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14 comments from readers

Notgreedy
31 July 2008 at 12:07

I have been there, how sad is this report.

Thank you anyway.

gnuneo
01 August 2008 at 00:15

They fear the Tibetan People, like slave-holders have always feared those they oppress. What a crime they commit on Tibet, and upon themselves.

yoshinogawa
01 August 2008 at 00:42

Congratulations, Woeser,

Your fine photo and article has made the New Statesman's World / Asia page.

Now is a very significant moment for Tibet and Tibetans, because by an interesting turn of Fate China was awarded the '08 Olympics, and as a result and despite more suffering meted out to your people by Beijing breaking their promise of better behaviour, much more of the world has come to know of the plight of Tibet. Now more of the world's attention and energy will be focused toward your liberation from oppression. It may not come right away, but people and circumstances will gather to press for proper change from Beijing. And if this is not forthcoming, then eventually the power of Fate in the form of inexorable Karmic force will descend upon Beijing to exact this change, and likely the consequences to that Regime will not be of the fortunate kind.

This is the way it will be, according to natural and Cosmic Law. It will be just a matter of time, and of you and your friends keeping faith and the light of your Spirit burning.

So, good health, strength and peace to you to help carry you through to Freedom.

.

Yoshinogawa, British Columbia, Canada

2008.07.31.Thursday PDT

Douglas Chalmers
01 August 2008 at 05:41

How ironic that the same people in Australia who were recently so keen to fawn over Tibetan separatists during the Dalai Lama's visit then willingly passed state laws citizens so that their own citizens (presumably non-Catholic) were instantly oppressed so that they didn't "annoy" the overseas visitors when their Pope arrived.

But, then, Australians also have a long history of celebrating war and killing (their ANZAC Day) a mere few weeks after supposedly mourning the crucifixion murder of their Christian religious leader, Jesus Christ (Easter, for those who have forgotten). As colonials, they don't know how to stop.

So too have the Tibetan people become utterly confused between separatism and religion. One is a political objective and the other is spiritual. They are NOT automatically the same, even in Asia, least of all Tibet. Your people are NOT following the path of the peaceful but brave Buddhist monks in Burma.

Buddha's path was one of non-violence (Ahimsa) and he had to renounce his claim to his father's throne totally in order to progress personally upon the path to Enlightenment. Tibetans who claim to be Buddhist do not want to do this, though. It requires true bravery and the unconditional love to serve one's Creator and fellow man, Chinese included.

You cannot have non-violence and violent demonstrations supposedly for a separate Tibet. You cannot have Buddhist monks throwing rocks and inciting people to an armed rebellion in which the minority Chinese in Lhasa were intimidated, assaulted and murdered. You cannot have a leading monk who is a servant of the CIA.

Woeser (is that you in the pic?), I have nothing against you or your people or your Buddhism but separatism is playing into the hands of the Neocons in the West in NATO and in Washington who will instantly exploit any chance to either align themselves militarily with Tibet or to invade and occupy Tibet themselves.

The consequences should be obvious. One just has to look at Iraq or Afghanistan to see what will undoubtedly happen if the Chinese depart. Your people would be used ruthlessly and abandoned uncaringly. That is not your history with China even when the Mongols (Mongolians) ruled.

Nor do the exiled separatists give a damn about their own people in Tibet. All that they want to do is to find a way to grab power again for themselves - http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?c=4&t=1&id=20330&art...+Stop+the+Revolution!+-+Jamyang+Norbu

It will not happen as governments-in-exile become increasingly irrelevant as time passes. Check the history of Poland since 1940 and you will see why. The old monarchists and elitists were made redundant by the very peasants they once ruled and who ultimately kicked out Communism without their help.

Better to stay with what you have. At least everything in China is slowly changing for the better and, as a people, they (the Han) do not really hate Tibetans at all - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ow3sK5rDSg All you really need to do is to give up howling like wolves, uhh.....

Douglas Chalmers
01 August 2008 at 05:46

Woeser's website - woeser.middle-way.net - or translated:-

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://woeser.middle-way.net/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DThe%2BMiddle%2BWay%2Bblog%2BWoeser%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dopera%26rls%3Den%26hs%3Dkh6%26sa%3DG%26pwst%3D1

Pencils
01 August 2008 at 09:04

Douglas Chalmers - I agree with all of that except " China is slowly changing for the better..." Better for who? For the corrupt party apparatchiks and new billionaires in the coastal cities. For the rest it's massive upheaval from the countryside, slavery, an end to healthcare and education, massive unemployment and the return of starvation - the whole panoply of the New World Order's characterics. Better in the sense that the Russians and E. Europeans are better dead than red. How long before we see the colour supplements enthusing that every woman in China is now a prostitute, as they did over Russia?

But 'independence' won't save Tibet from that, as you've pointed out; it will only bring the NWO one step closer to breaking up China, and put its people even further away from any prospect of regaining the ground they've lost since the death of Mao. And please don't quote that crap by Jung Chiang at me.

Douglas Chalmers
01 August 2008 at 09:38

Huh? Jung Chang - or Chiang, Pencils? I'll let these people speak for themselves at 1min+ in this clip - China struggles with Tibetan unrest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onB7pIT4mKo

Bhatti
01 August 2008 at 12:48

Tibet has been part if China for more than 600 years, if China let's go of Tibet will the US return Texas to Mexico.

Middle East
01 August 2008 at 15:53

This what the New Statesman has not reported in its all of the articles about Tibet. Understanding the origin of something, helps us understand the distortions of the Western media:

Tibet, an independent country until 1950, was not suddenly occupied by China. The history of its relations with China is long and complex, with China often acting as a protective overlord – the anti-Communist Kuomintang also insisted on Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. (The term “Dalai Lama” bears witness to this interaction: it combines the Mongolian dalai– ocean – and the Tibetan bla-ma.)

