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Protests against the Olympic torch relay in Athens, London, Paris and San Francisco have focused almost entirely on China's occupation of Tibet. The many grave human rights abuses that are happening in China itself have been largely ignored.
This one-sided focus is undermining attempts to build unity and solidarity between the people of China and Tibet against their common enemy: the capitalist free market tyrants in Beijing who masquerade as communists.
Don't get me wrong. I agree with exposing China's political, economic and cultural hegemony in Tibet. The Tibetan people - like the people of Scotland, West Papua, Baluchistan and everywhere else - have a right to self-determination.
I made this point last Sunday, during the Olympic torch protests in London. I was arrested for running in front of the "flame of shame" holding a placard which read: "Free Tibet". But my placard also read: "Free Hu Jia."
This was a reference to a leading Chinese - not Tibetan - human rights campaigner who was jailed in Beijing last week for three-and-a-half years, for campaigning (peacefully and lawfully) for free speech, Tibetan autonomy, environmental protection, and for the human rights of the rural poor and people with HIV.
Hu Jia is a truly heroic figure who has shown immense determination and bravery; having continued campaigning, even though he knew it would put him at risk of arrest, torture and imprisonment. In jail, Hu Jia is likely to be mistreated, starved of proper food and denied medical treatment for his hepatitis B infection. You can read here his account of the abuses he had already suffered prior to his recent incarceration.
The case of Hu Jia shows that there are good, honourable Chinese people who support the Tibetan people's freedom struggle. It also demonstrates that Chinese and Tibetan people have a shared interest in working together against the dictatorship that oppresses them both.
China has a notorious human rights record, as documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Asian Human Rights Commission. But in the run-up to the Olympics, these abuses are actually getting worse.
Human Rights Watch reports "numerous abuses in China tied to Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Summer Games, including media and internet censorship, extrajudicial house arrests and sentences on charges of state subversion of government critics, abuses of migrant construction workers, forced evictions, and the ongoing crackdown on protests in Tibet ... Yang Chunlin received a five-year sentence for having begun a petition titled 'We want human rights, not the Olympics'."
In September last year, blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng was jailed for four years and three months for campaigning against forced sterilisations and abortions. The list of victims runs into hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
These abuses are taking place in China, not Tibet. On every front, Beijing stands accused of gross violations of human rights.
China is one the world's most vicious anti-worker regimes. It has weak labour laws and systematically violates international legislation that it has signed and pledged to uphold. Many factory employees are forced to work long hours, with few breaks. Health and safety standards are routinely breached.
Employees have little protection or redress against abuse by the management. Independent trade unions are banned and their leaders jailed. Workers who complain are liable to dismissal and arrest. All across China there have been waves of strikes against these "shark capitalist" conditions. They have been suppressed brutally, in ways that we normally associate with a fascist junta.
To make way for new cities, motorways, office blocks and dams, millions of people have been forced off their land with little or no compensation - and sometimes without any relocation assistance. In Beijing, 1.5 million residents have been forcibly relocated to make way for the Olympics.
Many of those who have petitioned the government against these abuses, have suffered retaliation and abuse, including being thrown into the notorious secret "black prisons," which are unregistered and unaccountable.
Channel Four's TV series, Unreported World, exposed this extra-judicial system in January this year. It documented people being detained without trial, with up to 20 people being held in a tiny, squalid room. Many reported having been beaten. Evidence was presented that the police were working hand-in-glove with property developers seeking to grab the detained people's houses and land.
China is free market state-sponsored capitalism at its worst. The gap between the rich and poor is one of the widest of any country on earth. The idea that China is any longer a communist state is laughable. The Communist Party has become a new ruling class and a route to personal advancement, corruption and wealth aggrandisement.
The Beijing leaders are new emperors who ride roughshod over their own people. They have almost total power and they abuse it to oppress and exploit the Chinese nation (as well as the Tibet nation), often in ways similar to the old feudal and colonial powers of the 19th century.
Gordon Brown shamed himself, his government and Britain by greeting the Olympic torch at Downing Street last Sunday, at a time when China is shooting dead Tibetan protesters and jailing and torturing hundreds of political prisoners.
It is hypocritical for the Prime Minister to boycott the Zimbabwean regime, but not the dictatorial regime in China.
Instead of colluding with Beijing's Olympic propaganda, the whole world should subject China to sporting protests, in the same way that there were sporting protests against apartheid South Africa.
Attempts to persuade the Beijing leaders to stop their human rights abuses have failed. China is manipulating the Olympics. It is using them to boost its credibility and to divert attention from its systematic violations of human rights.
To support the people of Tibet and China, we need action. Politicians and athletes from all countries should, at the very least, boycott the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Podium protests by medal winners would also be courageous and powerful gestures. There can be no normal sporting relations with an abnormal regime.
Peter Tatchell is a human rights campaigner, and a member of the queer rights group OutRage! and the left wing of the Green party. He is the Green Party's parliamentary candidate for Oxford East.
© 2008 The Guardian
48 Comments so far
Show AllExcellent article. It's definitely good to be reminded of many serious human rights abuses by the Chinese elites, and Western imperialists, capitalists, corporatists, and govts.
I've read that China provides very good trade deals with African govts led by leaders willing to risk U.S. actions or threats; while, records to the contrary, or very polar-opposite, in China and Tibet. The U.S., or West, is guilty in both cases; and also are in many other countries.
