(Image courtesy Taekwonweirdo via Creative Commons license)
Huh?
Protesters march down Chicago‚Äôs Michigan Avenue. I look out my 14th floor window in the Tribune Tower to see banners saying “Free Tibet.”
Tibet? Honestly, I have no idea what Tibet is about. Heck I don‚Äôt even know where Tibet is. It just sounds like some cute country. After a little bit of internet research, here’s what I found:
A summary about Tibet:
Tibet has been ruled by China for 10 centuries. But China never really did anything with the area. They just kinda let it hang out and have the Dalai Lama govern the area. Tibet did try to declare their sovereignty in the early 20th century. From wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet:
Tibet proclaimed its independence from China in 1911, right before the fall of the Qing government. However, “at no time did any western power come out in favor of its independence or grant it diplomatic recognition.”[4] The People’s Republic of China (PRC), citing historical records and the Seventeen Point Agreement signed by the Tibetan government in 1951, claims Tibet as a part of China (with a small part, depending on definitions, controlled by India). Currently every country in the world recognizes China’s sovereignty over Tibet.
Then in 1950 China invaded Tibet after the Communists come to power. They decided to show everyone they truly own Tibet. The Tibetan army destroyed in battle at Chamdo. In 1966 all religious practice is outlawed, over 4000 monasteries are destroyed, and monks are either imprisoned or “re-educated.”
My interpretation:
The violence from China is definitely wrong, and worthy of protest. But China does technically own the land. Kinda sucks. It’s like when someone owns an old house. They don’t do anything with it and leave it rot and decay. Then you get someone who moves in and decides to actually do something with the house, then the owner is like, “heyyy! what are you doing!? This is MY house!” So they decided to beat everyone up, and totally trash the house.
With China’s violent actions towards Tibet, you got people wanting Tibet to be free. They kinda have a case as the Tibetan army, led by British-trained officers, defeated Chinese army in 1918. Tibet and China signed a peace treaty; but China refused to ratify treaty. China has always “ruled” the area. Sometimes they let Tibet do their own thing, sometimes they slam their fist down. Should Tibet be its own country? I don’t know.
Please correct me if I’m wrong about any of these statements. I’m just a newbie who always thought Tibet just sounded like a cute name.
Other sources:
http://www.freetibet.org/info/facts/fact18.html
“HONK for TIBET”? Really? That is the silliest sign I have ever seen in my life.
well the same could be said about Serbia and Kosovo….
Because honking will make Tibet free. I say let’s make Tibet free. If China is ruling the land so badly, then they don’t deserve it. It’s kinda like when America became free from the land of Britain.
Did anyone see the story on Kosovo/Serbia on Chicago Tonight this week? I don’t know when honking for something ever solved a problem. I guess peoplel still believe that it will, but it’s not like some authority is sitting their counting honks and waiting for some magical number to occur before they will move on an issue.
Same could be said for petitions … like some politician is going to say “oh wow, look, a million people signed this petition, i better do something”. If he hadn’t heard about the issue before then, it’s probably not all that important to him.
Let’s flip the script and say the state of Illinois wanted to be a “free” state from the USA, would we allow it? Would our government allow it? Never. Would our government intervene? You bet. Same concept.
Nolan! Slamming down the sickle of China!
The main problem with your analogy, Nolan, is that America hasn’t imprisoned peaceful protestors Illinois. America hasn’t imprisoned Illinois writers. America hasn’t destroyed monasteries. America hasn’t violated human rights in Illinois on a large scale. If America were doing those things to the people of Illinois, then perhaps Illinois would have a reason to separate from America.