2008 Woodie Awards
Students offer opposing view to Olympics protest
Maiko Michishita
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News
The UA Chinese Students and Scholars Association hosted the event "Olympic Games at the UA" Friday evening at the Union Mall, where participants prayed for the success of the Olympics in Beijing.
The event contained several activities, such as basketball, ping pong, hula hooping, Olympic trivia quizzes and winning prizes.
Even though many people know there is a lot of negative press about the Olympics and how some people are protesting, "we really just want to bring the public attention back to the pure Olympics," said CSSA President Connie Jiang.
The difference of viewpoint toward the history of China and Tibet creates various historical perspectives and understandings around the world.
Some people are protesting the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics, to address "the independence of Tibet." Since 1950, China has ratified many U.N. conventions - including those related to torture and racial discrimination, lack of religious freedom, resource exploitation and control of education - but repeatedly has violated these freedoms in China and Tibet, according to the Free Tibet Campaign Web site.
Chinese troops invaded Tibet in October 1950 under "the task of the People's Liberation Army, for 1950 is to liberate Tibet," according to the site. And in 1951, China undertook the "17-Point Agreement" to refrain from interfering with the Tibetan government and society following negotiation by the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan's spiritual and temporal leader.
The Dalai Lama, however, said he is not seeking separation from China, and Tibetans would be able to develop Tibet with China's assistance, according to The Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Web site.
Foreign governments continue to make occasional protests about aspects of Chinese rule in Tibet. However, all governments recognize Chinese sovereignty more than they do Tibet's, and none has recognized the Dalai Lama's government in exile in India, according to the History of Tibet Web site.
The event contained several activities, such as basketball, ping pong, hula hooping, Olympic trivia quizzes and winning prizes.
Even though many people know there is a lot of negative press about the Olympics and how some people are protesting, "we really just want to bring the public attention back to the pure Olympics," said CSSA President Connie Jiang.
The difference of viewpoint toward the history of China and Tibet creates various historical perspectives and understandings around the world.
Some people are protesting the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics, to address "the independence of Tibet." Since 1950, China has ratified many U.N. conventions - including those related to torture and racial discrimination, lack of religious freedom, resource exploitation and control of education - but repeatedly has violated these freedoms in China and Tibet, according to the Free Tibet Campaign Web site.
Chinese troops invaded Tibet in October 1950 under "the task of the People's Liberation Army, for 1950 is to liberate Tibet," according to the site. And in 1951, China undertook the "17-Point Agreement" to refrain from interfering with the Tibetan government and society following negotiation by the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan's spiritual and temporal leader.
The Dalai Lama, however, said he is not seeking separation from China, and Tibetans would be able to develop Tibet with China's assistance, according to The Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Web site.
Foreign governments continue to make occasional protests about aspects of Chinese rule in Tibet. However, all governments recognize Chinese sovereignty more than they do Tibet's, and none has recognized the Dalai Lama's government in exile in India, according to the History of Tibet Web site.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 9
stephen
posted 4/20/08 @ 10:06 PM CST
So i noticed that the only sources mentioned were chinese-run websites. do you not think that it is a bad idea to only cite such sources when the chinese are at the heart of this entire controversy? if you know the history and then read chinese news sources (xinhua, china daily, etc. (Continued…)
brett
posted 4/22/08 @ 1:03 AM CST
Well, I guess if you count "The Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama" website as a Chinese-run source, then, yes, you are in fact correct; not to mention the quoted Chinese violations of freedoms from the "Free Tibet Campaign" website. (Continued…)
stephen
posted 4/22/08 @ 9:34 PM CST
touché.
in fact, i did read the article in its entirety, though apparently i was blinded by the inaccuracies and forgot about the references that weren't from chinese sources by the time i finished it. (Continued…)
Tom
posted 4/28/08 @ 11:41 PM CST
If I may, I wish to point out that Anti-CNN.com, though it may sound more negative toward CNN the media network as an entirety, it is actually meant to anti those anchors/newsreporters who are derogatorily falsifying news to make a name for themselves at the cost of the honor of a people whose ancestors did indeed have sovereignty for well over half a century over the region that is known today as the Tibet Autonomous Region. (Continued…)
stephen
posted 5/01/08 @ 4:21 AM CST
1) "people whose ancestors did indeed have sovereignty for well over half a century over the region that is known today as the Tibet Autonomous Region"
what? this argument makes no sense. (Continued…)
Natural Cures
posted 5/12/08 @ 11:21 PM CST
It is nice to hear from both sides. Also I agree that politics should not detract from the athletes and their efforts. Maybe a lot of attention will be on the "act of God" that killed 50 times the people killed on 9/11 in the center of China. (Continued…)
Stephen
posted 5/27/08 @ 9:17 AM CST
Tom,
Here are a few sources for you:
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=13005&t=1&c=5
http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/comment/tibetans_jews/
http://www. (Continued…)
Tom Zhang
posted 5/29/08 @ 1:43 AM CST
I've glanced through your sources, and most of them are very out-dated, some published as early as 2003, which I myself consider out-dated on the issues of Tibet. (Continued…)
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