Boycotting the Olympics is easy to do, while doing the same when the Olympics are held in the U.S., Canada, and many other countries, will eliminate hypocrisy; while achieving more success with acts of protest.
As for the recent conflict in Tibet between purportedly ethnic Tibetans and the PRC govt's forces, I'm not sure what the full truth of these events are; having read evidently good articles describing much differently. But boycotting the Olympics is justifiable and easy to do anyway.
yap.chongyee--
PS, stop with the rash statements and uninformed opinions. you are only making chinese people appear irrational, ignorant, and uninformed. and as far as the US goes, yes you may be correct about most of your accusations, but coming off as a spastic child will not get your views across. I wish more chinese people actually read this site and commented, but when you make statements like:
America is the poor man of the world living the life style of the very rich. China now is the RICH MAN LIVING THE LIFE STYLE OF THE POOR.
Admit it America YOU JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE !
it only closes off your readers. as one of the few chinese on here, you should try to inform yourself and maturely express yourself on this discussion board.
I was literally called "Waiguoren" a derragatory word for foriegner to my face as I walked the streets in Beijing.
NOTE: the word waiguoren is not derrogatory, I live here in china too. it means WAI- outside GUO- country and REN- people or person.
you were probably getting worked up on an hourly basis for something you didn't know the meaning for. LAO WAI is a bit more demeaning. do you speak chinese?
I have many other thoughts on the olympics. but it seems to me you people are missing the point. I understand and don't condone human rights atrocities in china or abroad. but this isn't about tibet, countries, or politics. this is about people, and athletes. these athletes have been training their whole lives. the point is this, this is china's integration to the rest of the world, let them have it , if any of you want to see china change in the future politically, socially, or economically then you will need to understand that it STARTS with the olympics. China can't feel a part and the chinese people will remain isolated unless you give them this chance. publicly smearing them and boycotting the olympics is not the right message. none of you actually live in china and it's so easy to criticize when you dont' actually live here. you have misconceptions about china and only form your opinions based on what you have read, which is natural, given that you are thousands of miles away from all that's happening. the fact is that the people who are foreign ( I am American) understand how important this is for modern china as a whole and for the future of china, and yes, of change. Chinese people are so isolated that they have no idea what is going on anywhere, and most of them who speak english dont' even bother to find out.
Many countries need change, I wholeheartedly believe the world has a lot of problems. but why focus on china's deeds NOW? why not have protested when they DECIDED to have the olympics in beijing? i dont' think any of you realize what this means to average Chinese person. It gives them a sense of national pride that they have never had. china has spent literally billions trying to reconstruct the city and the rest of the country for the games, and I hope that its efforts are not in vain. Give china this chance, and you will see what happens. China is changing faster than any other place I have ever seen. You can feel the energy that the prospect of the olympics gives the city.
Boycotting china in general? OK, people, you have to be realistic here. It's naive to think you, a person in the west, buying clothes at walmart and target,etc. can boycott china. You keep the wheels turning in this country! Do you think china would be what it is if westerners weren't willing to pay rock bottom prices on goods made abroad? Are you going to tell me the average person would rather pay 300 bucks on a pair of Nike's made in their country or 80 dollars, euros, etc for ones made abroad?
I see alot of hypocrisy here, it's much easier to SAY you dont' support china, etc, than to actually follow through. I challenge any one of you to try to make it through a day buying ONLY goods made nationally. (be sure to check your fruits, veggies and meats )
Things will change, and this is how it starts, don't boycott the olympics until you have actually been and seen China for yourself.
Oops - forgot to mention that in Martingale's list of endorsers who supposedly do not support Tibetan self-determination there are NO TIBETANS or Tibetan organizations. Interesting and curious, given that this is the issue at hand. As a supporter of some of these organizations and a listener of Pacifica Radio, it is disheartening to see some of these names up here supposedly opposing the Tibetans. I hope someone checks on this "petition" to verify the actual issue they were presented with when they signed on, if in fact they did. Peace.
Martingale's comments are a more sophisticated form of the same propaganda seen from chongyee. There is a multi-pronged effort to influence opinion, including progressive opinion, going on here. This week the official Tibet government in exile web-site was hacked and is still down. The Chinese government has unleashed quite an assault - interesting and hopefully the effort is being carefully documented by someone as one of the first cyber-information wars. Of course there is plenty of good solid information to refute Martingale's thesis out there - I won't repeat what's been said before. The proof is in the pudding - a total news blackout from Tibet, near total control of what Chinese people see on the internet and media, intense defensiveness from the top leadership on down, demonization of the Dalai Lama in the official Chinese media, the "comments" war in world blog and news sites (including here.) It is really all rather amazing. For commondreams.org readers, the message is tailored to speak to our own fears of CIA and government control, our knowledge of past manipulations, our valid concerns with the neo-cons, and on and on. Amazing and probably convincing to some. But look behind the mask and the propagandists are lurking, trying to break up our solidarity with the long-suffering Tibetan people. If we keep our ball on the real issue, their suffering and cultural disenfranchisement, we can't go wrong. In solidarity with them in their plight, we have to continually stress our concern for everyday Chinese citizens - so manipulated by their media. Please keep our collective eye on the ball.
