The Video China Doesn't Want The World To See
By Nicole Belle Tuesday Mar 18, 2008 6:30pm
This footage of the rioting in Tibet is raw and harrowing. It's also, for the most part, not being seen in China where authorities have blocked access to YouTube.com, which has many videos on Tibet.
The Internet as a liberating force? Not always. [..]
The whole thing is a bloody mess as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing draws near. I think a vast majority of people have no stomach for another boycott -- most Americans would rather defeat evil on the athletic field, as Jesse Owens did in Berlin in 1936, than take our ball and go home, as Jimmy Carter did in 1980. That said, I'd like to see freedom-loving people, from the U.S. and elsewhere, figure out how to make some kind of statement this August.
PARIS (AP) - Moves to punish China over its handling of violence in Tibet gained momentum Tuesday, with a novel suggestion for a mini-boycott of the Beijing Olympics by VIPs at the opening ceremony.
Such a protest by world leaders would be a huge slap in the face for China's Communist leadership.
France's outspoken foreign minister, former humanitarian campaigner Bernard Kouchner, said the idea "is interesting."
Sadly, I can't see anyone in the Bush administration going along with that idea...especially when we owe China so much. I guess that oppressing their citizens, violence and actual weapons of mass destruction, that's not so important, when they underwrite your loans.
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Olympic boycotts are nothing new, and worth doing if the host country needs a big reminder to behave.
what insults them ? Could Americans wearing red shoes during the Games really piss 'em off ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games#Boycotts
...or put small stickers on the sole of our shoes depicting China's Communist Party flag or symbol . . .
Don't forget it was Bush Co that gave China Most Favored Nation Trading Status in 01.
Man, I hope that wasn't a Vespa they were beating down.
Olympic boycotts have always been a waste of effort. Did the '80 boycott lead the Russians to pull out of Afghanistan or did the '84 boycott teach us a lesson for the '80 boycott? A mini-boycott of the Opening Ceremonies? Will that accomplish anything? I doubt it. China isn't going to change its policies because of some embarassment at the Games
What is that persistent, high-pitched 'whooping' sound in the background? Sirens? Barking dogs? Some sort of rallying cry?
Keep up the fight and never back down Tibet. The world has you in our sights.
yes....boycott the opening and closing ceremonies, which are all pomp and circumstance
just show up for the events
the people of china are not to blame for this...its the government....
and whoever is broadcasting the ceremonies should refrain
Richard @ 7:
but it does send a message, likewise domestic boycotting of any multinational company that advertises at the Olympics, or during the TV coverage.
Are You kidding? The Thugs are reviewing tapes and taking notes as We speak.
Anti-war protests took place across the nation Wednesday.
Notice the MSM coverage?
I don't watch network television because it disgusts me. Did the media in the US show any of the antiwar/occupation protests that occured yesterday? Is it similar in it's censorship? Is the only difference a communist label?
Was that video supposed to depict some kind of brutality by the Chinese military?
I must have missed it.
Am I missing something? The video shows the people destroying and looting private property. How is that supposed to help the Tibeten cause?
Btw, China has signed this: "During the l990s, the PRC was working to complete testing of its modern thermonuclear weapons before it signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996".
So, Nicole Bell, what are you implying by stating that China has WMD? Of course they do, they are one of only 5 countries that are allowed. The illegal nuclear arms programs are the more real threat. India, Pakistan, and Israel. Though Israel don't really have nuclear weapons, (wink) right?
While the rest of post is nothing I disagree with except that statement about WMDs. Do you think that if the US had invaded China it would have been better than Iraq? See where the imagination can take you when you imply something that is not really a threat to "US interests?" The US would be involved in a Nuclear War if they attacked China first with Nuclear weapons. Its the US economy that China holds a good chunk of that's the problem, not their Nuclear weapons which by Russian standards, are pretty secure.
LA- I don't watch MSM. But I DID notice a big yawn from The White House and The McCain cronys. Protests stop traffic Not war.
