'Here and Now': China, Tibet and the Olympics
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China is pouring troops into Tibet, where violent protests have led to deaths, injuries and widespread property damage.
Thousands of Chinese troops are engaged in a manhunt for protestors wanted in connection with last week's riots in Lhasa, Tibet . "Here and Now" speaks with James Miles, Beijing correspondent for the "Economist" about what factored into the protests and subsequent unrest. He was the only western correspondent in Tibet when the protests broke out on March 14th. He also talks about what impact this situation has on the upcoming summer Olympics.
Also, today House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with the Dalai Lama. She's been a vocal critic of China, and today, she didn't mince her words. Peter Aronson, a freelance journalist based in Dharmsala, India, talks about Pelosi's visit and if it sends a strong message to Beijing.
And, ever since the 1936 Olympic summer games in Berlin when Adolph Hitler used them to showcase his theory of Aryan supremacy - politics, protests, and the Olympics have been inseparable. Joining "Here and Now" to explain why is Alfred Senn, professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of: "Power, Politics, and the Olympic Games."
"Here and Now" is an essential midday news magazine for those who want the latest news and expanded conversation on today's hot-button topics. The show is produced by WBUR/Boston and distributed nationwide by PRI.
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Comments (1 posted):
The Olympic torch was lit recently in China, but it isn't the torch the Chinese people wanted. Their torch was held aloft by their statue of the Goddess of Liberty, the one that they built. That torch was torn down, and the people were attacked and killed or jailed by the "People's" army in Tiananmen square in 1989.
Young adults in China today know nothing of this, because the Chinese government propaganda machine has vilified the hundred thousand patriots who demonstrated for freedom that day, and dismissed them as a few anti-social hooligans. This process is, of course, taking place today in China, only it is currently directed against the Tibetan demonstrators and the Dalai Lama. If the Tiananmen Square demonstrators had been successful in reforming the Chinese government, I doubt if there would have been the demonstrations in Tibet, because the people of Tibet would probably have had far fewer grievances.
You can see a photo of the "Goddess of Liberty" and read about the Tiananmen Square massacre on Wikipedia- just Google: Wikipedia Tiananmen Square Massacre
Now the Chinese government, run by the very same people who conducted the Tiananmen Square Massacre and then lied about it, asks us to believe that the pacifistic Buddhist monks of Tibet are preparing to become suicide bombers, and that that great man of peace, the Dalai Lama, is a warmonger.
I see that Hu Jintao has been swotting up on Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler, with particular attention to "The Big Lie." Read all about it by Googling: Wikipedia the big lie
We can protest these injustices by doing as Ms. Pelosi suggested, and boycotting the opening ceremonies. We can boycott Olympic sponsors such as McDonalds and Coca Cola. My own idea is ask the Olympic athletes, if they can find the courage, to wear black armbands to the Olympics, and have them explain to reporters that they were in mourning for the Tibetan people.
If we can't bring the Chinese government to treat those under their control decently, perhaps it is time to reconsider whether or not it is desirable to trade with China, which, after all, has become infamous for exporting a very large variety of poisonous goods, and which is wreaking havoc on our economy with their government-mandated rate of exchange.
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