Hey JConrad, why don't you quote me accurately. Here's the complete quote:
"It's amazing how many "progressives" on this site are nothing but apologists for US imperialism. They are either too obtuse or unwilling to face the facts. They dismiss out of hand the crucial support the "free" Tibet movement get from the CIA/NED and the American neoconservatives. For the Dalai Lama's American masters, the goal is not a "free" Tibet, but regime change in China through China's dismemberment. That would remove the last remaining major obstacle and clear the path for American domination of the world well into the next century."
Why did you leave out the part that the "free" Tibet movement is a CIA / NED financed operation with heavy support from the American neoconservatives? Afraid that fact might get out and rip the mask off and reveal the true ugly face and essential right-wing nature of the "free" Tibet movement?
Statement opposing anti-China campaign
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A PSL press release
We are opposed to the campaign of disinformation and demonization that is targeting the People's Republic of China (PRC.) The timing of the campaign is linked to China's hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympics. That the Olympics are taking place in China is of historic significance and great pride to all the country's people. It was less than six decades ago that China emerged from a century of colonialist humiliation at the hands of the same big powers that are spearheading the China-bashing campaign today.
Washington is providing financial, political, diplomatic and propaganda support to the racist demonization effort, supposedly because of concern for "human rights." This is the same government that is directly responsible for the death of one million Iraqis since 2003.
While one out of every three Iraqis have been killed, wounded or displaced since 2003 the US government is eager to have people in the US., especially students, protest any government other than their own. One pretext for the anti-China campaign is the fact that the PRC has trade relations with Sudan. The US wants to overthrow the government of oil-rich Sudan and replace it with a puppet. It has supported "rebel groups" who are prolonging the civil war. The people of the Sudan, who are suffering greatly, are cynically used as a fund raising vehicle by organizations that have raised tens of millions of dollars but have never spent a penny actually helping the people of Sudan, including those who live in the Darfur region.
Demonization campaigns against particular countries and their leaders are not just media exercises. Over the last two decades, such campaigns have preceded the invasions of Iraq and Panama, the bombing war against Yugoslavia, the coups in Haiti and attempted coup in Venezuela, and a threatened war against Iran. The pattern is clear and so too is the danger.
Regarding Tibet, for many centuries a region of China, the hand of Washington in the latest events is obvious for anyone who wants to see. For more than 50 years, the CIA and other U.S. government agencies have trained, funded, coordinated and supported the old feudal and repressive regime in Tibet represented by the Dalai Lama. The CIA front group the National Endowment for Democracy funds the International Campaign for Tibet, the Tibetan Youth Congress, the Tibetan People's Uprising Movement and the Dalai Lama himself. The U.S. maintains close ties with the Tibetan "government-in-exile" in India, whose real aim is to break away a region making up a quarter of China's territory. These U.S. actions constitute an effort to de-stabilize and dismember the Peoples Republic of China. The progress in education, women's rights, employment and health care would be immediately eviscerated if the old serf-owning ruling elite, represented by the Dalai Lama, was brought back to power.
No one, least of all progressive people, should be misled about what is really going on. The real motivation for the anti-China campaign has nothing to do with human rights or liberation, and everything to do with an agenda of global domination.
We the undersigned call for an end to the disinformation and demonization campaign against China, and a halt to the attempts to boycott and disrupt the 2008 Olympics.
Initial Signers:
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
Muna Coobtee, Party for Socialism and Liberation
Tony Gonzales, American Indian Movement-West*
Richard Becker, Western Region Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition*
Dave Ewing, Co-Chair,U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association,San Francisco
Willie Bartolome, Coordinator, Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA
Arturo P. Garcia, Philippine Immigrant Network for Empowerment
Bob Anderson, Stop the War Machine, Albuquerque, New Mexico*
Chuck Kaufman, Co-Coordinator, Nicaragua Network*
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Civil Rights Attorney
Peter Erlinder, Law Professor, former President of the National Lawyers Guild
Riva Enteen, member, National Lawyers Guild
Idriss Stelley Foundation
Education Not Incarceration, San Francisco Chapter
San Francisco Village Voice Community Radio
Mesha Monge Irizarry, San Francisco Bayview National Black Newspaper reporter*
Gilberto López y Rivas, Professor and Journalist
Beatrice Eisman, U.S.-Vietnam Friendship Association*
Mario Santos, National Coordinator,Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines—USA
Jim Lafferty, Interim General Manager, KPFK 90.7 FM Pacifica Radio* and Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles*
Ecumenical Fellowship for Justice and Peace-Los Angeles
Judi Cheng, New York City, NY
Eli Stephens, Left I on the News
Allen Cooper, Veterans for Peace, GI Rights Hotline*
Peing Baclig, Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV)*
Jack Vergara, Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC)*
Pons De Leon, First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN)-USA-
Harald Neuber, journalist, Germany
Jazy Bonilla D.C.16 IUPAT Organizer *
Dr. Carmen Mercedes Baez, Argentina
Eladio González, (toto) Ernesto Che Guevara Museum, Argentina
Tara Hui, activist, San Francisco
Christine Araquel, Chair, Kabataang maka-Bayan (KmB,Pro-PeopleYouth), USA
Riya Ortia, UGNAYAN, NJNY
Ernesto Arce, Pacifica Radio, KPFK 90.7FM, Los Angeles*
Salvador Cordon, Coordinator, FMLN, Northern California
*Organizations for Identification Only
Hey ! Yanks the joke is on you ! The Dalai Lama is a NAZI ! wHY DON'T YOU GOOGLE WHO HE TUTOR WAS IN HITLER'S TIME !
