Reality Check

While all the focus on the Olympics emerges in Beijing China, I thought I’d take a glance at current happenings in Tibet.

New report reveals intensified crackdown in Tibet as Olympics opens
International Campaign for Tibet
August 5th, 2008

“Despite its promotion of a ‘peaceful Olympics’, China has intensified its crackdown on Tibet this week following the most significant uprising in nearly 50 years. The wave of mainly peaceful protests against the Chinese government that has swept across Tibet since March 10 is a result of more than half a century of Communist Party misrule, revealing the breakdown of Beijing’s Tibet policy at a time when China seeks to convey an image of pre-Olympics harmony.

In order to hide its repression in Tibet, China has virtually sealed off the entire plateau - despite promising increasing openness in the buildup to the Olympics - and imposed a news blackout. A new report published by the International Campaign for Tibet, ‘Tibet at a Turning Point: the Spring Uprising and China’s New Crackdown’ (http://www.savetibet.org/news/newsitem.php?id=1344) provides evidence gathered at great risk of:

The ‘disappearance’ and detention of hundreds of Tibetans, including monks, nuns and schoolchildren, who are treated with extreme brutality in custody
Unarmed peaceful protestors who have been shot dead, and names of those who have died following torture in prison or as a result of suicide due to despair over the crackdown or being made to denounce the Dalai Lama
More than 125 protests across the Tibetan plateau - the overwhelming majority non-violent. Tibetans have risked their lives to demonstrate that the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, represents Tibetan interests, and not the Chinese state
Sweeping new measures to purge monasteries of monks and ban worship in the wake of the protests, revealing a systematic new attack on Tibetan Buddhism led by Chinese leader Hu Jintao that is reminiscent of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution
Mary Beth Markey, Vice President for Advocacy for the International Campaign for Tibet, says: “Hu Jintao’s leadership appears to have chosen no other means than force and intimidation to restore control in Tibet, and has imposed a brutal crackdown that owes more to the political extremism and paranoia of the Maoist era than to a 21st century would-be superpower. As a matter of urgency, world leaders attending the Olympics must publicly express concern in Beijing about the crackdown in Tibet and the hardline policies that led to the spring uprising.”

The International Campaign for Tibet is also pressing leaders to seek from Beijing a full accounting of the more than one thousand Tibetans whose status following the spring demonstrations in Tibet is unknown.”

So if things seem strangely calm in China, regarding Tibet, it is oppression & iron fist rule that are making it so.

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In other news Prezzzident Bush gave the Chinese a verbal whupping about human rights violations & pollution.
Please? They must have thought they were being Punk’d.

I noticed they gave Bush a crappy seat up in the bleachers, or “nosebleed” section, he does not appear to be in the cushy VIP seating area. Bush was having to use binoculars to see the opening ceremony! Is this the Chinese way of saying “take your opinions & criticism & shove it”?

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Kudos to the creative concepts of the opening ceremonies….
It was beautiful & dreamlike with cultural ties, and innovative ideas.
I watch the Olympics with the spirit of the international unity at the heart of the gathering.
The idea that China is hosting the Olympics is questionable as the list of negatives is long- human rights, even air quality issues. I am choosing to cut through all the negative elements, and tune in to the original intent.

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Tibet, Exile, & Buddhism

Vajra Sky Over Tibet ~ Journey into Buddhism (1 of 9)

A beautiful 9 part series about Tibet, Exile, & Buddhism

To order the high-def video go here.

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Nepal police arrest over 500 Tibetan protestors.

All of whom are women. From the VOA writeup:

Police in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu say they have detained more than 560 Tibetan protesters Sunday, all of them women.

It was the all female demonstration against China’s crackdown in Tibet since violence erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in March.

Since then, Tibetan exiles have taken part in anti-China protests nearly every day. Nepal is home to about 20,000 Tibetan refugees.

Power to the people…Buddha please keep them safe.

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Tibet

Tibetan National Snow Lion Flag

We are all a part of the Global Community. The people of Tibet are not allowed to protest. For them to protest means they literally risk their lives, and or imprisonment, which makes me feel even more strongly that those who can speak out, have the duty and obligation to do so.

