foreign protest in Beijing

media - Mixed feelings about protest against Tibet railway

Tim Johnson reports rather sceptically about the small protest by a group of foreigners at the day the first Beijing-Lhasa train takes off. I have seen similar sceptical reports elsewhere of this protest that only seemed to target foreign reporters in Beijing.

While the issues touching on Tibet are of interest, what troubled me is that the activists are generally Westerners rather than Tibetans. Their banner was in English, not Chinese or Tibetan, and few people in front of the train station took notice or were able to read the banner. So without complicit Western media to document the event, it would have gone unnoticed.

Of course: also tourists should be banned from Tibet, internet connections, airplanes and McDonalds. The protest only serves a small community of activist, who do not like to see that Tibetians enjoy a greater prosperity. I believe that a better connectivity serves Tibet best, as it increases the choices they have. It might destroy the image of a never-existing fairy tale about Tibet, but I could not worry less.