Queen Victorious at the FCCT

Two nights ago, Tuesday 22 April, I was invited to speak at a frustrating panel at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Thailand on behalf of the Free Tibet Network. Having passed out multiple times in anxiety over the whole thing, I ended up calling all my journalist friends to help me prepare. I decided that if I managed to get through it with my dignity intact then I would reign victorious. Mind you, I am usually too scared to ask questions at these events, so the notion of being on a panel was enough for me to wish death upon myself before the time of the event.

The entire thing was ridiculous. It started off with the Chinese delegation showing this disgusting video of "the true and unbiased facts of what happened on March 14". It was a China Today video and not a single Tibetan was interviewed. I have no idea what possessed them to show such "factual information" to a room full of foreign correspondents. Needless to say, the Chinese delegation were ripped to shreds in the Q&A section.

It is difficult speaking on behalf of a network as loose and informal as ours, we are an ad hoc group of misfits who have found ourselves on the Chinese blacklist. We represent many different opinions but we all support human rights for Tibetans. It had been decided that I would only speak of the demonstration, about human rights and nothing more.

The Chinese delegation busted out some ridiculous facts and figures and quoted the Dalai Lama out of context. Their more notable trap of the evening was as follows:

"How can the Dalai Lama claim that he is not seeking independence or succession if there is a government-in-exile and he has propped himself up as a so-called head of state and there is a national flag?"

DAMMMNNN, bro. The other dude on the panel, a former monk ordained under the the Dalai Lama, answered it with a wishy washy "the Dalai Lama is a pure soul, he does not lie. He wants meaningful autonomy only." Of course, I believe that he is a political figure and is as strategic as the next guy.