The Tibet card
By Joseph M. Cachia
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Apr 24, 2008, 00:22
�How
much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.� --Benjamin
Disraeli
Please help me keep my sanity! As I watched the corporate
media coverage of the protests and disruptions during the Olympic torch route,
I became angrier than usual over the hypocrisy. Goodness knows how many antiwar
protests over the last years have been downplayed and under-covered by the
corporate media. Many crimes against humanity are rendered invisible to the
public eye, while issues, like those of Sudan and Tibet are highlighted as the
only objects of acceptable moral outrage and action.
TV screens and the press, in general, have given saturation
coverage to the point of nauseating hypocrisy. It is very unfortunate to note
that many of the comments in the media are negative towards China and few
realize that these opinions are just repetitions of the disinformation gushed
by the Western press.
Why didn�t anybody tell us of the thousands of Chinese
people living in Europe staging mass rallies in Paris and London against media
organizations that they see as blasting China over the alleged crackdown on
Buddhists in Tibet? Could not the media have also told us that they were also
protesting against the European states leaders who have decided or are
considering abstaining from attending the opening ceremony of the Olympics in
Beijing? Why haven�t we seen any coverage of the students mass rally in London,
during which slogans reading, �BBC is a liar,� were manifested in front of the
Parliament Houses? Why?? Perhaps because these were peaceful demonstrations,
totally unlike the violent protests committed and provoked by the Buddhist
monks?
Amnesty International and the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch
(HRW) did not lack in documenting unnecessary and excessive use of force during
arrests as well as ill treatment and detentions without showing any particular
concern for the increasing evidence of degrading and violent behaviour of the
rioters.
HRW ironically asked the U.S. to specifically indicate what
steps it would be taking on the abuses taking place. Of course, they never
meant such issues as Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, but of their pressure on
China. They have called on governmental leaders to boycott the Olympics�
opening and were brazen-faced enough to end their missive by intimating that:
�To fail to act on this opportunity is to fail to advance key American
interests in China.� For HRW the only maxim that applies is, �When we do it, it
is okay, when they do it, it is not good.�
But what I do think is that the interests within the United
States foreign policy establishment who advocate (and are implementing) a
�containment/confrontation� policy towards China have effectively used the
games, so far, to demonize China. The U.S. displays a stubborn anti-China
sentiment and uneasiness about China�s peaceful rise and there is an increasing
reason for the U.S, government to find ways to destabilize China.
Why is it that nobody is calling for a boycott or even
questioning the morality of U.S. participation in the games faced with the
genocide being carried out in Iraq and the atrocities of Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo, �the gulag of our times�?
Do the anti-Chinese groups or individuals, whether they advocate
�Free Tibet,� �Free Burma� or �Save Darfur� have any understanding of the
historical context of Chinese policy or the current geopolitical realities of
these regions? The settlement of relations between China and Tibet is an
internal affair of the People�s Republic of China and any attempt to politicize
the Olympic Games should be condemned!
The local media did not fail to follow suit to the Western
avid propaganda and we have been awarded with a couple of writings, glaringly
one-sided and all half-truths, arrogantly condemning the Chinese government and
urging heads of states to boycott the games. At the same time, it is very
doubtful how deep was the knowledge and the research undertaken on this issue
by the graffiti group prior to their decision for the protest before the
Chinese embassy! It is truly alarming how vulnerable we have become to the
constant bombardment by the media in the West and so quick to react by shooting
from the hip.
Any media communicating news should be true and neutral. Can�t
we have the Chinese police side of the story? It was reported that 13 innocent
civilians were burned or stabbed to death. Could this have been the action of
the Chinese or of the rioters? Are these demonstrations legally approved by the
local police as required in any country in the world?
Have you bothered to read anything written by Chinese or
Tibetans to see what �they� thought, before you started to write anything about
them? Few are careful enough to do some homework before opening their mouths!
- Why
weren�t the Dalai Lama slaves freed until 1959?
- Why
was one of Hitler�s top Nazis part of the Dalai Lama�s inner circle?
- Why
did the CIA create a Tibetan contra force in the 1950s?
- What
are the Dalai Lama�s connections to the CIA?
- How
are the Tibetan poor affected by the Chinese Revolution?
- What
about the ruling Tibetan class who went abroad?
- What
part did the Dalai Lama play in the funding, organisation and overall
control of this unrest?
(Suggested reading for relevant answers: �Tibet and the CIA�s
anti-China Crusade� or �CIA�s Secret War in Tibet.�)
If it results that the Dalai Lama is the mastermind of this
riot, then he is nothing less than a terrorist and the Chinese government
definitely should not negotiate with him.
Whatever is taking place in Tibet has long been in
preparation. The whole event is nothing about �freedom� and �human rights,� as
actually France, the U.S., Japan and so many others have serious human rights
issues. The key issue is that this event was designed by the CIA with an
objective of causing riots in China. How can one be so gullible as to believe
the �human rights� fabrication?
So, if you ever thought that these people are pure of heart,
think again!
�Never criticize a man until you�ve walked a mile in his
moccasins.� --Native American Proverb
Joseph
M. Cachia resides in
Vittoriosa, Malta
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