Another Perspective

My Man Tobes is a bit of an adrenalin fiend; lots of cycling and mountaineering, all too typical of those out door Canadian types. When he is not racing between Bogotá and Caracas or cycling across the Andes he is reading about it. World cyclists are a bit of a clique and they all subscribe to each others adrenalin-filled blogs – though I never understand how they find the time. Whilst doing some seriously incredible journeys, unfortunately the photography is usually poor. Part of the problem is that these intrepid cyclists understandably don´t want to lug top dog slrs with multiple lens.

Now Tobes takes decent pictures, but his camera limits him to pointy-shooty stuff. Anyway, he passed me this particularly interesting cyclist´s site with awesome pictures. http://stormkorp.se/2008/2008.htm His work is being published in Sweden, so it is likely to be slowly dismantled.

This guy was caught up in some riots in Lhasa where he witnessed the systematic attack of Han Chinese by Tibetans. When he told his first-hand account to the Chinese media, he was accused of being paid money by the Chinese government and has scratched up his thoughts.

“For you who don't know, I was in the middle of the riots of Lhasa and I saw what happened. It didn't correspond at all to what I saw in the news reports in the west. It pissed me off. China should be criticized for a lot of things, but the constant China bashing in the west is way over the top now and when downright lies are spread as the only truth I just can't stand in the corner keeping quiet. That was one of the main reasons I talked to the Chinese media when they approached me. Another reason was because of what the riots lead to. People were burned, stabbed and beaten to death. Innocent people whose only crime was to be Han Chinese. It all happened on the street were I lived and the many of the familiar faces and people I bought noodles, clothing and other stuff from was one day suddenly gone. Some for good. The only sign of their prior existence was black gaping holes where there small shops had been. No one in the western media spoke their voice. The Chinese media was blamed for being propaganda and nothing else when they talked about the Chinese victims. There may be a lot of frustration amongst the Tibetans, but slaughtering other human beings just because they belong to another ethnic group can never be justified.”