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 14:
Nope the MSM's best bud Osama Bin Laden is back in the news today.
The videos I watched on youtube show what looks like hoodlums ransacking. Am I missing something? These people are supposed to be monks or what? It looked like teens vandalizing, burning and breaking. Did I miss something somewhere?
David Hawes @ 18:
MSM=NWO Media
btw, the chinese gov is as stupid as ours when it comes to the internets
chinese hackers are all over the country, watching whatever they want
and there are thousands up uploading sites online....no way can the chinese block them all
the whole world is watching
burn, baby....burn
19 L.A. Confidential
I see OBL is back. Which party or candidate is he supposed to help? Very odd time for the ghost to appear, don't you think?
Richard @ 7:
Don't be so sure. China is quite interested in the attention, and unlike Russia, China is engaged in capitalist commerce.
The part of the gov't involved in the Olympics is undoubtedly pulling its hair over the OTHER part of the gov't that is doing the hardliner stunt in Tibet.
'reply to Protesters?' - Just as an update,there is no 'private property' in a Communist State.
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 20:
The thin veneer of civilization disappears quickly when people are put into a life survival state.
What do we owe China? The way our economy is going,if China calls in the debt,they`ll lose their butt.It sure is a long,long way from when my great grandfather was head of the Bureau of Engraving(Treasury Dept. 1904-1906)Money was worth something then.Now it`s just paper that those folks in the film used to start the fires.
Bush the Albatross President--around your neck for years to come.
L.A. Confidential @ 13:
Moot to the actual people present for the protests, the drivers going by, the pedestrians, their children, the cops, the gov't officials who drive by, the visiting foreigners who witness the protest, etc.
Notice you again spreading the anti-protest message.
26 L.A. Confidential
I take it I missed something then. Does anyone have more to this story?
I saw the video. That's what rioting looks like. Yup. And if that happened in the US, lets say Texas, the National Guard would be sent in. It's historical amnesia that's the real problem.
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 23:
LOL right just a coincidence.
31 L.A. Confidential
Perhaps Osama BinHidin will scare Wall Street back into the bull markets and reverse the economic downturn? Maybe somebody should tell Bush/Cheney that it prob won't work.
I'm in Europe and the video says: We're sorry, this video is no longer available. Maybe it has something to do with my YouTube global settings, set to 'world'. Suspiscious enough.
Youtube was down for quite a few hours where I live. Coinkydink?
Olympic athletes should dye their hands red, to symbolize the blood on the hands of the Chinese government and the hands of all governments that suppress native peoples. The Chinese government is bad, yes. But we can't deny that our own government and others around the world (Russia, Berma, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, etc.) are not also committing atrocities.
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
Did you think that Tibetans don't have an angry youth who are NOT monks? The Chinese shopkeepers who were burned out were also victims.
This is not the first or the last Tibetan repression. Since Tibet is the border against nuclear-armed India and nuclear-armed Pakistan in the neighborhood, the situation in Tibet is intractable.
And the drivers,pedestrians,the childrn(it IS after all about the children) the dignitaries,etc. all marched up to the white House were welcomed into the Ovel Office and The Thugs all said 'You're right! We're sending the troops home tomorrow!'.
The Olympics is as much about money as sport. The folks who need to boycott the thing are the international spectators. Let the athletes compete and win their medals, in empty arenas. They get the gold. China gets a black eye.
I saw what looked like innocent civilians being attacked in the streets. This is digusting. If anyone thinks they can justify such behavior, they should keep in mind that if they are not American Indian, they have no right to say. Unless, of course, their non-native asses are willing to take a beating.
I do not like the Human Rights violations perpetuated China, but I really hate the Human Rights violations on Indian Reservations and Haliburton/KBR being funded by may taxes even more.
I don't feel that the athletes should have to boycott, because they worked their whole lives for the Olympics. It is the IOC's fault that Beijing was awarded the Olympics.
