Free Tibet — Free Us All

By CC Treadway

I have watched with amazement as so many people have stood in solidarity with the Tibetan people, creating hassle after hassle with the passing of the torch. It brings to mind the issue of propaganda, and its intricately woven place within "the system." When Jin Jing, a little-known, disabled Chinese fencer was harassed by a Frenchman, the fervor took on a new level. As a result of Chinese media control, Jin Jing wasn't even aware that Tibet wanted independence, or that there were protests. Propaganda. But what is the larger issue here? These days, everyone has their chance to be heard in some way, and it seems that worlds are colliding right now. The ancient world is finding its voice in the media, stepping into the modern world on its own terms. Then what?

I believe that the left and right brains are beginning to communicate in the bigger picture, that the feminine and masculine are facing off. It's not Russia vs. The United States anymore. The underdog has found its army: the media. As the child of a free-market economist and a New Ager, inevitably, one of my life missions is to help connect the left and right brains in the big picture. Along with being a healer, I also have a long career in marketing. I have been a television and film editor for 10 years, working for companies like MTV, VH1, Discovery Channel, NBC, CBS, and on and on. I cannot watch anything in the news without dissecting the angle. Normally I write about very spiritual topics, but I wanted to present a current event, to ground things down a bit for this article. I've watched from the cutting room floor how easy it is to brainwash people through the media, and I think it is a fabulous tool.

My deepest respect goes out to the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan family, they are perhaps the most masterful marketers to date. Their constant media attention and global presence for at least my lifetime, has helped contribute to a worldwide appreciation for their spiritual lifestyle, as well as a predisposed racist slant towards China. While the Dalai Lama's intentions may not have been to create an anti-China slant, well, it's a dualistic world we live in and people respond accordingly. American propaganda constantly making China into the bad guy for their human rights violations (slightly hypocritical), combined with the Tibetan Buddhist cause, combined with the anti-capitalists angry at China for buying us up, has brought a lot of negative attention to this new superpower. So, their day was coming, and they, in fact, picked a big day for their coming out party: The Olympics. I can't give the Tibetans all the credit for the Chinese marketing agenda gone terribly wrong!

Here a little back-story of the current protests, from the Tibetan point of view. Thomas Laird is an American who lived in Nepal for 30 years studying Himalayan culture. His book, The Story of Tibet, is a history of Tibet's mythology and culture as told by the Dalai Lama. He wrote a recent blog on realitysandwich.com:

As the recent protests were suppressed in Tibet, producers in Beijing directed by the Chinese Communist Party played a video clip on state TV, over and over again. In Lhasa, Tibetan men smash open Chinese shops.

Cut to Chinese shopkeepers, bleeding and bruised in a hospital. It's a simple story for most Chinese. Criminal Tibetans beating Chinese. The Dalai Lama planned these riots. Yet foreigners keep talking about how peaceful he is! What world are they from? A world with freedom of information.

Chinese state TV does not show the lethal force that was used against peaceful Tibetan protests, which sparked the riots. It does not explain that fifty years of repression and a flood of Chinese colonists have made surviving Tibetans fear that if they do not protest they will be erased as a people… They cannot see the gory pictures of Tibetans murdered by Chinese in Tibet now on the internet: Yahoo, Google, and their shareholders, helped the Party insure that.

I encourage you to read the full article: http://www.realitysandwich.com/on_the_use_propaganda_the_chinese_communist_party

It is also important to understand where the Chinese are coming from. They have long considered Tibet a part of China. Period. They feel they have a right to be there, practice their lifestyle there. My father, Peter Treadway, the economist, lives and teaches in China for much of the year and this is part of what he has to say about the Western based support for the protests and political reactions:

Right or wrong in Tibet, for the average Chinese the current government is the best China perhaps has ever had. The standard of living has risen so much, people can hope for a better future. They are grateful to Deng Xiaoping for opening the country despite what happened in Tiananmen Square. Chinese who lived abroad have been coming back. They are willing to wait another generation for full political freedoms.

For a century (1840-1949) China was repeatedly humiliated by the West and by Japan. British troops looted and burned down the Imperial Summer Palace with its priceless works of art. The West forced open China for trade so that they could sell China opium. Imagine if Columbia invaded the US and forced the US to accept their drugs. The Chinese haven't forgotten even if the West has. The same West that "stole" the Americas and Hawaii and colonized half the world.

