A protest felt around the world
By Global Journalist Staff Posted Sun, Sep 7 2008
A demonstrator with his face painted in the colors of Tibet's flag, joins the protest in Trafalgar Square, central London, Saturday, March 22, 2008, against China's crackdown on protests in Tibet. (AP Photo/Fiona Hanson/PA)
Please view our slide show of protest images. Click on the top of the image to see the photo caption.
Slideshow
As the Olympic Games neared, the world turned its attention
to China. For many, this attention was a tool for bringing hushed issues to the front pages. News organizations reported torch-route protests in San Francisco, London and Paris. Placards held by demonstrators indicated several motives for the resistance against China: a controversial human rights record, its friendly relationship with Sudan, and rule in Tibet.
Tibetan exiles staged their own protest on March 10 when they began a march from India to Tibet. They were quickly stopped. In Lhasa on the same day, 13 demonstrators were arrested. The date carries significance — in 1959, a failed Tibetan uprising forced the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile in Dharmsala, India. Tibetan protesters also gathered in New Delhi and Kathmandu, Nepal. This action was the beginning of a string of demonstrations, which may lead up to the Olympics.
Riots broke out in Lhasa and the Tibetan regional government announced 105 rioters had turned themselves over to Chinese authorities by March 19.
The Office of Tibet estimates 111,170 Tibetans are currently living in exile. The largest concentrations of exiles live in India (85,000) and Nepal (14,000). They claim Tibet is an independent nation currently under strict, oppressive rule from China. Beijing asserts the area in and around Tibet has always been a part of China.
“Whether it was intended or not, I believe that a form of cultural genocide has taken place in Tibet, where the Tibetan identity has been under constant attack,” the Dalai Lama said in a press release March 18. He also called for peaceful, mediated dialogue to settle disputes within Tibet.
Meanwhile, the national and international press suffer from China’s continued censorship. Chinese authorities have refused to grant permits for international journalists to enter Tibet since March 12. The Foreign Correspondents Club of China has confirmed at least 50 incidents of interference with international reporting, particularly Xiahe in the Gansu province. Journalists have been confronted in their hotels and
stopped at roadblocks.
The world is watching Tibet for many reasons — human rights, religious freedom, Chinese foreign policy. Without access to Tibet, how do journalists report these pretexts? Protest coverage may provide a compromise.
— Jackie Borchardt