I will boycott the Olympics. I will be unplugging the TV from the beginning until the end. I won't watch one minute of coverage on TV. The Olympics is now more corporate than ever and I would suggest individuals boycott their TV's and put pressure on the sponsors, not the athletes.
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 32:
We have now gotten into a period where it's up 400 one day and down 400 the next. Forget those days where the DOW moved 20-30 points a day. Soon we will be into up 1000, down 1000 or more. Instantly crushing any hope for recovery.
Ya Think?
John West @ 38:
John West @ 38:
I whole heartedly agree. I would like to see a petition that is titled, "Beijing, The World is Not Watching", and if people sign it, they agree to turn off their televisions during the Olympics.
curtis said the most pertinent comment I've read in a long while.
The French are in a position to protest. The USA, however, has no moral authority.
The Olympics Games should be moved permanently to Greece, where they belong.
Evening Update
http://tinyurl.com/24ktcc
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 34-
Youtube was down for quite a few hours where I live. Coinkydink?
Yes, coinkydink. YouTube is constantly down for a few hours. Here's what it says right now:
YouTube will be undergoing scheduled maintenance, starting around 7:00 pm PDT.
40 Sunnyside Says:
"I don’t feel that the athletes should have to boycott, because they worked their whole lives for the Olympics. It is the IOC’s fault that Beijing was awarded the Olympics.
I will boycott the Olympics. I will be unplugging the TV from the beginning until the end. I won’t watch one minute of coverage on TV. The Olympics is now more corporate than ever and I would suggest individuals boycott their TV’s and put pressure on the sponsors, not the athletes."
I say:
I would be honoured if I went down in the history books defying the most crrupt organisation on the planet.
Remember 1936? A certain black athlete that won in Berlin? (Just jogging your memory)
Gary- Please don't make the mistake of equating the US 'government' with US The People . USA government has 'no moral authority', the USA people certainly do.
Andy "George W. Bush has never been elected. The ‘Machine’ took it and gave it to him." K Jong Il @ 48:
Fix or Repair Daily.
Fix or repair daily= FORD
David Hawes @ 52:
Microsoft is the NEW FORD
LA- Ain't THAT da trut.
The title of this post should really read: "The ONLY video China wants the world to see." There are plenty of videos of the Tibetan youth looting, burning, and beating Han Chinese, but so far, I haven't seen a single photo or video of a Tibetan being shot or lying dead in the street. I've read second hand news accounts of shootings, but no documentary evidence. If the Chinese really are shooting protesters, then I think the world should see these images as soon as possible. The fact that no images have surfaced makes me wonder if these claims have been exaggerated. I certainly hope there hasn't actually been a massacre, but if it becomes clear that the stories are unfounded, then I think it would hurt the Tibetan cause in the world's opinion. The Chinese could say that it's no one business but their own, then continue torturing dissidents in secret.
See article from NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/world/asia/20tibet.html?ref=world
"Chinese news programs on the events in Lhasa have reinforced an impression of separate universes that scarcely intersect — one Han and one Tibetan. The programs were clearly intended as propaganda to place the blame for riots on Tibetans and rally Han Chinese in support of a government-led suppression. Over and over, television broadcasts have repeated the same footage of rampaging Tibetans smashing shop windows and of injured, hospitalized Han, while making no mention of the widely reported deaths among Tibetans during the police crackdown that followed, nor of the underlying grievances that sparked them."
OT I know,BUT.I've said for years that if people bought their computers like they bought cars none of this Microsoft shit would exist. It's bullshit to have to be slaves to such garbage.
48 Andy “George W. Bush has never been elected. The ‘Machine’ took it and gave it to him.” K Jong Il
Ah, well I stand corrected. I've never came across it before today. Must be when they do a sweep for copyright infringements. LOL.
And On Topic. I don't know why Anyone is 'outraged' at China clamping down on unrest. I guess most people here weren't alive or aware when In the middle of the Chinese capitol the army rode down protesters with tanks way back in the 80's It's Thugs dealing in a Thug way. Get used to the visuals.
