Fewer Tibet protesters in Austalia’s capital but it is their day
Canberra, Australia’s capital had fewer protests than London, San Francisco or any of the other cities that has hosted the torch. (The image is of protesters outside the Chinese embassy).
But it was not China’s victory.
The protests, even though combated by Chinese students and citizens in Australia, brought the issue of Tibet and human rights and the environment to centre stage again.
Up until China being awarded the Olympics and especially the idea to parade it through so many cities the issue of Tibet was not high on many politicians’ agendas nor I suspect was it widely appreciated by the general population. The last time I saw a big article on Tibet was in the early 90s in The Guardian.
The Chinese government has effectively supplied the oxygen of publicity to an extent unthinkable before.
It was foreseeable except to the Chinese government.
This has been a huge miscalculation by a government that does not understand the media because it suppresses its own.