Apr 07 2008
More Thoughts While Sick
Didn’t want to do much but saw this poster and have to mark it down:
Really got a kick out of it!! By the way, the map is a real one, circa 1830s. Go Absolut!
I saw this right after seeing reports of the Olympic torch was extinguished three times in Paris amidst violent protests. Immediately I switched to Chinese news sites and saw almost nothing of it being reported.
This is totally fascinating because I’d think the development is a good thing for the Chinese government yet it chooses not to report it. Why is that?
Although in my paper, I am adopting Susan’s line to say it is useless to say if the state is strong or weak, by conventional standards, I’d say the government is very weak. It has such a tenuous hold on public opinion and national narrative, it chooses to put down anything that may generate excitement.
With regard to Tibet, in a “Absolut World”, the map should have been different. But there is little argument today what the map is. I am sure the Tibetans’ anger is legitimate. But they have to adjust their expectation: if Taiwan can’t become independent, where the Chinese government didn’t have any control for 60 years, Tibet has little hope to be independent either. For those who use East Timor or Kosovo as example, they really have to ask themselves whether those are exceptions or the rule.
Instead, the question of independence is now a wedge issue that split the Tibetans. If there is anything I want to tell them, that is, “don’t listen to the NGOs or Human Rights activists!” They can advocate indepedence because they don’t have to live with China. They can make all kinds of noise but they seldom deliver results. Most importantly, you have to have a unified front and you have to control the message.
Also, someone (Robbie Barnett?) brought up a good point: don’t forget the Chinese public in the whole issue. Dalai’s best hope is to have the Chinese public on his side. It was a improbably proposition. The way things are going, it looks like this is becoming increasingly impossible.