Tuesday, March 4, 2008

What do you mean, "Free Tibet"?

“This is the worst period in the 2000 year history of Tibet. This really is the most serious period. At this time, now, there is every danger that the entire Tibetan Nation, with its own unique cultural heritage will completely disappear. The present situation is so serious that it is really a question of life and death. If death occurs, nothing is left.” –H.H. the 13th Dalai Lama, Tenzing Gyatso.

In 1949, under the guise of a “peaceful liberation”, Communist China invaded Tibet marking the beginning of the most disastrous and increasingly fatal era known to Tibetan history. Since then, more than 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed, the victims of resistance fighting, hunger, executions, torture, and labor camps. More than 90% of Tibetan history and culture has been destroyed, including more than 6,000 monasteries and temples. Thousands of Tibetans remain in Chinese prisons for both political and trivial reasons, with no hope for trial or legal representation. Tibet’s natural resources are being irreversibly destroyed, mined, cut down, and plundered, all to the benefit of China and to the demise of surrounding countries that experience a number of environmental consequences (such as flooding and poisonous runoff) as a result. More and more Chinese settlers are being relocated to the area every day on new railway lines built to ensure military stability, their numbers (>7.5million) now surpassing the surviving 6 million Tibetans. Tibet, a once peaceful buffer state between India and China, has been transformed into a vast military base and is used as a dumping ground for nuclear wastes.

In an effort to wipe out Tibetan culture, Tibetan woman are subjected to enforced sterilization, contraception, and abortion procedures. Enforced disappearances (where a person is taken into custody and the details of their detention are not disclosed) continue to occur and Tibetans are subject to random and arbitrary arrest and detention. Torture still prevails in Chinese detention centers. Due to the increasing poverty rate (>70%), poor facilities, and blatant discrimination such as disproportionate fees based on race, Tibetan children are denied adequate health care and schooling. Failure to denounce the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual and temporal leader, can result in imprisonment or other forms of punishment and possessing an image of the Dalai Lama is illegal. In monasteries, the heart of Tibetan academia and debate, Chinese government “work teams” are being sent to forcibly “re-educate” monks and nuns in their political and religious beliefs. Between 1996 and 1998 a “Strike Hard” campaign saw 492 monks and nuns arrested and subjected to torture and 9,977 expelled from their religious institutions by the Chinese. The few monasteries left standing are meant only to generate tourism dollars, and each has its own police station on premises and can be closed on a whim. Cameras adorn all public markets and government spies are rampant.

What Does This Mean?

In essence, the peaceful non-violent culture of Tibet is being forcibly extinguished by the Chinese Government and replaced with a homogenized Chinese-speaking society that values capitalism and materialism above human rights. What I have described above cannot be explained in any terms other than blatant crimes against humanity and yet the Chinese have committed these atrocities while appeasing the cries of injustice raised by Tibet and other nations using language such as “Peaceful Liberation”, “Autonomous”, “Re-education”, “Cultural Revolution”, and the like. Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, an eminent Socialist leader of India had it right in 1950 when he said, “To call the invasion of Tibet an effort to liberate Tibetans is to make language lose all meaning and stop all human communication and understanding. Freedom and slavery, bravery and cowardice, loyalty and treason, truth and lie, will become synonyms.” And they have.

What is Happening Today?

China is working hard to gain recognition as a world leader and hopes to use the 2008 Olympic Games to be hosted in Beijing to do so. Allowing such a globally significant event to take place there without acknowledging the crimes against humanity that China continues to commit, will legitimize China’s claim to rule over Tibet. This is a critically crucial time. A movement called the Tibetan People’s Uprising is organizing a march to Tibet, scheduled to depart from Dharamsala on March 10th (next week!), in light of the upcoming Olympic Games and the 50th commemoration of the March 1959 uprising against China’s occupation of Tibet. This is a dangerous March that needs international support, participation, coverage, and funding.

What Can You Do?

  • CLICK HERE FOR 6 WAYS YOU CAN HELP
  • Express support for the Tibetan people’s right to freedom and justice by writing to newspapers and magazines, especially in light of the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games.
  • Set up a Tibet Support Group in your place and inform the local people about Tibet and the Tibetan people.
  • Donate money to help Tibetans in Need or to support the March to Tibet organized by the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement (websites listed below).
  • Write to your elected officials about Tibet and ask them to raise the issue of Tibet in the government.
  • Ask your government to support the Dalai Lama’s peace initiatives for Tibet.
  • Urge the Indian Government to facilitate a meaningful dialogue between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Tibetan Government-In-Exile.

For more information or to find out what you can do to help, please visit the following websites:

  • Race for Tibet! a great website concerning the 2008 Beijing Olympics and what you can do to help: http://www.racefortibet.org/ Watch the film! Sign the Petition! Order a free sticker! Spread the word!
  • The official website of the Central Tibetan Administration (specifically the tab entitled “About Tibet”): http://www.tibet.net/
  • The official website of H.H. the 13th Dalai Lama: www.dalailama.com
  • The official website of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy: http://www.tchrd.org/ ( BEST SITE FOR CURRENT INFORMATION)
  • The official website of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement, with information on the upcoming March to Tibet and to the 2008 Olympic Games. DONATIONS WELCOME: http://www.tibetanuprising.org/
  • YouTube: The Dalai Lama’s speech upon receiving the Congressional Gold Medal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcXmB0U_DCQ

The Dalai Lama has championed relentlessly for a meaningful autonomy within the People’s Republic of China for nearly 50 years now, recognizing that regaining true independence is out of the question. He was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1989 and the United States Congressional Gold Medal (the highest civilian award in the United States) in October in recognition of his efforts and for his promotion of peace, compassion, and non-violence to the global community. In his closing speech in Washington, he appeals to us all stating that, “Many of world’s problems are ultimately rooted in inequality and injustice, whether economic, political or social. Ultimately, this is a question of the well-being of all of us. Whether it is the suffering of poverty in one part of the world, or whether it is the denial of freedom and basic human rights in another part, we should never perceive these events in total isolation. Eventually their repercussions will be felt everywhere. I would like to appeal to you to take a leadership role in an effective international action in addressing this huge economic imbalance. I believe the time has now come to address all these global issues from the perspective of the oneness of humanity, and from a profound understanding of the deeply interconnected nature of our today’s world.”

I have written this, piecing it together from various books and pamphlets I’ve accumulated over the last couple of weeks, because when I came to Dharamsala I knew very little about Tibetan history and the current situation in Tibet. I think that if everyone knew a little more, some change might be possible for the Tibetan people. Once we have knowledge, I think we face a responsibility and a choice and it’s important to realize that if we ignore the injustices in one part of the world, especially with an emerging superpower like China, we will all feel the repercussions of our non-action at a later date. I hope that spreading this information will promote that knowledge and understanding.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The United States government, ( not its citizens ), has ignored the plight of the Tibetan people. When the Dalai Lama was asked why this is so, he replied with two words- "No oil!"
It is sad that our government has abandoned this nation and its people. But we, as citizens, have responded and must continue to do so.
Thank you, Jaye, for this important up-date of the situation.