Reportage – 2007

First bitter taste comes to China's Olympics

An elderly Tibetan woman during a candle light vigil supporting Ronggay A’drak's protest in Lithang. [ click here for print size   3.6M ]

MCLEOD GANJ, India, 5 August 2007 — The first sign of nightmare coming to shatter China's dream of holding the grandest Olympics games of all arose on Wednesday (1 August) when a Tibetan openly called for Dalai Lama’s return and protested the repressive Chinese policies in Tibet.

Ronggay A'drak, a 52-year-old Tibetan nomad in Lithang, eastern Tibet, climbed up on stage and called for the return of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence during festivities consisting of the annual horse race festival and an official function to commemorate the 80th founding anniversary of the People's Liberation Army.

He also shouted for the release of the Panchen Lama, the second holiest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, whose whereabouts have not been known since he was detained by the Chinese authorities in 1995, when he was six years old.

A crowd of thousands backed A'drak's calls before he was arrested by the police, according to a report by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights.

Around 200 Tibetans gathered later at the Lithang county office to protest A'drak's arrest, which prompted police to fire warning shots in the air to disperse the crowd, according to the official website of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

No further information is available on A'drak's situation.

As the news reached the outside world, Tibetans in Dharamshala, the capital of the Tibetan Diaspora, organised a candle light vigil on Friday to show their support and solidarity with A'drak and the people in Lithang for rising up for the rights and freedom of the Tibetan people.

Although the Lithang incident is not related to the Olympics, China's repressive policies since its occupation of Tibet in 1959 have left Tibetans a frustrated lot. Such demonstrations and outbursts of anger are clear signs of what really lies behind the Chinese propaganda.

A Tibetan woman supporting and showing her support for Ronggay A’drak's protest in Lithang in Mcleod Ganj. [ click here for print size   3.3M ]

Taking Beijing Olympics as a target, five Tibetan organisations are in Delhi staging various activities, including a hunger-strike unto death by 14 Tibetans which is nearing a month. Although the activities are marred with some petty dissensions among the members of the organisers (for reasons best known to them), the enthusiasm and the emotional intensity among the Tibetan masses is ever more intense.

Six rounds of talks between the two envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leaders since September 2002 have taken the two sides nowhere. And China's open secret of waiting for the Dalai Lama, 72, to pass away, has triggered suspicion that the on-going dialogues would mean nothing.

A mass protest is getting under way in Delhi on 8 August, when it will be exactly one year before the Beijing Olympics begins. A record number of Tibetans are expected to congregate in India's capital Delhi for the rally.

India, under pressure from China, on Saturday temporarily cordoned off the Tibetan camp in Delhi, stopped a run for Tibet, and rejected hosting of a football match between the Tibetan National Football team and Delhi XI at the Nehru stadium.

The theme song of the 29th International Olympics was released by China on Saturday, as a pop song entitled: "We're ready", recorded with the help of around 130 Chinese singers. The artistes will officially present the song on 8 August at Tiananmen Square as part of the one-year countdown celebrations.

Spending $40 billion for the 17-day Olympics, China is trying to get its money's worth in every way possible, now flagrantly calling this century the "China's century."

The fact, of course, is that only the 34 new venues for the games, and the infrastructure in and around the capital Beijing, will be glitzy for the tourists. The rest of the country will remain much the same, including no freedom of the press within Tibet, even though China had promised a loosening of press restrictions before and during the Olympics.

Without improvements in its human rights record and media freedom by the Chinese government, dissenters will latch on to the Olympics as a tool to spoil China's hopes of a successful Olympics party.

Is China ready?