Michelle Rodriguez: China, would you shoot her too?

Michelle Rodgriguez, actress

Originally uploaded by PhiloTBG.

Pics are starting to flow into ChinaWouldYouShootMeToo.com, including from some celebrities. Michelle Rodriguez, Andre 3000 of Outkast, actor Martin Henderson (The Ring), actress Jennifer Carpenter (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and director Stuart Townsend have joined Tibet supporters around the world to ask China: Would You Shoot Me Too?

Please visit ChinaWouldYouShootMe.com and upload a picture of yourself holding a sign asking the question the world is asking.

Letter to Friedman

A Tibetan-American reader of the New York Times and this blog sent me a copy of a letter written to Tom Friedman in response to Friedman’s column last Friday. Friedman had called on China to initiate a new Great Leap Forward seemingly not knowing that it was a Chinese Communist Party policy disaster that cost 20-40 million lives. I was given permission to share the letter here.

Dear Mr. Friedman,

I generally enjoy your columns, but I find your attitude toward China to be far too simplistic, naive and accepting of what officials may tell you. Today’s column, however, was shocking. You state that China “tried to make a Great Leap Forward,” as if this were similar to how one might “try” to bake a turkey tomorrow. Were Stalin’s gulags a “try” at changing the Soviet Union? Can such a cavalier word capture the horror of 30 million deaths unnecessarily caused by a narcissistic dictator?

Mr. Friedman, I hope you know that in Chinese culture, there is a stark difference between what is shown to those on the “inside” and the “outside.” Combine this with Communist propaganda tactics, and you must realize that tremendous efforts go on behind the scenes whenever you visit China or speak with officials at any level. A New York Times columnist is far too important not to.

As a Tibetan-American, I see the other side of China. The oppressive, racist, violent China that holds down the Tibetan people in all areas of life, for fear of Tibetans standing up and demanding the self-determination that is their right as a people. I recently visited Tibet and the political and social oppression is subtle but pervasive and all-controlling.

Mr. Friedman, I urge you not to get seduced by the gleaming skyscrapers in Shanghai, and to realize that what you see in China is not what you really get. Please “try” to look under the surface, and you will see a complex, corrupt, and repressive system and is far darker and more manipulative than the celebratory tone of your columns.

Respectfully,
[Name withheld at the author's request]

Technorati Tags: CCP, Tibet, Tom Friedman

Tibetan Activist Sets Himself on Fire: Hu Protests Conclude in Mumbai, Dharamsala

An Associated Press article reported that Lhakpa Tsering, a college student and head of RTYC Bangalore, set himself on fire this morning while protesting Hu Jintao outside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.

Lhakpa Tsering and six other Tibetan youths were able to drive right up to Hu’s hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace & Towers. Their two taxis parked in front of a thin barricade outside the hotel, they jumped out and began chanting slogans against China’s occupation of Tibet.

Tsering then doused his trousers with a liquid and set them on fire, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene.

Several policemen quickly jumped on the man, rolled him on the ground and doused the flames.

Hu was inside the hotel at the time preparing to address an audience of 300 Indian business leaders and a 250-person Chinese trade delegation.

News articles posted on www.phayul.com have reported that despite sustaining injuries to his legs, Lhakpa Tsering is recovering in hospital. The attempted self-immolation comes on the 5th day of mass protests, arrests and direct action by Tibetans against Hu Jintao’s visit to India, which had made national and international news headlines and dominated the media coverage of the visit.

This point was made in NDTV‘s summary of the Chinese leaders’ visit:

Hundreds of Tibetan demonstrators angrily demanding China end the repression in their homeland perhaps became the only enduring image during Hu Jintao’s visit to India.

On Thursday, the scenes were a little more desperate. In Mumbai, a student set himself on fire to demand the Chinese President end the repression in his homeland Tibet.

Right from the time he landed, Hu has been doggedly pursued by Tibetan demonstrations.

Indian authorities have done everything they can to keep them away from the presidential cavalcade and that has only raised the tempo. The protestors are singling out Hu Jintao.

They say as head of the Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1989, Hu ordered the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators that left thousands dead.

Many believe images filmed by Romanian television in October of two Tibetan escapees shot in the back by Chinese soldiers is a sign that Hu Jintao’s military is once again getting desperate.

In Dharamsala, the Chalo Delhi campaign ended today with hundreds of Tibetans participating in a candlelight vigil in McLeod Ganj’s main market square. A minute of silence was held for the many brave Tibetans who have risked their lives for Tibetan freedom. Ven. Ngawang Woebar, President of the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement spoke on behalf of the Delhi protest organizing body (which included 6 or the largest Tibetans NGOs in India), thanking everyone around the world for the incredible outpouring of moral and financial support. He called for ongoing collaboration and grassroots mobolization by Tibetans in India and abroad and that by working together Tibetans can truly utilize their collective strength.

Nov 30: Global Day of Action For Nangpa Pass Detainees

November 30th marks the two month anniversary of the bloody Nangpa Pass shootings. Despite international pressure, over 30 Tibetans, including 14 children, are still missing and are reported to have been detained by Chinese border forces. If Chinese soldiers can get away with shooting innocent children, some of whom are as young as seven years [...]

The Great Leap Backwards

Tom Friedman has authored another column on China and the environment that reveals, at best, his intense lack of knowledge of Chinese history and at worst a morally casual attitude towards the deaths of tens of millions of people. Unfortunately I don’t have time for a line by line breakdown of Friedman’s self-gratifying silliness (As always, Shorter Shorter Tom Friedman: “Tom Friedman!!11!”), so I’ll just skip to the end of his piece.

President Hu, over 40 years ago your country tried to make a Great Leap Forward alone — to change China. This time, let us make a Great Green Leap Forward together — and change the world.

Yes, China “tried” to make “a Great Leap Forward,” much like one tries to learn to play harmonica while camping with friends. Except this attempt cost 20 to 40 million live, so I think we should give it a bit more credence than “tried.”

The Great Leap Forward is now widely seen, both within China and outside, as a major economic disaster, being more of a Great Leap Backward that would affect China in the years to come. As inflated statistics reached planning authorities, orders were given to divert human resources into industry rather than agriculture. According to various sources, the death toll due to famine was most likely 20 to 40 million. The three years between 1959 and 1962 were known as the “Three Bitter Years” and the Three Years of Natural Disasters. Many local officials were tried and publicly executed for giving out misinformation. (Wikipedia)

A famine induced by the atrocious policies of the Chinese Communist Party wipes out tens of millions of people and gives birth to a regime of public executions and Friedman glosses it over as a failed attempt to change China. Would Friedman argue that Stalin’s gulags were a Soviet “try” for changing Russia? Or the Holocaust a “try” by the Germans to change Germany? Of course not. But he’s more than happy to forget the past, forget a criminal disaster of leadership that costs tens of millions of Chinese lives in the name Sino-American relationships today.

Tom Friedman has proven yet again that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to China. At some point I would hope the Times’ editorial board starts to rein him in a bit; his ignorance is getting ridiculous.

Technorati Tags: China, Tom Friedman