What is it the people of Tibet are protesting about anyway? I happened to find a publication that shed light on the matter. Tibet press watch- Political Prisoners~ The truth about their lives. Here are some examples of why the people of Tibet are willing to risk their lives to protest.

“Splittism”- The People’s Republic of China imprisons Tibetans whose actions are perceived to be in support of Tibetan independence from China. Accusations of trying to “split” Tibet from the “motherland”, separating the country and destroying national unity can be levied for simply possessing a tibetan flag, making pro-tibet statements, hanging pro-independence posters, or speaking favorably of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”

“April 25th is the birthday of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama. But there was little to celebrate. His whereabouts and welfare have remained a mystery since he was taken into custody by China at the age of six, after the Dalai Lama announced that he was the reincarnation of one of Tibet’s most important religious leaders. Nyima will turn 19 this year. In a meeting in 1996 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Chinese government that it was holding the boy and his family in “protective custody”.

Ani Choeying Passang, her crime “Splittism” sentenced 4 years in prison. recently released.

Read more

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Beyond Beijing..

For Enigma at WaterGate Summer. Hugs, from Dusty

We can protest without fear..the monks in Tibet and Burma..not so much.

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China tries to do damage control in Tibet uprising

The government of China, who has tossed all media from Tibet, is trying now to spin a little damage control on what is happening in Tibet. A torchbearer for the 08 Olympics, to be held in China, has withdrawn in protest of China’s actions in Tibet. Who exactly is to blame for the unrest in Tibet:

Why the Dalai Lama of course! At least that is the way the Chinese media is spinning it. From the AP writeup linked above:

“The Dalai clique is scheming to take the Beijing Olympics hostage to force the Chinese government to make concessions to Tibet independence,” it said.

The attacks on the Dalai Lama have been aimed at further demonizing him in the eyes of the Chinese public, which strongly supports the Olympics. The Dalai Lama, who advocates nonviolence and denies being behind the March 14 riots in Lhasa, asserted Sunday that he has supported China’s hosting of the summer Games.

Read more

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China blocks YouTube after Tibet protests posted.

It is getting heavy-duty in China and Tibet. Protests are spreading like a California wildfire and they are being filmed and posted on YouTube. China has now blocked access to the popular video site in a vain attempt to keep everyone under their thumb in the dark about the actions taking place in Tibet and around the world in solidarity with the citizens and monks of Tibet. Roughly 210 million Internet users reside in China, by their own government reports. One such video is

Reports are surfacing that at least 80 protesters have been killed in Tibet by Chinese government forces. Other reports have Chinese government agents going house to house and arresting individuals in their homes. These reports can not be verified since China does not allow outside journalists access to Tibet, per a CBC news article.Crossposted at UnCapitalist Journal

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China cracks down in Tibet as protests spread.

 

From AP:

BEIJING (AP) - Violence in Tibet spilled over into neighboring provinces Sunday where Tibetan protesters defied a Chinese government crackdown. The Dalai Lama warned Tibet faced “cultural genocide” and appealed to the world for help.

Protests against Chinese rule of Tibet were reported in neighboring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces and also in western Gansu province. All are home to sizable Tibetan populations.

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Compassion

Two monks were talking, one said he was in danger.
What danger?, asked the other monk.
I was in danger of losing my compassion for the people of China.

The monk who spoke of the danger, had spent the last 20 years in a Chinese prison.
The other monk he was speaking with, was the Dalai Lama, who said this statement was profound to him.

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I have hung another strand of prayer flags today, as a prayer for the people of Tibet, China, and all the world, that we may all find compassion.

There has been trouble in Lhasa, Tibet. The official news is 10 people have been killed in protests. Others have reported 70 to 100 killed, and 1000 imprisoned. The BBC reports the protests are Tibetans demanding the release of prisoners.
May strength and compassion prevail, and the path of non violence be the chosen path.

 

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The People of Italy Speak Out Against Tibet Occupation

Associazione Italy-Tibet have staged a protest on the 10th by hanging banners from large buildings in the Coliseum in Rome, the Milan Cathedral and the Asinelli Tower in Bologna which read: “Tibet Libero” (Free Tibet, for the uncultured); in celebration of 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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