CCTV 9 China TV is running a documentry on Tibet and it is supported by documentry evidence and actual film footage of what really is recorded history. See it and see the truth.
The USA under President Truman attempted to occupay Tibet but our glorious People's Liberation Army ROUTED THE USA EFFORT; and ever since 1950 the Americans and their CIA has not ceased their attempt. The USA is useless and American GI CANNOT FIGHT !
All these vain attempts by the USA, Britain to throw a monkey wrench into China's Olympics Best ever Olympics IS JUST SOUR GRAPES. If your clumsy western attempt to stir up trouble for China in Tibet is to ignite rebellion then you can be sure your attempt will fail; the people of Tibet are very HAPPY LIVING UNDER AN ENLIGHTENED PRC RULE. Tibet does not want another Iraq under American occupation... all said over 1 million Iraqi civilians have died from American SMART BOMBS that only killed non-cambatans but mere civilians.
The USA is the world's most successful DESTROYER OF CIVILIANS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
Dalai Lama's words at conference in Seattle, "....dialogue and respect are the tools for transforming enemies. That's a way of compassion. He also didn't allow himself to be trapped into answering political questions with political answers. That's at least a beginning to get things calmed down. He also has offered to talk with the Chinese leaders. A very adult thing to do in my book.
I was all set to refute a few propaganda pieces hwew after walking the dogs, but lo and behold, several good posts appeared and my job is much easier. Suffice it to say that we should all try to oppose all types of imperialisms (cultural, economic, ethnic) no matter which nation-state or ruling elite or capitalist-cabal is engendering the imperialism. Hopefully this can stand as a truism for Common Dreams. That said, then we should also stand united in opposing the lack of self-determination imposed on the Tibetans (and on the Chinese, Americans, etc.). Today's cause of the Tibetans is a universal plight. Let's try to do something about this particular cause by at least boycotting the Opening Ceremonies (while supporting the hard work of the international athletes - including the Tibet team that has been excluded), boycotting Chinese goods as best we can (and the American companies that continue to exploit Chinese workers), and stay motivated to take any opening we can that will lessen the suffering of the Tibetan people. Many thanks to the kind posts here (and for the unkind ones - well, hopefully there is some learning here as well).
Hello ! I am amazed how few literate people can actually read !
I repeat with emphasis:
"The Han Nazis rule the largest undemocratic nation on earth and are merely puppets for global corporate imperialists." (Translation: "The Han Nazis rule" means exactly what I have stated, that is, those Han who hold power in China and not the entire population. The majority of all ethnic groups in China are oppressed with the most wealth and privilege held by the Han not unlike WASP Americans. And as a generalization the Han are ethnocentric )
"China is a cheap labor sweatshop run by a wealthy fascist elite who shop for luxury goods in Beijing while people suffer in the countryside." (Translation: Only a small percentage of the Chinese population are having their standard of living improved. The disparity of wealth is increasing just like in America. In some ways those in rural China are worse of than under Mao.
"The exploitation of Chinese citizens for American markets and investors even includes body parts." (Translation: This is one extreme example of how the Chinese fascist police state "government" exploit the citizens of China for the benefit of the elite Han and the profit of foreign capitalists investing in the Chinese system.
This is imperial colonialism all over again, but with more technology and more environmental destruction.
When the Chinese government puts out anti-American rhetoric it is only theatre. The elite have sold their souls to the "foreign devils" for their own benefit with the sweat "capital" of this system being provided by Chinese workers who can neither vote or unionize)
The dualistic delusions of America vs. China are common misconceptions. The elite Chinese capitalists and American (and European) capitalists are in this together. Amerika officially abandon it's anti-communist China position around 1973 when Nixon and Kissinger began corporate détente to begin western capitalist investment in China. This could be called corporate imperialism with full cooperation from the elite of China. How does one explain Chinese "communist" $Millionaires ?
Even the pro-China opinions frequently expressed are trapped in the dated idea that modern China is some kind of Markist/socialist paradise.
From a previous article:
martingale April 11th, 2008 4:45 am
" It's amazing how many "progressives" on this site are nothing but apologists for US imperialism. For the Dalai Lama's American masters, the goal is not a "free" Tibet, but regime change in China through China's dismemberment. That would remove the last remaining major obstacle and clear the path for American domination of the world well into the next century."
DUH ! Those in power in China are in bed with and perhaps worse than the American imperialists as they are exploiting their own people. China is an American corporate colony right now.
And speaking of traditional imperialism, the Chinese are directly involved in genocide for oil in Darfur just like America in Iraq. Etc.
Thus, as a personal decision I avoid contributing to Chinese economic crimes against humanity by NOT PURCHASING CHINESE GOODS ! I also avoid bad-news American corportions, like ExxonMobil.
And who would want to attend a fascist sponsored Olympics in one of the most polluted cities on earth ?
Just one more post, I promise.
There is actually an important point to be fished from yap.chongyee's puddle of vitriol. Since, as Yap points out, "Chinna" has been financing the United States' various military slaughterings, then how are the Chinese not guilty of enabling those slaughterings? If China didn't like the US invasion of Iraq, they could cut off the funds. The fact that they didn't proves that they're just as bad as we are.
I'm not very happy about the fact that I can now measure other countries' "evilness" by how much they assist my OWN country's crimes.
