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Shame-nesty International: Or, "why NGOs don't do themselves any favors"
As long term readers of this blog will know, when it comes to China - and the many and varied human rights abuses that go on within its borders - ACB has some strong opinions over the various issues, but little time for the Big Media, and even less time for Western NGOs, when they become interested in said abuses.
True, the Big Media and Western NGOs can reach big audiences, and can apply political leverage to their own governments to do something, which can be useful. Sometime they can even make a real different.
However, ACB finds that for ever instance where the Big Media and Western NGOs can make the human rights situation in China better, there are 10 where they make them worse. The latter of which they usually achieve by (as ACB's foreign friends might say) "putting their mouths in gear, but leaving their brains in neutral": Deploying emotive arguments to grab people's attention, rather than intelligent arguments to stimulate much needed debate.
At best they tend to makes themselves look like stupid bandwagon jumpers to anybody with actual subject knowledge, and at worst they antagonize Beijing and turn the Chinese people against them. Making a bad situation worse by creating local animosity instead of solidarity.
Why?
"What provokes this sudden outburst?" You may well ask. Well, it's simple. A day or so ago ACB was contacted by a representative (whom shall remain nameless) of a well known Western NGO (Amnesty international, to be specific), who kindly proffered a code sample that would let let this blogger embed Amnesty's latest video in this blogger's blog.
Needless to say, ACB watched said video and was less than impressed. More than that, ACB was would go so far as to say that was is one of the worst examples of an NGO video that they have ever seen, an active demonstration of how not to do things. It was so bad that ACB considers it to be an insult to the cause that it is trying to promote.
The Video?
To be fair to Amnesty, it's best that readers view the video for themselves before they go any further.
If the embedded code doesn't work with your browser, please click here.
The Issue?
Question: What does this video actually tell us about the Sino-Tibetan situation, about the use of torture in China, about recent events in Tibet, or even about the Olympic controversy?
Answer: Nothing. It's worse than useless. In fact, it's an outright danger to Western credibility.
This video appear to be designed appeal to easily lead foreigner looking for a bandwagon to jump onto, oh, and to scare small children, too. Instead of educating the viewer about the situation in Tibet it goes for emotional impact. All emotive blather and no substance.
The transition from scenes of torture to the Flame of Shame - the handing over of the baton from torturer to runner - in particular is 100% shameless. It relies on the readers association of issues rather than their knowledge of events (in essence, their ignorance of both historic and contemporary issues). It glosses over what is really going on and instead draws links between China's actions in Tibet and the Olympics itself, despite there being no links other than those created by fact that the two are happening concurrently.
The video itself doesn't give any background details, none whatsoever. Making it next to useless when the viewer is trying to construct a well reasoned argument or to form an educated opinion. In fact it doesn't even give the viewer anything that they can Google to look up somebody else's well reasoned arguments or educated opinions.
ACB can just see the conversation now on some message board, somewhere in cyberspace
Foreigner: China tortures people
Fenqing: Prove it. Who are they? What are their names? Why were they being tortured? Who was doing the torturing? Where is the evidence?
Foreigner: er.... I don't know.. They were pink. they looked like a stuffed animal..... China is bad .... it tortures people...... Tibet... torture...... Olympic Games......
Fenqing: 你说什么,你在吃药吗?
Foreigner: er..... um... Amnesty International said so...... it must be true...... whaaaa I'm in over my head.
Fenqing: 操你, 外国人.
Worse still this video provides Fenqing with so much ammunition that it could have been written by them as a piece of false flag propaganda. Take, for example, the closing message: that Beijing tortures peaceful protesters. On this topic ACB will just say that even the slowest of Fenqing could point out, quite truthfully, that not only were the recent protests in Tibet anything but peaceful (Monks hurling brick were somewhat absent from the video), but that no Western country would tolerate such behavior within their own borders. In fact, the only way that a Fenqing could fail to tear this video to pieces would be if they can't read sufficient English or Chinese to understand what is going on.
At best this video tells the foreign viewer that China tortures Tibetans with electric cattle prods (even then it fails to distinguish between China and Beijing). At worst it will simply convince Chinese that the West is filled with ignorant foreigners who neither know nor care about Chinese issues, but who are intent on painting China in as bad a light as possible.
The only way get the message out is with facts and evidence. The testimony of torture victims. Video taps of oppression taking place. Hard facts about what is being done, why it is being done, and who it is being done to. The Amnesty video is lacking all of these.