China now owns over $1.5 trillion of US securities, and is either our largest or second largest trading partner… Any serious attempt to sever commercial ties with China will result in a world depression. Of course for some people a world depression would be wonderful…They could blame the capitalists. Maybe arrest Bill Gates… I think the Tibetans have every right to protest. But their racist Caucasian allies are a liability.

The Chinese don't know what we, the West, are so upset about, since this is the best they have every seen it and we are the bad guys. But in the global community, they are subject to a "free" media, just like us. As much as the Chinese have raised their standard of living, they have also inadvertently given Tibetans a bigger voice, and opened themselves to critique.

As an American who has lived in other countries, having freedom of speech and expression is what makes me stay here. There is nowhere in the world where I feel as free to be myself, or as free to be a woman, but I still have to play along with the system. We have it good here most of the time. And, while our government is in need of a major overhaul, so is everyone else's government. My feeling is we are one people, one living ecosystem, so lets help Tibet, and anyone else that we can!

I had a run in with the NYC Police the other day. A few of my friends and I went up to the Bronx to go canoeing on the Harlem River. Environmental and Indigenous activist Harry Bubbins was in charge of the day. He runs a community garden called Brook Park up in the Bronx; teaching inner city kids the ways of nature and ceremony. I've done Inipi ceremonies up there, having been offered drugs on the walk there, and heard rounds of gun shots while we sweat in the dark. We pray extra hard up there. You do what you can with urban life.

To get into this canoe launching spot on the river, you have to walk through a broken gate, cross live train tracks and avoid garbage. No matter, I desperately needed a nature day. I had been dreaming all week about peacefully floating along the chemical infested, brown-like water.

As Harry and I entered this urban paradise, a cop car followed us in. They informed us we were trespassing, and we had no right to canoe there. We had no right to our land, our way of life. Harry told them that we were within our rights, as it was public land, and we couldn't see any signs saying otherwise. One of the other people began to videotape. I went into witness mode. I am a healer, not an activist, so I figured I would let the experts do their job. The cops demanded the videotaping stop, which is illegal, so then that became an argument. I stepped a few feet back. Harry continued to argue and very quickly got cuffed. I was pretty surprised, and did not want to join him. The cops were telling us it was too dangerous to be there with live tracks, which is a joke. I'm pretty sure we all know how to avoid a train. While none of it was really a big deal, what I could feel was the fact that I had no rights. If I didn't play their game, I would no longer be "free." To be an adult, an equal, was not an option. They told us over and over it didn't matter what we thought or what we said, or what we thought our rights were, they were in charge. They illegally confiscated the camera and cuffed one of the other shirtless guys. I felt like screaming, "You are not my parents! You can't tell me what to do!" It was a crazy-making feeling. Like the monks, I wanted to raise my voice in protest. My dreams of peacefully traversing the polluted waters, experiencing my natural self, were demolished in the face of the dominant system.

Now, granted, it would have been easier to just leave from the beginning and go hug a tree, and that would have been my course of action. But, like the Tibetans, Harry is an activist. He and his team spearheaded the effort to save the community gardens in New York, and succeeded. With publicity and controversy, the chances of creating a legitimate launching pad for boating and other green activities are higher.

Another cop car arrived. As they kept telling us, the Pope was in town, security was heightened and they were in charge of the waterways. On their cop cars, the slogan read, "To serve and protect." I guess that didn't include us, the some-time taxpayers. It meant German religious leaders, and had the Dalai Lama been in town, it would have meant him as well. By this time the police were softening because we were obviously benign and they started to feel guilty. They didn't want to be the bad guys. After becoming chummy with us, they told us to leave before the private detectives showed up. So, those of us who were not cuffed and locked in the police cars, put the canoes atop their wheels and pulled them 20 blocks through the Bronx back to Brook Park. We wheeled them through the Projects and, if you ever want to make friends in the Bronx, all you have to say is, "The cops wouldn't let us canoe." We were like heroes. "F---k the police!" they hollered with smiles on their faces. Racial barriers were crossed and the hippies were cheered on back to the park. My two bare-chested brothers were released with only a summons.

