Protestors: Free Tibet! Free Tibet!
Peter Griffin: I’ll take it!
[He runs to a nearby phone booth]
Peter Griffin: Hello, China? I have something you may want. But it’s gonna cost ya. That’s right. All the tea.
Overview
While hardly a new issue, a week of violently suppressed protests has brought Tibet back to the political forefront. Specifically, Tibetan monks started non violent protests in the city of Lhasa on March 14th. As the protests grew in size and intensity, the government response got increasingly heavy handed. This issue is especially timely considering its proximity to the Olympics and Taiwanese elections. Ever since Chinese Communists occupied the independent nation of Tibet in the 1950’s there has been struggle between the Chinese government and Tibetan separatists. Tactics that have been used to quell separatism have ranged from the outlawing to Buddhism and closing of regional boarders (both now discontinued), to the violent suppression of all dissent and cultural imperialism. Further the responses from international governments tend to be inconsistent and ineffective.