Fenqing should have to work to deny the truth, they shouldn't just be able to sit back and let the Big Media and Western NGOs discredit themselves.
I agree. It's worse than bad. It's terrible. Today we'll call them
Sham-nasty. You were right not to post it. But then you did! Well, yes,
just to show just how bad it is.
Ironically, I actually started off calling this entry Shamnesty
International (if you look at the file name, you will see that is is still
called this), but I decided against it as it implied that the article was
about fackery or fraud, when it is just about a really really bad video
that they should be ashamed of.
Well, it seemed to me that the message is kept very simple, but maybe still
too complicated for you?
What do you expect? That the Chinese allow camera teams into the prisons so
Amnesty can show what they are doing?
Please if you can get videos, photos or testimonies, you are more then
welcome to share them, but as you may know, access to Tibet is nearly
impossible at the moment. It is a bit overly simple just to criticize them
for trying something alternative.
I can't see the video :( I've downloaded the latest flash but no luck. Even
tried a proxy, and nothing. I can picture what it's like, but I wish I
could see it for myself. I think that's ACB's whole point, anyway, that I
shouldn't take ANYONE's word for it, but see it for myself.
Rudy,
Having no access to the truth is no excuse to fabricating or fantasizing
about the "truth". Trying sth alternative is ok, but making things up or
jumping to conclusions is not. As far as I know, TAR has been open to
Chinese tourists since May 1. Selected overseas media now have limited
access.
Hi ACB.
I'm in New York. I like your blog. I know Americans only see a little bit
of the real situation and China is a getting a bad rap. But I think I can
explain the American anger of China's treatment of the Tibetan protesters.
We did see images of monks rioting. We know that they started it, and some
were out to physically harm Chinese people as well as property. It was the
massive response that alarmed us. We heard about people getting shot on the
spot. Then hundreds, maybe thousands were rounded up. Some protesters there
have gotten years of prison. It's extreme. Here, even with violent
protests, such harsh response isn't allowed. It's happened that protesters
here have been killed by police/army but it's rare. People go to jail
here--if they've caused harm they could go for a long time, but to just get
arrested at a protest, they spend one night there.
Read these and you will know the Tibetan side of the story....there is also
a report on torture in China by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture,
Manfred Nowark. U can find the report if you search for it on www.ohchr.org
Rudy:
I just saw the video for the first time, and I like it. It just says that
the Chinese government organizes and celebrates the Olympic Games in the
name of harmony while at the same time it tortures and harasses people only
for standing up for human rights in China (who are the REAL patriots, if
you ask me). There is absolutely nothing specific about the Tibet conflict.
It doesn't make a difference between tortured Hans and tortured Tibetans.
Or do you want to say that stuffed pig - or whatever it is - looks like a
Tibetan?
"Remember a while back when that foreign hiker in Nepal filmed a Mainland
sniper picking off refuges on the side of a mountain."
Chris:
"the Chinese government organizes and celebrates the Olympic Games in the
name of harmony while at the same time it tortures and harasses people only
for standing up for human rights in China"
dave zimmerman:
I love it when we agree on something, but it usually turns out that when
I'm susceptible to doubt, you are certain, and when I'm certain...
I withdraw my previous comment. My cynicism got the better of me. What made
me change my mind? The fact that Xinhua claims it was self defense. I
apologize.
dave zimmerman:
This is what I did find out after a google search that included the words
"roumanian - tibet - video" (I think - trry it).
Sorry, dave, can't help you there. I only saw that clip on youtube from the
link you provided on this site. As I mentioned before, I have not
read/watched any Chinese mainland's news reports for many many years until
this earthquake happened. Just as you said Xinhua doesn't seem have
archives, not even in its chinese language site either.
julndy:
Hi ACB
ACB:
turn on my TV....well we will not see the thousands of people in illegal
detention will we ACB? many of them being tortured....my heart goes out to
the victims of the earthquake, their families and the 1.4 billion people in
china who rightly deserve basic human rights......yes there has been a
terrible disaster in China but that should not stop organisations like AI
working on behalf of people who should not be in prison and who should not
be being tortured..every minute that goes by for them is a minute too
long....so, while its only appropriate we remember and work for the victims
of the earthquake we should never forget the people who are suffereing
injustices at the hands of the chinese authorities...even if many people
would like us to ACB......