The "War on Terror" is a last-ditch attempt to actualize Orwell's predictions, and the elites of the USA and China are intricately linked in this effort - part of which, as Yap helpfully points out, is to bankrupt the US in an attempt to limit the power of its citizenry.
Yay! Another post from yap.chongyee! And in all caps this time, in case we didn't already appreciate the fact that he/she is yelling incoherently.
Yap, are you aware that you misspelled the name of (what I assume is) your own country? Some propagandist you are. Thirty lashes with the rubber hose!
I like Yap because he/she is living proof that not all right-wing morons live inside the United States.
safiyyah, you are making the fundamental error of equating the citizens of a country with the actions of their government. If you think the United States is a democracy, you are truly deluded. But I guess we evil westerners should just shut up about this stuff, right?
JConrad says "Han Nazis" which would tar all Han people with being Nazis. Perhaps he did intend for that overbroad generalization to be aimed at the entire Han nationality or maybe he meant that some Han people act like Nazis? I don't know. But it is off the mark as written.
Galen says "The ruling elite of China ROUTINELY harvests human organs from executed dissidents, and sells them to the highest (usually Western) bidder." This is true, but it is the actions of the elites at the local level who are doing this, not the central government. Sort of like if the governor of some state were to be using prison labor for his personal benefit. It would be a bad thing but it wouldn't be accurate to attribute it to the federal government in the context of talking about what is wrong with the federal government or, in this case, the Chinese central government which is what he is doing. And yes, the local leadership has that much autonomy, in fact way too much. Abuses are rife and the central government can't control many of these provinces.
Does that mean that the government of China is all sweetness and light? No, it means that it makes more sense to keep the rhetoric under some restraint.
What I have seen in these protests, including attacking a woman in a wheelchair, are "Free Tibet" signs, not "Free China" or "Free Hu Jia" or "Human Rights for All." What that says to me, by implication, is that the rest of China or all the world doesn't matter at all to these people. Only the Tibetans matter, only they should be free. And that upsets me.
I have often wondered what would have happened to the abolition movement if they had been picking and choosing which slaves deserved their support and which not. Would we still today be seeing signs such as "Free the Dahomey Slaves" or "Free the Senegalese Slaves" because the Free Gabon and Niger movements had been successful but those others weren't?
For as long as we think that some people should have rights, some should be free but others aren't worth our time and effort, we humans will ever be free.
MiMiCcS:
Don't forget Diego Garcia (along with the British) and driving people away from their homeland.
And let's not talk about Hawaii!!!! Talk about conquering a country and 'cultural genocide'...
There is little difference between China and the America of today, except for the fact they do not invade other countries, imprison far fewer people as a percentage of the population, and don't waste their peoples time voting for predetermined Presidents. Yeah, the news is propaganda, but WTF do you call that crap called news in the US. They block the internet, true, but thats because they are not using it to collect the names of those to be disappeared in a coming Martial Law (we also use it to measure the peoples "temperature" and see what propaganda is working best).
Whats behind the China bashing?. It started last summer with the concerns over product safety. As someone in that industry for a long time, I can only ask, WTF changed?. Why is it an issue worthy of our NEWS all of a sudden?. It has always been an issue, and most of it is retailers and importers looking the other way, with CPSC giving them a hand, and recalls usually ignored except during Christmas, when it might get a 15 second bite as NEWS.
One issue of course, is we want to control Tibet. Tibet is the main source of Asias water. This has been a British objective for a century, we work for them.
Another issue is Sudan. Sudan is oil rich, and also is one of only 5 countries which do not have a Rothschild type Central Bank that allows our elite to control nations (Iran, North Korea, Libya and Cuba are the others). China is supporting the wrong side, despite our best efforts at civil war and claiming they are supporting a genocide.
China has also agreed to a deal with Iran over access to their oil. Israel gets most of it's oil from Iran, but through a middleman in Europe, and if that gets stopped, we are obligated to provide Israel with oil by treaty, even if it means shortages in the US. During peacetime, this may not be an issue, but if a war breaks out in Iran, well, the military is a big gas guzzler, and you might see gasoline at 10 dollars a gallon and have to line up to get it.
Finally, China is competing with the IMF by offering loans from their USD reserves to countries like Nigeria, with no strings attached. We get almost as much oil from Nigeria as we do Saudi Arabia. IMF is hurting for business, their loans always come with strings that loot countries, and so their customers are all scared off. IMF is now looking to sell about 2 trillion dollars worth of gold. Since nobody wants to borrow from them, and with gold going up, then why? Because when China gets angry enough, they will stop loaning us money, and the IMF will be able loan us the money (money we could create ourselves), with strings attached (get rid of social security and medicare). This would mean we do not have to worry about China being unhappy and cutting off our loans. Might be no toys for Christmas, but the consumers won't be able to pay for them anyways, as they will be bankrupt.
Oh and BTW, we occupy Iraq and Afghanistan, and we have these territories everyone forgets about, and we are upset over Tibet?
Unincorporated organized territories
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Puerto Rico
United States Virgin Islands
Unincorporated unorganized territories
American Samoa
Midway Islands,
Navassa Island, (claimed by Haiti)
Wake Atoll (claimed by the Marshall Islands)
"But in the run-up to the Olympics, these abuses are actually getting worse."
That's true whereever the Olympics are held.
Rich peoples' games throw the poor people out of the cities, tear down public housing to make way for "Olympic Structures", police harassment of the homeless skyrockets, the city's crime rate mysteriously improves (cf the Atlanta olympics), etc.
