The Olympics, China, and a Tibetan Freedom Concert?... oh my!

In college, I used to go to the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. They were fun. Lots of great live music. And I felt it was cool to go party and support human rights. I remember coming home after one and my dad trying to talk to me about Tibet and China, and something about the importance of maintaining a unified China and how the West was always butting into other people's business... or something like that. Can't really remember what he said, because I was still high... off of the MUSIC! Anyway, I think I remember responding to my dad that human rights violations were not cool and then telling my dad to just chill, because it wasn't like anyone I saw at the concert really had a clue or cared about Tibet. What I saw were a lot of white kids with dreadlocks, smoking weed, moshing and crowd surfing.

Today, I have a better understanding and appreciation of human rights struggles. I know in Tibet, people are being denied self-determination by China. Some could argue that the government of China is occupying Tibet. There are numerous human rights violations. I agree... that is absolutely wack!

You know what else is wack? Israel's occupation of Palestine is wack. There are definitely a whole lot of human rights violations there too. Why does our government and our tax dollars continue to support the wackness by the Israeli occupation and human rights violations in Palestine?

Recently there have been civil unrest in Lhasa. People are rising up and protesting the oppressive conditions under which they live as second class citizens in China, and as a people who wish to live as a sovereign nation with their own elected leaders. According to a New York Times article,

"Tibetans get the low-income and the hard-labor jobs,” the man said. The Han, he said, “are all paid as technicians, even though some of them really don’t know anything.”

Tibetans live in closer proximity than ever with the Han, who have flooded in with a wave of state-driven investment. But they occupy separate worlds. Relations between the two groups are typically marked by stark disdain or distrust, by stereotyping and prejudice and, among Tibetans, by deep feelings of subjugation, repression and fear.

There is no legalized ethnic discrimination in China, but privilege and power are overwhelmingly the preserve of the Han, while Tibetans live largely confined to segregated urban ghettos and poor villages in their own ancestral lands.

China seems just like the U.S. There is no legalized ethnic discrimination in the U.S, but privilege and power are overwhelmingly the preserve of the white folk, while many African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and some Southeast Asian Americans live largely confined to segregated urban ghettos in their own ancestral lands.*

So forgive me when I say that I think the protests against the Olympics in China and the torch running seem somewhat disingenuous to me. Do they really understand the principles they're standing for? Yes, people who value human rights all over the world should stand up in solidarity with the Tibetan people.

In a press conference after many Tibetans were killed in state repression, the Dalai Lama said,

"The Olympics should not be called off. The Chinese people... need to feel proud of it. China deserves to be a host of the Olympic Games."

Personally, I agree with the Dalai Lama that the Olympics should happen in China this year... for the people, who need the world's media there to report back objectively and not on behalf of any state or corporate interests.

Go to China! Bring the world's attention to China and the lives and social conditions there.

And if anyone is worried about benefiting the Chinese government and economy by participating in the Olympics this year, hey... check the "made in..." labels on the things in your house. Too late, you already have been supporting China's growth without vocalizing your opposition to its human rights violations.

*Thanks brother for linking this article to your blog and your insights.