by eila in Arts and Culture, Immigration, Media
Posted on July 29, 2008 at 10:57 pm
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The week of August 5 – 8 heralds the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It also begins the month long “Festival of Protests” for people worldwide who watch in horror as Chinese authorities continue to round up monks and ship them to detention centers, as well as trap thousands of monks inside monasteries, forcing them to endure “political indoctrination” campaigns.
Our Tibetan neighbors and friends in Massachusetts report that they are unable to phone their families in Tibet, for fear of alerting Chinese authorities who have ramped up surveillance of communications. China is continuing to round up Tibetans that were previously imprisoned, as well as their family members, and re-imprisoning them for no apparent reason.
According to the Students for a Free Tibet advocacy watch group,
Tibetans across the Tibetan plateau continue to suffer under a massive clampdown by Chinese authorities in the wake of protests that began in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on March 10th, anniversary of the 1959 uprising against China’s occupation, and rippled across the Tibetan plateau. Hundreds of Tibetans were killed in China’s violent crackdown against Tibetan protests, and thousands of Tibetans remain detained, according to conservative estimates from a variety of sources. Buddhist monasteries and nunneries have been sealed off, and Chinese officials have touted political indoctrination campaigns designed to break Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule.
Recently, reports have emerged that at least 1,000 Buddhist monks from the major monasteries around the capital city Lhasa have been shipped more than 1,000 kilometers away to prisons and detention camps in northern and eastern Tibet, and others are trapped inside monasteries undergoing indoctrination campaigns. The Times of London reported that family members of the monks have been told they will be released only after the Olympics, and forced to return to their home villages. A large majority of the monks studying in Lhasa have traveled there from other parts of Tibet to study at the renowned monasteries around the capital. With a few limited exceptions, international media remain effectively barred from Tibet.
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Don’t we have better things to concentrate on here? I feel for the tibetans and all (like their food, too), but we have very little power to influence China as this do-nothing democratic congress has sold us down the river.
Again… seems like a waste of energy, resources and time to spend demonstrating for a cause we can’t control.
What’s that old saying? “It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there’s nothing you can do about them, and worry only about things you do control.” In this case, getting rid of these do-nothing, say-no-to-every-idea democrats and get this econmoy moving again.
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You’ve misunderstood the post, Imux. This is not about a demonstration, it is about an upcoming cable access show. However, it’s marvelous that you’ve brought up “that old saying,” which has been translated as follows:
“Why be unhappy about something
If it can be remedied?
And what is the use of being unhappy about something
If it cannot be remedied?”
from: Shantideva, Guide To the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Chapter VI, 10th stanza.
Legend has it that the author Shantideva, who lived in the 8th century, was perceived by his fellow scholars (at the Nalanda University, India) to be lazy, ignorant and only capable of eating, sleeping and shitting. So, one day, in order to teach him a lesson, his classmates challenged him to give a lecture to the entire congregated assembly of the University. He immediately accepted the challenge, and gave his talk the very next day. His extemporaneously recited teaching was later transcribed and handed down to us lucky duckies, even centuries later.
And his fellow scholars were the ones to merit this mind-blowing lesson: Never judge a person by mere perceptions alone!
As for your initial question and statement, Imux, I respectfully disagree. I DO believe that we Americans can effectively persuade China to abandon her persistent and even increasing persecution of all those she perceives as “evil.”
I’ll go a step further and posit that if we individuals remain silent and don’t act on behalf of others when they are suffering mistreatment, discrimination, and even covert exclusionary practices is to participate in aggravating that suffering.
Thank goodness for this opportunity to bring awareness to this topic!
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Eila, I agree with you on the ADA issue, but on this one we have to agree to disagree. Why would China (an merging superpower with > 1 billion people) be influenced by the mutterings of some liberal elitists in Somerville? Trust me when I say; they won’t be influenced. At all. Your protests/angst may in some way make you feel better (I am doing my part for the world!!! yada….yada…yada), but it will in no way help Tibetans. Sorry. It is what it is.
You want to help people? Then volunteer at your church or local elderly center. You’ll have an impact there.
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While I am not going to take sides in the discussion between Eila and Imux, I do want to thank her for promoting this upcoming SCAT program. Part of the mission of any community access television station is to allow folks to learn more about issues, (world wide and closer to home) that the main stream media sees fit not to cover. Whether about an upcoming Alderman vote on a city issue or problems facing the rest of the world our programs can broaden the scope of how we view our city and the world around us.
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I have a coupla extra hours here and there, so let me know when your church or local elderly center needs a volunteer sometime, and, if I can make it, I’ll gladly join you, Imux.
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That’s a deal, Eila. But not only do I contribute time — I find that contributing cash to my church really rewards me spiritually. It’s the Christian way and how I was raised. I also find that religous charities are much better at distributing needed services than gov’t sponsored/supported. Less corruption.
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