By Alex Moore
Staying in a town of Tibetan exiles, we have been overwhelmed with Tibetan culture and information about Tibet and its struggles. This week, we have been lucky enough to watch a documentary on Tibet and have two speakers come and talk to our group. All of the following information I am repeating from the film and speakers; I did not have time to check every fact and figure. So if you are moved to do so, look further into some of these statistics to see for yourself.
The film gave a brief history of China’s occupation of Tibet, including some of their lies and human rights atrocities. It gave a clear vision of Tibet’s unique culture, in contrast to China’s claims that Tibet belongs as a part of China. Bagdro La, a monk and a former political prisoner, spoke to us of his personal experiences.
Lhasang Tsering, a local bookstore owner among other things, was a guerilla for the Tibetan cause, a teacher, a government server, the president of the Tibetan Youth Conference and a stroke victim. Tsering was an incredibly intelligent man, and his fears and pessimistic outlook at Tibet’s future were heart-wrenching to hear expressed with so much passion. Unfortunately, he has sufficient reason to feel pessimistic.
Since China decided that Tibet was a part of it in 1949, 1.2 million Tibetans have died, one-sixth of Tibet’s total population. A country of 6 million people (less than the population of Manhattan) may seem respectively small and insignificant, but these people inhabit a country of 2.5 million sq. km (over one-forth the size of the U.S.) in central Asia. Their geographic importance alone is huge.
As “The Roof of the World,” Tibet and its mountains are the source of much of Asia’s drinking water, with one river alone supplying drinking water for one Chinese person in 12. Tibet is in the center of Asia, historically acting as a peace zone. Tibet’s boundaries separate China and India, together accounting for nearly one-half of the world’s population. A free Tibet would place 5,200 km between these two powers, easing tensions and their very real arms race.
The Tibetan culture is strategically being destroyed. Over the centuries, other surrounding nations attempted with varying amounts of success to exert control over Tibet. From 1919 to 1949’s Chinese invasion, it was an independent state by modern standards. Since then, Tibetans have struggled to regain their freedom and keep their culture intact. China has forced a large population of Chinese peasants to move into Tibet, offering them incentives such as jobs. Tibetans are now a minority and are reduced to second-class citizens on their own land, unable to find jobs because they are first given to Chinese.
Also, the Chinese charge now tuition for children’s education; the amount for one child is more than the average Tibetan family makes in a year. In years before Chinese occupation, most Tibetans were either monks or farmers: the monks received constant education and had knowledge of how the mind works that would make the West seem in the dark, while the average Tibetan peasant received no formal schooling. Rather, his family provided schooling from home. Now that there is an enormous population influx from China, however, living off of the land is no longer an easy option for many Tibetans, and in order to compete in a job market with Chinese who are already preferred, they must have an education.
Over the years, many tactics have been attempted to regain Tibet’s independence. His Holiness the Dali Lama has called for peaceful struggle consistently, and he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his efforts in the struggle Tibet’s liberation by advocating peaceful solutions based on tolerance and mutual respect. Unfortunately, peaceful methods have had little success, and, after the Dali Lama and Tibetan government fled to safety in Northern India in 1959, nearly 80,000 Tibetans have managed to follow into exile with over 8,000 living near him in Mcleod Ganj.
For a time, the U.S. was aiding in Tibet’s struggle against Chinese imperialism, with the CIA helping to train Tibetan exiles. However, when Russia began to be perceived as a greater threat, the U.S. cut off aid to Tibet in order to begin to forge a relationship and alliance with Mao’s China.
Today, it seems that our economic relations and interests in China are important enough to override the human rights atrocities that China allows. The growing superpower has an unfair advantage in the world market in part because it uses cheap prison labor in its occupied territories that include Tibet, Manchuria, Eastern Turkistan and Inner Mongolia to market goods at prices much lower than its competition from the rest of the world.
Environmental destruction is widespread. Chinese projects are filling Tibet with roads, railroads, deforestation, mining and the building of dams are further altering the country’s landscape. The Chinese discovery of uranium in Tibet led to the dumping of highly dangerous uranium waste into a country that provides the source of much of Asia’s drinking water. An earthquake in Tibet could let that uranium waste into the source of the drinking water, leading to an environmental and human catastrophe.
Lhasang Tsering was passionate about the damage that has been done to Tibet and not opposed to using any means necessary to take back what rightfully belongs to Tibetans. When asked about violence as a solution, he replied, “Kicking a rape victim between the legs is not violence. Because no one is helping the rape victim, this is not terrorism. The weak cannot terrorize the strong. China is the aggressor, and at this point it is either ‘do or die’ before Tibet’s culture disappears for good.”
At this point, we all had tears in our eyes, and there were no more questions.