Brothers and Sisters

I'm not sure why that even after last year I am still surprised at the reporting the BBC does. It's so biased it insane. Although it does state how many people died as a result of the initial protests by the Ulghurs on Sunday, it continues on to say, 'Groups of Han Chinese armed with clubs then rampaged through the streets in a counter-protest '. There is nothing about Ulghurs weilding knives and batons on Sunday- no of course not, they were just protesting, except 140 people, mostly Han it has been reported (though unconfirmed but doubtful if not true considering) died that day.

I'm not biasing with the Han Chinese or against the Ulghurs, but reporting that is obviously biased needs a watchdog. Read the Guardian for a more balanced view and the article in Open Democracy on the recent history of Xinjiang.

I also found this good article that was written back in April. It speaks a rare view in the western media whose knowledge and attitude about Tibet/China/Human Rights issues are not on autopilot. Ian Buruma says:

"...the Chinese have another argument up their sleeve, which seems more plausible (and more modern). They are justly proud of the ethnic diversity of China. Why should nationality be defined by language or ethnicity? If Tibetans should be allowed to break away from China, why not the Welsh from Britain, the Basques from Spain, the Kurds from Turkey, or the Kashmiris from India?"

The Welsh are the only people from that group that don't have arms. All the others are considered militant/terrorists. The Tibetans in Lhasa didn't have arms either, but they still managed to kill both Han and Tibetans in the riots of March 2008.

Ian Buruma goes on to argue that the oppression is not an ethnic question but a political question of a lack of democracy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/08/tibet-china

new articles:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-uighurs-and-china-lost-and-found-nation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/08/uighur-china-protests-ethnic-violence

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8140492.stm

- J