Free Tibet
The Greeks protested the Olympic Torch, so did Turkey, so did London, and Paris managed to get it shut down completely. San Franciscans, you're up next, do us proud. I think if I lived near SF, I'd take a day off work and go watch the protests.
If you haven't managed to figure it out by now, I am completely in favor of the protests. Okay, yes, I'm a mean unfeeling person who is tromping on the Spirit of the Olympic Games and the brotherhood of all nations come together to bond with athletics. Oh well. I love the Olympics. I love sports. I really love watching obscure sports that never get any TV airtime in the other three years (ping pong! equestrian! rowing! kayaking! hell, if I can't sleep, I will happily watch air rifle and fencing at 3AM.) That said, I support the protests because it really seems like China has managed to entwine itself so throughly with the Olympic movement itself that if you just let the torch pass by unblocked, with cheers and smiles and support for the Olympics themselves, China interprets that as praise for themselves. "Wow, look at the support! We are doing an awesome job of supressing Tibet!" (Of course, China works the opposite for their own benefit as well. "You boo? Boo China? No, they would never boo us - they must be booing the Olympics! YOU INFIDELS!")
When I visited China last year, I spent the majority of my time in ethnic Tibetan areas. Beautiful places, beautiful culture. It's depressing to know that China has managed to move in and take over by force now. I've been trying to track the rioting as much as I can online, sopping up whatever tiny tidbits of news have managed to sneak out. Jiuzhaigou was closed to foreigners for a bit. Kangding and Chengdu filled with Chinese armed forces. When I was running around Chengdu trying to replace my passport, I remember my tour guide leaning over to show me his school, the Southwest University for Minorities. The Chinese army locked down the nearby Tibetan leaning neighborhood with special mention for the university and a nearby temple. The most recent article I've been able to find online mentions how reporters were blocked from entering Tibetan areas and were "escorted" by police to hotel in Danba for the night, then all the way back to Chengdu. (On a more humorous note, I am very sorry for them. I stayed in Danba. Their best hotel was the worst piece of crap hotel I've ever seen.) It's sad envisioning all those beautiful places (with the exception of Danba) now heavily military patrolled.
This is what I very much fear happening to Taiwan if China ever takes it over. I'm very pro Taiwan independence, but I'm realistic in that we don't have anywhere near the strength needed to pull it off - both in terms of military and political.
With that said, the Communist Party can DIAF. Free Tibet. And go Chicago 2016.
If you haven't managed to figure it out by now, I am completely in favor of the protests. Okay, yes, I'm a mean unfeeling person who is tromping on the Spirit of the Olympic Games and the brotherhood of all nations come together to bond with athletics. Oh well. I love the Olympics. I love sports. I really love watching obscure sports that never get any TV airtime in the other three years (ping pong! equestrian! rowing! kayaking! hell, if I can't sleep, I will happily watch air rifle and fencing at 3AM.) That said, I support the protests because it really seems like China has managed to entwine itself so throughly with the Olympic movement itself that if you just let the torch pass by unblocked, with cheers and smiles and support for the Olympics themselves, China interprets that as praise for themselves. "Wow, look at the support! We are doing an awesome job of supressing Tibet!" (Of course, China works the opposite for their own benefit as well. "You boo? Boo China? No, they would never boo us - they must be booing the Olympics! YOU INFIDELS!")
When I visited China last year, I spent the majority of my time in ethnic Tibetan areas. Beautiful places, beautiful culture. It's depressing to know that China has managed to move in and take over by force now. I've been trying to track the rioting as much as I can online, sopping up whatever tiny tidbits of news have managed to sneak out. Jiuzhaigou was closed to foreigners for a bit. Kangding and Chengdu filled with Chinese armed forces. When I was running around Chengdu trying to replace my passport, I remember my tour guide leaning over to show me his school, the Southwest University for Minorities. The Chinese army locked down the nearby Tibetan leaning neighborhood with special mention for the university and a nearby temple. The most recent article I've been able to find online mentions how reporters were blocked from entering Tibetan areas and were "escorted" by police to hotel in Danba for the night, then all the way back to Chengdu. (On a more humorous note, I am very sorry for them. I stayed in Danba. Their best hotel was the worst piece of crap hotel I've ever seen.) It's sad envisioning all those beautiful places (with the exception of Danba) now heavily military patrolled.
This is what I very much fear happening to Taiwan if China ever takes it over. I'm very pro Taiwan independence, but I'm realistic in that we don't have anywhere near the strength needed to pull it off - both in terms of military and political.
With that said, the Communist Party can DIAF. Free Tibet. And go Chicago 2016.