2. Before 1950 Tibet was no Shangri-la, but a country of harsh feudalism, poverty (life expectancy was barely 30), corruption and civil wars (the last, between two monastic factions, was in 1948 when the Red Army was already knocking at the door). Fearing social unrest and disintegration, the ruling elite prohibited any development of industry, so all metal had to be imported from India. This did not prevent the elite from sending their children to British schools in India and transferring financial assets to British banks there.

The Cultural Revolution which ravaged the Tibetan monasteries in the 1960s was not imported by the Chinese. Fewer than a hundred of the Red Guards came to Tibet with the revolution, and the young mobs burning the monasteries were almost exclusively Tibetan.

Since the early 1950s there has been systematic and substantial CIA involvement in stirring up anti-Chinese troubles in Tibet, so Chinese fears of external attempts to destabilise Tibet are not irrational .

As television images show, what is going on now in Tibetan regions is no longer a peaceful “spiritual” protest of monks as in Burma over the last year, but also gangs burning and killing ordinary Chinese immigrants and their stores. We should measure the Tibetan protests by the same standards as we measure other violent protests: if Tibetans can attack Chinese immigrants, why can’t the Palestinians do the same to the Israeli settlers on the West Bank?

The Chinese invested heavily in Tibetan economic development, as well as infrastructure, education and health services. Despite undeniable oppression, the average Tibetan has never enjoyed such a standard of living as today. Poverty is now worse in China’s own undeveloped western rural provinces than in Tibet.

In recent years the Chinese changed their strategy in Tibet: depoliticised religion is now tolerated, often even supported.

A main reason why so many in the West have taken part in the protests against China is ideological: Tibetan Buddhism, deftly spun by the Dalai Lama, is a major point of reference of the New Age hedonist spirituality which is becoming the predominant form of ideology today. Our fascination with Tibet makes it into a mythic place upon which we project our dreams. When people mourn the loss of the authentic Tibetan way of life, they don’t care about real Tibetans: they want Tibetans to be authentically spiritual on behalf of us so we can continue with our crazy consumerism.

gnuneo
01 August 2008 at 22:19

so the Tibetans must accept Chinese overlordship, because its *possible* that what will come after *might* be worse?

or the Tibetans must accept Chinese overlordship because IN THE PAST Tibet was ruled by a rigid theocracy?

or the Tibetans must accept Chinese overlordship because the Chinese are modernising the economic infrastructure (we will ignore the fact they are doing so for the exact same reasons the British did in THEIR colonies - to more efficiently extract the natural resources, and give the military better capability to put down unrest of the Natives).

or the Tibetans must accept Chinese overlordship because in the past there was some form of political connection? (presumably Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland should be handed back to the Russians then, as well as most of the world back to us British.)

or the Tibetans must accept Chinese overlordship because the CIA has some interest in Tibetan Independence?

wow, just wow. Frankly, you people make me sick. Did you all also support the soviet re-invasion of Hungary?

matt
03 August 2008 at 01:03

China proper has brought some modernisations to Tibet, such as roads, housing, accommodation and communications. However does this outweigh the costs of the communist occupation? There are two primary facts that the world is now more aware of - since the communist chinese invasion of 1951, over 1.2 million ethnic Tibetans have died (prison, gulags, executions, torture, ... starvation. The other, that over 6,250 very historic monasteries were desecrated and destroyed by the communist chinese. Every Tibetan in 'TAR' has a story of suffering. The Han Chinese have also suffered under maoism, it is estimated that between 30 to 40 million died in the Great Leap Foward from famine. Chinese communists have the blood of genocide on their hands due to their multiple crimes in Tibet.

min
03 August 2008 at 04:59

On the eve of the Beijing Olympics the trailer for the Australian film “Children of Tibet” has been released on youtube. “Children of Tibet” tells the remarkable story of three determined children who escape Tibet and make the perilous journey across the Himalayas seeking freedom and an education. Shot on location in Tibet and India the scenes of the land are riveting but the story the young children tell is unforgettable.

A quiet reminder at a time when China would like us to forget.

Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Gjv81b5qo

Douglas Chalmers
03 August 2008 at 11:54

Of the 1.3 billion people in One China, only 6 million live in Tibet SAR. Desperate to rein in its population explosion, China had to resort to a strict One-Child Policy since the 1970's. It has had many consequences.....

Caring for China's Children - http://www.caringforchina.org/cfcc/cfcc-video.htm

Tibetan Buddhist organizations in the West are supported by white Westerners. They may also support Tibetan refugees but they are not welfare organizations. They do not support their new communities in turn.

They do not contribute to general welfare needs in their own broader communities in the West as other religious organizations do. Instead, they selfishly focus on charging endless fees for lectures and membership of their temples.

freedom
23 August 2008 at 15:03

If China has done so much good for Tibet and Tibetans by 'reclaiming' it, then how come the vasy majority of Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile don't recognise the Chinese government as their leaders and beneficiaries? How come they all follow the Dalai Lama? How come the Chinese government have had to import millions of Han Chinese into the region?

The Chinese government simply hasn't learnt anything from history. You cannot sustain rule by the barrel of a gun. You cannot 'force' people to change their culture and values. Consequences always follow actions. China is brutalising not only Tibetans but their own people. The result may not be totally apparent yet but have a look at South Africa and see whats happened there since. Brutality breeds brutal people.

If the Chinese government are 'benefiting' Tibetans, why are they so afraid of freedom of speech and protests? Why do they not have a free press and TV? Why are there so many images of journalists and protestors being arrested and deported without trial?