Airports, the Olympics and Tibet March 29, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , add a commentIn 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.
Pray for Tibet March 14, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , add a commentOver a decade ago I went to India on a business trip. One weekend, I took an overnight bus to Karnartaka state in the South and visited the monastery of a friend. This monastery had been established after Dalai Lama and many of his followers (including my friend) went into exile in 1959. Over the next forty years, the people had established a community in exile, carrying on with their lives while always remembering the mountains from the dry plains of the south.
And now, on the 49th anniversary of the original uprising and exile, and as China rises to become an economic superpower, Tibetans are rising again. And paying an enormous price. The original of the monastery I visited, Drepung, is reported to be under siege by Chinese forces with many arrests.
The spectacle in Beijing this summer will draw the eyes of us all to China. Can we, and our governments, be persuaded to look beyond the sporting glamour?
For the sake of all sentient beings
China opens a coal fired power station every week November 12, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment , 3 commentsThere’s a perfect excuse in Britain to ignore climate change, and keep on living as if there were no tomorrow, and that’s the way that China opens a coal fired power station every week.
But, if you use that excuse, consider this. China has, in the last twenty years, turned from a backward, poverty ridden nation, to a powerhouse economy. It has done that without worrying about planning regulations, human rights or any of the other, deeply desirable, ideas that may slow the West’s ability to respond to the need to reduce carbon. Its geography means that it may suffer more than Britain will, with encroaching deserts and sea level rise threatening delta and coastal cities. Its bright youth study engineering and science.
The first hydrogen refueling plant has opened in Beijing, and will be used for fueling a hydrogen vehicle fleet for the 2008 Olympics.
If China, its government and power brokers, decide that they will reduce their own carbon emissions, and perhaps use their economic power to encourage others to do so, they will do it, and quickly.
It is complacent, and somehow patronising, to assume that China will fail to recognise the problems its industrial revolution and economic boom are causing and, having recognised them, will fail to deal with them. We, who have had 200 years of industrialisation, need to look to our own dirty back yard now, before we are passed by in this as well.
