China tries to gag climbers who saw Tibet killings

Someone should  step up and demand a climbing and trekking boycott.

Chinese diplomats in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu are tracking down and trying to silence hundreds of Western climbers and Sherpas who witnessed the killing of Tibetan refugees on the Nangpa La mountain pass last week.  VIA THe Independent  LINK  VIA Phayul.com LINK

An American climber, who asked not to be identified, told of his revulsion at the failure of other climbers to speak out.

"Did it make anyone turn away and go home? Not one," he said. "People are climbing right in front of you to escape persecution while you are trying to climb a mountain. It's insane."

 

Comments

[AH]

Absolutely there should be a climbing and trekking botcott. But will it happen? No.

The majority of the peak-bagging corporate scum who pay tens of thousands of dollars to get hauled up an 8000-er have no interest in the welfare of any indigenous people. How many of them have ever given up summit bids on Everest to help a dying Sherpa? Virtually none.

I have no hope of the high-dollar "climbers" (maybe we should call them "summiteers" instead) displaying any interest other than their own when they are on a mountain.

I can just hear it: "Gosh, how gruesome. Oh well, I wonder when Lapka Sherpa will have the fixed ropes in place."

Maybe one or more of them will prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

[MDL]

Ridiculous comment. It's due to mountaineers in the first place that the world came to know! A mountaineering doctor from the Philippines who called a paper in his home country on Sept. 30 already and straight from Cho Oyu ABC. A US mountainguide who e-mailed ExplorersWeb on October 2. A Slovenian mountaineer who sent his photos of the incident to ExWeb. Many mountaineers who gave their eyewitness accounts to international media as soon as they technically could. And now there is even a VIDEO (see link to www.protv.ro), made by one of the Romanian mountaineers on Cho Oyu!
The story, the photos, the personal accounts, the video: they are meanwhile in literally many hundreds of newsmedia in languages and countries worldwide, including many of the "major" international media. The USA issued an official, formal complaint about this human rights violation at the Chinese government several days ago already, with one of their top diplomats paying a personal visit to the Chinese Ministery of Foreign Affairs. The media attention made China officially admit a shooting had taken place, involving a group of Tibetan refugees. This is an unprecedented reaction from the Chinese officials! And all of this ONLY thanks to a fairly large number of MOUNTAINEERS who witnessed it all, and refused to shut up!

Get a life, AH!

[DA]

Holy crap MDL are you kidding us? Certainly a bunch of mountaineers shouldn't try to tackle armed local soldiers, but mountaineers saving the earth? WTF???

US government issued a formal complaint? Only to leverage oil prices? Several thousands dead in Iraq already for oil, and suddenly they care about some refugee hikers???????

[Old and Fat]

Whoaa... Slow Down Folks.

This is certainly an emotional issue but please do not turn this into another polarizing point within our COMMUNITY.

Everyone who has made a comment above has a somewhat valid point; but perhaps rather than taking cheap shots at each other we should all focus on making our revulsion at this barbaric act heard in a wider forum.

How many of the products that we buy for our outdoor pursuits are made in China? More than a few - Money Talks friends.

How about we start be sending an email to companies within our industry that do business in China asking them to protest this act. Maybe one of them will even have the balls to take the lead and leverage their new found economic clout ( http://www.thepiton.com/2006/08/outdoor_industr.html ) to bring this outrage to the attention of the mainstream media and encourage our spineless government to do something a little more than issue a formal fucking complaint.

Here is a start that can be cut and pasted (altered, revised, improved, etc.)

---

Dear Sir/Madam.

As a customer of your company I am writing to bring to your attention reports of the murder of Tibetan Refugees by Chinese troops on September 30th 2006 near the border between Tibet and Nepal.

Your company does business in China. You have a moral responsibility to protest these actions with all means at your disposal.

I implore you to do so.

With Thanks

---

Alright - someone out there that reads this Blog has access to a list of the general email addresses for a bunch of companies within the industry. Please take a few minutes out of your Monday morning to cut and paste them as a comment in this forum. I will try to pull together a list and post it sometime tomorrow if nothing shows up.

Then forward this to your friends, family, customers, etc.

I know it is a boy scout approach, but it is better than just fucking bitching at each other.

Please Act.

Thanks.

[The Man]

A boycott... Wow, the ignorance of average Joe Americans in relation to world politics and dynamics is stunning.

China is comprised of a quarter of the worlds population and produce more than that fraction of consumer goods to the west.

A far more likely scenario is that the Chinese will ban tourists and climbers near the Nangpa La because of ongoing border "issues" they do not want witnessed.