It had to happen sooner or later – after weeks of weasel words from the Chinese government, proclaiming ideological differences between the way the “West” sees the way the Chinese and Tibetan people are treated and how they are “actually” seen within China and Tibet, and the demand that sport and politics must be kept separate, a single loathing sentence from the Tibetan governor shows this entire facade up to be a mask of lies:

If… anyone should attempt to disrupt or undermine the torch relay, they will be dealt with severely according to law.

(from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7338258.stm)

A tinpot ruler placed in a position of authority by a brutal government should not be asked to speak openly if a facade is to be maintained: and we should be so grateful to the public press that he was asked. No one should be under any illusions that the Beijing Olympics will change anything within the iron borders of China: just as embedded journalists were fed stories and shown a rose-tinted view of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, so will journalists and national representatives be shown the China that the Chinese government wants them to see during the Olympics.

This makes it ever more important that the independent media, the “dissidents” and the protestors make life extremely difficult for the Chinese government and the remaining friendly governments (especially their paymasters in the transnational corporations who are making billions from Chinese markets and manufacturers) to pretend that life inside China is anything but a despotic, brutal regime.

Truth is the enemy of exploitation – it is down to everyone to ensure that truth, in all its forms, continues to flow.