In the United States we take for granted freedoms and privileges which people around the world are struggling to attain for themselves.Among these freedoms is the right of assembly, the right to the exercise of free speech, the freedom of travel and the right to self-determination.These freedoms were hard won through the struggle for equal rights, which is continuing to this day.
These freedoms that we have are not perfect, and the history of our exercise in democracy is not perfect.A simple examination of the legacy of racism and slavery provides a clear example of the denial of these freedoms almost to this day.The treatment of native americans, immigrants, women, people of color and other minorities clearly illustrates that the rights and privileges enshrined in our constitution and body of law are not guaranteed, but must be fought for, often in the face of years or even decades of difficult, painful struggle. In spite of this analysis, the fact is that there is a path to self-determination and human rights.We as a nation are at our best when we are promoting human rights and basic democratic freedoms.
In March, there was an event that happened halfway around the world, which is beginning to awaken international consciousness.High on the plain of the Indian subcontinent on the tallest elevated plateau in the world on some of the most beautiful land on earth a deeply spiritual nation called Tibet asserted its right to freedom, to self determination, to autonomy and to basic democratic rights.Tibet has been an occupied nation for nearly half a century.Annexed by China during the reign of Mao, Tibet has suffered numerous and grievous human rights abuses during the occupation by China.Tens of thousands of Tibetans have been killed.Thousands have been jailed and disappeared.The government of Tibet has been sent into exile and the spiritual center of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, has lived in exile for most of his life. Here in the United States we benefit to a large extent from our relations with China, and it is time for us to call in some favors.China has benefited from its economic relationship with the west, which is driving its economic rebirth and steps toward modernization and development.This growth is driven by cheap goods, massive industrialization, international trade agreements and economic liberalization.In spite of this economic liberalization, China is still riddled with the contradictions of centralized state control and the basic denial of human rights, which comes out of the framework of centralized state control. In the United States we have a moral responsibility to speak out for the people who cannot speak for themselves.Right now, the people of Tibet are suffering terribly for wanting their basic human rights.They want to worship in a manner suitable to their culture.They want the freedom of assembly and the right to free speech.They want political autonomy from China.They want to live free from the fear of being tortured and imprisoned for expressing dissent.We have a responsibility to listen to these thousands of monks and ordinary citizens calling for freedom. As a candidate for federal office, I would like to urge you to take steps to let China know that the people of Tibet deserve basic human rights. If China does not call off its troops, release prisoners who have been imprisoned simply for expressing their desire for freedom, reinstate the Dalai Lama as the cultural and spiritual leader of Tibet, and grant Tibet autonomy within China, then we will not buy products made in China. I would encourage you to look at where the next cheap product you buy is made, and if it is made in China, then I would encourage you not to buy it, until China grants Tibet basic human rights.Additionally, as a federal candidate I support a boycott of official US participation in the 2008 Olympics.The people of Tibet have spoken, and it is time for us to listen.Through non-violent methods we have the tools and resources to pressure China to move into the twenty first century.China is enthusiastic to show the world her material progress.It is up to us to help nudge China toward democratic progress as well. If you are in Nashville I would like to encourage you to attend a rally for human rights in Tibet this Sunday, March 30th at 1pm at the Nashville Courthouse.The rally, entitled “One Human Race,” is a response to recent reports of violence in Tibet that began on March 10th – a day known to Tibetans as Uprising Day, when the country revolted in 1959 against the Chinese invasion of 1950.News reports have suggested that the violence in Tibetan and Chinese provinces comes at a time when China is working expeditiously to portray a clean image for the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing. But the social unrest paints a different picture, calling the world’s attention to a brutal decades-long history of Chinese rule in Tibet, in which approximately 1.3 million Tibetans (1/5th of the population) have died due to violence and starvation. Nashville’s “One Human Race” rally will emphasize the need for basic human rights in Tibet, and a negotiated settlement between the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders that will result in a meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people. The rally will also call for dignity, justice and equality for all people in all lands. “One Human Race” will gather together Nashville-area artists, activists, and educators to rally for religious and cultural freedom in Tibet and beyond. Speakers from various faith communities will unite together to share stories and poems by Tibetan exiles, and call for social justice. Activities will include meditation, prayer, information-exchange, art for kids and adults, dance and music. Parking will be available on the street and in the Courthouse garage (free on Sundays). This event is supported by Project Giving Justice, Tropic Heat Studios, Blue Moves Modern Dance Company, Homeless Power Project and members of the Nashville Peace Coalition and Peace and Justice Center. Following the rally, THE CRY OF THE SNOW LION, a film about Tibet, will be shown on Sunday, March 30 at 7PM at Cafe Outloud, 1707 Church St., Nashville. The film will be followed by a discussion led by Ngawang Losel. For more information: http://www.myspace.com/onehumanracejustice, onehumanrace.justice@gmail.com, (615) 469-2584 (Office) or (615) 512-0161 (Dan Beck/cell)
My name is Chris Lugo and I am a candidate for the US Senate seat in Tennessee. I am running as a progressive because I believe that the time has come to end the war in Iraq, ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, quality health care and to restore common sense and decency to our national dialogue. For far too long we have neglected the needs of the poor in America, allowing hundreds of thousands in Tennessee to go without healthcare and millions nationally. For far too long we have let our education system be a secondary priority to the military industrial complex.