The Olympics should be discontinued. They are themselves a human rights abuse.
GALEN -- Quite right about Hilter's torch, but may not have been directly his idea -- as he was VERY deep into mysterious spiritual things, like worshiping blood sacrifices and Baal (just like geo_the_impaler_of_truth)
I think the torch is a very nice touch, and I especially am personally inspired by Raising the light high
so that others can see for themselves
Namaste
KIVALS: Thanks for sharing your travels.
GALEN: Good comparisons with the Dali Lama.
I have read some of the works of the Dalai Lamma. He is a truthful, benevolent, and compassionate man, who devotes his life to understanding and non-violence. He did not ask for this office. It was thrust upon him. And he was worn that mantle with grace, humility and dignity.
How many other world or religious leaders can that be said of these days?
'Pope' Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Ratzinger was a Nazi and member of the Hitler Youth, who has never renounced that evil creed.
George W Bush tortured freshmen with lit cigarettes.
The ruling elite of China ROUTINELY harvests human organs from executed dissidents, and sells them to the highest (usually Western) bidder.
Putin of Russia started the whole Chechin conflict to divert his peoples attention from his looting of the corpse of the USSR.
My own Prime Minister is a boot licking Bush sycophant.
As inspirations go, the Dalai Lamma is looking pretty good....
The "life was much worse before the Chinese" argument is another propaganda canard that is hard to argue against. Look, there have been advancements all around in the material sphere - new technologies, new ways of organizing political life, etc. In Tibet, in many other regions. Certainly, the Chinese have been agents of change. But remember, we're not arguing about kicking the Chinese out, at least I'm not, but about providing cultural autonomy as the Dalai Lama has continued to propose in his Middle Way approach. I would also question the continuing spin about the Lamas controlling serfs in great poverty. One would have to be pretty ignorant of Vajrayana Buddhism to believe this ugly lie. However, a tough system of labor and wealthy landlords did exist in certain parts of Tibet, as it did in much of Asia. Much of value has been contributed by socialism folks, there is no doubt. But communism as a political system has been disastrous - the cultural revolution and its destruction and killing are an obvious example. Back to the point of the article - people deserve cultural autonomy whenever possible, and the Chinese deserve a democratic system as well. Enough said.
"Oh, and what's up with elmysterio writing about how great Tibetan life is under Chinese rule? "
I'm not saying that life in Tibet under Chinese rule is all roses and ponies... What I am saying is that life BEFORE Chinese rule was much much worse.
Urgyen: And What exactly is this "Tibetan Culture" that you're so upset is being suppressed? The average Tibetan lived a pretty miserable life enslaved by the Lamas, Monks and Land Lords... While I'm the last person to usually stick up for China, Tibet is better off now than it was before... unless of course you consider virtual slavery a good life.
I find that most westerners who shout "Free Tibet" think of pre-China Tibet as some sorta Shangri-la... a land of enlightenment and harmony where that is the furthest thing from the truth.
Just so ya'll know.
The 'Olympic Torch' didn't exist before the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was invented as a propaganda stunt by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
Wanna watch it now?
In criticizing my post, at least Kivals tries not to sound like a Chinese propagandist in his reaction (unlike several others posting here). It is hard to counter what he says, since it has little to do with the matter at hand - cultural suppression of the Tibetans and totalitarian political control of Chinese citizens. Of course the intelligence agencies in the West seek advantage, as do the Asians, in the big game of global politics. To my mind, that is not the point. The Tibetans have always yearned for freedom, at least cultural and religious freedom. Chinese policy has been assimilationist lately. This is not good. But the Chinese are not evil, nor are the Westerners and least of all the Tibetans evil. Goodness, many more Tibetans than most of us have excellent mind training and the ability to withstand propaganda of all kinds. We should learn from them if we're worried about Western media (or Chinese media for that matter). In any case, I stand by my request that we stay focussed on the suffering of the Tibetan and Chinese people and the need for meaningful change and dialogue.
AMERICA YOU JUST CAN'T BOYCOTT MADE IN CHINNA CHEAP GOODS, BECAUSE YOU ARE BROKE AND AMERICA OWES CHINA US$1.6 TRILLION AS OF TODAY. America is the poor man of the world living the life style of the very rich. China now is the RICH MAN LIVING THE LIFE STYLE OF THE POOR.
Admit it America YOU JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE !
Great piece, Mr. Tatchell.
I'm with Urgyen. Let's not be distracted from the issue at hand: anti-worker, anti-women, anti-gay, anti-human single-party state repression. Don't tell me the U.S. is bad, too. I know that. It's bad for many of the same reasons that Mr. Tatchell laid out in his editorial above. So, why the apologetics for a state-capitalist monstrosity like China, when you're supposed to show solidarity with *all* oppressed peoples of the world?
Oh, and what's up with elmysterio writing about how great Tibetan life is under Chinese rule? Are we *really* going to use the reactionary idea of beneficent oppression for the sake of "advancing" another culture? "Free Tibet" is by no means meaningless, it has much content for those of us fighting for a different world.
Galen said on April 11th, 2008 3:41 pm: "Free Tibet AND China."
Since when has Tibet EVER been free? Before the Chinese occupation, the Tibetan people were oppressed by the Landowners and Lamas... It was a very feudal society where the majority were slaves/serfs/indentured servants. The statement "free Tibet" is so entirely meaningless. In fact, I would argue that life for the average Tibetan is better under Chinese rule than they were before.
