thing. Better transportation improves commerce and improves the economy. Tibet is a domestic China problem. It should be solved in a similar way as the racial problem in the United States. Providing equal opportunity for the Tibetans as the majority Hans have enjoyed. The problem is not solved by breaking up a nation. It is not solved by hoodlums protesting the Olympics.
@syfang - Love your comments SYFang!
I remember when China won the Olympics bid....I was there with you! 
And yes, our taxi driver--started crying...the Olympics for China is a point of nationalistic pride...to say, "out of limited resources, and some screwed political upheaval, we have survived". The issue of Tibet (however you should see it) should not take that away from 1.6billion average citizens.
@parappa411 - Ok, LOL HOLD UP. Before you start laughing your ass off, what I meant to say was... I know you know how much I love YOU, and NOW I need YOU to return the favor. Ok, clarification over.
xx
@syfang - Thanks for the comments SY. I know we disagreed on this in the past, but I am sincerely offended by these protesters. First, because of their sheer stupidity, but also because of the unneccissary hurt they are inflicting on the Chinese people. Why protest the Olympics. They might as well go into every Chinese person's house and kick the sh*t out of their dog.
Oh, and Richard Gere told me that Tibet doesn't want to break away. All it wants is autonomous independance ;)
@mundanelunacy - I'm glad you are sorry about kicking my dog mundanelunacy. As much as I'd like to derive my beliefs and history and information from Richard Gere, here's a source that may be slightly more credible, http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/staffPub/f_affairs.htm. It is written by an academic at the Center for Research on Tibet at U of Calif. It is a well written, objective article on the history of Tibet and political motivations of the Dalai Lama. Melvin Goldstein is neither Tibetan (or Free Tibeter) or Han Chinese. The paper was written 10 years ago, but still relevant. I think anyone who wants to form an opinion about Tibet, owes it to themselves to inform themselves about Tibet's history, and not the history written either by the Tibetan exiles and their deciples or the Chinese government, but sift through the political objectives and find some facts.