Since my experiences in India I have repeatedly voiced, internally and externally, and developed opinions on things of greater concern than myself. I have finally, not before time, caught up on the Syria situation, learnt about the hegemonic injustices of Russia's homophobic laws and spouted on and on about China, Tibet and the human rights transgressions of the People's Republic of China. Undoubtedly I have worn the ear off some off you on more than one occasion. I have set up a facebook page to keep myself and interested friends in an information loop with each other, read countless articles about topics concerning global issues, but I still feel ignorant and helpless. I believe it was during GP week when one of our speakers announced, profoundly helpfully, that to make difference in the world one needs to combine their talents with their passions, and that leads me to writing here and anywhere else I can find an outlet for my spoutings, there will be other outlets soon and I will post about it here when they have heard from me.
In light of the current global climate I am finding it very difficult not to feel overwhelmed. On one hand I have my own personal interest topics keeping me ticking over with reading and thinking about how I can make a change. The situation in China only appears to be more revealing of the ongoing atrocities against it's people, who by more and more reports express greater and greater dissatisfaction and the communist government. At this time in my life I am still passionately interested in ancient Chinese culture, as I have been for many years. The selfish part of me wails and despairs at the shameless degradation of the Shaolin Temple to a simple tourist attraction, screams at the damage done to a unique Buddhist tradition and yearns to flee into the cloud wrapped heights of the WuDang Monastery. Such destruction to incredibly beautiful cultural icons does not end at the simple shaming of the sanctity of these relics of ancient Chinese life, it extends to brutal decimation of ways of life and families, of homes and well being, and of life itself.
During my team studying the Anthropology of Human Rights and Justice I probed my personal interest in Chinese culture into the murky domain of a topic I had only heard little of; Tibetan suppression. I bought a book titled The Snow Lion and the Dragon of Amazon and was horrified by what I discovered. Attached to this blog post will be a copy of an essay I wrote concerning a specific aspect of Sino-Tibetan suppression. Today, in India alone, over 100,000 Tibetan refugees have fled from their homeland to live in imitation of the Dalai Lama. Huge Tibetan homesteads have sprung up in northern India, and they have spread globally too. Today the modernisation of Ladakh, in India, however mimics the destructive forces at play in Tibet itself. The occupation of Tibet by China has been referred to as genocide, cultural genocide, and unjust. Tibetans seem universally support Autonomy and Independence for Tibet, and they are met with brutal suppression including imprisonment, torture and murder for their outspoken, or even peaceful demonstrations. Even private worship or association with an outspoken citizen is enough to condemn a civilian to imprisonment or death.
After a year long of reading and following Tibetan events, and my return from India, I came across a report that shocked me profoundly. The report depicted some of the most vile findings I have ever read about. There is no doubt in my mind that the destructive murderous treatment of Tibetans is of a significant scale. This report claimed that the figures of Tibetan's were dwarfed by those representing Falun Gong practitioners in China.
In light of the current global climate I am finding it very difficult not to feel overwhelmed. On one hand I have my own personal interest topics keeping me ticking over with reading and thinking about how I can make a change. The situation in China only appears to be more revealing of the ongoing atrocities against it's people, who by more and more reports express greater and greater dissatisfaction and the communist government. At this time in my life I am still passionately interested in ancient Chinese culture, as I have been for many years. The selfish part of me wails and despairs at the shameless degradation of the Shaolin Temple to a simple tourist attraction, screams at the damage done to a unique Buddhist tradition and yearns to flee into the cloud wrapped heights of the WuDang Monastery. Such destruction to incredibly beautiful cultural icons does not end at the simple shaming of the sanctity of these relics of ancient Chinese life, it extends to brutal decimation of ways of life and families, of homes and well being, and of life itself.
