On March 20th I journeyed with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress to Daharamsala, India and met with the leader of Tibet, his holiness, the Dalai Lama. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.
As we approached the Dalai Lama's monastery we were greeted by thousands of Tibetans, young and old, and many of them impoverished. It was moving to see the hope on their faces, a hope that the U.S. Congress would help stop the oppression and torture of their fellow Tibetans.
My favorite part of the day was being greeted by Tibetan pre-school students, such as the young boy in this picture.
We heard compelling stories, including one from a 10 year girl who fled Tibet so she could live and practice her religion in Dharmsala. Her parents sent her with strangers to journey over the Himalayas so she could be raised with and educated by Tibetans monks in Daharamsala. Her parents feared she would be killed if she stayed in Tibet, especially with the current crackdown by the Chinese government. It's an all too familiar story in Tibet, where parents often send their infant children with strangers so they can be raised in their traditional religion. We also heard stories from exiles who fled Tibet after having been brutally tortured by the Chinese government for merely practicing their religion and preserving their culture.
Later in the day, many of my colleagues and I were brought to tears as we sat in on a small class and heard from torture victims who had been held in prison by the Chinese government. One woman explained that she was held for 29 years in a Chinese prison for practicing her religion. She's now in her late 80's and serves as a teachers' aide, helping to educate young Tibetan students who seek the truth. The best part of the day was being met by young preschool students who were anxious to greet us with hand painted Tibetan and U.S. flags. I've include a photo here of me with one of the young students.
The most memorable part of the day was hearing from his Holiness about how we as Americans could assist in calling for the end of oppression and torture of Tibetans. Basically, the call of action was to speak about their longing to live autonomously in China, practice their religion openly and educate the world about the need to accept Tibetans in other countries as well. The Dalai Lama was gracious, pointed and compassionate in his open appeal for assistance. He didn't ask us to boycott the upcoming Olympic games in China, but instead urged the press and the world community to visit and see for themselves the conditions that Tibetans are subjected to. One simple request by all accounts but daunting because each hour Tibetans are being tortured and killed and left to starve and die because they chose to practice their religion.
I ask my fellow Americans, especially Chinese Americans, and the world community to join my colleagues and me in calling for the halting of persecutions, torture and forced sterilization of the Tibetans in China. Only when China realizes the great harm they are creating as the world focuses on them will they stop. They must look in the mirror and see themselves as the world becomes more aware of their horrendous crimes against humanity and the people of Tibet.
Follow Sec. Hilda Solis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HildaSolisDOL
Did you know that some people say the same thing after meeting Bush?
First, The Dalai Lama is a snake oil salesman ... sorry but, all of these religious leaders can practice whatever fairytale they want but, he's just a politician in a robe with claims of 'holiness'.
Second, a family handed their daughter over to complete strangers, alone to travel to a foreign country, alone, to maintain their religion? That smacks of child abuse.
Americans no longer have the right to criticize China or any other nation about torture or human rights. We've earned the right to keep our duplicitous, lying mouths SHUT. Gitmo, Abu Graib, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Rendition etc.
I ask you and your' fellow politicans to first join me and millions of other Americans in calling for and getting Impeachment proceedings.
Agree with you there. What horrors were they facing that would make them take that tremendous a risk?
"Her parents feared she would be killed if she stayed in Tibet, especially with the current crackdown by the Chinese government."
Death....the death of a "useless savage child of Buddhists who would amount to nothing anyhow"
Maybe having the child land in Chinese foster care if they were arrested, possibly adopted out to another country. Otherwise, you're right, there's no justification in why they would take that great a risk..
Everything else you wrote, won't dispute.
that must have been a grueling trip to get there. did he give you a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.? i mean...sometimes he gives people like blessings 'n' stuff like he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." so you'd have that goin' for you, which would be nice.
This belief that it's up to Americans to change the political systems of other nations when/if we dislike them is a huge part of the problem that got this country where it currently is. Stop it. Change your own regime.
We obviously no longer have any leverage over China, they own this country lock, stock, and barrel. But I do grieve over the systematic eradication of this people, their lifestyle, their history, and their beliefs.
This is very different from Iraq, where we are the invading country. That is what the difference is to those that ask. And too soon perhaps the invaders of Iran as well.
"I ask my fellow Americans, especially Chinese Americans, and the world community to join my colleagues and me in calling for the halting of persecutions, torture and forced sterilization of the Tibetans in China. Only when China realizes the great harm they are creating as the world focuses on them will they stop. They must look in the mirror and see themselves as the world becomes more aware of their horrendous crimes against humanity and the people of Tibet."
China is not the only nation that needs to look in the mirror.
