Crazy story but maybe not THAT crazy. I found out this weekend that a friend, was deported from China after filming protests in Tianamen Square. Noneck Noel was deported after filming this video:
Apparently, Chinese officials didn’t take too kindly to a non-credentialed reporter filming a protest (not exactly a news flash). Now, I don’t have the whole story, just a series of tweets from Noneck and some quick googling, but this whole thing seems pretty silly of the Chinese. As far as I can tell, the video lasts for about 10 minutes, shows a small group of protesters, a tiny crowd of disinterested onlookers, and has gotten more than 35,000 views since it was first posted. Presumably most of the views were after the deportation was made public on the blogosphere.
I wonder what would have happened if the Chinese had done what the U.S. government does with stuff like this – ignore it. The whole thing about freedom of speech is that you’ve got to decide what to ignore and what to listen to (signal vs. noise and all that). IMHO this protest was something the Chinese could easily have ignored without consequence. It’s not like the world decision makers don’t already know that college students, Tibetians, and the Beastie Boys don’t like the occupation of Tibet. Instead they went and forcefully removed these folk from their country, and in doing so caused a commotion. With all the care the Chinese have put into putting their best face forward for the Olympics, I just wish they had paid more attention to the heart of the issue many folks have with China. I don’t think anyone cares whether or not some people spit in the street, serve the occasional dog, or even have political relationships with countries un-friendly to the U.S. What people do care about is freedom of speech, human rights, and visibility into government. Two out of three were shown to be less than stellar in the video and it’s aftermath.
I will say this for the Chinese and in opposition to many of the protesters. The Chinese really have come a long long way in a very short period of time. Consider that a friend of mine grew up in Beijing w/out running water, that only a few years ago those protesters would have been jailed w/out the obligatory phone call or trip home, and it’s plain ol’ amazing that that video even made it to the interwebs. In the grand scheme that actually is progress in my book.
Oh yea on the topic of Tibet – it’s damn complicated. A hell of a lot more complicated than most people realize with likely 1000 years of history behind it. It’s a little presumptuous of us to jump into the middle of it just because we happen to like this Dalai Lama. Last time anyone tried to leave the Union that is the United States of America, it was a helluva lot bloodier than anything the Chinese have done recently. We need to be very very careful about being hypocrites.
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