During my team studying the Anthropology of Human Rights and Justice I probed my personal interest in Chinese culture into the murky domain of a topic I had only heard little of; Tibetan suppression. I bought a book titled The Snow Lion and the Dragon of Amazon and was horrified by what I discovered. Attached to this blog post will be a copy of an essay I wrote concerning a specific aspect of Sino-Tibetan suppression. Today, in India alone, over 100,000 Tibetan refugees have fled from their homeland to live in imitation of the Dalai Lama. Huge Tibetan homesteads have sprung up in northern India, and they have spread globally too. Today the modernisation of Ladakh, in India, however mimics the destructive forces at play in Tibet itself. The occupation of Tibet by China has been referred to as genocide, cultural genocide, and unjust. Tibetans seem universally support Autonomy and Independence for Tibet, and they are met with brutal suppression including imprisonment, torture and murder for their outspoken, or even peaceful demonstrations. Even private worship or association with an outspoken citizen is enough to condemn a civilian to imprisonment or death.
After a year long of reading and following Tibetan events, and my return from India, I came across a report that shocked me profoundly. The report depicted some of the most vile findings I have ever read about. There is no doubt in my mind that the destructive murderous treatment of Tibetans is of a significant scale. This report claimed that the figures of Tibetan's were dwarfed by those representing Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Furthermore, the report indicated that 66% of the victims of alleged torture andThe topic of the report concerned the unwilling removal and transplantation of the organs of Falun Gong practitioners. The horrendous nature of this act bid the question, why? I remain assured that Falun Gong is simply a spiritual practise similar to that of Qi Gong, an entirely peaceful spiritual act. This year, on July 11th, the Irish Times reported "Oireachtas joint committee hears that some 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been murdered to facilitate organ transplant."The concern that human rights atrocities, and of such heinous nature could happen on such a scale in one of the worlds most important countries still baffles me. This year China applies to sit on the UN Human Rights Council, in similar attempts to its typical international brow beating that allowed it to host the 2008 Olympic Games. The current council members will vote on their choice of appropriate member states in November this year and I will be writing and campaigning and sending letters opposing the election of China to this position. In light of the state of human rights transgressions, clearly overlooked by state authority, it would be a shame to allow China to assume a substantial role in alleviating and fighting circumstances and imposing rules it so belligerently offends.
ill-treatment in China were Falun Gong practitioners, with the remaining victims
comprising Uighurs (11%), sex workers (8%), Tibetans (6%), human rights defenders
(5%), political dissidents (2%), and others (persons infected with HIV/AIDS and
members of religious groups 2%).
That being said, this rant all comes together today, not due to the fact that I so vehemently oppose the Chinese Governments behaviour, but because a greater issue may be at hand in our coming weeks. Up until my education at the hands of one of my team mates in India I know very little about the Syrian crisis. Now I sit eyes and ears glued to any clip, news piece or article that comes my way dealing with the topic and, alas, I feel ignorant. The situation is surrounded by criticism and conspiracy theories and international threats that, if I am being honest, I haven't yet managed to form a genuine opinion on the situation. I know some simple facts. I know the murder of 1500 people through the use of chemical weapons is wrong and I believe something must be done and soon. I agree with Obama's statements that the world cannot simply sit idly while a nation full of people murder each other, but I also disagree that any military strike will create any beneficial growth in the region. I understand the frustration that bids him to smite away wrong doers who commit atrocities on each other, but I would love to hear a contingency for any aftermath that would follow military action.
Beyond the Syrian condition, I wish the United States and the UK would be more consistent in their consideration of international violations. For the past 70 years, at the least, the Chinese government has been murdering its citizens and we have heard no inkling of direct opposition to these crimes against ethnic minorities. Both Cameron and Obama have been brow beaten my the Chinese Communist Party, with threats of economical sanctions, to the point where evasive dodging of a public apology for meeting with the Dalai Lama, although both figures made it clear they met the Dalai Lama solely as a religious figure and held no regard for any political status he my hold. How states that persistently voice their opposition to global injustice can sit idly by while the conditions in China remain rife with horror. Unfortunately, I know the answer. China has simply become to powerful and too important to bend to the will of the West. I can't remember where I read it today but I came across a quote "China needs the world as much as the world needs China", and this is too true, but the economic suffering globally is too unpredictable and perhaps considered far too risky so for the time being the West is held at China's will, and without their agreement there won't be any ground broken over Syria any time soon, at least not diplomatically.
All in all, I am a very confused and annoyed man this afternoon.
