Denial & Distortions Of A Luxembourg Scholar On Tibet

Image:tibetonline

China’s regime has been operating a campaign of ideological warfare on the issue of Tibet since its troops invaded and occupied that nation in 1950. Historical facts have been distorted, fabrications engineered and disinformation promoted, all with the aim of asserting that Tibet has been since ancient times a part of China. See HERE

In an effort to support such bogus claims and add a veneer of supposed objectivity China’s Ministry Of Propaganda has a handful of western academic friends, who from time-to-time compose supposedly truthful accounts of Tibetan history that just by chance happen to conform to the propaganda rhetoric spewed out by the Chinese authorities.

The latest such example being from a Mr Albert Ettinger, which ‘Tibet Online’, an official mouthpiece of the Chinese Regime, describes as a Luxembourg scholar who has recently produced two books that regurgitate the official line of the Communist Party Of China towards Tibet.

His interview with that website is far from the balanced, objective and detached tradition of  academia, indeed the tone’s disturbingly similar to the racism and imperialistic arrogance that saturates the thinking of the Chinese regime on the subject of Tibet. On reading his remarks it is difficult to avoid concluding that we are witnessing the views of an apologist. Some may go further and question if Mr Ettinger is  guilty of actively concealing, evading and rebuking the misery, human rights atrocities, cultural genocide and violent denial of freedom which Tibet’s people have suffered under the tyranny of Chinese rule?

Clearly that individual has some interest in history so being European perhaps the name Harry Elmer Barnes resonates for him. Formerly a mainstream American historian Barnes towards the end of his career adopted a Holocaust-denial stance and became convinced that allegations made against Germany and Japan, including the Holocaust, were wartime propaganda used to justify the United States’ involvement in World War II.

Now no one would seriously consider that Mr Ettinger, no doubt a European dedicated to democratic values, freedom and human rights, as being any form of Holocaust Denier. Yet his willingness to repeat the propaganda claims of a totalitarian regime that has been shown to be guilty of the most appalling oppression and violent denial of human rights casts a perplexing and disturbing shadow.

We are very happy to extend to Albert Ettinger the courtesy of featuring a rejoinder from him on this matter, should he choose, meanwhile for the purposes of balance and to enable our subscribers to reach their own views of Mr Ettinger’s opinions his interview may be seen: HERE

Meanwhile what of the somewhat obscure publishing company that has released his book? According to the Chinese report his works were published by “Germany (sic)  based Zambon Press” this company seems a touch difficult to locate, if anyone can discover their German contact details we’d like to hear from you.