A Mi Manera

If you have never heard the Gypsy Kings' nod to Old Blue Eyes in their remarkable version of A Mi Manera (My Way), you are missing out on something of rare beauty.



And live...



Especially at this point in my life, this song really resonates with me. And this is the most moving version I have ever heard.

Enjoy.

Force and freedom

Grace Wang, a Chinese student at Duke University, has an article in the Washington Post, today, about her experiences amidst pro- and anti-Tibetan independence protests at Duke that illustrate the difference, well, between the use of force and honest discussion.

Caught in the Middle, Called a Traitor

"I study languages -- Italian, French and German. And this summer -- now that it looks as though I won't be able to go home to China -- I'll take up Arabic. My goal is to master 10 languages, in addition to Chinese and English, by the time I'm 30.

I want to do this because I believe that language is the bridge to understanding. Take China and Tibet. If more Chinese learned the Tibetan language, and if Tibetans learned more about China, I'm convinced that our two peoples would understand one another better and we could overcome the current crisis between us peacefully. I feel that even more strongly after what happened here at Duke University a little more than a week ago.

Trying to mediate between Chinese and pro-Tibetan campus protesters, I was caught in the middle and vilified and threatened by the Chinese. After the protest, the intimidation continued online, and I began receiving threatening phone calls. Then it got worse -- my parents in China were also threatened and forced to go into hiding. And I became persona non grata in my native country...

The Chinese protesters thought that, being Chinese, I should be on their side. The participants on the Tibet side were mostly Americans, who really don't have a good understanding of how complex the situation is. Truthfully, both sides were being quite closed-minded and refusing to consider the other's perspective. I thought I could help try to turn a shouting match into an exchange of ideas. So I stood in the middle and urged both sides to come together in peace and mutual respect. I believe that they have a lot in common and many more similarities than differences.

But the Chinese protesters -- who were much more numerous, maybe 100 or more -- got increasingly emotional and vocal and wouldn't let the other side speak. They pushed the small Tibetan group of just a dozen or so up against the Duke Chapel doors, yelling 'Liars, liars, liars!' This upset me. It was so aggressive, and all Chinese know the moral injunction: Junzi dongkou, bu dongshou (The wise person uses his tongue, not his fists).

I was scared. But I believed that I had to try to promote mutual understanding. I went back and forth between the two groups, mostly talking to the Chinese in our language. I kept urging everyone to calm down, but it only seemed to make them angrier. Some young men in the Chinese group -- those we call fen qing (angry youth) -- started yelling and cursing at me.

What a lot of people don't know is that there were many on the Chinese side who supported me and were saying, "Let her talk." But they were drowned out by the loud minority who had really lost their cool.

Some people on the Chinese side started to insult me for speaking English and told me to speak Chinese only. But the Americans didn't understand Chinese. It's strange to me that some Chinese seem to feel as though not speaking English is expressing a kind of national pride. But language is a tool, a way of thinking and communicating.

At the height of the protest, a group of Chinese men surrounded me, pointed at me and, referring to the young woman who led the 1989 student democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, said, 'Remember Chai Ling? All Chinese want to burn her in oil, and you look like her.' They said that I had mental problems and that I would go to hell. They asked me where I was from and what school I had attended. I told them. I had nothing to hide. But then it started to feel as though an angry mob was about to attack me. Finally, I left the protest with a police escort.

Back in my dorm room, I logged onto the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association (DCSSA) Web site and listserv to see what people were saying. Qian Fangzhou, an officer of DCSSA, was gloating, 'We really showed them our colors!'

I posted a letter in response, explaining that I don't support Tibetan independence, as some accused me of, but that I do support Tibetan freedom, as well as Chinese freedom. All people should be free and have their basic rights protected, just as the Chinese constitution says. I hoped that the letter would spark some substantive discussion. But people just criticized and ridiculed me more.

The next morning, a storm was raging online. Photographs of me had been posted on the Internet with the words "Traitor to her country!" printed across my forehead. Then I saw something really alarming: Both my parents' citizen ID numbers had been posted. I was shocked, because this information could only have come from the Chinese police.

I saw detailed directions to my parents' home in China, accompanied by calls for people to go there and teach "this shameless dog" a lesson. It was then that I realized how serious this had become. My phone rang with callers making threats against my life. It was ironic: What I had tried so hard to prevent was precisely what had come to pass. And I was the target.

I talked to my mom the next morning, and she said that she and my dad were going into hiding because they were getting death threats, too. She told me that I shouldn't call them. Since then, short e-mail messages have been our only communication. The other day, I saw photos of our apartment online; a bucket of feces had been emptied on the doorstep. More recently I've heard that the windows have been smashed and obscene posters have been hung on the door. Also, I've been told that after convening an assembly to condemn me, my high school revoked my diploma and has reinforced patriotic education.

I understand why people are so emotional and angry; the events in Tibet have been tragic. But this crucifying of me is unacceptable. I believe that individual Chinese know this. It's when they fire each other up and act like a mob that things get so dangerous.

Now, Duke is providing me with police protection, and the attacks in Chinese cyberspace continue. But contrary to my detractors' expectations, I haven't shriveled up and slunk away. Instead, I've responded by publicizing this shameful incident, both to protect my parents and to get people to reflect on their behavior. I'm no longer afraid, and I'm determined to exercise my right to free speech.

Because language is the bridge to understanding."

People who are not bullshitting themselves and one another know the difference between force and freedom.

Unlike Grace, I do support Tibetan independence. Because I know, as do most people who are not lost in the power calculations on this question, that the only thing standing between the Tibetans' desire and right to self-determination and independence and totalitarian rule of the Peoples' Republic of China is the use of force by the Chinese government. But for that force, Tibet would have its independence.

Americans should be accutely aware of the significance of that fact, since it was the overwhelming force of the British Empire that Americans had to overcome to found the first sustainable democracy in the world and the first government founding explicitly on a commitment to freedom as a principle of governance and society. A commitment they celebrate when they are not rationalizing calculations for power.

Freedom is not a value to be feared. It is the value that makes us stronger, wiser, and more genuinely noble, when we take it seriously and the responsibilities that come with it.

And good for Grace for taking that value seriously in the face of the threats and aggression of her peers and, if they are involved, the Chinese government.

That is what courage looks like. Not the bullshit that has been pretending to be something more noble during this time.

And thanks to Grace for demonstrating courage under fire even when cowardice is so much easier when force and aggression are the popular rallying point.

I am tired of the propaganda and bullshit on this question. I am tired of it distorting the substantive discussions that need to take place in the world. And I am tired of people pretending like it is freedom and not force that is the problem.

But mostly I am tired of a world where I must pretend that this is the best we have to offer.

I, for one, expect better.