Free Tibet 2009
- Monday, 13 July 2009 18:41
- Written by Dave Hodgkinson
As anyone reading the news recently knows, Tibet under their exiled leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is attempting to negotiate greater cultural and religious freedom whilst still under the suzeranity of China.
The Free Tibet movement takes this one step further and is campaigning for a Tibet free from the rule of communist China. As we have seen from Xinjiang, there are number of regions politically under Chinese control that are recent acquisitions and that are not ethnically Chinese.
Taiwan takes a special interest in Tibet as it is within a hair's breadth, and a few thousand missiles pointed in its direction, of being in the same situation as Tibet: China claims it. Whilst much of the Taiwanese population is Chinese, the island itself has never been under total control and the people are fiercely independent and proud of their status.
The Free Tibet movement, with worldwide concerts, started in 1996 in San Francisco and continued on the 11th July in Taipei with renowned Taiwanese performers such as Panai, Dog-G, Chthonic and LTK.
Several thousand Taiwanese packed a square in central Taipei and enjoyed a free eclectic mix of music ranging from aboriginal Taiwanese songs, to rap and the special blend of Taiwanese black metal that is Chthonic.
by Dave Hodgkinson
This article reprinted from Demotix.com.