HELIOLITH

Is burning property violence? Did Tibetan monks actually do it? Should the short term events of the last week, and possible crimes committed shape the dialogue around the movement to free Tibet? Did the Chinese use infiltrators to foment violence? There may currently be no proof, but there it seems very plausible, and congruent with their history of hyper-cointelpro style disruption. Those seeking peace, freedom, and self-determination for Tibet are sending a clear message: China has been systematically working to eradicate the Tibetan cultural identity, and they want it to end. What a better time to protest than right before the Olympics, as the world’s eyes turn to China to be a representative of peace, leadership, and justice, rather than as a master of repression. We did not, I’ve noticed, stage the Olympics in Myanmar. To the Chinese Government: please show that you deserve the respect you’re being shown by the world: use dialogue, and never for an instant use violence.

There are clear discrepancies between the death toll, which is to be expected in a state so tightly controlled that no (non-state-sponsored) press whatsoever is allowed unrestricted access to Tibet. The following discrepancies (from the NYTimes) are glaring evidence of the vacuum around truth in Chinese media. Even if the exiled Tibetans have their numbers slightly off (unlikely as it has been confirmed by multiple sources), the Chinese are simply whitewashing the story.

Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama’s government in exile, said multiple sources inside Tibet had counted at least 80 corpses since the violence broke out Friday. He did not know how many of the bodies were protesters. On Friday, the exiled government said at least 30 protesters had been killed by Chinese authorities and the number could be as high as 100. BUT THEN: The official Chinese Xinhua News Agency has said at least 10 civilians were burned to death Friday. The figures could not be independently verified because China restricts foreign media access to Tibet.

In a surreal 1984-like style, trucks with loudspeakers are broadcasting ‘’discern between enemies and friends, maintain order” around the streets of Lhasa. According to the Times, “China’s communist government is hoping Beijing’s hosting of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics will boost its popularity at home as well as its image abroad. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge [opposed an Olympic boycott over Tibet].” Write a letter to him here.Ask him to condemn the violence.

The Dalai Lama himself has opposed a boycott of China, saying, “The Chinese people… need to feel proud of it. China deserves to be a host of the Olympic Games.” The UK’s Times Online reporter stated that, “He must also be careful not to condone the rioting, which contravenes his strict policy of non-violence, while appearing to support his increasingly frustrated followers,” which is a clear misinterpretation of the Dalai Lama’s own perspective. There’s no being careful about it, his path is one of purist non-violence. The reporter might as well have said Gandhi must be careful not to support rioting. Violence is the antithesis of everything in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Yet that a cultural genocide has been happening over the last 50 years is as clear as day for anyone looking even superficially at the events in this area.