British protester arrested in Beijing over Tibet. Is he right or are we afraid to speak out? Do you care?

Question

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080806/tuk-britons-held-in-tibet-demo-at-games-6323e80.html

Answer 1

I'm not interested in the Olympics,i'll be watching to see the sh*t hit the 'culture clash' fan,in a BIG way!

Answer 2

To those people who say " I don't care,"  I ask, would you adopt the same attitude if it was YOUR country that had been invaded.Unless people like this person speak out against tyrrany, then no country can be safe from a possible invader. Tibet is a largely mountainous country of no real economic value, but its peaceful living people have been forced to live under the yoke of Chinese aggression for years. It is such aggression that will always be a stumbling block on the way to world peace.

Answer 3

There's a time and place for everything they chose the wrong time and place.....

Answer 4

It'll serve him right if he gets thrown in a damp dark cell and they torture him by pulling his fingernails out.  These kind of people know exactly the thing to expect from the Chinese police.  No-one who's seen "Midnight Express" goes to Turkey and dabbles in drugs, and no-one in their right mind goes to China and criticises their human rights record.  That's just asking for trouble.  The Chinese police aren't like the British cops.  They don't mess around - they get out the tear gas and water cannons without even thinking about it.  I've got no sympathy at all for these people.  I hope the Chinese throw away the key, but let's face it, while the Olympics are on, they'll get off lightly and will probably get deported fairly quickly.  If it was up to me, I'd give them 100 lashes and six months hard labour.

Answer 5

No I dont care

Answer 6

no dont care, why should i care about tibet i am busy trying to pay bills and feed, clothe, educate my kids. this protester obviously has a lot of time on his hands, i think they should behead him as an example for other do-gooders. i think it might shut a few up for a while.

Answer 7

Remember this stupid man is in another country who has different laws and ideas to Western nations. He was,to say the least, pushing his luck, which now seems to have run out.  

Answer 8

So many millions upon millions are denied a chance to speak out around the world. Another nation today has fallen under the yoke of Military despots. No one shall in that country feel safe to speak out about that. So it is up to us who can speak out about such things to speak out and keep speaking out. Yes I care, I care about things that may seem to be not my concern, but they are. I am after all a human being just like the people who are denied human rights on this planet just like everyone else here.  

Answer 9

I do care. I believe in Freedom of speech, buuuuut.....were these protesters qualified (NB: I know one of them personally)? I think the answer is no.

Tibet is a problem which inspires people now, (generally Western people temporarily trying to metaphorically escape the materialistic western culture they live in) and ignores the fact that China has many many more problems it's dealing with. I just don't think we have any rights as the leading, original enslaving empire, to go into countries, think we can point out their problems, and basically force our western imperialism on them again.

Generally, Free Tibet protesters who know little about Tibet pre 1950 and also oblivious to problems in China. I watched the footage of the guy scaling the pole and saying, 'Umm yeah, I umm like Tibet and umm China is white washing their human rights record with the Olympics.'

But no mention of a call to end corruption in China, or sorting out why women in China have the highest suicide rate in the world, promoting political liberation and democracy in China.....no.....

Nepal tried to invade China a few times in the past 2 hundred years, the then Dalai Lama would always flee and Emperor Qianlong of China would send an army to aid Tibet, although, this was obviously to protect their interests too. If the British Empire had been allowed to expand beyond India, it would have taken Tibet, to stop the Russian Tsars taking control. British military was involved in the slaughter of Tibetans in the 19th century. They were invading Tibet to ...ahem ...'provide aid to the government', but killed anyone who opposed them.....

Also years and years ago, Tibet expanded it's rule into China, reaching Chengdu, but was over thrown and so on, as history goes. The Mongols invaded China, but now Mongolia is under threat of an encroaching China. Basically it's a tangled web, like the one child policy and I have little respect for non China-Tibet scholars/experts who parade about saying rah China sucks. You rarely see professors of Chinese or Tibetan studies protesting on behalf of Tibet. I speak a decent amount of Chinese and one day aim to study Chinese history, as well as Mongolian, Tibetan, Taiwanese etc if I ever have enough money. I've read plenty of information on the issue of Tibet, but still am cautious about passing excessive judgement.

What about Hong Kong? Canton authorities seized boat loads of Opium from Britain, thus the British started the Opium war and seized Hong Kong. We didn't hand it back until 1997. The standard of living increased in HK whilst under British colonial rule.

The Chinese argue that they are increasing the standard of living in Tibet. Do we have the right to argue?

Who gives us a right to form these opinions we feel we can just push on others around key events which have had years of planning and a political climate which is sensitive and only punishes the people within it-not the over privileged white kids who just get flown home to tell all their friends how brave they were. These protesters knew they would be arrested and flown home and that would be it. They knew they would not get into any serious trouble as white British Nationals. They will never be allowed to enter China again and well, maybe they will regret that decision in 10 or 20 years.

Alas, it's funny how nothing but the actual type of people and their backgrounds come from these stories as well. What did these protesters achieve? We don't develop opinions about Tibet or China but instead learn that X was born in blah and now does blah.

I doubt it was reported on Beijing news and the Olympic torch ceremony carried on. Most Chinese people will just not understand and will call us hypocrites.

Oh well, maybe at the 2012 Olympics, these protesters will be seen dangling banners from the stadium that say, 'Free prisoners in Guantanamo Bay,' or 'Sort out the NHS!!!' 'Sort out the British educational system.'  Will we be open to that as well? Will we welcome visits from under cover Chinese reporting on the state of our hospitals, or about houses being built on flood planes, the expansion of Heathrow despite local residents protests or filming groups of kids consuming alcohol?

I work in a job that deals with certain human rights issues and there is also a certain lack of human rights within this country as well that many people are unaware of, or over look.

Thus my conclusion is, we do not have any authority I'm afraid to comdemn the Chinese in this manor. What they may need is better political advisors for decision making and guidance from other countries.

Answer 10

I told you folks, don't go there.

Answer 11

China is a country. They have rules there. I don't friggin care.

Answer 12

They are supposed to go to the Game only, but they can travel around. They should use this opportunity to do some investigation before raising their banner. Perhaps, they should apply some tourists visa to Tibet and spend some days there.

Both China and U.S. leaders hopes people isolating politic and the Game.

If you look at the map, you would see that Tibet and Xinjiang are just next to Pakistan and Afghan, where Laden is hiding there. Perhaps, NATO wanted China to join the battle to arrest Laden and thus insinuates the issues on Tibet and Xinjiang. With the co-operation from China, U.S. and NATO did successfully erase some major al Qaida members and China was also attacked by ETIM (al Qaida branch in China) Perhaps, after the Game, there may be some join force to erase some al Qaida.

Answer 13

I would not go anywhere near the place with their record on human rights. Not until the whole country is turned into one big democracy.

Its on the news as we speak, but can expect problems from the security services for anyone Brit or otherwise speaking out.  

Answer 14

Don't bring it to the Olympics.