A
pseudo-radical movement dedicated to returning
Tibet to
theocratic feudalism. It is extremely anti-
Chinese, often quotes outdated
statistics to prove its
false claims, and is championed by various
limousine liberals, such as the
Beastie Boys. They are very
annoying, especially when you are
Chinese, been to
Tibet, and stop by their
stall to question their
sources. They are
prone to
violence when that occurs, and will call their
accusers to be
communist torturers. In my experience anyways.
The movement only argues the legality of the Chinese takeover, knowing full well that any other argument will fail. They conveniently ignore the flagrant abuses of the peasantry under the buddhist theocracy, which included (that's right, boys and girls, monks can be mean too), beatings, tortures and murders. Other than that, they are content to use sharecropping (read: rob and steal) from the peasants. But hey, who cares about the damn peasants? As long as China leaves, everything will be all fine and dandy!
The origins of this movement are unknown, but I suspect them to be the following:
The
Free Tibet movement often mixes the
human rights abuses of other parts of
China and claim that only
Tibet suffered from them. Need I mention 35 million people died in the
Great Leap Forward, alone? By claiming that
XXXX people died in
Tibet in those years confuses the issue greatly by making it seem everyone else in
China was living in
comfort. Or is it only bad if
Tibetans suffer and not the
Han Chinese? Maybe we should free
Mongolia too. How about
Xinjiang? Why not
Shanghai? I'm suffering in
Shanghai at this very moment. Free
Shanghai! Free Shanghai!
Sorry for that.
In any case, this movement conveniently ignores some very concrete facts about Tibet and bugs the hell out of everyone. Their anti-communist hatred of China is false (see Pseudo-Communism) and the reason they want Tibet to be free is because they don't like China and buddhism is oh so "in" these days.
See also Little known facts about Tibet.
TAFKAH: You still don't get it. I am in NO WAY condoning the wrongs of the Chinese government. I am however saying that the Chinese occupation was ultimately a lot better than the alternative. And if the Free Tibet people get their way, the common people of Tibet will be subjected to more misery than ever before.
And no, I'm not paid for this. I'm not even a Chinese citizen. See also Dispelling DMan myths.
TAFKAH, go read The brutality of Red China.