Comments on Olympic Torch Relay in San Francisco

[Mike]

The follow article was written by one of our members, Ivy Lee, and was
published on Sacramento Bee (Sacramento's leading newspaper)

China, Tibet and the torch
Protesters lack the facts of history in railing against the Olympic
host
By Ivy Lee - Special to The Bee
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, April 13, 2008
Story appeared in FORUM section, Page E1

As I settled into the bus seat for our trip to San Francisco, the only
North American stop of the Olympic torch in its round-the-world relay,
excitement and anticipated pleasure seeped through to warm my body
chilled by the early morning wind. Five hundred strong, mostly Chinese
Americans, were departing in a convoy of buses from the parking lot of
the Target on Broadway in Sacramento. We were to be joined by hundreds
more from Davis and thousands more who had taken up their places by
Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco.
At long last, I thought, the American public will witness the strength
of the enthusiasm and support in Sacramento's Chinese American
community after weeks of relentless coverage of opposition to the
Olympic torch relay, the talk of boycotting the opening ceremonies of
the Olympics, and the Games themselves.

On our way to San Francisco, I wistfully yearned for simpler days,
days that probably never were, when politics were not mixed with
athletics to form the combustible fuel that might consume supporters
and protesters alike. The leader of our group cautioned us against
having any verbal clashes, not to mention physical conflicts, with
protesters; safety was to be our top priority.

As we got off the bus near Pier 39, flags were unfurled, the large
orange and the smaller white Olympic flags, the large red flag of
China and the red-white-and-blue of the United States. I swelled with
pride of being Chinese American, with the Olympics being held in my
country of origin and with the Olympic torch to arrive momentarily in
my country by adoption.

Then apprehension swept over me as I saw that the orange Olympic flags
blended into the red Chinese flags overwhelming the more sedate and
fewer U.S. red-white-and-blues to form a sinuous, wavering red sea
against a bright, blue sky. I became concerned that the media and the
public would again mistake our ethnic pride for Chinese nationalism.

Surely, becoming American should not exact the cruel price of our
giving up the richness of Chinese culture, the wisdom of the old
Chinese ways, nor should the emergence of a new identity lead to the
total renunciation of the old one. But still I worried, for even in
calmer times, when anti-China hysteria is not running high, Chinese
Americans are treated as perpetual foreigners, model minorities one
day who become potential spies for China the next.


It shouldn't be so complex
A white sedan with fluttering Tibetan flags inched by, the riders
taunting our group shouting slogans. The car disappeared under a sea
of flags as some Davis and Sacramento supporters rushed to confront
the protesters with cries of "Liar, Liar!"

Almost immediately, cops appeared with sirens blaring. As the cops
ordered the Chinese supporters back onto the curb, I turned over the
scene in my mind, briefly despairing how such a complex issue as
Tibetan independence could ever be disentangled when emotions run high
with conclusions reached before any rational dialogue had taken place.

For the Chinese supporters, it is a matter of secession, Tibet having
been part of China for centuries. And for the protesters, it is a case
of political repression, Tibetans having lost their freedom of self-
determination and religion.

The protesters are, strictly speaking, not liars. They are ignorant of
the issue they have made into a crusade, and even of the location of
Tibet, as a San Francisco television reporter found out. The reporter
approached several protesters at an independence rally for Tibet the
day before the torch relay and asked them to point to Tibet on a large
map. None of the protesters could correctly locate Tibet. As each
pointed to a location on the map, the TV reporter would say, "Wrong."

This piece of news should set off an alarm that Tibet is mythical as
it exists in the Western mind. The real Tibet - rather than Tibet as
Shangri-La - from which the current Dalai Lama fled, was a feudal
theocracy, where he served as both king and religious leader, in which
church equaled state, and peasants were chattel owned by the monks and
nobles.

For this ignorance, the U.S. media bears a lot of responsibility. It
has abdicated its primary role to inform, its bias showing through a
negative narrative that endlessly parrots the sound bites of the
protesters and the Dalai Lama, and in the process amplifying them
without much research or analysis.


Skewed views
The most recent round of negative coverage was precipitated by the
March 14 riots in Tibet. For weeks, the media assumed China's guilt
and accused it of massive human rights violations without much
credible evidence. True, China did herself no favor by shutting out
the foreign media when events in Lhasa got out of hand.

But there were videos from tourists who witnessed the outbreak of the
riots, videos that testified to the violence unleashed by Tibetans
against Han and also Hui Chinese, some of whom were burned alive in
their shops in fires set by the rioters. Yet the media shed no tears
for the Chinese victims, while the United States and the western world
cautioned China to be "measured" in her response.