Read this for more information: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19605.htm
Urgyen,
You ask: "Is it really being a "useful idiot" if you support cultural autonomy for Tibetans and liberal political rights for all Chinese?"
I strongly believe the correct answer is "yes." The easy answer, and the answer one would be led to by the corporate media, is virtually always the wrong answer. The US power elite play mind games with US citizens. We have an extremely evil and powerful government in the US and we have to deal with that and not get sidetracked by clever manipulation where we take our eye off the ball and end up inadvertently supporting the goals of the elite US predatory corporations. If gigantic catastrophe awaits the entire human race, it is almost certainly to be perpetrated by the predatory corporations and the western governments they control, with the US playing the lead role.
dcbeltway,
In my experience, people in more impoverished areas generally tend to be friendlier, and more dangerous. The friendliest people I ever met were those in the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, a place with significant desperate poverty and where Westerners rarely travel. My hosts always accompanied me carrying concealed weapons, for my safety. I felt like everyone I met there either wanted to take me into their home or rob, kill, or kidnap me.
And I would add that the friendliest people I met in China were those in the countryside. I stayed in a small, very poor village in rural China, not too far from Nanjing, with a family of farmers for a while to get the flavor of it, and people there were as friendly as anyplace I have been, with the exception of Mindanao.
On the other hand, the most unfriendly part of the world I have ever traveled to is Western Europe, where people are generally well-off and appear to have only disdain for Americans. The Chinese, at least to me, were much friendlier than Western Europeans.
It is interesting how the comments here have tried to change the subject, which is repression and cultural genocide in Tibet - and obvious political repression in China (internet blockages, show trials, torture, etc.) Although the Western powers are terrible too, in their own ways, China sure goes them one better in Orwellian mind control. I really worry that the left can easily be side-tracked by this sideshow and forget just how terrible it would be to live under the cloud most Tibetans (and politically active Chinese) have to live under. Americans and Europeans at least have a chance to try to change governments and alter course occasionally. Is it really being a "useful idiot" if you support cultural autonomy for Tibetans and liberal political rights for all Chinese? I think it's absurd to think that maintaining high moral standards for governments, of all types, is a useless cause. Please, continue to support Tibetan self-determination.
Free Tibet AND China.
Stop shopping.
The sudden re-appearance of the Tibet issue on the international stage should inspire us to ask a simple question... why now? IF I was to speculate, it would be this:
1. The US/UK/Israel cabal have been agitating for an attack on Iran for the past year.
2. The Chinese have much invested in Iran's oil and gas industry.
3. The US wanted to strike Iran around easter 2008.
4. The Chinese said "Don't you dare. We will respond to an attack on Iran".
5. The CIA instructs Tibetan exiles to start trouble in Tibet.
6. The US/UK Media jumps all over the protests and the Chinese gov't is forced to act, causing even more 'outrage' to be printed in the media.
Kivals perhaps but as someone who travels often to the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe and the rest of Asia I have found people in these areas of the world to be far more friendly then the Chinese. I have been to Shanghai, Guilin, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Wushan, Shenzhen, Xian and even Tibet (Tibetans were very welcoming and happy Americans cared about them). To be honest I find New Yorkers to be far friendlier then the Chinese. I don't dislike Chinese people I just don't find them to be very friendly and open people. The only Chinese I seemed to break the ice with were other university students and that was so they could gain English.
dcbeltway,
I lived for several months in China in a few different places and I had a quite different experience. I do not speak Chinese, but my wife is Chinese and always would translate for me.
Beijing is clearly the least friendly city in China with the most anti-American attitudes. The insult "western devil" seems to be on the tip of the tongue of almost everyone there. I remember a woman I passed on the street who appeared to spit at me.
However, I found very different attitudes in other parts of China. In Shanghai, most of the Chinese I encountered were quite friendly. My wife explained that the Westerners made Shanghai an important city a century ago, even though they treated the Chinese as second-class citizens in their own country, and so Westerners still are treated quite warmly. Xian, Hangzhou, and Suzhou and are common tourist destinations which seemed friendly enough, though not as much as Shanghai. Nanjing is a bit of a quiet Chinese city (strange for a city with over six million people) that does not have many Westerners, so Americans there are to some extent viewed as a curiosity but never with hostility. Guangzhou has a good number of Americans and other Westerners, and they seem to be treated somewhat indifferently, though the atmosphere is not unfriendly at all. Shenzhen is so busy that everyone is brusque, but again it certainly is not unfriendly. Hong Kong is much colder, but there is not really hostility as there is in Beijing.
The attitudes of the Chinese should not be judged any more by experiences in Beijing than the attitudes of Americans should be judged by experiences in New York.
Kival is totally correct. The hypocrisy and dishonesty of the western (ie, white) powers is abominable. This is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the massive human rights abuses of the western powers, and to weaken China in order to prevent it from standing up against them. As Kival notes, it was only western corporations that opposed the new labor legislation in China. The Chinese government strongly supported it, as did most of the rest of the world. And note that most of the leaders of these idiotic protests (such as Pelosi), themselves have large investments in the corporations doing business in China. They have no problem with China when they can use it as a cheap source of labor and can ignore labor and environmental concerns. It's only when a rising China threatens their hegemony that they object.
