Tibetan Monks Strike at Chinese Propaganda Machine During Media Visit to Tibetan Capitol: Can We Ignore Their Courage?

Tibet's monks embarrassed China yet again by staging a demonstration in front of foreign journalists who were brought in by Chinese occupation authorities to show off the fact that Tibet was calm after a week of riots. The monks proved that theory wrong big-time.

That the Tibetans chose to break cover with a Chinese crackdown in progress is amazing. The talking heads and conventional wisdom was that the Chinese military had crushed the rebellion and Tibet's people were under Chinese control again. Everyone was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Are our political leaders going to allow such reckless courage to be ignored?

These people thought it was important enough to get the word of their revolt out that they placed their lives in mortal peril, demonstrating in the presence of the reporters and armed Chinese occupation forces who were probably pointing their guns at the demonstrators. They've probably all disappeared and are either in prison, or dead. That's how the Chinese government deals with their political opponents inside Tibet, Hong Kong, and within China itself.

It's too late to move the Olympics, so all that the world can do is decide whether their leaders will boycott the Opening Ceremonies. Politicians over here are pressuring President Bush to reconsider his intention to go to Beijing. And I hope he does. By attending the opening, it's sending a signal to those inside occupied Tibet and free Tibetans around the world that the United States isn't willing to stand up for them.

And we're talking about a political boycott, not an athletic one.

China Needs to End Their Illegal 58-Year Occupation of Tibet and Leave Them Alone

The illegal Chinese occupation of Tibet entered a new phase last week as demonstrators in the Tibetan capitol of Lhasa clashed with Chinese occupation forces. The anniversary of the 1959 riots were being observed, and the demonstrations turned violent. The Chinese opened fire and killed up to a hundred people.

It's not known if the protesters setting Chinese shops, cars and interests on fire caused the troops to open fire, or if the shootings happened first and then the protesters started rioting. In any case, it doesn't really matter. Tibet remains under Chinese occupation. Tibetans across the border in actual Chinese territory have been demonstrating in three Chinese provinces against the Chinese aggression.

The Chinese living in Tibetan territory have established a two-tiered apartheid system, which makes Tibetans second-class citizens in their own land; is it any wonder that the demonstrators targeted Chinese-owned businesses only?

The International Olympic Committee is busy telling the international community not to respond to China's continued heavy-handed tactics in controlling Tibet, and that boycotts of the Beijing Olympic Games will only hurt athletes. Yeah, right.

So we're supposed to ignore the people that China's been shooting at for a week, in favor of the athletes? I think most of the athletes would be sick to their stomachs if they learned that the murders committed against Tibet's people is to be ignored so that they could compete for blood medals.

It should be noted that over a hundred Olympic athletes from around the world have joined "Team Darfur" to raise awareness of the huge crisis in Darfur, Sudan, and the slaughter that has taken place there. China is one of Team Darfur's targets as the Chinese government (and Sudan's largest oil customer) has been reluctant to put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the killing there. So I cannot imagine the athletes turning their backs on the people of Tibet.

Communism is an abhorrent system of government that is incompatible with a religious culture, such as the one that has been suppressed for far too long in Tibet. They should pull their army out of Tibet and LEAVE TIBET ALONE. They were doing fine without the Chinese before the Chinese Red Army (aka the People's Liberation Army) invaded.