Hail, Tibet
As if heeding the Dalai Lama, the Tibet protesters in Harvard Square tonight took pains to say they were against the Chinese government, not the Chinese people. But after a couple of generations of propaganda, the prevailing opinion on Tibet seem to have converged with that of the Communist Party.
Unlike the Tibet protests in Union Square, NYC, this was a small, disconsolate affair, nearly drowned out by a doo-wop group next door wailing in gold glitter. To get to the rally, the Tibetan political organizers, college students, restaurant owners, and a guy in military fatigues and boots braved lightning and hail shells bursting in liquid twilight. They sang Tibetan songs, shouted call-and-response slogans like ‘No genocide! In Tibet! No China! In Tibet!’ and the ever-popular, ‘What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it ? Now!’
Three kids who couldn’t have been more than 8 years old stood cheering noisily on a low wall. Around them were people wearing ponchos and sandwich board signs, with Tibetan flag in one hand and Dixie cup candle in the other. The signs talked about genocide; they listed the names of the dead and sometimes showed graphic photos of torture. I was reminded of Bay Area Khalistan protests in the early ’90s and the Tamils in Toronto — small overseas communities supporting resistance movements back home, even though the kids had never been.
The analogy only goes so far, of course. Tamils backed the LTTE quietly. Unlike the LTTE and Khalistani separatists, Tibetans haven’t targeted civilians or machine-gunned buses, and they grudgingly agree with the Dalai Lama that they don’t want to secede.
on Saturday, April 12th, 2008, 11:19 pm in Events, Issues, Photographs, Politics › 
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As most things in Boston are, when compared with New York.
While I am supportive of Tibetan self-governance I find some of this public hand-wringing over the top. The more posturing there is, the more the Chinese, even the dissidents on social policy, rally around the communist party. Plus we’re standing on extremely shaky moral high-ground. Even if the participants realize this I suspect the purpose is self-serving, a matter of gorging oneself on virtuosity - the new global currency - or like a person having a wheatgrass chaser after a dozen slippery nipples.
Here’s a grand story of a paralympic competitor protecting the olympic flame with her body while the imperialists rained blows on her. [ed. spin].
How much of this do you think has to do with youthful idealism? The Tibetan students I’ve spoken with say they advocate complete independence and freedom from China, and acknowledge that view is at odds with the Tibetan Govt-in-Exile. But they also point out that the differences aren’t raised at meetings wih the G-i-E because everyone understands the issue at hand is protesting the Chinese crackdown.
Is there a chinese takeaway, nearby?