It's totally shameful that so many western progressives are allying themselves with the most right-wing governments on the planet (US, UK, and France especially) in order to attack the preeminent venue for global cooperation and goodwill. And even worse that they would align themselves with terrorists, such as those who attempted to firebomb the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. This is beyond sad, beyond pathetic.
NateW dui
Zhonguo or China literally means country in the middle or center in Chinese. Having lived there they are the most xenophobic people I have ever met. I was literally called "Waiguoren" a derragatory word for foriegner to my face as I walked the streets in Beijing. I would answer "Ni shi shei a"? Who are you? in return to let them know I understood I was being insulted. This is in contrast to Vietnam just to the south where I was warmly welcomed by everyone I met even though America has a bad track record with that country.
I agree that its the human rights abuses within China and not just Tibet that should be talked about. Prison labor, lack of livable wages, women's and minority rights, persecution of the Muslims in Ugyar province, the way us foreigners are treated and of course Tibet.
Tatchell stated:
"China is one the world's most vicious anti-worker regimes. It has weak labour laws and systematically violates international legislation that it has signed and pledged to uphold. Many factory employees are forced to work long hours, with few breaks. Health and safety standards are routinely breached."
How breathtaking in ignorance! The Chinese government tried last year to fundamentally change the labor laws in China to improve labor rights, obviously in response to protests and pressure from below, but the leading Western corporate predators in China, particularly the Americans, made a stern warning to China that if they changed the labor laws one iota they would pull out their factories and move them to Indonesia or someplace else more favorable. The Chinese have been wringing their hands to come up with a solution since.
So many hopelessly simple-minded Americans cannot recall that there were no protests with regard to the Seoul Olympics, even though the S.K. government had a horrendous human rights record. In Mexico City, the government shot several hundred student protestors in the streets just before the Mexico City games of 1968, but hardly a peep was heard from the US government and press.
Only the completely naive would not recognize that "human rights" is playing the same role today for China that Monica Lewinsky played for Clinton -- a vulnerability that can be used by greater predators to cause even more damage.
As the US murders hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to steal their oil, Nancy Pelosi pretends all is well, even though it is her job to prevent such crimes. Instead, she focuses her energies on China to score cheap political points (recognizing that she can demonstrate her "pure heart," in the same way so many protestors have, without needing to worry about resistance from the powers that be, as they are actually cheering on Nancy and the protestors).
And the Canadians and Europeans are shocked, shocked at China's human rights abuses while their closest ally, the US, commits murder and human rights abuses on a far grander scale for the most base of reasons and they let it slide (the US is up to its neck in blood in Darfur as well as the US supports the rebels in the civil war because the government gave the oil contracts to China).
This is all realpolitik -- geopolitics designed to minimize China's PR gains from the Olympics so as to maintain the dominant position of the US and the EU on the global stage, thus enabling even more predatory actions by such players. And the military-industrial complex is the great beneficiary, as the more China is demonized, the easier it will be to get that next weapons system funded, particularly since resistance is starting to form as many Americans now understand the US spends more on weapons than the rest of the world put together.
It is time some of the naive protestors became acquainted with the old term "useful idiot."
I'm with you, safiyyah: boycott all but local goods.
Tatchell has fine sentiments but ignores some basics of Chinese history and culture. First, Chinese governance and management principles are largely governed by Confucian values, which are quite hierarchical & quite dependent upon the whim of those in charge (who are urged by Confucius to be a good ruler, but not held by rule of law). Second, there is the "Middle Kingdom" myth, which postulates that China is the intermediary kingdom between heaven and the rest of mankind (thus the "mandate of heaven" concept for ruling dynasties). It is the root belief of Han chauvinism. Third, the Chinese Communist Party is for all intensive purposes, the latest dynasty ruling China. The only difference is the way the titular head of the ruling bureaucracy is chosen: party politics as opposed to hereditary. To expect the Communist dynasty to voluntarily relinquish power is sheer fantasy. The only possible option to expect change in China is if their conduct continues them to lose face.
BOYCOTT THE BEIJING OLYMPICS....
Period...
Ignorance is bliss.
Why not boycott all American, British, and French goods, too?
The Han Nazis rule the largest undemocratic nation on earth and are merely puppets for global corporate imperialists.
China is a cheap labor sweatshop run by a wealthy fascist elite who shop for luxury goods in Beijing while people suffer in the countryside.
The exploitation of Chinese citizens for American markets even includes body parts.
From: "Buy Me a Pound of Flesh: China's Sale of Death Row Organs on the Black Market and What Americans Can Learn from it."
Abstract:
"When terminally ill patients in the U.S. face a shortage of transplantable organs, some turn desperately to the international black market. China has capitalized on America's organ shortage by harvesting body parts from its death row prisoners, often without the prisoners' consent, and selling them to American citizens. This comment examines the organ trade between China and the U.S., argues why it must be stopped, and proposes an open market for organ commodification within U.S. borders to counter China's dangerous and inhumane black market."
And while we still have a few more freedoms in Amerika than in China, we also experience the effects of corporate tyranny.
BOYCOTT THE BEIJING OLYMPICS AND ALL CHINESE PRODUCTS !
FREE TIBET AND CHINA !
'There can be no normal sporting relations with an abnormal regime.'
Yeah right, Peter. That is the reason I will be supporting a boycott of all British goods and products. I really love you guys campaigning against China inside countries like Britain, France, and the US.
One-party corrupt capitalist China is the utopia to which our leaders aspire.