The businessman, Tashi Wangchuk... was arrested in early 2016, two months after he was featured in a New York Times video and article about Tibetan language education. He stood trial in January this year, charged with “inciting separatism” for comments he had made to The Times....Here's the NYT video from 2016:
The Chinese Communist Party for decades maintained policies intended to keep ethnic minorities, especially Tibetans and Uighurs, under political control while giving them some space to preserve their own languages and cultures. But under Xi Jinping, the staunch Communist Party leader who came to power in 2012, China has adopted more assimilationist policies, designed to absorb these minorities into the fold of one Chinese nation.
At his trial in January, Mr. Tashi, speaking in Chinese, rejected the idea that his efforts to rejuvenate the Tibetan language were a crime. He has said that he does not advocate independence for Tibet, but wants the rights for ethnic minorities that are promised by Chinese law, including the right to use their own language....
Tashi, in the video: “In politics, it’s said that if one nation wants to eliminate another nation, first they need to eliminate their spoken and written language.... In effect, there is a systematic slaughter of our culture.”
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Hmmmmm. Controlling the language as a means of political power, eh?
...and bless him. Some people are so brave, and he is one of them.
One of the deplorables, eh?
Everybody Wangchuk tonight.
I thought systematic slaughter of cultures was a white supremacy thing - did the Chinese culturally appropriate it?
Tibet hit video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZV2VHmBqus&list=RDDeQm9iNGkG0&index=2
with erhu and guitar.
Lots of respect for the man, but I suspect the NYT will forget about him and his imprisonment in future articles about China (and on limiting US rights).
The old Chinese empire required symbolic subservience from its vassal states, but otherwise did not interfere much in their internal affairs. The Communist empire will not tolerate any such diversity within its sphere, but insists on absolute obedience to the central command.
Ladakhi pop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&feature=related&v=tVAU52G7ork&hl=en-GB
Some commenter said they seriously need some new moves.
But then the old empire was quite confident of Chinese superiority to any other people or system of government. The communists, not so much.
"Beatings will continue until morale improves!"
American leftists dream of such power.
Yes they do.
Press 2 for Spanish. Press 3 for Somali. Press 4 for Chinese. Press 5 for Russian. Press 6 for Zulu.
Tibet is China. If you don't learn how to speak your countries language, you will not participate in the riches. The government wants everyone to succeed.
The same with Spanish in US schools. Those that do not learn English will be cast aside as slaves.
When you go to southern France and try to speak Occitan, you will have a bad day. Occitania has been culturally assimilated.
Get over it.
Makes you wonder what Chinese students think of the diversity orthodoxy preached in colleges they attend here.
Anyway, Tom Friedman will be pleased.
China has made immense social and political and economic progress since Nixon's opening in ''72. They no longer murder millions like Mao did; they no longer fuel dangerous wars to conquer democracies like they did in Korea; they probably don't plan to re-take Taiwan as they lusted for during the Cold War.
But they are still Communists.
And, as Communists, they repress things. And, regrettably, one of the remaining "things" they repress are the people of Tibet.
Let's not ignore their progress, but let's not ignore their major shortcomings either.
“American leftists dream of such power.”
In all fairness, so do rightists. One could certainly make the case that the Southwest is our Tibet. Or that it’s Spanish colonialism’s Tibet but they were there first so they get dibs. However, as much as I would like people in America to speak English, I don’t want anyone thrown in jail over it. Except for the Ukrainian container drivers who are screaming at their relatives on the phone when they should be watching the road.
"In all fairness, so do rightists."
Ahem. If it's "fairness" you are after, you might want to consider that the fascist Chinese put this man in prison for five years for talking about his language, while Spanish is taught in American schools and universities. What "rightists", also known as rational Americans, would like to arrange is that the business of the country is conducted in a single language, which anyone who wants to can learn. This ain't Switzerland, which has no language and uses several.
I don't think that because the Pope gave someone land the church didn't own, that country, Spain, btw, not Mexico, has perpetual rights. Still, I think that a good compromise in the interests of good feelings would be to give them California in an experialist (David Foster Wallace's term) gesture.
POTUS in Infinite Jest was a lot like Trump, BTW.
Life without the bill of rights and the means to protect it.
China is the norm in history.
The US is unique.
The leftists hate the US and the bill of rights.
Given Trump's beautiful relationship with China's limitless premier Xi Jinping, one might think that Trump would take the cue to make English the official language of the United States and pursue similar prosecutions. But somebody might wonder if Trump himself is competent in English. I know I wonder about that quite frequently.
tim in vermont said...
"I don't think that because the Pope gave someone land the church didn't own, that country, Spain, btw, not Mexico, has perpetual rights."
You raise an interesting point. The modern attempt to recognize existing borders as legitimate is based upon a rejection of the right to alter borders by force. Yet all such borders were established by that means.
So Communists engage in cultural appropriation to destroy cultures for the cause of international socialism. Leftists love to make people miserable. Fuckers.
"Chuck said...
Given Trump's beautiful relationship with China's limitless premier Xi Jinping, one might think that Trump would take the cue to make English the official language of the United States and pursue similar prosecutions. But somebody might wonder if Trump himself is competent in English. I know I wonder about that quite frequently."
This is just so pathetic.
Chuck said...
"But somebody might wonder if Trump himself is competent in English. I know I wonder about that quite frequently."
Well, he is the President of the United States, and I guess that commands some attention. But I sometimes think you take it a little too far. I wonder, do you have, like, big Trump posters on your bedroom wall, that you have long conversations with? What about the other rooms in your house? What language do you converse in, in these fantasies?
The Spanish government under Franco tried exactly this vs Basque and Catalan.
In the case of Basque they were fighting a budding revival of a language that already was on the outs in the 19th century - neither of my Basque grandparents, born in coastal villages, spoke Basque, and that was typical. Basque revival was the work of nationalist intellectuals.
Catalan was in better shape, but also AFAIK near-eliminated in the cities.
However when the political climate changed both came back very strong.
When does Portugal get Brazil back?
Seriously though, does anyone think that what we now call China spontaneously arose without conquest? Even if it happened long ago, or France?
Britain should have banned French in Quebec. No good deed goes unpunished.
Once again, we see that no good can come from allowing yourself to be interviewed by the New York Times.
Pedro I of Brazil did indeed get Portugal back, sort of, in the Portuguese dynastic war of 1831-34. But he had to abdicate his Brazilian throne to do it. Brazil did not want Portugal.
A very little known war, though quite bloody. Also a telling bit of British special operations, which they did a lot of in the 19th century, in this case involving an entire, "deniable" British naval squadron in disguise.
There is a very great deal of history hiding in the weeds.
I know I wonder about that quite frequently.
Not as frequently as we wonder about you--your sanity, mostly.
Chuck’s comments are boring. No matter what the topic, he finds a way to say something negative about Trump.
Althouse should start a new tag: “Chuck makes this topic about Trump.” And tag every post with it.
Who reads his comments? Reading them is as unnecessary as reading RGB’s legal opinions. They are so predictable it’s a waste of time. I don’t think I have read one of his comments in weeks. Is he still commenting here, or are people just dragging his dessicated corpse around the town square for shits and giggles?
That would have been terribly embarrassing to Summa. It's no body's business if she cums laude.
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