Ok, after a quick google search, I found plenty of photos (some graphic), on the "Free Tibet Campaign" website.
http://www.freetibet.org/
If these images are verifiable, why are the world's newspapers are not publishing them for all to see?
Shit, the Olympics are a fraud anyway. You can stick your finger in the eye of the Chinese better by stopping buying their poisonous crap at WalMart. So much for Buddhist nonviolence I guess. Anybody tell Richard Gere yet?
David, Curtis, I quite agree in re Curtis' comment; Concerned Hussein Canuck, you might like to turn your attention homeward, for a bit, in respect to human rights issues, you may also be "missing something" there:
http://hiddenfromhistory.org/
the full length doco is free to watch, linked to the above site
current events/update:
http://www.jointhefederation.com/
http://www.newtfn.com/churn.html
china is to tibet and tibetans as Canada and the USA are to first nations and native americans/turtle island indigenous
China has done and is doing to Tibet what the US & Britain have done and are doing to Iraq.
"Modernization" .. "Liberation" ..
Frank Zappa: Trouble Coming Every Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QEz6OGm6_E
A) As someone with close friends whose lifelong dream of bringing the gold medal in gymnastics home was first blocked, then tainted by the absence of the Russians, I wish people would consider the lifetime of sacrifice and discipline that these athletes put into their chance at representing their country. I thought the boycott was a bad idea then, and I would today.
B) Why exactly are we supposed to be rooting for the rioters? Has anyone really looked at the system they are trying to re-install? I'm no fan of Chinese "communism" but I just don't see where we have a horse in this race to begin with.
When it comes to statecraft and the finesse of power and public image, it seems China is about as sophisticated as the Bush administration. Plenty to complain about all around.
But mostly what I see here are a bunch of hooligans trying to make trouble, but not exactly supported by the vast majority of their fellow citizens. The streets are not exactly packed there. And maybe I'm blind, but I didn't see any outrageous acts of gratuitous violence by government forces. I am aware that there have allegedly been some, but not in this example. Seems China is trying to keep a lid on the videos to prevent "copycats" from breaking out. I don't agree with Censorship, but unfortunately, if we want to complain, we will have to do it without the moral authority of our own government's conduct to back us up.
I am encouraging everyone I know to boycott the China Olympics. I have always been told that their culture is very attuned to the concept of shaming, well now is the world's chance to find out. It's bad enough that I have to cull Chinese toys from the house when my kid's asleep, it galls me to support their oppression on top of all the rest of the oppression going around!
Of course, Obama was right on top of this issue today, mentioning Tibet in his foreign policy speech at Fayetteville.
He is always a leader on the issues, Hillary and McCaion can only follow after they test the political winds.
Ethnic Tibetans beating on doors and vandalizing Han Chinese businesses. Not much, but nothing compared to what happens when the Chinese leave their barracks and exact revenge. Major loss of face -- I wouldn't want to be in Lhasa a week from now.
MountainMan23 -
in re China/Tibet = the US & Britain/Iraq
oh yeah, that parallel too
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 57-
Ah, well I stand corrected. I’ve never came across it before today. Must be when they do a sweep for copyright infringements. LOL.
I dunno, could be that. You've gotta figure that there are enough people uploading vid there that someone is always introducing some kinda virus. But they do it constantly.
And I don't think the Chinese government gives a rat's ass if we see this or not. Are we gonna suddenly make them not the world's largest population? No one wants to fuck with a modernized China. They outnumber the US by more than 4 to 1. And think of how much of my country's debt they hold. China is the cat who swallowed the canary. It's pickin' it's teeth with the feathers. And we're watchin' it.
kablooie @ 64:
Unfortunately we (the US) have been supporting the Chinese for a long time now. Every factory that has moved there, every imported item purchased, every dollar that has flowed out of here and into China. Wait until China decides the economic crisis is ripe in the US to send their battleships to Taiwan and ask the United States, "So what you gonna do about it?" as they hold up over a trillion dollars of treasuries ready to dump on the world markets if we so much as blink.
