Author: Claude Arpi
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: March 17, 2008
URL: http://www.rediff.com//news/2008/mar/17guest.htm
What had to happen happened! As in 1959, 1987
or again in 1989, riots have erupted in Lhasa and other provinces of Tibet.
The repression (and it is only a beginning) is said to be ferocious. But compared
to the previous uprisings, this time the background is different: China is
hosting the Summer Olympics, an event dedicated to world peace.
I am not sure if there is a Chinese translation
of the universally known saying 'There is no free meal', but Beijing should
have thought about it before bidding to host the 2008 Games. You can't have
the glory of hosting the Games without having to pay the price for not following
the basic spirit of the event. The Olympics are more than a commercial venture,
they are a celebration of the highest values that mankind can manifest.
In July 2001, when Beijing was awarded the
Games, many human rights campaigners across the world expressed their surprise
since Beijing is regularly credited with the worst human rights violations,
particularly since the 1989 bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square. The International
Olympic Committee's Executive Director Francois Carrard was quick to defend
the committee's choice, affirming that the Games would be a 'force for good.'
IOC President Jacques Rogge stated: 'We are convinced that the Olympic Games
will improve human rights in China.' That remains to be seen.
Indeed, today who remembers Pierre de Coubertin,
the French baron who believed that sports and the Games could help create
better human beings?
It is truly unfortunate that the spirit which
presided over the revival of the ancient Olympics seems to belong to a bygone
era. Wherever one looks, Coubertin's words have been forgotten. It is especially
true for China.
Suddenly, 'faster, higher, stronger' takes
on a more materialistic significance. A nation tries to prove to the world
that it develops 'faster', puts the bar on material possessions 'higher' and
is everyday a 'stronger' contender to military supremacy in Asia.
Paradoxically, the man credited with the restoration
of the Olympic Games remains unknown to the general public.
Very few believed in Coubertin's revolutionary
vision when he started the process to restore the ancient quadrennial Olympic
Games. On June 23, 1894, he founded the IOC at a function at the Sorbonne
University in Paris. Two years later, the first games of the modern era were
held in Athens.
Nominated first president of the IOC, Coubertin
remained in this post till 1925. But he was first and foremost a pedagogue.
His main objective, through the games and other projects, was to 'build men'.
He considered Olympism as a religion meant
'to adhere to an ideal of superior life and aspire for perfection'. He spoke
of the moral qualities of chivalry and world truce during the quadrennial
'human spring'.
In contrast, the only religion which seems
to flourish today (particularly in China) is one of money. The games have
become a colossal business venture. It is probably why China, the fastest
growing economic power on the planet, was awarded the Games. Superior life
or moral chivalry has been replaced by commercialism and utilitarianism.
Because the Olympics Charter calls for the
promotion of a 'peaceful society', the IOC revived the ancient tradition in
1992 to call upon the international community to observe an Olympic Truce.
Does Beijing understand the meaning of truce?
At present, the Chinese leadership seems to interpret 'peaceful Olympics'
as being 'silent Olympics', with all public dissent suppressed.
Beijing should have seen the events in Tibet
coming, but the Communist leadership was probably too busy preparing for the
11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held with great pomp
at the Great Hall of the People.
For decades, the 'minorities', particularly
Tibetans, have been wanting to express their deep-rooted resentment against
a regime which slowly but surely is annihilating them.
In end February in the Amdo region of eastern
Tibet, for a minor reason, a major clash erupted between the Chinese authorities
and hundreds of Tibetans gathered to celebrate their annual prayer festival.
According to the local Chinese government:
'Tibetans gathered for the Monlam festival protested when police interrogated
a Tibetan. Those Tibetan youths who were involved in the protests were interrogated,
and those who were slightly injured were handed over to their parents for
advice and guidance. So the county is peaceful as before.'
But Radio Free Asia has another version: 'Under
the pressure of a massive Tibetan demonstration, the local government had
to release all those who were arrested on the first day of protest. Many of
them were severely beaten and tortured.'
Most of the monks who were detained were participating
in a masked dance performance which had to be cancelled. One can imagine the
resentment of the monks and the lay population against the Chinese authorities.
