Let’s talk sports here. The Olympics are sports, right?
Barely.
As thousands gathered in San Francisco this morning to protest the arrival of the Olympic Torch, a couple of hundred members of Minnesota’s Tibetan community joined them.
Also, a protest of China’s Tibet policies — and their relationship to the Summer Olympics — will be staged from 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Minnesota State Capitol.
As many as 150 members and supporters of the state’s large Tibetan community traveled at their own expense to California for today’s demonstrations.
“Others of us are observing prayers at individuals’ houses and also keeping an eye on what’s happening there,” Karma Wangchuk, executive director of the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, said of the San Francisco Torch mosh pit.
To check out what the local Tibetan community is saying and doing, check out the Foundation’s website.
And for a completely different point of view, peruse China’s People’s Daily. Very, very interesting.
I’m sorry, but if Weiner thinks that People’s Daily is some how an intelligent counter-point to the Tibetan dissidents whom he interviews for quotes to this story and others, well, he’s completely wrong. This is sloppy reporting at best; lazy at worst; a paper tiger in place of a real source.
I write this from Shanghai, and I can assure you: the English-language version of People’s Daily isn’t representative of anybody’s opinion except those of the censors and translators at the Central Publicity Bureau in Beijing.
Jay Weiner might not speak or read Chinese, but a little bit of googling would lead him to plenty of China-based blogs – including China-based English language blogs that offer sound translations of Chinese-language blogs – that will give far more nuanced and accurate reports of what average Chinese are thinking about the torch relay and the Tibetan situation. Some of those blogs might even respond to interview requests; they’ve been known to do so.
To start, try:
http://zonaeuropa.com/weblog.htm
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/east-asia/china/
http://www.danwei.org
http://www.blackandwhitecat.org
And if that’s too much trouble, Weiner might consider interviewing members of the Chinese community in Minnesota – particularly those at the University of Minnesota – many of whom are likely to give him a far different view of the Tibetan situation than his reporting might reveal by just interviewing the Tibetan exile community.
Just to be clear: I’m not suggesting that one side is right or wrong in this mess (my own writing, elsewhere, makes clear where I stand). But if you are going to report a story, then report it: there are plenty of people who can give a nuanced view of the Chinese side of things, and they aren’t named People’s Daily.