As a result of these misguided funding priorities we have a graduation rate in Tennessee of only about 60% statewide for high school students and only about one quarter of all Tennesseans graduate from college. We must take solid steps to ensure that all Americans have safe and affordable housing, that we live in a clear and healthy environment, and that we take steps to address the deep divisions of inequity that still persist in our society.
I believe in the American dream and I believe that all Americans deserve the opportunity to have a rich and meaningful life, but the only way to ensure that these priorities are addressed is to make certain that our government makes this a priority, that our elected representatives make peace and social justice a priority on a national scale.
We are at a crossroads in history, and Tennessee faces a choice which we all face. Do we choose to continue down the path of abandonment, of hopelessness and fear or do we choose to embrace the compassionate, hopeful elements of our national identity? I for one, choose to hope. I believe that the government is here to serve the people and our elected leaders are here to serve you.
I agree with Mr. Lugo, but I think we should a lot more
The U.S. should stand up for the Tibetan people and show the leadership. We at the very least should re-open the CIA military training camp for the Dalai Lama's resistance fighters at Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado.
We should ask Japanese to financially support the Free Tibet operation. Dalai Lama loves Japanese people. He endorsed a Japanese spiritual movement, Aum Shinrikyo, in 1980's-1990's.
We should ask Germany for some substantial support from Europe. Germans had deep connections with Tibet in 1930's and 1940's. Dalai Lama's tutor in 1940's was Heinrich Harrer, a member of the Schutzstaffel. These people are closely linked together. We can form a huge coalition force for sure to change Tibet back to Shangri-La.
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Tom Dino (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 7:48:27 PM
It was the folly of the CIA running a covert campaign to battle it out with the Chinese in the past that made everything worse for Tibet in 1959. Why would you want to revisit that disaster, get a lot of people killed, and turn China in to a total adversary all over again. Do you miss the 1950's? Perhaps we can redo the Korean War too.
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Mac McKinney (37 articles, 43 quicklinks, 113 diaries, 795 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 8:42:52 AM
Ordinary Tibetans under the modern Chinese administration have much more freedom than they had under the Dalai Lama.
There is an active positive discrimination program for ethnic Tibetans. Two examples, ethnic Tibetans are allowed 3 children per family while Han Chinese are allowed only 1 in most cases; ethnic Tibetan students gain entry into universities with a lower high school matriculation score than Han Chinese.
And just a factual reminder about the recent troubles. The monkes in robes protested peacefully for a day with no intervention by the Chinese security forces. later when gangs of thugs started burning Han Chinese shops and buildings and murdering Han and Huigur residents the security forces were slow to react - according to a BBC reporter who was there and interviewed on Australian TV last night. His anti-China spin was that the Chinese security forces were inefficient and too slow to respond to the gang violence.
Pull the log out of your own eye. Protest America's trampling of human rights worldwide.
But I guess there aren't a lot of "feel good" votes for you in that issue.
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John Haigh (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 48 comments)
on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 11:48:44 PM
Thanks for your correspondence. I always appreciate hearing both sides of an issue. I agree with you that the United States violates human rights all around the world. I am an outspoken critic of the United States current policy in Iraq and have protested against US intervention in Afghanistan, Central America, South America and within the boundaries of the United States itself. Thanks again for your correspondence and for sharing your perspective. I still stand by my statements regarding human rights in Tibet but sincerely appreciate your addition to this dialogue.
Chris Lugo
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Chris Lugo (22 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 9 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 11:10:21 AM
But next time you get to you talk to the Dalai Lama ask him to compare the number of official eye gougings, tendon pullings and hand breakings in the last 5 years of his reign to the number in the first 5 years of Chinese control.
Ask him what he ever did to stop those barbaric practises when he was leader.
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John Haigh (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 48 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 12:30:18 PM
America no longer stands for human rights. Hard to do anything about others abuses unless we clean up our own act .
Imagine a Hispanic group in California deciding they want independence and start rioting. If that happened in Bushs term we would be dropping bombs on LA like we are doing in Basra.
