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Dear Derek;
Enjoy the trip to Tibet.
On a somewhat funny note. A young woman travelling in Lhasa Tibet
had on a T-shirt with a picture on it of Phil Silvers the comedian
and TV Star from back in the 50's - The Sgt Bilco show.
She got arrested because the authorities thought she had a picture
of the Dalai Lama. Close in lokks but to close enough for the
polizei.
Watch out for what kind of pictures you wear on your t-shirt.
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian
--- In lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com, "Derek Jensen" <derekj72@...>
wrote:
I'm about to take off this afternoon for a 6 day trip to Tibet.
The Red
Chinese are such paranoid maniacs that the only way I could get
into the
country is with one of the "tours" run by ChinaGov. Because the
vast
majority of tourists going to Tibet are Chinese, I had to pay for
my own
1-person tour. I have my own driver and tour guide, which are
actually my
minders from the People's Liberation Army. In orider to get
the "special
permit" to go to Tibet, I had to provide evidence and swear that I
was not a
journalist or a government official.
You know a regime is truly repressive when even images of a person
(the 14th
Dalai Lama) are banned. Fortunately I think we're a long way from
that in
Derek,
That's pretty exciting! How much is it costing, if I may ask? If you get this email during your trip, I encourage you to ask your PLA "minders" lots of embarrassing questions. I appreciate the "ChinaGov" lingo. 8) But in this case, I might say "ChinaReg," as I'm not sure they fairly qualify for "gov" status at this time.
Some ideas of some things to look for, or questions to ask if you get any time alone with non-minders who speak English:
-Are there any prison camps? Any idea how many Tibetans or Chinese in prison?
-How happy do people seem?
-How many of the people in Tibet look like native Tibetans as opposed to ethnic Chinese? Do the two groups seem well integrated? Get along?
-What's the typical salary, and how much do ordinary items cost?
-Any evidence of the counterculture, other than (perhaps) foreign backpackers? (this one's more for personal interest than libertarian)
-How accurate is Tibetans' knowledge about what's going on in China? About the rest of the world?
-What do Tibetans think of the Tian'Anmen uprising?
-How much Internet access exists?
-Does the culture seem much less materialist, or more spiritual, than in other places? How so? (again personal interest)
Yours in liberty,
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