Dear H,
Seeing that Flag ceremony will finally happen tomorrow, I decided to send this email. I initially hoped to discuss this topic with you tomorrow, but Antoun confirmed that timing would be tight.
I decided not to attend tomorrow’s ceremony as I feel this highly politically connoted event has nothing to do in our classroom. A you may know, according to HBS administration, we cannot hang flags if they are not recognized by IOC.
1. I cannot accept to celebrate my own country when other students cannot do so.
I am thinking of Tibet/China situation here -but unfortunately, this concerns other countries too. I don’t want to offend our dear Chinese friends, I know they are not responsible for this international mess but this issue is very sensitive to me. I went to China many times, felt I was welcomed and had great time with Chinese people but I cannot accept what is currently happening in Tibet.
I have been many times to the Himalayas, in Tibet but although in Nepal, in Bhutan and in Ladakh for the last 8 years. I can testify on what happens there and on the complexity of the notion of “national identity”.
I want to tell you about an event that changed my view of the situation. I was in Tibet on the first of October 2006, climbing on Cho-Oyu in the Everest area. When I came back to base camp, I understood some terrible events just happened (see the video and article – please take a sec to have a look, it’s striking). Chinese army just shot dead Tibetans trying to cross the border to join Dalaï Lama, almost in front of me. I could add I had spent a night in jail in Lhasa some weeks before for some awkward reasons - believe me, you don’t want mess with army in this part of the world...
But relating this story is taboo, forbidden, not welcome… Hidden. Once again, I have plenty of other examples: if you go to Lhasa, you’ll see that Tibetans don’t have the right to enter Potala, probably the most important religious symbol for them. Potala is now a museum for Chinese and international tourists…. Tourists make pictures in the middle of the Jokhang, while Tibetans are actually praying a very important religious temple in the center of the capital… You don’t have the right to carry a Picture of Dalaï lama there. They even brought the Olympic torch on the top of a Tibetan goddess (BTW, they did NOT really reach summit) wioth no respect for what this mountain means… Etc etc...
On the flip side, China played a key role in the development of the area, building roads and infrastructures and helped take advantage of natural resources – but at what price ?
This leads me to my second point.
2. What does a flag mean for you? Personally, I don’t see any need to hang flags in classrooms and I feel not specific proud in knowing there will be a French flag hanging above me for a year- especially when other people cannot do so “because their flag is not recognized by IOC”. What does it mean to be French? American? Tibetan, Chinese? I am proud to be European, I am proud of historical relationships France has with other countries, like the US or China but I don’t feel a need for a flag to say that. I need something I am proud of, our literature, our history, our cooperation with Germany only 5 years after WWII, I am thankful for what US did in Normandy (as well as for subprime crisis)… Do I need a flag in my classroom to say that? Do we need flags to show diversity? I suspect some marketing actions there… What would you think if it was forbidden to hang a US flag in our classroom?
I know we will not solve the China/Tibet issue here but I just don’t accept as a given fact that we should celebrate some of our section mates and not some other because of HBS administration decision. I don’t want to have to send these emails that do bother Chinese students – but I feel forced to do it.
I know flags will be held tomorrow, Antoun and other people made a lot of effort to have it happening.
I propose that anybody should feel free add something that mean something for him –either a flag or anything else- is it really a big deal if we end up with 90 flags/pictures in the room ?
I have a nice picture of Cho Oyu that means a lot to me (was taken on the Tibetan/Chinese) border and that could symbolize hope for future peace, I imagine we could hang it in the classroom. Loeiz has a great Bretagne flag, way nicer tha the French one. But you surely have other propositions!
Let me know what you think, and please don’t forget I don’t want to hurt anybody, especially our dear Chinese friends.
Thomas
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