29 March 2008

Tibet, China, Xinhua News Agency and the Ministry of Truth

I notice it’s been a while since I’ve gotten all ranty. I’ve been busy with other things; mostly trying to keep from losing my mind because of my university. But the violence in Tibet is bringing out the finger-wagging in me – and not just wagging, but pointing and reviling and j’accuse-ing too!

Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, is publishing such total bullcrap with regards to the situation! It literally makes me livid with rage when I read the complete nonsense they come out with, trying every possible attempt to spin this public relations disaster. Then, I get even more raging when I remember that for the average person living in China, the only source of information they have is this brainwash 1984 Newspeak!

“Some monks even deliberately maimed each other, and then took photographs in order to make a sensation in the world.” ¹

“Throughout the incident, Lhasa police officers exercised great restraint. They remained patient, professional and were instructed not to use force. In humanitarian spirit, they even rescued the malicious monks who attempted sensation through hurting themselves.”²

“Lian said of the Dalai Lama: "He appears as a follower of non-violence. As for whether he is a terrorist, we mainly see he is involved in terrorist activities."”³

Or, if that wasn’t nauseating enough, there are some further examples here and here of the complete rubbish that Chinese people have to put up with every day.

For the last 30 or so years the Dalai Lama has being trying to find a way for Tibetan culture to be allowed to continue under Chinese rule. He has stated on numerous occasions that Tibet is a part of China. Xinhua just doesn’t want to listen. They endlessly repeat over and over that the Dalai Lama and his “splittest cliques” are trying to “carve Tibet out of the motherland” and hold the Olympic Games hostage. — Going on the time I lived in China, I think most people are conscious of the fact that the Chinese press is pure propaganda — but just like that whole Richard Gere – gerbil thing, there is only so many times you can hear something before you have to begin to wonder. —Xinhua News Agency, spreader of mis- and dis-information, Communist party mouthpiece and sorry excuse for journalism: You are dead to me!

Young Tibetans are pissed because the Dalai Lama’s nicey-nice has gotten them nowhere, the Chinese government is just as heavy-handed as ever, and their way of life is threatened by large-scale migration of ethnic Han Chinese to Tibet.

I, for one, am glad that the situation is continuing and spreading — particularly to Xinjiang, another ethnic minority area forcibly integrated into China by the Communist Party in the 1950s. I can only hope the ongoing unrest will force Western governments to stop thinking with their pocketbooks about the huge Chinese market, stop turning a blind eye to all of the country’s flagrant human rights abuses, and finally start pressuring the Chinese Communist Party to behave like an honest member of the international community.

9 comments:

jolie-chan said...

i love when you get all ranty and riled up : )

Anonymous said...

When are you calling for the a boycott of the Beijing Olympics? Or does that go without saying?

Miss Ash said...

I'm all for boycotting the Olympics, let's do it!

Tokyo Tintin said...

I'm very conflicted about the calls to boycott the Beijing Olympics. Yes, it would piss China off enormously and be a huge embarrassment to national pride. But would it really change anything? The boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics didn't stop the Soviet Union from occupying Afghanistan, nor did it make the Soviet government full of warm-fuzzies.

I wonder what, if any, connexion there was between the Moscow boycott and the fall of the Soviet Union nine years later. Was it a catalyst for those events? Or maybe instead the boycott slowed down an inevitable process because the government clamped down even harder. I don’t really know enough about it.

Presently, I’m ambivalent. Should the situation get any worse however, I would not hesitate to support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics and of all the companies who are corporate sponsors.

Tokyo Tintin said...

Of course the real problem is that China should have never gotten the Olympics in the first place. And who do we owe the honour of that massive cock-up? None other than the living, breathing embodiment of Euro-centric head-stuck-up-own-ass-ness, Old World douchebag; Juan Antonio Samaranch!

Hey JAS: Thanks for handing over the games to a human-rights-abusing, prison-labour-using, evil communist dictatorship. I’ve hated you for a long time and now you are dead to me! I hope all the kickbacks you got from Chinese government keep you warm at night while tanks role over Lhasa and monks get beaten. -Jerk!

Miss Ash said...

I just hate the Olympics that's why I want to boycott, they ruin my regular TV viewing :P

Tokyo Tintin said...

MA-

Really? I quite like the Olympics. It's basically one of the only times I watch sport on TV. I mean, diving and gymnastics — Hello!

Tokyo Tintin said...

More Xinhua bashing here.

Jennifer said...

TT, did you take your fire extinguisher out and try to extinguish the Olympic torch the other day?
What do you think of talk about the Americans riling up all this protesting in the west as the torch goes through?