This country lost it's way 3 decades ago, and the results are unfolding......stay tuned. It's just starting.
Tom A. @ 69:
You want to have an impact... boycott Wallmart!
You people who are discounting the situation in Tibet as "thugs being dealt with properly" need to get a fucking clue. Tibetans, especially women, have been subjected to brutal, insidious oppression for 50+ years. No, you won't see Tibetans being executed in the street. I suggest you do a google search on "oppression in Tibet" and educate yourselves...what has been going on in Tibet is no less than ethnic cleansing and it's quite understandable these people have resorted to civil unrest...peaceful demonstrations are quashed by the Chinese in a heartbeat.
TomA- Your Taiwan scenario is quite valid. BUT How bout THIS. USA attacking Iran where China gets it's oil. Hmmmm. Perhaps We allow China to get Taiwan,while China allows Iran invasion.
68 Andy “George W. Bush has never been elected. The ‘Machine’ took it and gave it to him.” K Jong Il
You sure hit that one out of the park.
China only needs 20 years or so to make it's Navy 'world class' and Then Katy bar The Door.
Sundance to Butch - 'I can't swim!' Butch to Sundance- 'LMAO! Hell,The fall'll probly kill Ya!'
KC @ 71:
thank you
seconded
Great soundtrack! Sounds like No. 9.
I for one never implied that the people in Tibet are thugs. I WAS saying that China killing protesters was Thugs acting as Thugs and WE should be more concerned about our own citizens being treated the same when OUR Thugs take over.
David Hawes @ 74:
China owns the greatest navy in the world.. America's! You are so far in debt, (to the Chinese) they are running your military. ESPECIALLY your navy. Wait 'til they tire and pull the bathtub plug.
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 73-
Ehh...It was a softball.
I was typin' on this on the Tibet thread on Monday. China needs to store people somewhere, Tibet's been relatively empty. China shores up it's border with India, but the autocrats in Beijing still need to crack down on the Buddhists because the monks offer a counter-authority. China needs to keep everything running smoothly, most certainly right on the border with the world's second largest nation.
I expect China to move west into Kazakhstan- and all of those energy resources- in the next decade or two. Russia- now a smaller population than the US- probably won't help Kazakhstan, but they'll continue to attempt domination of Europe.
The dominoes are teetering.
79 Andy “George W. Bush has never been elected. The ‘Machine’ took it and gave it to him.” K Jong Il
Some have been saying that the US invasions actually DID start a world war. A long dragged out one.
I wish all you pacifist nitwits would join hands and jump off a bridge. So it's okay for the US to throw off their shackles against the British but not okay for the Tibetans to throw off their shackles? Go eat some organic soy milk and veet and shut the fuck up.
People, people, put it in perspective! China is only doing unto Tibet what we did unto the Natives in our country....
And I have yet to hear one howl of outrage over the continuation of the American concentration camps called reservations long after the U.S. Army knocked the shit out of the Natives.
Has it occurred to you that Tibet has been killing Han Chinese in these riots? The maximum number of Tibetans is 10 million. If China wanted to exterminate Tibet as some of you think, well, there's some extra men in China who could use some bleeding off.
/sarcasm for the stupid.
I bet all of you were thinking Kosovo wouldn't have any implications elsewhere, weren't you....
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 80-
Maybe....Chinese expansion is inevitable. Look at a topographical map, something that shows green grasslands and dry brown mountains...Most of the Chinese is locked into the fertile plains by mountains and desert...But if they move west, like the Mongols did....And the Huns before them, and all of the Gothic tribes before that.
But were our actions the catalyst? We could take all the money we've thrown away on a war for a soon to be disappeared natural resource- that would be oil- and invested it in new fuel alternatives- solar, wind and the holy grail that is fusion- and China would still be cracking down in Tibet and readying to expand further beyond it's borders. And the only thing that will stop it is China practicing Zero Population Growth methods. And that ain't happening without the rest of the world promising to do the same. And THAT ain't happening any time soon.
