An incongruity of pictures telescoping into a kaleidoscope of news; two
euphoric Presidents, all smiles and glass in hand, during the visit of Nicolas Sarkozy to Pekin in November 2007 to meet Hu Jintao; the two same Presidents, tense, stiff arms, during a (traditional?) shaking of hands in London in the fringe of the G-20 at the beginning of April 2009. A funereal look, that moreover suited the circumstances, since the two men had just officially (for how long?) buried the noisy quarrel, opportunely made much of by one reproaching the other to have dared to meet the Dalai Lama, this spoilsport idea of lying going round in circles. There had to be a lot of bowing and scraping, several embassies and a number of missions of contrition to soothe the wrath of the dignified heirs of the imperial arrogance of the Forbidden City – on the whole, an act of allegiance to dictatorship, hardly conforming to the Republican ideal nor to the untiring reiteration of the defence of human rights. Hey Presto! It is time for compromise and for the necessity to stay in Realpolitik. Autonomy or independence, the territorial integrity of the empire is considered sacrosanct, and Tibet is not on the Agenda – nor Sino-French relations, nor United Nations authority, and be careful if you dare meddle in the internal affairs of Beijing.
And during this time, up there on the roof of the world, in a country that exists, nevertheless without its existence being duly recognized, the Chinese forces of law and order arrest, harass, torture, rape, beat to death the recalcitrants – monks, nuns, nomads, farmers, students, old or young – these crazy people stubbornly against colonial happiness imposed under the pretext of modernization, liberation of imperialism, and quite recently, the emancipation of serfs, without forgetting democratic reform. One asks what do these Tibetans want, who persist in pretending to want to govern themselves and, in their fashion, build their future by saving their culture, their traditions, their otherness. Nothing more or less than is written in the United Nations Chart…
Literally cut off from the rest of the world, transformed into an open air prison, under unacknowledged martial law, forbidden to look towards the outside, a muzzled Tibet lived through the weeks marking the 50th anniversary of the Lhassa revolt, the Chinese coup de force against its legitimate government and the beginning of exile. Inside Tibet, a few foolhardy people took the risk to demonstrate, either on their on or in mini-groups, and were quickly imprisoned without any kind of trial. Monks, nuns, young people, nomads, farmers, were arrested – under cover of “troubling the public order”, if not “endangering the security of the State”. Nothing, or very little, filtered through to give an idea of the situation, and it was not the announcement of the re-opening of Tibet to tourists on 5 April that will change much, since journalists and diplomats remain strictly banned. And interested tourist companies are less affirmative, even giving the date of 28 April for the promised opening. As for the people responsible for world affairs, they have too much to do elsewhere to ask for explanations from the torturers, once again blind to the foreseeable consequences of their inconsequence: despots and petty tyrants are quick to take advantage.
The ill-fated recent Conference Against Racism at UN Headquarters in Geneva did not include Tibet on its Agenda. Well of course, whomsoever ventures in these august confines to pronounce its name will rapidly bring on the thunder of the honourable delegates brought out in force so that there should be no attempt against the image of China. In other words, the European Union, Amnesty International or any other NGO, or even country, who” interferes” will immediately be put in their place, on the pretext that “these allegations are based on ignorance and prejudice”, and those who mention them are firmly invited to “get back into the right path and proceed to self-criticism”. The authentic language of the Cultural Revolution, not even reinterpreted, simply taken for the needs of a cause difficult to defend faced with accumulated proofs and testimonies contradicting the soothing official words.
Could it be that the present Chinese leaders are so unsure of their facts as to believe, according to the words of Mao, that “a lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth”? Truth, perhaps, but completely relative to circumstances, and destined like everything to change because the wheel turns inexorably.
A propaganda offensive without precedent against the Dalai Lama was recently launched, not burdening itself with either scruples or diplomacy, or even the reality of recognized historical facts. One has only to follow the new websites that are springing up with revealing titles such as “Human Rights in Tibet” (and elsewhere? China, for example) or “the Real Tibet” that is obligingly spread out in an exhibition organized with great pomp and ceremony in Beijing for the edification of a carefully chosen public, without forgetting the “reactions of visitors”, even if it means taking the right choice amongst the commentaries or to simply deform what has been said; the classic tricks of the trade of a propaganda bureau, last year rebaptized “publicity”, well run in.
Adding insult to injury, the big shots of the Chinese Communist Party pretend to believe that it is only necessary to wield a truncheon to muzzle the opposition.
Once again, perhaps - but only for a time: it is impossible to dupe the whole word all the time. The Chinese are no longer willing to be taken for fools, like the signatories of Chart 08, still numerous despite the continual harassment to which they are submitted, and which questions the established system of the gun. Links are developed between persecuted democrats and oppressed people, inside as well as outside. A long, so long, patience expresses in its way a form of resistance; liberty takes refuge in the hearts of those who resist, whilst dictatorships disappear. History teaches us that the latter have limited time, that consciences end up by awakening, to shake of the yoke of the tyrant. Without forgetting that the liberty of Tibet is also a metaphor for ours…
Comments