All too Eager to Judge

The current state-of-affairs in Tibet certainly has my attention. In all fairness, I do have somewhat of a vested interest in the area, so any big news out of the fourth largest country grabs me by the eyelids and earlobes. When peaceful protests started on March 14th, I immediately knew this was going to get worse, nay, a lot worse. If you live in China, you know that protesting without government approval is a big no-no. This is an unfortunate law that I don't particularly agree with, but rules are rules. If you intend to break the rules, then you must be prepared for the retaliation breaking the rules might bring. Beijing isn't known for holding back the heavy hand, and when the protests expanded and intensified, I expected two things: retaliated violence and a biased Western-ideological outcry. An outcry, although not wholly wrong, but misguided by an overall ignorance about the centuries old relationships and history from that region.

A recent article from The International Herold Tribune stated in it's headline "Tibet Policy Hurting China's Image Internationally." This is hardly a shock when given the whole six countries that they polled. Specifically, these countries were the United States, France, Britain, South Korea, Indonesia, and India. Although the poll is likely accurate for their regions, if those surveyed were further aware of their own biases that have been generated by the global economy and or media, and were also further educated on the history of Tibet, this poll would likely have a somewhat different outcome.

From the three Western countries surveyed, 60-80% were critical of Beijing's handling of Tibet. It's no secret that many Western countries want to hate China. Due to it's cheap labor and poor environmental practices, China is a fantastic place for companies to have their products made. This has made for some incredible profits for a lot of companies, meanwhile many blue collar jobs have been lost in once industry rich areas in the west. While China's economy is seen booming, once high paying western factory jobs have been replaced with low wage temporary line work, or jobs within the service sector. This has dismayed many powerful unions and organizations which now blame China for many of their misfortunes. This is similar to the hate that many union workers had when immigration started surging in western areas which meant, according to floor workers, less jobs for the people born there. With a lot of our products produced in China, this has given enormous amounts of soft power to the Chinese and a lot of pro-western groups oppose and fear it. The Asian countries surveyed had a lot more mixed results, particularly Indonesia and India where approximately 50% and 35% of people were critical about the handling of the situation. This is also not wholly surprising when these two areas have either less grievances, or a stronger desire to become allies with their Northern neighbour. When you're not already angry with someone, you're likely more willing to forgive them.

There are other things that help feed the negative image that many already had of China. If it's not completely apparent by now, the western media has a large distaste for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). How could a group of so called truth-seeking professionals respect any nation that doesn't allow complete and utter press freedom? Censorship is a dirty word for many in the western world, and directly effects a certain group in people in particular; i.e. the media. Furthering this point is how the media always need an enemy. Kim Jong Il has been pretty quiet overall lately, Iran's president is a much of a raving lunatic as Kim Jong but is struggling to maintain power, Osama is so yesterday, and Sadam Hussein has been hung. Who else is a threat, but the country that makes everything and wants to be a world player? Fear mongering has been the order of the day for quite sometime when it comes to President Hu and the rest of his party. The spin in this regard is way out of control. When was the last time a positive article was written about China? Especially one that made the front page?

Something that seems to go completely under the radar when it comes to Tibet is what the area was like before the CCP started re-enforcing their on-again, off-again rule in the region in 1951. Many have grown up with the slogan "Free Tibet" somewhere in their lives which always seemed to resonate, since freedom is something that the many east of the Pacific enjoy. This immediately conjures up images of a complete suppression of the Tibetan people. What many people don't realize is that before 1951, Tibetans were ruled by their own suppressive Theocratic system. This system had it's own army which had not only fought their own aggressive wars (usually religious based), but was also used to maintain it order and to prevent the escape of the well-to-do leadership's serfs (slaves). Furthermore, this Tibetan leadership had amounted their own significant wealth and land. These historical facts illustrate a portrait of Tibet that is much different than the ideological pacifist, non-materialists image that the Western world has imagined it to be. This ignorance of Tibet's pre-CCP history is a big cloud that if lifted, would give a completely different perspective on the region.

When there's violence in any region, it is a government's responsibility to quell that violence and restore order. Tibet, though disputed, is still regarded as Chinese territory and so the CCP reacted, excessively mind you, to regain control over the region. The west opposes how this was accomplished based on their own ideals, and their media-formed ideas of China and Tibet. Knowing more about yourself and about the whole situation wouldn't likely lead to an agreement with yourself and Beijing's position, however it may make you less critical about how they've handled it knowing what the Tibetan alternative would likely be.

Further Reading:

Friendly Feudalism - http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

Tibet Policy Hurting China's Image - http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/18/europe/EU-GEN-International-Poll-Tibet.php

Tibet Protests Via Youtube - http://ca.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tibet+Protest&search_type=