My Armchair Protest

So I've been loosely following the recent China and Tibet conflict.. The long and short of it is that Tibet has already seen itself as free from China but China disagree. In 1951, China sent troops into Tibet and after much bloodshed, a dodgy treaty was signed that made Tibet an official colony of China. Tibet now wants to be relgiously and politically independent of China. Although China has invested in it's Economy, China have famously mistreated the Tibetans compared to the rest of the country. From the 50's onwards, thousands of Tibetans have been murdered (they won't give them independence yet they'll willingly "kill their own"?) and Tibet have now tried to charge China with the crime of mass genocide. Kudos to Delai Lama for speaking out and letting the world know about what would otherwise be a very private and biased affair. The conflict has reached boiling point - journalists aren't allowed into Tibet, external information isn't allowed into China (websites such as youtube and news websites have been banned) and no information is allowed to leave - creating a totalitarianistic China.

The latest news is of people boycotting and protesting against the Beijing Olympics and one piece of news caught my eye. One particular protestor broke through police lines with a banner of the olympic rings replaced with handcuffs. This man was arrested and viciously beaten and is now apparently it prison for five years (where he reportedly is being tortured). He hasn't appealed to this as he believes the Chinese justice system is "corrupt" - like the rest of the country really. It's good to see Amnesty International are getting on the case though and are trying to stand up to these monsters that run China. We're living in a world that proclaims free speech for all yet everything is censored if it's not what "they" want to hear.