Monday, March 3, 2008

a call to arms or: where the fuck is tibet?

An opportunity has arisen I've been considering and the timing seems opportune. For various reasons, I don't think I'll continue to live in Mumbai once my lease runs out in June (stop staring at me, for the love of all that is holy, I don't want to be a rock star anymore). This puts me in the odd position of what to do with myself. Through a friend of a friend, I found out about the March to Tibet(website works about half the time, a good sign).

In protest of the Chinese occupation of their homeland and the Olympics in Beijing, a large number of Tibetan refugees will march from Dharamsala (northern India) through New Dehli and onto the India-Tibet border. The march begins on March 10th and should reach the border August 8th to coincide with the first day of the Olympics. They demand an end to the occupation of Tibet, a return of the Dalai Lama and a release of all political prisoners. They also ask the International Olympic Committee to take the games away from China.

Now, do I think any of these demands will be met? Of course not. However, anything that brings China's various abuses to public attention is a good thing. I personally believe China to be one of the foremost threats to world peace but I will save those rants for another day. Luckily, the chinese seeem to be more concerned about world opinion than ever before.

Also, I'm trying to be a writer and it's a good story. Here's the part where my faithful readers (currently around 75 a day) might be able to help: put me in contact with any media outlets that might be interested in this story whether it be newspapers, magazines or Playboy (I know it should technically count as a magazine but it's like the Michael Jordan of the biz, I only look at it for the articles though). Also, in case any potential editors read this, I can write real articles without stupid jokes and parentheses. It's just hard.

And finally, here's a video about the march. Of course, I can't watch it so let me know if it's any good:

2 comments:

Nadia Chaudhury said...

so, it wouldn't pay, but the brooklyn rail would be done for articles, i'm sure. i can give you the editor's email.

Sirensongs said...

You can always file with OhMyNews. Their stories get picked up by several wire services like Yahoo News Alerts.
--I love "of course i can't watch it, so let me know if it's any good." So familiar in India! !