Joseph Borawski, Sunday April 20th, 2008, 3:26 PM, Global Social Protests Current Event
This week dozens of German residents and exiled Tibetans staged a protest in the German capital city of Berlin. The protesters carried Tibetan flags, and pictures of the Dalai Lama. The crowd itself was peaceful and denounced violence in the region. This, in part, is in preparation for the visit of the Dalai Lama to Germany expected in May. The protesters called for talks between Tibet and China’s government. “I think it is important that one supports dialogue rather than violence” said Kai Muller, and this statement was seemed to capture and reflect the opinion of the protest. The protest started in front of the Chinese Embassy and wound its way toward Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg gate. These protests follow Beijing blaming the recent violence on March 15th where 22 people died in rioting in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, on the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile has denied any involvement in the violence and has said that more than 140 people were killed in the government crackdown.
Since the start of the protests we’ve seen communities throughout the world join with the Tibetans. This of course is significant of more and more pressure being put on the Chinese government and a general increase in the public awareness of the situation. Though we’ve also seen protests in counter to this cause (mainly because of the international community’s trepidation towards the use of something such as interrupting the Olympics to forward a cause) this is a very interesting example of how world opinion and protest might be used to effect change.
Check it out here:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/20/europe/EU-GEN-Germany-Tibet-Protest.php
2 comments:
I was wondering how the current situation was playing out and this article really helped catch me up on the situation. I am glad to see more people getting on Tibet's side and putting pressure on the Chinese government.
Its so sad to see an entire culture being suppressed because of government ideals. I hope the united effort will help the Tibetan cause and not encourage more violence.
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