A remarkable piece of video film was posted a month or so ago on YouTube.com, which has been highlighted in a Los Angeles Times article. It shows a line of Tibetan people in the Himalayas, on the Tibet-Nepalese border, who are supposedly making their way to visit the Dalai Lama in India. They come under fire, again supposedly, from Chinese soldiers. And you see people slump to the ground, supposedly dead. The voiceover says: "They are killing them like dogs". Take a deep breath before you watch this clip.
I've sprinkled the word "supposedly" about because I can't be absolutely certain about the authenticity. The film carries the logo of the Romanian-based television network Pro TV, but it is strange that the Chinese took no action to prevent it being shot. However, the LA Times writer, Moisés Naím - editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine - is not in any doubt about the video's provenance.
He points to it as an example of the virtues of "YouTube journalism" and says that human rights groups have identified the dead Tibetan refugees as monks, women and children. The Chinese government has claimed that the soldiers shot in self-defence after being attacked by 70 refugees, but the video certainly gives the lie to that explanation.
Naím writes: "Welcome to the 'YouTube effect'" and contrasts it with the 'CNN effect' of 15 years ago. Then " the unblinking eyes of TV cameras, beyond the reach of censors" were claimed likely "to bring greater global accountability." But now, he says, "the 'YouTube effect' will be even more powerful." If the Tibet slaughter video is authentic and, on balance, I believe it must be, then it proves his point.
