February 22, 2017

USA: UC San Diego Students Protest Visit by ‘Oppressive and Offensive’ Dalai Lama. Wth?! ๐Ÿ˜ฆ These Students Have Been Brainwashed By Communist China! ๐Ÿ˜’

Heatst.com
written by Kieran Corcoran
Thursday February 16, 2017

Students at the University of California, San Diego are protesting an upcoming visit by the Dalai Lama – claiming the Tibetan leader is “oppressive”.

Chinese students are leading objections to the event, which will see the Dalai Lama give a commencement speech on graduation day.

They have claimed that his presence is offensive because of his campaign to make Tibet more independent – contrary to the Communist government’s position that Tibet is a region of China under their control.

Arguments over Tibetan independence have raged for decades – but this dispute is remarkable because activists are conducting it through the language of social justice.

As noted by Quartz, the Chinese student association framed their complaints as an example of cultural oppression and a problem of equality.

A statement accused university leaders of having “contravened the spirit of respect, tolerance, equality, and earnestness—the ethos upon which the university is built.”

One student posting on Facebook said: “So you guys protest against Trump because he disrespects Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, LGBT.., but invites this oppresser [sic] to make a public speech?? The hypocrisy is appalling!”

Likewise, an alumni group based in Shanghai said UCSD will be breaching its ethos of “diversity” and will leave them “extremely offended and disrespected” if the Dalai Lama’s speech dips into the political.

Chinese officials are known to be extraordinarily hostile to any groups who get close to the Dalai Lama, and do their best to punish governments who engage with the exiled Tibetan regime.

They consider the Dalai Lama a threat to stability in China, akin to a terrorist who wants to split the country.

This is despite his stated aim being increased autonomy – rather than outright independence – for Tibet, which he fled in 1959.

His insistence on peaceful protest and non-violent resistance won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. It is hard to see who he is oppressing by touring the world, giving speeches and promoting peaceful opposition to China.

Questions have been raised about whether the Chinese government is directly involved in lobbying against the address.

A statement by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association originally said it was seeking support from the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, but later denied that claim.

Government officials are certainly not above getting involved in campus politics.

At the University of Durham in northern England, the Chinese Embassy in London tried to stop a Chinese-born activist and beauty queen speaking in a debate.

Anastasia Lin, a Miss World Canada winner, was asked to speak at the Durham Union Society on whether China was a “threat to the West”

But the students organizing the debate received angry calls from embassy officials, claiming that if Lin spoke it could damage UK-China relations, according to a BuzzFeed report.

The students ignored them and went ahead with the debate anyway (Lin’s side lost).

But the incident underlines that China is prepared to take advantage of a newly censorious atmosphere on campus – and its supporters are happy to use the posture of SJWs to get their way.
The College Fix
written by Kate Hardiman - University of Notre Dame
Tuesday February 21, 2017

Tweet ‘#ChineseStudentsMatter’

The University of California San Diego recently announced that the Dalai Lama will offer its keynote commencement address, much to the disatisfaction of many of its Chinese students, who call the choice “controversial” and “disrespectful.” Some go so far as to say the university’s decision shows a lack of cultural respect and campus inclusiveness.

The exiled spiritual head and leader of the Tibetan people is a controversial figure in China, according to senior John Leo, an officer of the university’s Chinese Student Scholars Association.

“Inviting such a controversial figure…is very disrespectful,” Leo told ABC 10.

Though the history between Tibet and China is complicated, Chinese students such as Lee allege that the Dalai Lama’s failed negotiation with China for Tibetan independence actually sparked an uprising in 2008.

UCSD students have also recently popularized the hashtag #ChineseStudentsMatter in an effort to bring attention to this matter.

Chinese student Ruixuan Wang published an op-ed in the UCSD Guardian explaining that “the Dalai Lama spent his whole life trying to separate Tibet from the mainland of China, regardless of how much privilege and freedom the government offered the people of Tibet.”

“His conflict with our government caused property loss, deaths of innocent people and panic among the general public — even though he claims that he advocates for a nonviolent revolution.”

Yet, UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla called the Dalai Lama “a man of peace” who “promotes global responsibility and service to humanity” in a statement.

“These are the ideals we aim to convey and instill in our students and graduates at UC San Diego,” Khosla said.

The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet, and has been recognized for his global environmental concern.

Wang noted in his piece that these accomplishments are admirable, but wrote that “the main reason why many Chinese students are upset is that our university shows little consideration about cultural respect.”

The UCSD Shanghai Alumni Group interestingly used the common campus rhetoric of diversity and inclusion to voice its protest.

“When addressing such a diverse community, there is a greater responsibility to spread a message that brings people together, rather than splits them apart,” they wrote.

Yet some counter that invoking diversity, given China’s general aversion to this principle, is inappropriate.

Tibetan native and graduate of UCSD Dr. Tsering Topgyal called it “unsurprising” that most Chinese students agree with their communist government’s stance on Tibet.

“If the Chinese students wish to exploit diversity, they would come across as more convincing if they were more committed and supportive of this principle back home,” he said. “If they are so committed to diversity, it behooves them to be more accepting of the Dalai Lama’s talk, especially since I am sure that many of the non-Chinese student community would wish to hear the Dalai Lama.”

In response to the Chinese students’ disapproval, UCSD said in a statement that “the University of California San Diego has always served as a forum for discussion and interaction on important public policy issues and respects the rights of individuals to agree or disagree as we consider issues of our complex world. Our 2017 speaker, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, carries a message that promotes global responsibility and service to humanity that is of great interest to the UC San Diego community and to our students as they enter their professional lives. As a public university dedicated to the civil exchange of views, the university believes commencement is one of many events that provide and appropriate opportunity to present to graduates and their families a message of reflection and compassion.”

Meanwhile, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association has issued a statement that “if the university insists on acting unilaterally and inviting the Dalai Lama to give a speech at the graduation ceremony, our association vows to take further measures to firmly resist the university’s unreasonable behavior. Specific details of these measures will be outlined in our future statements.”

No specific request for disinvitation has been issued at this time, however.

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