Maybe not so courageous

There is an irony about the arrest of Tibetan freedom protesters in Beijing yesterday. The mother of Lucy Fairbrother – one of those detained – was quoted as saying: 

“If my daughter’s going to be put in prison for anything I’m glad it’s for a human rights protest.”

Except, of course, that she wasn’t put in prison.  In addition to attracting great attention, the timing of the protest also means that those arrested (two Brits and two Americans) have already been deported and arrived home safely.   

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the protest – I’ll leave those to CoffeeHousers to decide – we should consider for a moment how differently they would have been treated were they Chinese nationals.  Lucy has been reunited with her proud parents – she should count herself lucky.