China Tightens Grip on Tibetan Protests, Block YouTube, Sends in More Troops
Date : 2008 03 17 Category : Web News
As unrest spreads to other provinces, communist authorities begin a major crackdown to prevent it from marring the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Since Monday of last week the world has heard and watched as the Tibetan people have marched in protest of what his Holiness the Dalai Lama himself has termed "cultural genocide."
Now in the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I myself am a longstanding practitioner of Buddhism in the Mahayana tradition. Nonetheless, I think the fact that China seems to get a free pass on human rights simply because it cranks out the worlds consumer goods on a mass scale at bargain basement records is a true tragedy and speaks of the occasional shortcomings of capitalism.
More importantly, it speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of the Olympics itself with its intent to showcase a false air of global unity and peace complete with pageantry and orchestrated fanfare while millions in that country and around the world suffer in quiet desperation.