China likely initiated the Tibet violence as well as the hijack attempt from a 19 yo Uighur girl from Xinjiang region that preceded it.
Both are considered terrorist incidents in China, and the timing is so coincidentally close to one another if they were spontaneous events. Why would they do such a thing? Same reason we do it. They learn quickly, glad we export our knowledge in how to control peoples opinions, just attack your own people and call those who did it terrorists, and justify any actions as a fight against terrorism. The Olympics have been a good excuse to increase security against "terrorism" and the local papers have been harping on the homegrown terrorist threat during the Olympics for over a year now.
But some might think there are too many risks for China to do such a thing. They want the Olympics to go off well, right?
First of all, they understand that none of their major trading partners are going to boycott them. Maybe some foreigners won't visit to see the games freeing up some tickets for the locals. Maybe some foreigners will not be able to go to Tibet as a side trip when demonstrations would have been most likely. Those are positives to them. Remember 1989, we did nothing by slap their writs and went on to business as usual. They were not our banker in those days, now the loan us the money to fight our wars.
Now, one thing you have to understand about the Chinese, is they rely on nationalism to keep their people under control. Talk of independence from Tibet, Xinjiang and Taiwan infuriate the people and unite them. Thats good for China's government, as it was for Bush in the wake of 9/11.
What about boycotts of the opening ceremony by European leaders being discussed. Perfect for China. The Chinese still get hot and bothered over the Europeans exploitation of them over 100 years ago and the Opium Wars. Such disrespect being shown by foreigners simply because the government tried to suppress the terrorism of those advocating independence smacks of a double standard, and will get them all hot and bothered, and will unite them further.
Lest we forget the 1936 Olympics. Hitler and his jewish policies were being widely reported. Even so, The 1936 summer Olympics had the largest representation of nations participating than in any other previous Olympics, including the US.
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pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 46 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 4:18:59 AM
Chris, I urge you not to forget the geo-political situation, the Great Game and the Dalai Lama's long term strategic relationship with the US, including CIA funding, etc - none of which means that 'more Western pressure on China' is likely to avail, indeed it will be the ordinary Tibetans who suffer, yet again.
Why is there suddenly this wide burst of energy to free Tibet, yet total apathy on freeing Iraq from America. On every count, Iraq is infinitely worse off than Tibet. We have a million plus dead in Iraq, the country destroyed, yet everyone wants to now confront China. Is it just cowardice? Racism, you know, those swarthy Middle Eastern just aren't human sort of prejudice?
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Mac McKinney (37 articles, 43 quicklinks, 113 diaries, 795 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 8:50:19 AM
Thanks for your correspondence. You make some good points on this thread. The human rights situation in Iraq is terrible. I have been out in the streets and organizing and educating people about the terrible, hellish situation we have created in Iraq for six years, seventeen years if you include the sanctions. The situation in Tibet is bad as well, but I do agree that the situation in Iraq is proportionately worse. Estimates are that perhaps as many as 1.1million Iraqis have died directly as a result of the six year US invasion and occupation. But one human rights disaster does not negate another. Every situation of human suffering and the denail of basic rights deserves our attention in Tibet, in Iraq and around the world.
Chris Lugo
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Chris Lugo (22 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 9 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 11:27:14 AM
You make a very valid point about one crime (Iraq) not making another (Tibet) excusable.
Also you have demonstrated your personal integrity with long term efforts to bring peace to Iraq.
Central Chinese control in Tibet probably is flawed in many ways. But on the scale of human rights violations in the world it is very minor.
A major problem with protesting abuses in Tibet is that it conflates the problems there with other horror stories around the world. It also confirms Americans in their irrational anti Chinese prejudices.
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John Haigh (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 48 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 12:49:01 PM
It's laughable isn't it an American lecturing China on human rights, perhaps he's conveniently forgotten GITMO or the other torture camps throughout the world. Perhaps he's forgotten the Vetnam massacre or the Iraq massacres, the millions dead at the hands of Americans. Even in their own country they have millions locked up on trumped up charges to prevent them voting. Which country still murders its citizens, which country denies a pregnant woman the right to chose, which country invades another on the slightest pretext. Which country only 50 years ago had an organisation called Klu Klux Klan which hung black people at will, no questions asked.
Iraq needs an international response not Tibet.
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douglas kay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 10:36:27 AM
Thank you for your correspondence. I agree that the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is a violation of human rights. I have called for the immediate release of these prisoners of war. The policies of the Bush administration have been reprehensible and the United States has become a purveyor of torture and murder around the world. The situation in Tibet does not diminish this truth. I agree that we must close Guantanamo Bay, reform the criminal justice system in America, withdraw our troops from Iraq, guarantee women the right to choose and ensure civil rights in the United states. None of this diminishes the suffering of the people of Tibet who deserve the same basic human rights which are codified in the International Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights are for everyone, and any trampelling of those rights anywhere deserves the attention of the entire world.
Sincerely,
Chris Lugo
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Chris Lugo (22 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 9 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 11:43:33 AM
There are many human rights abuses regarding self determination around the world. Some are extremely serious e.g. Iraq, Chechneya and Palestine. Some are clearly nowhere near as bad e.g Scotland. Perhaps Kashmir and West Papua fall in the middle.
Where would you place Tibet for seriousness? In my opinion its severity is closer to Scotland than West Papua.
So why choose to protest about Tibet when there are so many places that are much more repressed and want independence?
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John Haigh (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 48 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 1:21:20 PM
In 1951, the communists took power in Tibet. For two centuries no one had considered Tibet as an state independent of China. As late as 1950, India recognized Tibet as part of China, and the British ratified this position. Only the US hesitated. They decided they would use Tibet as an anti-communist bastion. The US were isolated in their efforts. They were unable to establish an international coalition for their position. In 1951 the Tibetan elite accepted peaceful negotiations with China. This changed in 1956 when Chinese authorities instituted an agrarian reform in Sicunai in favor of the peasants. The local ruling class did not accept that their lands would be affected and led an armed uprising. The CIA was intimately involved in this (See The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet, by Conboy). The CIA took hundreds of Tibetans to the US and trained them in guerrilla warfare. They parachuted weapons into Tibetan territory. They trained the Tibetans to shoot from horseback. The US Congress gave the Dalai Lama a gold medal. The Dalai Lama in return praised Bush as a man of freedom, democracy and human rights. Previously he had called the war in Afganistan a liberation and Viet Nam as a failure. The Dalai lama is supported by the extreme right, thanks to his rabid anti-communism. He has also made racist statements, to the effect that Tibetans must preserve the purity of their race, and he condemns marriage with non-Tibetans. According to James Miles of The Economist, the current demonstrations are violent and bloody. Young Tibetans armed with sabers and Molotov cocktails atacked Hui businesses, plundering them and setting them on fire. The Hui are a moslem minority who have lived there or centuries. Tibetan monks and youth also attacked Chinese businesses, breaking doors and windows, burning buildings and beating the Chinese who crossed their path. Some Chinese have been lynched. The situation got out of control. Currently 13 innocent civilians have died. They had been burned alive or beaten to death. The demonstrators had wounded 60 police, 5 of them critically. 300 buildings have been burned down, 214 of them stores. 56 cars were destroyed. (These figures need updating). The Chinese authorities have used no firearms. The authorities are convinced that the riots had been planned and organized ahead of time as a provocation. They blame the Dalai Lama or much of the violence.
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Antonio (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 44 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 1:23:37 PM
Thanks for your correspondence. Although I do not believe the accounts of what you are saying regarding the situation I am sure there is some grain of truth in it. The fact is, however, that Tibet is a culture which has been occupied by China. There is abundant historical evidence regarding China's human rights abuses against the Tibetans and there is no way I am going to believe the responses of a state-controlled propaganda machine like the Chinese government. Your entire post reminds me of the good old days when the politbureau put out accounts of the violence of minorities within the soviet state such as the latvians or czechs in their quest for independence.
Sincerely,
chris Lugo
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Chris Lugo (22 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 9 comments)
on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 12:01:08 AM
"free trade" or, as a I call it, forced trade with the greater slave, left us with no levers against totalitarian capitalism and no way to punish China or reward democratic economies.
For a larger perspective of the Tibet crime see my OpEd article and Osho's comments re the real significance of the loss.
If I were you I would concentrate all my powers on having President Bush and his Vice president arrested and charged for war crimes. Tibet is a drop in the bucket and quite frankly just a diversion from the real terrorists. It smells of CIA involvement in an effort to embarrass China or to lessen the USA's awful reputation. You and others have to turn the USA into a society where the majority have even the basic human needs. Katrina wouldn't have had near the effect it had in a decent caring society. Here in Florida millions live in sub standard housing, this in a state where hurricanes are not unknown, there isn't, to my knowledge one purpose built shelter. The victims huddle together in schools for hours with barely the basic needs, this in a country that prides itself on being the richest country in the world.
I've lived in many country's but the USA is the last on the list for providing its citizens with health and happiness, you just don't have any room to criticise others. You renegade on treaties you've signed because they've gone past their sell by date and don't give you an advantage anymore.
Chris you're flogging a dead horse. Investigate the 9/11 fiasco, that should open your eyes.
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douglas kay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments)
on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 7:42:36 PM
