Tag: nonviolence

Mar 27 2008

An Inconvenient Protest, and More Details of Riots in Lhasa, Tibet

In the midst of China’s carefully stage-managed PR tour with select western journalists, a small group of Tibetan monks seizes the moment:

The outburst by a group of 30 monks in red robes came as the journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, were being shown around the Jokhang Temple – one of Tibet’s holiest shrines – by government handlers in Lhasa.

“Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!” yelled one young Buddhist monk, who started to cry.

snip

“They want us to crush the Dalai Lama and that is not right,” one monk said during the 15-minute outburst.

“This had nothing to do with the Dalai Lama,” said another.

link: http://ap.google.com/article/A…

Mar 25 2008

Dalai Lama Renews Calls For Nonviolence While Protests Continue

From The Hindu:

“I have always made it clear that the expression of deep emotion should be in control. If it is out of control, we have no option. If the violent demonstration will continue, I would resign,” he told reporters here.

Disturbed by violent protests by Tibetans in various places, he asked the demonstrators to refrain from doing any harm to the Chinese people.

“I have always respected the Chinese people… Chinese communism. Even most of the Tibetan protesters are ideologically Communists. I think inside or outside China, if the demonstrators utilise violent methods, I am totally against it,” the Dalai Lama further said.

link: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/…

Mar 24 2008

Updated – On Tibet, and the LA Riots

I have lived through one city-wide riot in my life: Los Angeles, 1992. In Hollywood it wasn’t “ground zero”, but you could see the rioters coming, block by block, up the long, straight road known as Normandie Ave.

Just as unpredictable as a wild fire caused by flinging a lit cigarette out of a car window, riots like this are nimble, incendiary events, fueled by the anger and frustration of a community that has simply had enough. Masses of people don’t take to the streets, destroying everything in their line of site, and senselessly looting stores like Fredericks of Hollywood just to get that last, remaining fuscia-colored sized 42DDD bra and matching leopard print thong, without some reason other than a hankering for cheesy women’s lingerie (and yes, plenty of these items ended up in tag sales countless weekends after the riots ended).

Something bigger is always at work…

Mar 22 2008

Tibet, And China’s “Coalition of the Willing”

I love propaganda. I really do. Even in the darkest moments of human history propaganda can tend so far toward the ridiculous that it makes the cynic in me chortle with macabre laughter.

So, imagine my reaction running across this article on Xinhuanet.com (yes, at least my government doesn’t ban my access to their website. Yet.)

Follow me below the fold…

Mar 21 2008

Pelosi Speaks Out On Tibet; Class Conflict A Cause of Protest

Speaking in Dharamsala, seat of Tibet’s government-in-exile, Ms Pelosi said: “We call upon the international community to have an independent outside investigation on accusations made by the Chinese government that His Holiness [the Dalai Lama] was the instigator of violence in Tibet.”

She added: “The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world.

“If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China and the Chinese in Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak out on human rights.”

link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asi…

Mar 20 2008

Updated – Tibet: China Admits Protests Spreading After Footage Aired

…And Gordon Brown steps in to fill the Western void.

First, the footage. After this was aired on CTV in Canada and then picked up by other Western news outlets, China has formally admitted that the protests have spread outside Lhasa:

Mar 19 2008

West “Tones Down” Criticism of China, Reports of Tibet Protest Spreading

“Economically, we depend much more on China than they do on us,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Wednesday. “It is an essential partner for pretty much every country in the world.

“When you conduct foreign relations with countries as important as China, obviously when you take economic decisions, sometimes it’s at the expense of human rights,” he told France’s BFM television.

link: http://www.reuters.com/article…

Mar 18 2008

Updated – Dalai Lama May Resign If Violence Escalates (w/vid)

“If things become out of control then my only option is to completely resign,” Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader told a news conference in the north Indian town of Dharamsala, the seat of his government-in-exile.

“Even 1,000 Tibetans sacrificed their life, not much help,” he said. “Please help stop violence from Chinese side and also from Tibetan side.”

link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t…

Oct 06 2007

International Day of Action for a Free Burma – Today

Burma. We asked you to care. We’re asking again.

As you read, someone lays beaten and bloody for the crime of caring too much, for the sin of fighting with ideas not guns. Imprisoned.

How can they go on without support? Is this asking too much?

If you can spare some time to walk & talk, open your heart & meet me after the jump.

Sep 08 2007

Friday Philosophy: Nonviolence

I was raised in a violent atmosphere.  Our house was not filled with the physical violence that leads to bodily injury.  But there was physical violence that results in psychological trauma and much verbal and emotional abuse.  It’s difficult growing up knowing that one is not good enough, that one’s talents and skills are not appreciated, and that who one is less important than who one might be perceived to be.

My father was an angry man.  While practicing his bowling in the living room and simultaneously arguing with my mother, he “accidentally” threw his ball through the living room wall.  Because he was having trouble with the Christmas tree one year, the tree was thrown through the plate glass window in front of which it was to supposed to stand.  That his anger did not produce physical violence against his children is testament to my mother’s fortitude.  But there was always the mental abuse.  All four of us kids are just starting to cope with that…40 years later.

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