BootsnAll Travel Network



A Protest That Didn’t Make CNN

I have been following a thread on a discussion forum on Couchsurfing.com about the Olympic Torch Relay in Australia. An Australian fellow who was among the Tibetan supporters wrote the following posts in response to what he experienced that day. Some of it is repetitious because he is responding to some others who are defending China, primarily a French girl living in Britain who felt that China should not be censored because the people there have not had much experience with protest movements. In the interest of space I am not reprinting her comments here… most of which were in marginal English and it was very difficult to tell what she was intending to say…which was part of the problem with the exchange. My intention, however, was just to reprint his description of what happened…not to argue the pros and cons of it.

However, that said, it is my opinion that the fired-up students were probably sent in to provoke the Tibetan demonstrators so China could capitalize on the unrest. I saw this repeatedly in Oaxaca Mexico during a peaceful teacher strike that was joined by many civil organizations. “Students” (called “porros”) were paid by the government to infiltrate the strike, provoke disturbances, and then the teachers would get blamed. The teachers never knew who was who during the marches when they were joined by several thousand supporters. We also saw it during the protests against the Viet Nam war. Sounds like China is getting the idea…it just needs to learn not to be so obvious.

“Today brought shame on China in Australia.
at least 20,000 young Chinese students were transported to Canberra in time for the Olymplic torch relay. These representatives of “modern” China proceeded to scream down any pro-Tibet supporters, physically and verbally abusing anyone that passed. I was personally assaulted as I attempted to help a pro-Tibet protesters. They surrounded us, at least 50-100 of them, screamed slogans and hit us with their flagpoles. When I escaped, they chased me up the hill abusing me and grabbing my flag from my hands. Many others were assaulted. Flags stolen. Children screamed at. This is what China brought to the Australian Capital today. Shame on China, Shame.

……

This has everything to do with freedom of speech. When I walked into the crowd at the finale event yesterday, an Australian wearing a Free Tibet t-shirt was speaking to a reporter. Immediately hundreds of young Chinese dressed in uniform t-shirts printed by the Chinese embassy, surrounded him and the reporter screaming slogans and calling him a liar (they hadn’t actually heard anything he said). I tried to get through the crowd to assist. When I tried to speak to them I could not be heard over the deafening screams of the crowd. They began to hit us on the head with flagpoles and I feared for my safety.

Later on, when a newspaper journalist was taking photos of us, young Chinese surrounded us and the journalists. They stood in front of the camera to prevent them from taking photos, they screamed at the journalists and chased us down the hill. We could not go anywhere, so we had to wait until they calmed down.

Earlier in the day we held a banner in English and Chinese, appealing the government to talk to the Dalai Lama. The Chinese covered our banner with their own flags. During the day whenever we flew Tibetan flags, they brought bigger Chinese flags to fly in front of them.

…….

Throughout the day we never engaged in any such activity. This has everything to do with freedom of speech, and the lack of respect that these people had for that right here in Australia. It was a disgusting display. One that I hope will never, ever be repeated.

I live in a country where we value truth and the right to free speech. I will not ignore what happened to me and my friends yesterday.

If you are worried about “critical” visions of China, perhaps the Chinese should stop creating so many “visions” to be critical of!

It was not the Tibetans, or the “westerners” that created yesterday’s riot, it was the young Chinese, who had been bussed in and let loose on our streets by the Chinese embassy. They paid for the students transport, accomodation and uniforms for the day, and then allowed to create riots in the streets of Canberra.

…….

I am not aware of news from overseas, but I can relate my experience here yesterday. A personal friend of mine who attempted to write a balanced journalistic piece yesterday approached people from both sides, pro-Tibet and pro-China. Many of the Chinese refused to talk to her, some even yelling at her for having spoken to the pro-Tibetans. The ones that she did speak to did not seem to be aware of the issues that the pro-Tibet demonstrators were raising. All they knew was that they had been given free travel and accomodation in Canberra for the day, and given Chinese flags to wave for the cameras. With this kind of behaviour, what do you expect the media to report?

…….

If you had been there yesterday you could perhaps better understand my point. In Australia, the media is allowed to speak to whomever they wish and do that in a peaceful environment. The Chinese gangs actively disrupted interviews by blocking photographers, shouting and intimidating them and threatening those that dared to speak to pro-Tibet demonstrators. Yesterday my right to freedom of speech was infringed. And despite what spin anyone wants to put on it, I find that outrageous in this country.

