Dalai Lama speaks out against protesters and urges nonviolence

1. Citation

Dalai Lama reiterates support for games, urges nonviolence - April 11th 2008 - Japan Times Link - http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080411a1.html

2. Summary

As most people know the Olympic games are starting soon, the only problem that is happening is there are many human rights protests going on because China is hosting the games. In this article the Dalai Lama has come out and said that he has always supported the games and is calling for peace among the protesters. He has recently made a trip to the US and Japan to promote harmony among all different religions and 'human compassion'.

3. Reactions

• How does this article relate to one of the AP World History themes? Impact of interaction among and within major societies is the AP World theme that relates most to this article. Since all these world countries are coming to China and causing conflict that would be an internal struggle in a major society provoked by interaction with other societies.
• Evaluate the historical background of the issue. There have been many protests in the last few years to get the message out about horrible human rights in China. Now that the Olympic games are being held there people are mad that they should be given the honor of hosting after all their faulty human rights laws. Also the Dalai Lama has voiced his call for peace before and he was just 'reiterating' his statement.
• Identify the the point of view of the article. The writer of the the article is Reiji Yoshida which is probably a male that lives in Japan. If that is true then he is an outsider living in Japan looking in on the problems in China and also an outsider to the Dalai Lama's trip to the United States.
• Discuss any indication that the authors point of view might be effecting how the article is being reported. As it said in the article the Dalai Lama was going to visit Japan as well as the US. This means that he is well liked and on good terms with the Japanese. They could be bending the truth to make him sound more compassionate then he really is. Also tensions between China and Japan have always been there they might be trying to make China look like their the bad child being scolded to behave by their parent (Dalai Lama).
• What point of view is missing in the article? Throughout the entire article I did not hear from anybody representing China's view on the events. Since they are the country that is involved the most they really should be represented in an article talking about their problems. I would like to hear from someone either living in China or a political figure there. They could explain their side of these deadly protests that have been happening.
• Share your own reactions. I was very pleased to see the Dalai Lama coming out speaking against all this violence. Maybe people will really respect his point of view and tone down these protests that are turning so violent.