Chinese dissident Harry Wu - Tibetans can help the Chinese by fighting the communist system

China dissident sets up US show on Tibet
Saturday, 11 April 2009

Prominent Chinese dissident Harry Wu, who has mounted a new museum exhibition in the US capital dedicated to Tibet,
accepts that some people think of him as a traitor. "Yes, I am. I am a traitor to the People's Republic of China," Wu said
inside his Laogai Museum in Washington. "Because the People's Republic of China was established by the communists."
The new exhibition gives a version of the Himalayan region's history at odds with the official version from Beijing.
While China says it liberated Tibet, Wu's exhibition depicts authorities destroying temples and other religious heritage
of the region and setting up labor camps – the exact number of which, he said, is impossible to verify.
The exhibition, which runs until May 30, features photographs and video footage taken secretly in Tibet, either by Tibetans
or their sympathizers. One image shows stacks of lumber outside the new Chambdo prison, with one unnamed inmate saying
conditions were worse than in Tibet's most notorious Drapchi prison.
"On the outside, it looks very modern and many of the facilities are new. But inside it is very tough," the prisoner said.
He said that at least in Drapchi, "you can see the sky and sometimes the mountains from the cells." Wu, 72, is lucid and
sprightly. In what he said was 19 years inside China's labor camps – or "laogai" – he said he was subjected to torture and near
starvation.
The geologist said he was shipped off to 12 different laogai, where he was put to forced labour in a bid to change his views.
Wu had criticized communism, in particular the Soviet clampdown on Hungary's 1956 uprising. He was freed in 1979 and later
moved to the United States, where he worked in a doughnut shop to make ends meet before telling his story.
Eventually he found himself opening his own eyes to a new issue – Tibet.
"I found that of the many different groups of immigrants to the United States – Mexicans, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese or
whatever – you always have some of them who commit some sort of crimes and go to jail," he said. "You don't find any
Tibetans doing crime. And you can easily make friends with them," he said.
Wu, raised to think that the Dalai Lama was a feudal oppressor, later met the Tibetan spiritual leader and has since developed
views on Tibet that go even beyond what the Dalai Lama advocates. While the Dalai Lama says he is seeking only greater
autonomy for Tibetans under Chinese rule, Beijing brands him a separatist and pressures world leaders not to meet with the
Nobel Peace laureate. Wu firmly believes that Tibet should be independent. !!!
He thumped the table passionately as he showed his collection of Chinese government maps, which mark ethnically Tibetan
areas in a different colour. Wu said that Beijing's argument – that Tibetans for centuries accepted Chinese emperors' rule –
was no different from the British saying they should still control India because they once colonized it.
"They have their own systems, they have their culture, their religion, their military. They have a government, they have tax.
It is independent – totally different," Wu said. China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and nine years later crushed an uprising
which led the Dalai Lama to flee into India. Marking the 50th anniversary of the uprising last month, China established a new
holiday celebrating "Serfs' Liberation Day," saying Beijing freed Tibetans from a Buddhist theocracy that enslaved all but the
religious elite.

The Laogai Museum, whose main exhibit documents China's labor camps, opened in November with the support of a fund established by Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Internet giant Yahoo. Yang donated the money after Yahoo came under fire for
providing data to Chinese police helping them jail cyber-dissidents. Wu said his museum attracted a steady flow of US
schoolchildren but that he hoped more Chinese would visit – he even sent an improbable invitation to the Chinese embassy
staff. He believes that instead of trying to persuade Chinese on Tibet, Tibetans can help the Chinese by fighting the
communist system.
"I've told the Dalai Lama – we Chinese cannot support you. You, the Tibetans, should support us," Wu said.
"Communist China is like a plate – not made of plastic, of paper, of metal but of china. If you take away part of it, you can break the entire Chinese communist system."

Source:
http://tinyurl.com/cp8sm6