I am a little concerned that this is about to be typed by myself...
but all I could see was a bunch of un-organized assholes destroying property. And they were allowed to do it.
This proves nothing.
David Hawes @ 78:
just to clarify, when I seconded KC's remarks, definitely did not do so with any idea that they were directed at you, David Hawes
btw, DH, glad you and your wife are doing well again, and very sorry for your troubles
Andy "George W. Bush has never been elected. The ‘Machine’ took it and gave it to him." K Jong Il @ 83:
What do you call the One Child Policy? I'm curious, if that ain't zero population growth, please, tell me what is.
General_Rennenkampf @ 82:
indeed, General, indeed
on both counts
The USA boycotted Moscow Olympics to spotlight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Sadly, in today's glorious "global market", such a gesture would be... ill advised.
You can't aggrevate your lender...
bostongreen @ 81-
I wish all you pacifist nitwits would join hands and jump off a bridge. So it’s okay for the US to throw off their shackles against the British but not okay for the Tibetans to throw off their shackles? Go eat some organic soy milk and veet and shut the fuck up.
First, the Brits didn't outnumber the Revolutionaries by 100 to 1.
Second, the Brits weren't two or three generations ahead of the Revolutionaries in military technology.
Third, the British home territories didn't border directly on the rebellious colonies. In fact, there was no contiguous land route for British troops to march. So they relied on their navy which was
Fourth, not the Queen of the Ocean at the time- Revolutionary allies France held the distinction at the time.
Fifth, and finally, There is little to no support for the Tibetans from inside the Chinese government, while there was a large amount of sympathy for the Revolutionaries from the Whigs at Parliament in London. In fact, the brothers Howe- one the Admiral commanding the British fleet in North American waters; the other the General in command of ground forces on the N.A. continent- were both Whigs who didn't support the War Against the Revolution.
While the fact that China owns so much of the US debt means that this administration won't act against the Chinese government, the fact that China has weapons of mass destruction and the ability to deliver them to distant targets means no one else of any significance will act against China either.
That's the big advantage of nuclear weapons. Once you have them, you are largely untouchable. Nominal and ineffective protesting against the Chinese government and its policies is fine. I expect that it gives the protestors a warm and happy feeling of "doing something" or "taking a stand". Actually trying to force the Chinese government to change its policies regarding Tibet is too dangerous.
Wtf? That looks more like the video that China DOES want the world to see. Looks like a bunch of "thugs" involved in a pretty violent riot, including attacks on innocent bystanders and lots of looting and burning and mayhem. It ain't exactly a peaceful protest by innocent, spiritually enlightened beings or anything.
I mean not to go crazy but don't we call that type o' crap "terrorism" when people do it in the countries we are occupying, like Iraq and Afghanistan?
I think Tibetans should be totally free and independent too but the Tibetan people ought to decide what they want to do with their country, I don't see how violent riots by a bunch of pissed-off, whooping monks is gonna help the Tibetan people. I mean let's try to keep facts straight here at least, what was the point in posting this video along with talking about boycotting the Olympics and China's human rights abuses? It doesn't make much sense when you watch it...
This is the video China shows on their news canals.
Why would they not?
General_Rennenkampf @ 86
What do you call the One Child Policy? I’m curious, if that ain’t zero population growth, please, tell me what is.
It's not that effective for a couple of reasons. First, it isn't strictly enforced everywhere, and the penalties are financial. People don't go to jail.
Oh, and the Chinese government recently stated that they're reconsidering the One Child Policy.
Even if the birth rate declines, people are living longer, so ya gotta figure that in. The marvels of modern medicine!
And in history population, iirc has never globally declined. Not even during the Black Plague epidemics(which, btw, started in the east). Up and up, right to the top of Malthus' curve....