I don't know the "soul of Tibet;" I don't know if Tibetans kill themselves rather than kill their oppressors because of Buddhism or some non-violence-toward-others philosophy.
Whatever it is with Tibetans, non-violence is not the Chinese Way. Under Mao, suicide was a treason. Treason. Killing other Chinese was okay. No prob with that. During the Cultural Revolution Red Guards invaded Zhongnanhai, snatched out Liu Shaoqi, the president of the country--the president of the country!--and pelted him to the ground with their little red books. This other-directed political violence worked. That was the end of Liu; he was tortured and starved and died in captivity years later.
What the hell happened? How did this Chinese "ethos" of other-directed political killing morph into suicide-is-acceptable, killing others is not? China is not and never has been, like America in the 1960's during Martin Luther King, Jr's non-violent political protests; Or like Britain during Gandhi's non-violent protests for independence. Those non-violent protests worked; The images of peaceful protesters being beaten and killed shamed the American and British governments into change. The souls of America and Britain wouldn't allow it to continue. China's soul is unmoved. China's soul is survival; Any demonstration is taken as a mortal threat; Any criticism, even from foreign politicians, reporters or bloggers is seen as a threat to survival.
China's response is to attack. Chinese, ordinary Chinese people, killed their political leaders and their civic leaders, like teachers, when in their paranoia they believed Mao's survival threatened. Chinese, the beloved People's Liberation Army, massacred Chinese young people in Tiananmen. Chinese attack Google and other foreigners with cyber warfare. It is not in the souls of the people in the People's Republic of China government to be moved by non-violent political protest. It doesn't work with them.
Do the Chinese people who protest peacefully, or those who think to commit self-murder in protest not see this? Did Ya Weilin really think "If I kill myself my wife will get answers?" What if Ya Weilin had strapped a bomb to himself and detonated it among some Chinese governmental officials? Would that have been more efficacious?
Whatever it is with Tibetans, non-violence is not the Chinese Way. Under Mao, suicide was a treason. Treason. Killing other Chinese was okay. No prob with that. During the Cultural Revolution Red Guards invaded Zhongnanhai, snatched out Liu Shaoqi, the president of the country--the president of the country!--and pelted him to the ground with their little red books. This other-directed political violence worked. That was the end of Liu; he was tortured and starved and died in captivity years later.
What the hell happened? How did this Chinese "ethos" of other-directed political killing morph into suicide-is-acceptable, killing others is not? China is not and never has been, like America in the 1960's during Martin Luther King, Jr's non-violent political protests; Or like Britain during Gandhi's non-violent protests for independence. Those non-violent protests worked; The images of peaceful protesters being beaten and killed shamed the American and British governments into change. The souls of America and Britain wouldn't allow it to continue. China's soul is unmoved. China's soul is survival; Any demonstration is taken as a mortal threat; Any criticism, even from foreign politicians, reporters or bloggers is seen as a threat to survival.
China's response is to attack. Chinese, ordinary Chinese people, killed their political leaders and their civic leaders, like teachers, when in their paranoia they believed Mao's survival threatened. Chinese, the beloved People's Liberation Army, massacred Chinese young people in Tiananmen. Chinese attack Google and other foreigners with cyber warfare. It is not in the souls of the people in the People's Republic of China government to be moved by non-violent political protest. It doesn't work with them.
Do the Chinese people who protest peacefully, or those who think to commit self-murder in protest not see this? Did Ya Weilin really think "If I kill myself my wife will get answers?" What if Ya Weilin had strapped a bomb to himself and detonated it among some Chinese governmental officials? Would that have been more efficacious?