Another credible source, James Miles, a correspondent for the
Economist, who was present at the outbreak of the unrest in Lhasa, not
only described what he saw but also analyzed the economic component
behind these riots.

Would the U.S. government have done differently to restore calm and
the rule of the law under similar circumstances? My meandering
thoughts were called back to the here and now as our group leader
suggested that we show our brotherly and sisterly affection toward the
protesters by proclaiming at the top of our lungs, "Welcome to the
Olympics, We love China, We love Tibet, and We love America."

I have in the past harshly criticized China for many of her policies,
her human rights record, her tight control of the press, her re-
education "camps," the death penalty and other issues. But then I also
have grave reservations about some of our own government's actions,
such as condoning torture. True, China is not perfect, but neither is
the United States; the former is definitely not the monstrous tyrant
the media portrays it to be. And in spite of having serious issues
with both countries, China and the United States have a special place
in my heart.


An unworkable demand
After a seemingly endless wait, our group got word that the torch
relay had been shortened. So we moved en masse to Pier 29, and then to
Pier 24. On our way, I stopped momentarily in front of a peaceable
hippie-looking type holding up a small sign that said: "SF loves
China, but China should talk to the Dalai Lama." But I walked on; the
issue was too complicated to be broached in the heat of a
demonstration and counterdemonstration.

The assumption that China refuses to and has never talked to the Dalai
Lama has no basis in truth. It was at the invitation of Deng Xiaoping
in 1979 that rapprochement between China and the Dalai Lama began with
his brother, Gyalo Thondup, as his representative. Over the years, the
contacts were suspended, then resumed until as recently as 2006. These
talks were not widely covered or known in the U.S. press.

Why? I was asked that question again a little later by a reporter. The
Dalai Lama's demand is for autonomy for "Greater Tibet" while China is
ready to grant autonomy for the Tibet Autonomous Region.

In China, a multiethnic society with 56 ethnic groups including the
Han, much internal migration takes place. As the Han and other ethnic
groups have made their way into Tibet over the years, so have Tibetans
migrated into other provinces, settled and intermixed with other
Chinese.

Of the Dalai Lama's demand, an editorial from The Hindu, an Indian
newspaper, said, "the 2.6 million Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous
Region, (which) constitutes one-eighth of China's territory, form only
40 percent of the total population of Tibetans in China. The Chinese
government makes the perfectly reasonable point that acceptance of the
demand for 'Greater Tibet' or 'one administrative entity' for all 6.5
million ethnic Tibetans means breaking up Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and
Yunnan provinces, doing ethnic re-engineering, if not 'cleansing', and
causing enormous disruption and damage to China's society and
political system. This demand too is ruled out, as any comparable
demand to break up States in India would be."

So China and the Dalai Lama have reached an impasse. In fairness, if
the international community were to pressure the Chinese government to
resume the talks, it should also exert equal pressure on the Dalai
Lama to give up his demand for a Greater Tibet, which is a non-starter
as far as China and the Chinese people are concerned.


Promise turns to disappointment
An anticlimactic pall fell over us around 2:30 p.m. as we retraced our
steps to where we got off the buses, sorely disappointed at a last-
minute change in the route of the Olympic torch.

My trip to support the torch relay ended with a riot of thoughts
fleeting across my mind, my emotions ranging wildly through a sense of
relief, insult, then slowly settling to one of deep sadness.

San Francisco, which had the high privilege and distinct honor of
hosting the Olympic flame, shrank from its gallant duty to protect it,
enacting a sordid charade by sneaking it out the back door. If I feel
insulted, what would be the reaction of the 1.3 billion Chinese as
they watched TV coverage of this event?

They were looking forward to welcoming the world into their homes,
proud of the strides they have made since China opened its door.
Hundreds of millions are eagerly learning English to tell the foreign
visitors of the progress they and their country have made, tackling
the environmental and other problems with a "can-do" attitude to
provide the best setting for the world athletes to compete in.

Would this be seen as a re-enactment of the national humiliations
inflicted by foreign powers in the past century and a half, turning
the Chinese people and their government inward, closing the door once
again? The voice of the protesters had trumped the voice of the
supporters, loudly drowning it in a chorus surely to raise the
tensions between the United States and China.

Sadly, I see the fragile bridge Chinese Americans had attempted to
build between their country of origin and their country of adoption
for tolerance, understanding and better relations, collapsing under
the weight of the ignorance of the person on the street, the bias of
the media coverage, the eagerness of politicians to condemn without
supporting facts, and the powerlessness of Chinese Americans in the
onslaught of such attacks.

[Mike]

The link to the online version is at: http://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/856121.html

[罗克]

Such a thoughtful and decent article. Does Ivy Lee have other papers,
even her own blog? I'd like to read more.