China

Another westerner in China admits the west is full of lies on Xizang and that the people there and their culture, language, etc are flourishing.

Here are some bits I found personally a bit interesting:

They call me a liar because I was with the government and only saw what the government wanted me to see. But the government didn't stop me looking out the bus window, nor did they stop me going for long walks into downtown Lhasa, or downtown Linzhi. They didn't stop me interacting, and even dancing, with thousands of people in a village fair in Maizhokunggar.

Oppression exists in many places, I've seen it, and I even helped deliver it as a police officer in the UK, fighting miners who wanted a better life, fighting colored migrants who wanted equality, fighting white supremacists who want their country back. I was one of Margaret Thatcher's thin blue line, keeping "ordinary" people safe from those that in today's world would labeled extremists.

I know what oppression looks like and here's the thing, after extensive travel in China, I've never seen it anywhere. I didn't see it in Xinjiang and I certainly didn't see it in Xizang.

I saw kids who speak, read and write their local language. I saw adults dressed in their local styles. I saw ordinary people shopping, visiting temples and serving food in the streets and in restaurants.