Let the Games begin, with a coup

At a concert in Shanghai on March 4 this year, Icelandic singer Bjork ended her performance by shouting “Tibet! Tibet!” People attending the concert felt very uneasy when the shouts came after the singer’s passionate performance of her song “Declare independence”. They did not boo, but left the Shanghai International Gymnastic Center hurriedly.
Bjork had effectively set the tone for the protests that were to follow during the Olympic torch relay.
Spirited efforts were made by Tibetan protesters and their supporters all over the world to attract attention to the China’s 58-year rule over the formerly independent region.
But nothing proved more devastating for China as an incident a few days back.
A factory in China’s Guangdong province, which neighbours Hong Kong, was found to be producing flags for the Tibetan government-in-exile. The order has been placed abroad, possibly by Tibetan protesters. Thousands of flags had been made and packed off to Hong Kong, where the red, blue and yellow mast with two lions is not banned.
The factory was raided on April 20 after some workers found the flag familiar. They looked up television footage of the protests and checked on the Internet and their worst fears came true – they had been helping their arch-enemies in their protests around the world and in Hong Kong where the torch arrived on Wednesday.
For the Tibetan who considers the Dalai Lama to be his true leader, this meant a coup d’ etat of sorts.
For the staunch Chinese, it was a slap on the face with only one saving grace – that the Chinese government’s propaganda and crackdown had ensured that the average Joe does not even know what the Tibetan flag looks like.
For the intelligent journalist, it was a Page One story.
Francis Ford Copolla’s Kundun, Heinrich Harrer’s Seven Years in Tibet, and Bjork’s support for Tibet at the Shanghai concert pushed support for the region several notches higher. But the average Delhiite is already sold on the cause – most decision-makers in the corridors of power today were fed on a staple diet of chhang (rice beer), momos and dirt-cheap apparel in Majnu Ka Tila, the Tibetan homeland in Delhi.
So it was no surprise that the Tibetans had their hopes pinned high on Delhi, which has the highest number of Tibetans – and supporters of their cause – outside of Tibet. The Indian government allowed them to take out a parallel torch relay, something no other government did or could do. But the protesters were hopeful of a stronger, more symbolic protest.
Word on the street was that they had roped in at least one of the participants of the torch relay to run with the flame in hand and a “Free Tibet” banner on his chest. But the elaborate security arrangements and the truncated run ensured that no such thing happened.