Only rogue nations think that the way to stop countries murdering their own citizens is to invade and occupy.
Unfortunately the Democrats are making Bush look good on Tibet because of their naivete.
We don't have the slightest moral authority to criticize the Chinese when we have such a high percentage of Black and Hispanic males incarcerated, we have Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, etc. And this is the short list. Golden rule applies. If Americans as individuals -- not invoking the power of their state, but as individuals -- are really adamant about saving the Tibetan, please go to Tibet, learn the relevant languages, help those people get organized, and deal with the Chinese government through the channels available to regular Tibetans and Chinese. Ultimately, if nothing else works, as individuals in Tibet/China, wage guerrilla warfare or whatever to overthrow the communists in China, if that suits you. But don't ask a state to back you up. You're on your own.
Regime change is hard. Look at us trying to evict the Bushies from the White House. How would you react if we asked the French (or the Chinese!) to help us get the Republicans out of power? American politicians must abstain of this type of grandstanding, because the implication is clear: our politicians speak from the position of somebody backed by the full power of the treasury and war-making might of the U.S. of A.
I've always loved Chinese culture and they are an old and great culture-- but they degrade themselves and invite censure when they act this way. They forfeit the right to welcome the international community until they permit dialogue with the Tibetan leaders.
Those wanting to sign a petition to support these efforts can go to: http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/22.php?cl=64827362>
Hypocrisy is the only word that comes to mind as I read your scolding tone about the torture (imagine that) practiced by the CHINESE on Tibetans. And all I can do is sympathize with the Dalai Lama if he is putting ANY faith in the ability or intention of one Nancy Pelosi to help right the wrongs, or bring justice to his people. Speaker Pelosi and her Congress won't - WON'T - use the power given them by our Constitution to right the wrongs, or help bring justice (impeachment HEARINGS and an end to the "mandate" for occupying Iraq) to her OWN people and nation, never mind to the suffering Iraqis - so the Dalai Lama will be sorely disappointed if he sets any stock in a meaningful follow-up to her PR appearance on this Congressional junket.
I guess maintaining the fiction of "inherent" Congressional or American government "goodness" - and personal piety - is important for many legislators to be able to maintain their sense of self-respect. TRAGICALLY, however, in the real world, your ACTIONS and the ONGOING, and myriad, abuses that your party and Congress continue to countenance and tolerate in and by this Executive Branch - aside from a few weak protestations from time to time, and apparently in cynical, deluded pursuit of increased power and electoral success for your political party in exchange for tolerating gross injustice - bely that "goodness" mythology and show this Democratic Congress for the enabling, indifferent bystanders you are to OUR government's TORTURE, persecution, oppression and MURDER of Iraqi innocents who are resisting our efforts to steal their oil and sovereignty in that far off land over the seas, not so very far away from Tibet.
Talk about a need to "look in the mirror," Representative. Get real.
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20080310&s=dreyfuss
Reporters Without Borders has further information on an Olympic Boycott: http://tinyurl.com/2zq2wq
Many tourists have visited Tibet in the recent years. If any of "Tibetans are being tortured and killed and left to starve and die because they chose to practice their religion", you've already heard it.
Maybe you've seen the media coverage over these days, but you could see this one -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uSQnK5FcKas - before deciding what is true.
I would be touched by a little girl telling a story, I too will be moved by talking with Dalai Lama (I am sure he's charismatic, knowledgeable and charming), but it's only one sided story.
Tibetans wanted to be seperated from China long ago, they used this oppotuinity (Olympics) to put themselves before everyone's eyes.
If native indians want their lands back, declare independence, would you let them? (One thing is for sure, Chinese media or politicians would not be here to write the story. - It's NONE of their business).
The Tibetans have wanted to be separated from the China that in the late 1950's simply waltzed into and took over their homeland using whatever means was necessary, including violence. As part of that process, much of the Tibetan culture its artifacts and history have been destroyed.
http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html
You may understand slavery from the American history too.
Will you still say it was bad then, for the communists to changed the lives of the ordinary Tibetans?
We gave them land that is theirs and they are free on their lands to practice their culture and use it as they see fit. We don't slaughter them, we don't invade them, and we don't force upon them the extinction of their native history. They have choice to continue if they see fit. Not entirely, and not perfectly, there are incidents and some loss of land at the edges of their reservations, but bloodshed and attacks for protests and "cracking down" is not something we do. The majority of them do not want to secede from the US. We have territories elsewhere, like Puerto Rico, whose majority do not want to secede either.
Why does Tibetan independence threaten China so much?
White man speaks with forked tongue.
I just pray that if the Dalai Lama goes to Bejeing everything works out.