Beijing is in a state of shock after the recent Tibetan uprising, and not just because the Beijing Olympics are only a few months away. News reports indicate that the Chinese government is showing signs of bitterness, nervousness and hostility following the outbreak of sudden violent protests in different parts of Tibet.
“Despite 20 years of iron-fisted security, huge investments and mass migration since the last Tibetan uprising, the roof of the world once again looks like a hostile place to most Chinese,” writes The Times of London. (Echoes of Iraq and Afghanistan…What???)
(Meanwhile China rebuffed the international community on appeals for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, vowing to “smash anti-China forces in Tibet”. And the White House said the unrest in Tibet will not dissuade President George W. Bush from attending the Olympics Games in China.)
The Times continues: “For all its overwhelming force in the lonely mountain passes, where military convoys toil towards the clouds, or in the dark alleys of Chengdu’s Tibetan quarter, where soldiers stand watch, the sour tang of a debacle for China is in the air.
“The uneasy sense of psychological defeat emerged from interviews with Chinese citizens and soldiers in Sichuan province, a vast region that includes a swathe of the Tibetan plateau, over the past week. Almost without exception, people said they had lost faith in government propaganda and feared that Tibetans would turn to violence against China.
“Yesterday the (Chinese) foreign ministry was reduced to issuing a list of nations that had supported the crackdown – Russia, Syria, North Korea, Vietnam, Belarus, Benin and, perhaps for the sake of variety, Fiji.”
The Wahington Times has an interesting piece on China’s Dilemma in Tibet…click here… “Does China go ahead and risk more adverse reports from the horde of 10,000 athletes, 20,000 foreign journalists, and tens of thousands of spectators who will descend on Beijing? Or do the Chinese renege on their promise to open the country for the games? Or, as has already been speculated in Asia, does China call off the games rather than be subjected to close-up international scrutiny?”
An AFP report says: “The lighting of the Beijing Olympic flame in Greece on Monday will trigger a new wave of protests against Chinese authorities over Tibet and other issues, according to activists. ‘We have been talking and we have been planning,’ said Lhadon Tethong, spokeswoman for Students for a Free Tibet, a group of activists leading protests against China’s rule of the region. “The next phase is all about international accountability and action’.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.