……..

I think the image of China has been hurt here in Australia in the last couple of days. Some newspapers have printed photos of the Chinese students behaving as animals, and last night a TV Current Affairs programme showed the footage of me being surrounded and beaten with flagpoles…I really worry about the feeling that Chinese are creating for themselves amongst Australians.

The media saw how organised their demonstration was by the Chinese embassy and feel that things may be out of control. When the event closed and the national anthem was sung, there was silence in the audience, because they were all Chinese students waving Red flags and no-one knew the words!

…….

On Thursday in Canberra the Tibetan community organised an entirely peaceful demonstration as the torch passed through our city. This was in the face of extreme provocation, as we had roving bands of Chinese students accosting us all day encouraging us to fight with them. This went as far as hurling insults and making provocative gestures while holding a camera, hoping to provoke a response that could be caught and displayed as evidence of Tibetan extremism. Chinese people encouraged their children to hit pro-Tibet people in order to provoke ugly scenes.

To me the Tibetan community did themselves extremely proud on Thursday, it was something that reminds me of Gandhi’s policy of ahimsa (in the face of extreme violence, non-violence will expose the motives of the oppressors). And that is what happened.

Then I wrote to the Australian:

I can’t help but think there is a backstory to what happened to you…and why it happened in Australia.

About 2-3 years ago, a young Chinese guy held a press conference in Australia asking for asylum. He said he and other young Chinese had been sent by the Chinese government to spy on Chinese people living overseas. But while there he realized that what he was doing was wrong and damaging the lives of others so he went to the press to tell his story. The Australian govt refused asylum because of course they are trying to develop trade etc with China. Then the guy asked the U.S for asylum and was refused. Then he turned to Australia again. I haven’t heard what happened since then. Do you know what has happened to him? He was desperate to not be extradited back to China because he said he would surely be imprisoned and tortured or killed.

What are your thoughts about this?

His response:
That man was Chen Yonglin, I have met him personally. He was eventually granted asylum in Australia. In fact he was arrested at the protests yesterday. Yes he spoke about his job at the Chinese consulate before he defected. He was in charge of coordinating Chinese expatriots to spy on the activities of Chinese dissidents and Tibet activists in Australia. They collected information on people like me who was volunteering with Tibet Support Group. There is quite a disturbing history of Chinese intervention in Australia, including bashings of Tibetans going back to the 1970’s, harrassment, including a friend of mine who had his house broken into and his computer violated.

Yesterday, however, showed the ugly side of Chinese ultra-nationalism. People were prepared to run riot in an Australian city, abusing media representatives and innocent bystanders in addition to the activists.

It was a really scary scenario and it really shows up the hypocracy… they (China) are criticising what happened in previous torch relay legs (and then they do this to try to further discredit the Tibetan demonstrators.”)



Tags: , , , ,

2 responses to “A Protest That Didn’t Make CNN”

  1. Eunice (Zoe) says:

    Fantastic story! Thanks!

  2. P Diane says:

    I had emergency eye surgery a week and a half ago. Probably have to return to work MOnday. Can only see out of one eye though. Gas bubble in eye.

    I received this story that I thought worth sharing:

    Cajun Fishin’
    Boudreaux been fish’n down by de bayou all day an he done run outta night crawlers. He be bout reddy to leave when he seen a snake wit a big frog in his mouf. He knowed dat dem big bass fish like frogs, so he decides to steal dat froggie.

    Dat snake, he be a cotton moufed water moccasin, so Boudreaux had to be real careful or he’d get bit. He snuk up behine de snake and grabbed him roun de haid. Dat ole snake din’t lak dat one bit. He squirmed and wrapped hisself roun Boudreaux’s arm try’n to get hisself free. But Boudreaux, him hada real good grip on his haid, yeh. Well, Boudreaux pried his mouf open and got de frog and puts it in his bait can.

    Now, Boudreaux knows dat he cain’t let go dat snake or he’s gonna bite him good, but he had a plan. He reach into de back pocket of his bib overhauls and pulls out a pint a Tennessee hillbilly moonshine likker.

    He pour some drops into de snakes mouf. Well, dat snake’s eyeballs roll back in his haid and his body go limp. Wit dat, Boudreaux toss dat snake into de bayou, den he goes back to fish’n.
    A while later Boudreaux dun feel sumpin tappin’ on his barefoot toe. He slowly look down and dere be dat cotton moufed water moccasin, wif two more frogs.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *