Chinese Paramilitaries Open Fire on Hundreds of Monks, Nuns

China’s violent crackdown on monks, nuns, and lay people of Tibet who want freedom continues:

Paramilitary police opened fire on hundreds of monks, nuns and Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China yesterday to demand the return of the Dalai Lama.

Residents of Luhuo said that a monk and a farmer appeared to have been killed and about a dozen people wounded in the latest violence in Tibetan areas of China. Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said that one officer was killed when police confronted a “lawless mob” in Luhuo.

The demonstration began at 4pm when about 200 nuns from Woge nunnery and a similar number of monks from Jueri monastery marched towards the Luhuo Third District government office. They were joined by several hundred farmers and nomads, witnesses said.

Shouting “Long Live the Dalai Lama” and “Tibet belongs to Tibetans”, they approached the office. The paramilitary People’s Armed Police appeared and ordered the crowd to turn back. Witnesses said that shots were fired and two people appeared to have died. They identified one as Congun Dengzhu, a farmer, and the second as an unknown monk.

Public assembly and petition is met by bullets. This does not sound like restraint to me.

Also, the Avaaz petition in support of Tibet is approaching one million signatories.

TGIE Death Toll Up to 130

The Tibetan Government-in-Exile has updated their confirmed death toll to 130 throughout Tibet.

“These are not necessarily new casualties. This could be information that we could not get before,” [TGIE Prime Minister Samdhong] Rinpoche said, adding that the numbers also included fatalities from Tibetan areas in provinces such as Gansu and Sichuan.

“We are afraid the number could go up when we get more information from remote areas,” he said.

The TGIE is obviously being very conservative in their statements, only releasing people who have been confirmed dead. Reports from Tibet have indicated higher numbers, though the absence of any foreign media in Tibet thanks to the Chinese government’s expulsion of all foreign journalists makes getting confirmation hard.

Anti-Cassandra

Paul Krugman, responding in part to Glenn Greenwald’s post today, writes:

Reading some of today’s news, it suddenly struck me: we’re living in the age of the anti-Cassandra.

Cassandra had the gift of prophecy — she saw, correctly, what was coming — but was under a curse: nobody would believe her.

Today, our public discourse is dominated by people who have been wrong about everything — but are still, mysteriously, treated as men of wisdom, whose judgments should be believed. Those who were actually right about the major issues of the day can’t get a word in edgewise.

What set me off was the matter of Alan Greenspan; as Dean Baker like to remind us, news analyses of the housing and financial crisis almost always draw exclusively on “experts” who first insisted that there wasn’t a housing bubble, then insisted that the financial consequences of the bubble’s bursting would remain “contained.”

It’s even worse, of course, on the matter of Iraq: just about every one of the panels convened to discuss the lessons of five disastrous years consisted solely of men and women who cheered the idiocy on.

Yep, this pretty much says it all.  I think this a great description of a horrendous problem on Krugman’s part. It’s a somewhat more PG version of the Dirty Fucking Hippy narrative bloggers have used over the last six years and is something that is worth pushing into discourse.  I hope Krugman considers devoting a full column to this subject; as the preeminent liberal political opinion writer in America, his platform can get this sort of meme noticed. The only way we can get this dynamic to change is by identifying it and forcing others to do the same.

Avaaz for Tibet

Avaaz, the international equivalent of MoveOn.org, sent out an action alert to their list of over 2 million or so supporters about a week ago, asking them to sign a petition to Chinese Communist Party Chairman Hu Jintao regarding Tibet. The petition reads:

Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao:

As citizens around the world, we call on you to show restraint and respect for human rights in your response to the protests in Tibet, and to address the concerns of all Tibetans by opening meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Only dialogue and reform will bring lasting stability. China’s brightest future, and its most positive relationship with the world, lies in harmonious development, dialogue and respect.

When I signed the petition last night, there were about 837,000 signatories. This morning, that number has climbed to 905,513. They will probably cross 1,000,000 signatories some time today or tomorrow.

I’ve done a lot of work with internet petitions and advocacy campaigns – for Tibet, for FISA, for Iraq, and many other issues. This is a truly astonishing  outpouring of support for Tibet and Tibetan freedom.

Sign the Avaaz petition to stand with Tibet and be sure to pass it along to your family and friends.

Cheney vs. The Troops

Dick Cheney, on why the 4,000 Americans who died fighting in Iraq don’t give him pause:

Noting the burden placed on military families, the vice president said the biggest burden is carried by President George W. Bush, who made the decision to commit US troops to war, and reminded the public that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty….

“A lot of men and women sign up because sometimes they will see developments. For example, 9/11 stimulated a lot of folks to volunteer for the military because they wanted to be involved in defending the country.”

You don’t say. I’ll let one veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan provide something of a rebuttal from that.  I just finished reading Brandon Friedman’s The War I Always Wanted. I wouldn’t say that this is a political book, but much more a detailed, honest, no-frills telling of one soldier’s experience going to war twice since 9/11/01. It’s a tale of combat reminiscent of Colby Buzzell’s My War or Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead — stories that show the grind our troops go through in war, as well as how the failings our political and military leadership trivialize the lives of the members of our military. I may do a longer write up on this fantastic book another time, but for now will share this passage, which Friedman writes in response to having two men in his unit killed in an RPG attack in Tal Afar.

    Lying on my cot that night, I hated. It was a new thing for me. It had been building each day that no weapons of mass destruction were found–and now it was coming to a head. I had never hated before–not like this. I had never hated the enemy, nor had I ever feared the enemy. I was always emotionally neutral when it came to that. I had feared dying, but never the enemy. Now still, I did not hate whoever had been behind the RPG. You go to a war–these things happen. I knew that. But you go to an unnecessary war and it happens–well that’s completely different.

I had always wanted to fight. But I never wanted any part of something like this. I was a professional soldier. I wanted to believe in my work. Instead, I was watching as politicians with no military experience hijacked the Army. I was a public servant, not a lackey. Lying on my cot, I came to the point that many people reach in a situation where they stop what they’re doing and say, “Wait a second. This is bullshit. This isn’t right.” Two guys in our battalion were dead, two families ruined. And try as I might, I couldn’t figure out what the purpose of that was.

Things that had been welling up inside me all summer suddenly exploded in my head like a dozen Roman candles. I hated the president for his ignorance. I hated Donald Rumsfeld for his appalling arrogance and his lack of judgment. I hated their agenda. I hate Colin Powell for abandoning the Army–for not taking care of his soldiers–when he could have done something to stop these people. I hated them because they didn’t listen to the people who told them this was a bad plan. I hated them because now, it meant that my guys could be next. It meant that I could be next. And I didn’t want to die like this–not in a confusing mishmash of ideologies, purposes, and bullets.

I felt like we had been taken advantage of. We were professionals sent on a wild goose chase using a half-baked plan for politician reasons. Lying there restlessly, I was reminded of a Schwarzenegger line in one of his movies-when, after being used and lied to, his muscle-bound character had expressed perfectly what was no on my mind: My men are not expendable. And I don’t do this kind of work.

I longed for the clarity of purpose we’d had in Afghanistan. [pg. 186-188]

I don’t know about you, but I’m more inclined to take the word of one of the men who bravely served our country through two wars over the word of one of the architects of the second war, the greatest foreign policy disaster in American history. Of course, Cheney has never worn the uniform. So not only is he unimaginably offensive, even for him, he has no standing to diminish the burdens born by men and women in the armed forces.

You can read Friedman’s response to Cheney’s remarks today at VetVoice, where he is a front page writer.

Dramatic Protests of Torch Lighting Ceremony in Olympia, Greece

Student’s for a Free Tibet’s Deputy Director, Tenzin Dorjee, was arrested by plain clothes Greek security agents. Note how one consistently tries to hide his face from the cameras. Both plain clothes agents peel off as soon as uniformed police can take Tenzin into detention.

Prior to this, Dorjee confronted International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and asked the IOC to hold China accountable for what they have done to Tibetans.

When Dorjee first arrived in Greece this week, he was detained, questioned, and searched by Greek security at the Athens airport.

Tenzin Dorjee is a great friend of mine (and I know him as better  as Tendor) and he is one of the true leaders of the Tibetan independence movement.  Tendor was the first Tibetan to return to Tibet to protest for Tibetan independence when he unfurled a banner calling for Tibetan independence on Mount Everest last year, while the Chinese were conducting a practice climb of the olympic torch up Mount Everest. Tendor and a team of other activists were detained for a number of days by the Chinese government before being expelled from Tibet. As you can see from the videos above, Tendor exemplifies the effectiveness of a resolute activist committed to achieving freedom through non-violent protest and direct action against the forces when keep him in exile and Tibetans under military rule. He has done many, many things that I deeply respect him for, but watching these videos and reading about his actions in Olympia leave no doubt in my mind: Tendor is a hero in the Tibetan independence movement and a true role model for any freedom-loving person around the world who seeks to achieve justice for all oppressed peoples through non-violent means.

This is original footage of other protests by Tibetans in Olympia, courtesy of Tibet Will Be Free:

McCain: “I am a illiterate” [sic]

http://d.yimg.com/static.video.yahoo.com/yep/YV_YEP.swf?ver=2.0.45

Shorter John McCain: Oh, they have the internet on computers now?

You know you’re out of touch when Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Mike Huckabee all come across as more in touch with the 21st century than you do.

I also don’t know how someone who does not use computers at all can be considered competent to respond to the volume of information coming into the White House from high-tech sources and surveillance mechanisms. I mean, can you imagine the befuddled, out of touch look McCain would get if Mark Klein tried to explain how the NSA’s tap into the AT&T backbone of the internet works? Having a passing understanding of how things work isn’t exactly a remarkable request for someone who’s trying to convince the country that, at 72+ years old, he’s fit to be President.

Tibet Solidarity News & Analysis

Famed Tibetan blogger Woeser reports a brutal shooting of peaceful Tibetan protesters in Shetar (translation via TWBF):

In addition, some netizens appeal to everybody: extremely urgent, please save Serthar in Tibet! According to the latest news, in order to protect the Tibetan national flag, people in Kego Township of Serthar County in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan province, were brutally suppressed by over 5,000 military police between 4:00pm and 5:00pm on March 20!

Up to now, the number of the killed and wounded is over 20. The incident was caused by the fact that the military police shamelessly made the following announcement to the Tibetan people: the Central government directly issued an order to execute anybody who demonstrates. Then when they were about to take off the Tibetan national flag, they were stopped by the Tibetans peacefully, but the military police immediately fired at Tibetans. Please save Tibet!

11:00am tomorrow people in Nido Township of Serthar County will face much more serious massacre, please save Nido Township of Serthar County! Please spread the message to governments of other countries and human right organizations! Please generate your compassionate heart, and save the Tibetan people.

Woeser’s blog has many more pictures of Chinese military patrolling in Tibet, despite China’s claims that their military has not been used to put down demonstrations. New evidence based on reporting done by UPI confirms that the People’s Liberation Army has been used in Lhasa.

The Washington Post has a great article on how China and Chinese hackers are doing coordinated electronic attacks on Tibetan independence groups organizing outside of Tibet. I can say with certainty that while I worked at Students for a Free Tibet, we regularly received virus attacks over email from China. From what I hear, these have increased markedly over the last year and are at a high point now. Apparently the attacks being made on pro-Tibetan independence groups are almost identical to attacks made on American defense contractors by China recently.

“The fact that we’re being attacked with the same resources thrown at multi-billion defense contractors is flattering,” said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet. “It shows that we really are an effective thorn in the side of a repressive regime.”

Indeed. The best part is that China’s cyber attacks on Tibetan independence groups has done literally nothing to impact their effectiveness nor the massive outpouring of support for Tibetans’ struggle for freedom.

Lhasa Rising at Tibet Will be Free has a terrifying post on China’s “Golden Shield” surveillance technology that is deployed in Tibet. I

Golden Shield is “a database-driven remote surveillance system – offering immediate access to records on every citizen in China, while linking to vast networks of cameras designed to increase police efficiency.”

According to the Canadian group Rights and Democracy, Western companies have collaborated with China to implement technologies like:

  • speech recognition technology for automated surveillance of telephone conversations;
  • the integration of face recognition and voice recognition technology
  • smart cards for all citizens which can be scanned without the owner’s knowledge
  • closed-circuit television to monitor public spaces

What this means for Tibetans is that they are under more surveillance than ever. Now China can systematically arrest and torture any Tibetans even remotely involved in the pro-independence demonstrations; away from cameras, in the middle of the night, behind prison walls. A truly chilling prospect, brought to you by the Western companies named in the R&D report.

Beyond the applications for Tibet, it’s this sort of Orwellian technology that makes totalitarian government’s more effective at controlling their populations and stifling dissent. Anyone who cares about civil liberties should be appalled at how China has used surveillance technology – developed with the help of Western corporations – to repress and crack down on Tibetans who seek freedom. If you ever wonder why I fear the unlimited expansion of executive powers pursued by the Bush administration, this is pretty much exactly the natural evolution of the surveillance state that could be achieved in a Bush-styled system in the US. Fortunately, we’re not there yet, but as this technology was developed with the help of companies like Nortel, it’s not hard to believe that American telecoms could also lend their capacities to build a system like Golden Shield.