Melvin Durai takes a swing at the Beijing Olympics
… Inspired by [Aamir] Khan, long jumper Anju Bobby George announced that she will protest China’s human rights abuses by participating in the Beijing Olympics. “I am participating in the Olympics not in support of China,” she said, “but with a prayer in my heart for the people of Tibet.” She pledged to lie on the ground before every jump, extending her legs outward to form a ˜T.“ It may look like I’m stretching, she said. But I’m showing my support for Tibet.
… The video was doctored for Chinese television to show Khan and Paes running in front of the Taj Mahal, cheered on by thousands of people, including Mahatma Gandhi.
… Indeed, a New York Times investigation has found that only 1 percent of Chinese are goons and thugs — and all of them work for the government. Cafferty“s words have upset many of them, according to Jin Yao, president of the National Association of Goons and Thugs. He say we same goons and thugs for last 50 years, Yao said. Is not true. We better goons and thugs than before. We take government course.
We point fingers at and deride China, while citizens of a nation complicit in propping up that corrupt regime. The United States sided with the Taliban against the Soviets and the Taliban continue to destroy ancient and irreplaceable instances of Buddhist culture in Afghanistan. Now, we support China with, for one, our need for cheap, labor-intensive goods and, in so doing, participate in a spiritual and cultural genocide against the Buddhists of Tibet. How does such an approach to foreign policy not make us all goons and thugs?
By the same token, would we as Americans appreciate a wholesale boycott against us owing to the tyranny of our current leadership? Granted, China’s and America’s fundamental values relating to government differ greatly, but an entire nation does not deserve international shunning for the sins of its leaders. How do we help the Chinese divorce themselves from their system of government? Furthermore, how do we do it without being guilty of the same meddling that we accuse the Chinese of in Tibet? This is precisely why a republic such as ours needs a diplomat at its helm and not another warrior. We’ve got bridges to mend, and I don’t mean just the one in Minnesota.
Your post finishes the thought that mine started… even if there weren’t political and historical issues to deal with, it would still be fundamentally a human rights issue. And there’s no fucking way we can be a leader on human rights, not after what we’ve done.
I honestly don’t see any real leverage we (or anyone) can use to get China to change their tune in Tibet. Removing them from the WTO? It would never happen. Punishing China’s economy hurts everyone. They have the biggest military in the world.
I don’t think the US is the most powerful country in the world anymore. We certainly seem helpless to change things in Tibet as it stands right now.
Ack. I meant to say this, also: I met you at the funeral, and it was great to meet you, although under such terrible circumstances. I started a blog (I blame peer pressure and Ashley’s ghost), so you can catch me there, if you feel like it! :-)
yep, you’re right. It’s all America’s fault.
Alli: That’s exactly along the lines I’m thinking. That we’re not in the position to guide other countries towards, at the very least, not violating human rights says something about America, and the power we have any more. If we can’t do it with “friendly” nations, what can we accomplish in Iran and North Korea?
Joshua: Come on. Tibet is all China’s fault but our admonition of China, while actively supporting them, is useless. We’ve put ourselves in a bad position when China is a lot stronger than and doesn’t have to listen to us.