An editorial
On Dec. 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares, “All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms.” Unfortunately, as we celebrate the 56th Human Rights Day, the promise of that statement remains unrealized in much of the world.
Nowhere is the gap between idealistic rhetoric and ugly reality wider than in Tibet, which has suffered under an illegal, repressive and murderous Chinese occupation for more than four decades. If the United States was serious about “freedom,” as President Bush suggests whenever he discusses the U.S. occupation of Iraq, this country would be agitating for an end to the brutal Chinese assault on the Tibetan people.
Instead, the U.S. has developed economic relations with China that effectively make Americans investors in oppression.
Bush is not alone in his misguided approach. Most members of Congress continue to support normalized trade relations with China – as part of the “free-trade” regimen that has done so much harm to American workers and their communities. (Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, both longtime supporters of the Tibetan cause, are notable exceptions to the rule.)
The hopeful news is that young people are standing up for morality in foreign policy.The UW-Madison chapter of Students for a Free Tibet will hold a candlelight vigil from 6:30 to 8:30 Friday night on the Library Mall to draw attention to human rights abuses in Tibet – particularly the case of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a respected Buddhist leader in eastern Tibet who has been held without reason by the Chinese since April 2002 and now faces the threat of execution.
As has so often been the case in the past, the young people in the streets better understand the meaning of words such as “freedom” and “morality” than the hypocrites in Washington.