KB:
1) There are many schools of Buddhism in the world, and many in China. The
phrase "Tibetan Buddhism" is most commonly used as a reference to the
Gelug-pa school of Buddhism, but can also refer to other schools which
originated or which are predominant in Tibet (Most Westeners don't know the
difference so when they talk about Tibetan Buddhism they mean Gelug-pa).
However, "Traditional" means the teaching of any of these schools in their
original form, as opposed to their modern form under Beijing which is
significantly watered down so as to remove elements that encourage Tibetan
nationalism or which encourage the belief that religious, cultural and
historical distinctions exist between Tibet and China.
KB:
To ACB:
ACB,
You have an interesting site. I was searching for a Chinese blogger that
would be willing to stop by my site and answer my most recent Question Of
The Week, dated 5/18/08. The video doesn't say much and if I do I might
give up my answer to this weeks question before I meant to.
julndy:
Julndy:
ACB:
ACB:
Ansiwen:
Hi ACB
Julndy:
dave:
It is the C)!!! Have I just won a million dolllars???
dave,
answer A) is also correct, could you see the reason?
ACB
ignore my last comment...my posts have mysteriously reappreaed..sorry
What you have wonis a way for youe government to save face by declaring
that the expansionist periods in Chinese history were fuled by barbarian
infiltrator dynasties posing as civilized Confucian-minded preservers of
tranquility.
LOL....I thought the clip was fairly humourous in its own right
but then again, aren't FQ considered a problem themsevles? Taking a
consistently PC approach towards these guys may lead them on the fantasy
that they are entitled to a balance view simply because they are FQ and
will do their usual thing when given the chance to do so, but how can we be
sure that they will not behave like FQ even when presented with something
PC? That's assuming that FQ aren't rational people =P
The only possible reason could be that it is used as a loan word in
Mandarin. Even then, it is pronounced differently. I did a quick canvas of
five Mandarin speakers; none of them heard of the word. Two of them said
that the word doesn't even sound like Mandarin.
kb:
kb:
ACB
Human rights campaigns are like any form of advertising. You attract an
audience that matches the kind of advert that you put out. You put out a
light weight advertisement and you attract a light weight consumer, you put
out a twee human rights campaign and you pick up an airhead protesters.
Maybe 1 in 20 will go on to look at things deeper, but I doubt that many
more would. What is needed is a hard hitting campaign, not this fluff.
Those 19 lightweights have the potential to damage the wider campaign by
making it seem like a bandwagon jumping bleeding heart issue, and the 1
person who does become more involved can't repair the damage.
Hi ACB
KB:
ACB
You certainly give the impression of somebody who either works for the
Chinese authorities (liberal wing of course) or defends them in a quite
subtle way.
If that is not the case, then I am sorry to say that you lack a
sophisticated understanding of where the current leadership are now and
where they want to go – especially their foreign policy and the welcome
principles of “opening up”. There is a certainty here, the Chinese
authorities cannot close in on themselves..the earthquake reaction shows
this clearly and even before that, the intentions and policies have all
been about the gradual opening up of the country. With that comes the
acknowledgement that there will be more legitimate criticism.
ACB – you neither work for AI or are party to any of the communications
between AI and the Chinese authorities so you should not really be
commenting on things you do not know about.
As for China building higher walls – the modernisers in China know that
this is a counterproductive reaction and that they have to 1 – accept the
legitimate criticism and 2 – remedy the situation...not by locking up the
growing number of activists but by seriously addressing their concerns and
the growing number of people in China who have legitimate grievances –
house demolitions etc being just one.
You need to argue less for the status quo (the Chinese neo con view) and
more for reform and modernisation or you will be seen as a stooge my friend
Amnesty's standards for acceptable behaviour exceed those of any nation on
Earth, including Western democracies
These are not AI standards, these are standards from the UDHR – for
instance the ICCPR – China signed this and gave note that they would
ratify..they are minimum requirements – it shows how far some governments
(including the USA, UK etc) still have to go – the Chinese authorities and
you should recognise that the people of China and China itself will be a
better, richer, a more open and stable country if it lived up to the
promises they made when bidding for the games...that is a reasonable and
constructive approach...so, the animation, which is a “debate generator” is
certainly serving the purpose, of engaging more people in the issues so as
to explore those issues in a deeper way (like this...)
KB:
“Amnesty have a website, they publish detailed reports on it. Are you
suggesting that they are engaged in secret discussion that they don't tell
their membership about. They would be slaughtered in the media if it were
discovered that they were campaigning for openness while going behind the
public's back to "talk to the enemy".”
KB: