This blog has been rather neglected for the last few months, mainly due to a tight work schedule, but also due to a lack of inspiration to write on my part. But now, refreshed after a fantastic holiday in europe, i feel inspired to start blogging again.

whilst there is lots to say about europe, i actually first want to write a little about the torch relay and all the controversy it has produced around the globe. its quite ironic, but i knew almost nothing about all of this whilst i was in europe, it was only whilst i was stranded in taipei airport for 9 hours that i caught up on all that had happened in the world in the last 3-4 weeks.

first of all i should make my position on the olympic games and on the tibet issue clear.

i think it was wrong for the ioc to award china the olympics. china's human rights record (i know, its very cliche to complain about china's human rights record) and especially its prosecution and general mistreatment of minorities (tibetans, uighurs etc) should have been enough, in my opinion, to exclude china from contesting for the olympic games. china's record is not dissimilar to saddam hussein's in terms of human rights and the treatment of minority groups. what would the world say if iraq was awarded the olympics (when saddam was alive and in power obviously)?? so i think people are are fully justified in protesting against the chinese olympics and calling for a boycott. i noted that bhaichung bhutia, the captain of the indian soccer team, a sikkimese buddhist, has withdrawn from the olympics squad in protest against china. he's not well known even within india let alone internationally, so his boycott hasnt exactly created waves, but i hope that his lead is followed by many more around the world.

moving on to tibet, i have written about the strangulation of tibetan culture by chinese hegemony before, here. one of the most contentious issues regarding tibet is independance versus autonomy and the (farcical) chinese claim that tibet is china, in the same beijing is china and shanghai is china. i think the first issue is fairly easily solved, unpalatable though the solution may be to some. in the foreseeable future, due to china's military might, there is no way tibet will be able to break the chinese yoke. even the dalai lama is resigned to this fact and asks only for tibetan autonomy within china.

then there is the rubbish about how tibet has been a part of china for 'thousands' of years, and how tibetans are essentially chinese. i found it difficult to get information on this which didnt smack of bias and propaganda, but it seems that the first time the chinese invaded tibet was in the 13th century when china itself was ruled by the yuan dynasty, descendants of genghis khan's mongols. from that period, it had generally been the case that the ruling power in china appointed a high-ranking official who lived in tibet and acted as the representative of the chinese emperor but didnt have much say in the internal governance of tibet. tibet itself was ruled by a variety of different people. the last fifteen rulers of tibet have been the dalai lamas, the leaders of the dominant sect of tibetan buddhism. after the dissolution of the chinese monarchy in the early 20th century, the nationalist movement failed to provide an effective government for china, and tibet enjoyed a few decades of relative independance. in 1950, the communist army invaded tibet, and tibet was brought under the direct control of the chinese government, for the first time in history as far i'm able to make out.

so, tibet historically was not a chinese province, it was an autonomous territory which was brought within the borders and control of china by invasion approximately 800 years ago. prior to this, tibet was an independant kingdom.

coming to the present situation, these two seperate issues, the olympics being held in china and the political situation in tibet, have been sort of merged by misinformed people on both sides of the argument. to the chinese, the beijing olympic games is about nationalistic pride. it is the acceptance of china into the world community, the global recognition of china's greatness. there is little awareness about issues such as those i've written about above within china because of effective government propaganda. however, internationally, these are major talking points regarding china. with the olympics being held in beijing, it was inevitable that the global media and the people of the western world would initiate debates on these issues. i think that the chinese believed and still believe that the world should be talking about how great china is, which is what the state press talks about in china, instead of debating contentious issues which are denied or glossed over in china.

the other big shock for the chinese has been the hijacking of the torch relay by the pro-tibetan protesters in the western world. the olympics, or rather the media coverage that accompanies it, was always going to be used by all sorts of factions to focus attention on their grievances. for the pro-tibetans, their cause was so closely related the olympics being held in china, that again, it was inevitable that they would protest with renewed zeal and vigour in the leadup to the olympics.

[hmmm, i had some things in mind when i started writing, but i have veered away and gotten distracted. well, i'll write some more on subsequent entries...]

to be continued