Airports, the Olympics and Tibet March 29, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , trackbackIn a week where chaos reigned at the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5, China managed to smoothly open not one major international airport, but two. Beijing’s Terminal 3 has been slowly dealing with more flights over the last month, and in Shanghai, the new Terminal 2 for Pudong Airport opened apparently without a hitch on Wednesday.
Of course, the British media were all over the problems at Heathrow, whereas China’s media are tightly controlled. But they are international airports, so you’d expect some mention somewhere in the blogosphere if there had been big problems. I couldn’t find any.
There can be no doubt that the Beijing Games this summer will be the best organised in history. China, whatever is thought of their system of government and politics, is a formidible force and not to be treated lightly or with disrespect.
This is why they must be tackled on Tibet now. If a boycott of the Olympics helps, then a boycott of the Olympics must happen. Those who say that the Olympics are about sport and fellowship and should not be disrupted by politics are naive in the extreme. Hosting the Olympics is a political statement of national and civic pride. The Nazis knew this in 1933, when they started the torch procession ‘tradition’ (hat-tip to the wonderful Prof. Mary Beard for that one). Even if they were hosted in Canada, they would be a political event. Hosted by China, as with the USSR and USA in the 80s, it is unavoidable, and one of the few ways that small places can seriously challenge these superpowers.
But, we must take care to make sure that protests are about Tibet, and not about some sort of xenophobic fear of people who build airports well. It is very very hard to get an idea of how Chinese people see Western attitudes towards Tibet without being able to read Chinese, but I can’t imagine they like having their country vilified any more than anyone else does, and they certainly seem to have a low opinion of the Western press as this youtube video shows. I’m not sure about the claims they make here, but it would not be the first time our media misbehaved. Over 27000 comments, the first few pages mostly in support, and supportive video responses all point to Chinese anger at the way they are protrayed.
It is time to support Tibet, and the Dalai Lama, in every peaceful way we can. Not because everything in the western media is true, or because we’re scared that Western power is waning, but because this is probably the last chance Tibet has for religious freedom and self-determination.
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