It was not quite the day I intended, and I hopped back on the subway to Manhattan, back to civilization, and spent the evening looking into real estate in the Catskills.

I've heard people say things like, "What's happening in Tibet is happening everywhere in the world in some form, why should we care so much about it? We should just fix our corruption at home." Take a look at this video, if you dare (violent content):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=o0rprGKO9-8

If you can't watch the video, it clearly shows police beating peaceful Tibetan and American protesters in front of the United Nations. Well, corruption at home is forever interweaved with corruption abroad; I do not see the difference. Oppression is a global problem and thanks to the media, the world is tiny. The U.S. helped get Tibet into the bind it is in today, and it continues to send mixed messages in its practices at home by beating its immigrants for walking with signs. I mean, who are the good guys? I don't think anyone really knows. The sacred space of the heart comes in handy with this conundrum.

I am impressed by the scope of solidarity for the Tibetan cause. If what this whole uprising does is bring worldwide attention to a worldwide problem of suppression of ancient cultures and spiritual values, then a massive shift of consciousness could follow. I have observed horrible things that were once considered the norm, become unacceptable with this kind of attention. It seems like just yesterday that I didn't even think twice about how many times I flushed a toilet, or where all that toilet stuff went. I ignorantly assumed that it was all taken care of responsibly. I've never even seen "An Inconvenient Truth," but I am really thinking about my toilet flushing these days. Sustainable thinking is now considered cool.

We, as a global population have accepted genocide of indigenous cultures as the norm long enough. I truly believe the Tibetan cause is a wake up call for everyone to take notice of the horrible things we have come to believe as normal. If they keep up this in your face marketing, we will be brainwashed for the better. Maybe tomorrow, millions of people will say, "How could suppressing indigenous rights in the name of greed be considered normal? What took me so long to catch on? How can I help" There are too many films and organizations to mention showcasing Indigenous knowledge, heritage, importance and liberation to mention, but we obviously are reaching a critical mass.

The out of balance, left brain dominant system effectually leaves out the right brain, not capitalizing upon its intelligence and strength to form a more inclusive, functioning ecosystem for all. Not everyone possesses the skills to deal with money or politics, but that doesn't mean they can't participate successfully in society with their natural gifts. The right brain dominant person will say, "We don't need money! The system is collapsing!" Perhaps. I have no doubt we can live without money, although I doubt a system-less society would last long. Money was created to make things easier with a growing population. So, if these predicted earth changes occur resulting in a massive population reduction, we might get rid of money, and then we might just create it again at some point when the population again grows. There is value in the left-brain, and there is value in the right. While, I know we are shifting into the feminine, I hope the wisdom of the masculine comes with us and integrates into a more balanced system. The Tibetans are protesting for everyone who wants to be free from the system, as well as everyone who wants to be equally included within it. Which is really the same thing! Any Taoist would agree.

So all of us who are more right brained, who understand on a cellular level our connection to nature, would do well to bring with us our analytical, categorical, linear achievements to be balanced and nourished by the upwelling of self expression, freedom and spherical flow that is ours. Lets not kill off Bill Gates just when he is developing Creative Capitalism and operating a successful philanthropic organization! Those of us who are more left brained would benefit from allowing the emotion of our soul to speak to us and set us free. And those of us that are truly dominant in one of the hemispheres can learn to appreciate the value of the other.

So, I would like to formally welcome China into the global community, you are officially being hazed! You can buy up every country, we will still make noise, still go canoeing, still buy goods made in Taiwan, still wave our Tibetan flags while we wait for our General Tso's chicken to be delivered, and most of all, we will still pray to God, whether we believe in one or not. In conclusion, I hope we can protest human rights violations, beatings and all, and still watch a riveting, Olympic gymnastics competition. Let freedom ring!

Copywrite 2008 CC Treadway. All rights reserved.

About CC Treadway

CC has a private energy healing and channeling practice in New York City (www.cctreadway.com). Her specialties include artistic development and performance, spiritual connection and relational therapy. She also teaches workshops on healing, channeling and the arts and has a successful documentary film-editing career. She is a graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and The Rhode Island School of Design, has traveled the world with Drunvalo, and is continually dedicated to her own path of healing and learning.