The People's Republic of China is rapidly proving they are not that radically changed from any other totalitarian government intent on retaining power.
For years bumper stickers saying 'Free Tibet' were almost all anyone did about the conquered nation of Tibet and the plight of its people under the authoritarian heel of the People's Republic of China. How bad was this conquest? The Dalai Lama fled to India and became a minor media darling. Meanwhile in what was Tibet, Buddhist monasteries were shut down and the people languished.
Now with the Olympic torch being run to Beijing to symbolize the start of yet another Olympic spectacle in nationalistic ego-stroking, the persecuted people of Tibet are rising up to demand Beijing be held accountable for the subjugation of their tiny country so many decades ago.
Like the Freedom Riders of the 1960s, the push back has turned nasty and violent. Reports are emerging of protesters being killed by the PRC People's Armed Police. Two Buddhist monks, in a move reminiscent of the US involvement in Vietnam, have committed suicide in protest of what the PRC is doing. What is emerging is more proof that the overlords of the PRC are very jealous of anyone who threatens their fiefdom, it seems the PRC is persecuting any Buddhist monk or monastery that even has pictures of the Dalai Lama. When it comes to Buddhism it seems the PRC treats that religion like it does Catholicism in China, creating pro-Beijing religious organizations t counteract the actual religious organizations.
And if persecuting religious people does not raise your ire, remember these are the same autocrats who violently suppressed college students who entertained a novel notion called Democracy at a place called Tianamen Square.
2 comments:
Glad to see that at least there is some organized moral outcry in the West over China's latest crimes against the Tibetan people.
I wonder if President Bush is going to go to the Opening Cermonies of the Games? Germany's Merkel has said she will not.
If the scuffles the torch faced in the United Kingdom are any indication, the PRC might wish it never won the chance to host the Olympics.
Since the torch relay is a long one, 'to represent the scope of China's economic power,' there might be so much negativism generated to force many national leaders to find other things to do with their time. I am glad Merkel, a survivor of the German Democratic Republic, is the first to say no; some do learn from history.
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