[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] On Hypocrisy Over Tibet

[Bill Totten]

A Personal Reflection

by John V Whitbeck

CounterPunch (Apri1 14 2008)


I have been watching with growing amazement and concern the assaults on
the bizarrely quasi-religious Olympic Torch as it has staggered through
London, Paris and San Francisco, as well as the self-righteous
pronouncements by certain European "leaders" (and even by the European
Parliament, the UN Secretary-General and John McCain) that they will not
be attending the opening ceremony of the Olympics or are seriously
considering not attending or urging others not to attend unless China
bows to their "human rights" demands.

Have they even been invited? Who needs them? Why, aside from the obvious
intention to give offense, should the Chinese care?

I should make clear from the start that I am profoundly sympathetic to
Tibet and Tibetans. I have had the privilege of meeting His Holiness the
Dalai Lama on two occasions, most recently when we both spoke at the
same human rights conference in Sweden, and the white kata which he hung
around my neck on the first occasion is proudly displayed in my study.
In person, he exudes a quiet, modest charisma and aura of human
saintliness that is captivating even to an atheist - unlike any other
person whom I have ever met. I wish that he could return to the Potala
Palace and his Norbulingka summer residence and that his people could
enjoy the broad cultural and administrative autonomy which he seeks for
them.

Furthermore, when I traveled in Tibet in 1981 (at a time when I had
already visited all but one of the world's then existing countries), I
found it, far and away, the most fascinating place which I had ever
visited. It took my breath away in every sense.

Having said that, the current anti-Chinese frenzy in the West, pursued
in the guise of pro-Tibetan (and, to a lesser extent, pro-Darfuri) human
rights activism, and the Western media's coverage of it reek of hypocrisy.

As best I can tell, the recent violence occurred when some ethnic
Tibetans, understandably fed up with the ever-increasing presence and
domination of Han Chinese in traditional Tibetan areas, exploded in
frustration, burned some Han Chinese shops and killed some Han Chinese
civilians. What, in such circumstances, would one expect the Chinese
authorities to do? When, by way of example, some African-Americans in
Watts and other poor areas of Los Angeles exploded in frustration,
burned some white- and Korean- owned stores and attacked some
non-blacks, did the American police run away? As I recall, they sought
to restore order. So have the Chinese authorities. (As a practical
matter, the most brutal images of repressive police action against
ethnic Tibetan protestors have not come from China but from other
countries, most notably Nepal.)

Can anyone seriously argue that Chinese treatment of Tibetans, who have
not been subject to either genocide or ethnic cleansing and of whom the
vast majority continue to live on their ancestral lands, compares
unfavorably with the treatment accorded to the Native Americans by the
European settlers of North America or the treatment accorded (and
continuing to be accorded) to the indigenous Palestinians by the Zionist
settlers of Palestine? Can anyone seriously argue that it is even in the
same league of evil and injustice?

With more than fifty recognized ethnic minorities comprising roughly six
percent of China's immense population, Chinese government policy has
always aimed at cultural integration of all Chinese citizens rather than
at multiculturalism. Inevitably, some peoples are deeply attached to
their own distinct cultures and do not wish to be integrated into
another one. If Chinese treatment of certain ethnic minorities justly
merits criticism, most serious observers would argue that repressive
measures against the Uighurs of Xinjiang have been more severe than
repressive measures against Tibetans.

However, although there are many more Uighurs than Tibetans, one hears
very little about Uighurs in the West. They are Muslims. Uighur
nationalist movements are on America's list of "terrorst" groups, and
four Uighurs swept up in Afghanistan were incarcerated at Guantanamo for
years, even long after being exonerated as potential threats to America,
before finally being dumped in Albania, because no other country would
provide them asylum.

Furthermore, how reasonable is it to hold China responsible for the
human suffering resulting from multiple separatist insurgencies and
governmental counterinsurgency measures in the Darfur region of Sudan
(because China invests in Sudan's oil industry?) while not holding
America and its Western collaborators responsible for the far worse
human suffering resulting from America's invasions and occupations of
Afghanistan and Iraq and America's unconditional financial and
diplomatic support for Israel's occupation of Palestine?

If the Chinese feel that the current anti-Chinese frenzy in the West has
its roots in jealousy at China's twelve percent annual economic growth
rate and its increasing success in all aspects of world affairs,
seasoned with ample doses of racism and hypocrisy, this would not be an
irrational appreciation of the situation.

At least with respect to its role in world affairs, China has proven a
rather gentle and benign dragon in recent decades, focused on improving
the economic conditions and quality of life of its people rather than on
military aggression or full-spectrum domination of mankind and the
planet, even while its strength and potential power have been growing
exponentially. Seeking personal emotional satisfaction or domestic
political advantage by gratuitously sticking pins in the Chinese dragon
is unlikely to prove a wise course of action.

The world has enough problems already.
_____

John V Whitbeck, an international lawyer, is author of The World
According to Whitbeck (2005).

http://www.counterpunch.com/whitbeck04142008.html

TO POST A COMMENT, OR TO READ COMMENTS POSTED BY OTHERS, please click
on the word "comment" highlighted at the end of the version of this
essay posted at http://billtotten.blogspot.com/