A few months earlier, three Tibetan activists
had been detained by the Chinese authorities for unfurling, at Mount Everest's
main base camp in Tibet, a banner reading 'One World, One Dream, Free Tibet
2008' in English. They protested because some Chinese climbers were preparing
to ascend the mountain with the Olympic torch. China wanted to take the torch
to the top of Mount Everest, a move that blatantly symbolised their occupation
of the Roof of the World.
On March 4, Icelandic singer Bjork shouted
'Tibet! Tibet!' after singing a song at a Shanghai concert. Though most of
her Chinese fans did not immediately understand her words (Tibet in Chinese
is 'Xizang'), the Xinhua news agency later asserted that the performance 'not
only broke Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feelings of Chinese people,
but also went against the professional code of an artist.' As a result the
Chinese ministry of culture began to tighten its controls over foreign singers
and other performers.
Then came the news that two 'suspected terrorists'
were said to be have been killed and 15 'militants' arrested on January 27
in a raid in Urumqi, in Xinjiang province.
Wang Lequan, Xinjiang's Communist Party chief
stated: 'Obviously, the gang had planned an attack targeting the Olympics.'
For the first time, police action was linked to the Games though last year,
China's police chief had announced that 'terrorism' posed the biggest threat
to the Beijing Olympics.
Whether the persons killed were real terrorists
or just political opponents will probably only come to light long after the
dust will have settled on the Olympic stadium. The Olympics are a great occasion
to eliminate opposition in China.
The fact is that China, a totalitarian regime
with considerable economic clout, is sociologically extremely fragile. Last
year alone, more than 100,000 riots and demonstrations of different sizes
have been reported in the Middle Kingdom. Today the republic is not the People's
Republic, but the republic of a few oligarchs -- members of the all-powerful
Communist Party. While the cause of most of these riots is local problems,
the so-called 'minorities' are the worst sufferers. It is probably why President
Hu Jintao told a Tibetan delegation last week: 'The stability in Tibet concerns
the stability of the country, and the safety in Tibet concerns the safety
of the country.' He added that the Chinese leadership must ensure 'the well-being
of Tibetans, improve the work related to religions and ethnic groups, and
maintain social harmony and stability.'
Though Beijing pretends to have spent billions
of dollars to develop Tibet and improve the living standards of the local
Tibetans, most of the funds go towards bringing more Han settlers and for
defense purposes.
More worrisome for the Tibetans, Hu said the
party 'fully trusts' Han Chinese cadres in Tibet. The party should continue
to 'tremendously support their work, warmly care about their lives.' In Hu's
words of praise for the hard work of Han cadres in Tibet, analysts read that
Tibetans would not be given more say in their own affairs. The genuine autonomy
demanded by the Dalai Lama is still far away.
In his yearly March 10 statement, the Tibetan
leader said 'he looked forward to the implementation [of Hu's words]'. He,
however, added: 'For the realisation of these concepts, economic progress
alone will not suffice. There must be improvements in observance of the rule
of law, transparency, and right to information, as well as freedom of speech.
Since China is a country of many nationalities, they must all be given equality
and freedom to protect their respective unique identities if the country is
to remain stable.' Beijing did not appreciate these words.
For them, it is 'the evidence to prove that
the sabotage in Lhasa was organised, premeditated and masterminded by the
Dalai clique'.
It is in this context that riots erupted in
Lhasa. On the second day, the Chinese armed police is said to have used tear
gas to disperse several hundred Buddhist monks who gathered near the Central
Cathedral. Radio Free Asia announced that 'more than 2,000 armed police and
security personnel surrounded an estimated 500 to 600 monks from the Sera
monastery as they marched near a police station, where some of them had been
detained.'
Xinhua admitted that the authorities 'were
forced to use a limited amount of tear gas and fired warning shots to disperse
the desperate crowds.'
The 'limited' force acknowledged by the Chinese
government nevertheless caused the death of 10 persons ('mainly business persons'),
according to Chinese sources. However, eye-witnesses who managed to call their
relatives abroad speak of at least 100 dead, and it will probably be a few
hundreds when (and if) the dust settles. Since then, the uprising has spread
all over Tibet.
Where are the lofty ideals of Pierre de Coubertin?
Will the Olympics indeed be a 'force for good'?
One doubts it.
