On Wednesday the 22nd of February, Tibetans would have normally celebrated Losar or Tibetan New Year. This year, unlike the years before, Tibetans in exile called for a solemn day of reflection and prayer to acknowledge those who have sacrificed their lives for the Tibetan cause.
The self-immolations of Tibetans under Chinese occupation that have shocked, saddened and renewed the anger of Tibetan society have sent the Chinese government into an overdrive of denial. Not for an instant has there been a moment of visible remorse, introspection or any admission of the absurdity of their knee jerk reaction: "self-immolators are criminals." This is of course standard PRC policy, any admission of imperfection being tantamount to weakness.
For Tibetan Buddhists who hold life sacred, taking one's own life is normally considered to be a negative action with serious spiritual consequences. Yet these were ordained people, one of them even a reincarnated lama, all normally revered in Tibetan society, who set themselves on fire. Tibetans of all walks of life are not condemning these acts; many are seeing the self-immolations as a supreme sacrifice.
The ongoing, brutal rigidity of the Chinese government has manifested in at least three major waves of violence over three generations in the Kirti region: the Long March of the 1930s during which Kirti suffered perhaps more than any other Tibetan region; the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s; and the Patriotic Education in the 1990s. More recently, ever since the troubled lead up to the 2008 Olympics, the PRC has been twisting the thumbscrews ever tighter.
Perhaps the only vague hint of acknowledgment of transgression was Chinese VP Xi Jing's recent statement during a lunch hosted by US VP Joe Biden, tacked onto his defense of China's human rights record, that "there is always room for improvement on human rights." It is difficult to assess what Xi's comment, made only months before he is expected to take the reins, could actually purport, if anything at all, for future PRC policy in occupied Tibet.
Clearly the man was focused on making his US 'Valentine' visit a success in foreign relations partly in order to ensure positive press back home for his future leadership. He understood that something that sounded like a concession to mollify Biden and the US public was the most expedient way to move into the issues which China considers much more pressing: China's market economy status, anti-dumping sanctions on exports to US, restrictions on Chinese investments in the US, and ongoing sensitivity about US high tech exports to the Chinese mainland.
There is an ocean of difference between the Tibetan 'acts of self-sacrifice' and the desperate suicides for example of factory workers in the Han dominant areas in the last weeks. The Tibetan refusal to completely submit to the 62-year-old occupation is epic. Yet there was arguably as much buzz on the internet regarding depression suicides at Apple suppliers' manufacturing plants in China as there has been for this deeply saddening trend of self-sacrifice, that over the last 3 years has seen more than 15 people in the region of Kirti die of flames lit by their own hands.
International consumers of one of the most popular brands on the planet are now exposed to an appeal to their conscience. It resonates in a much more concrete, personal manner than a relatively abstract appeal to their humanity regarding a people who they have most likely never met.
The relationship between the international world and China has changed dramatically. In the past China used its potential market and manufacturing edge as a blunt carrot-and-stick approach to getting its own way, ignoring any call for modification on its Tibet policy. Today China's dependence on foreign raw materials and markets to keep its economy growing should in fact be the very reason for it not to ignore hot political issues.
Let's be clear: this is not about hoping for the world to suddenly come to its senses and realize that it actually now has the reverse economic leverage to push for human rights improvements in China. Few would entertain the thought of rocking this boat even if the odds for success were pretty good. As an official in the Tibetan government-in-exile said to me over the phone:
"It's election year in key countries. Xi himself has to make sure he enters the stage smoothly. The basic issue will always be economy. You know, human rights - well its just not the main issue."
Within China itself, real-life communism hardly needed capitalism to become corrupt.
But there is another factor that is creating the insecurity that drives the PRC to mask its paranoia with iron-fisted repression. When people feel they have nothing left to lose, it pushes them beyond their habitual inhibitions and fears. As Thomas Friedman so succinctly put it in his essay 'The Politics of Dignity' : "Humiliation is the most underestimated force in politics." As the PRC keeps ratcheting up the pressure, its own insecurity increases as people instead respond ever more boldly. The draconian internet crackdown on the phantom, post Arab Spring, "Jasmine Revolution" can only be seen as a reflection of this.
It really is up to the PRC to save itself by moving beyond blowing off human rights issues with denial or casual trivialization. It needs to read the writing on the wall, and acknowledge that the happiness and freedom of its citizens who live both within and outside that wall are the best security for the future. What's more, the international community needs to move beyond simply expressing moral outrage, and pro-actively engage with China to help resolve these issues.
Follow Rio Helmi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ubudroi
If "Unit 137" detachments are indeed being deployed to Tibet, this raises alarming questions of whether, with the virtual information blackout now in place, China is planning to test biological agents on Tibetans.
Biological warfare is a little-known aspect of most nations' war strategies, yet individual budgets of major nations--including the US, Russia, North Korea and China--show that these departments receive substantially more funding per capita than even nuclear warfare programs at this time. Animal testing is the standard; however, no agent's effect on humans can be determined with certainty until tested on humans. Many of the world's largest nations have illegally tested on humans. At most risk are poor, rural and uneducated populations with little access to legal recourse.
Given the large number of potential test subjects at its disposal, and now under the cover of almost complete information blackout, if China were to succeed in testing recombinant viruses of any kind on the genetically-unique Tibetan population, it could accelerate China's biological warfare program years or even decades ahead of the current level, giving China, in effect, first-strike capability with a weapon that in many ways exceeds the horrors of a nuclear offensive.
http://books.google.com/books/about/State_growth_and_social_exclusion_in_Tib.html?id=tDiBIL5bl-AC
http://www.thlib.org/collections/texts/jiats/#!jiats=/04/fischer/notes/
http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/4842
http://www.tibetwatch.org/Tibet%20Watch%20Special%20Report%20Andrew%20Fischer.pdf
And the list goes on ...
Google him.
http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/interview-robert-barnett-why-tibetans-are-setting-themselves-fire?utm_campaign=socialmedia&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialmedia
also, tibet is already part of china, the only way for them to become independent is something catastrophic happen in china, civil war or such.
however if tibet want more freedom, it can only happen when Han chinese decide there are too much corruption/etc in the government and want political reform. right now tibet have limited supporter outside of china, who doesn't have any power. china is not gonna change the policy on tibet unless there is an overall change in china political structure.
also the fact is not all tibet are disgruntled monk. alto tibet has jobs, and other things to worry about than religion.
the more the monk resist, the tighter the chiense government will squeeze. after 2008 riot, china send in alot more police into that region for security, which make thing worst for tibet monk. so in a waq the people who can help those monk is actually the majority of Han chinese, if Han decide they want the overal political of chinese government change, then tibet can benefit from that.
here more source
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Feudalism#Tibet
http://tibettalk.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/hell-on-earth-the-tibet-myth/
its human nature to take advantage of someone if they know they can get away with it or they have alot power, most human do that, especially the unedcuated with alot power. it happen over and over again through out history. tibet before 1950 was not an democractic country, lama was head of religion/political. and when someone has that much power and can get away with it, they gonna abuse that power, its human nature.
But the Tibetan-Government-in-Exile is a democracy NOW - and China ISN'T.
So who's "behind the times" now, huh?
Neither was China. And it STILL isn't.
also check books by Melvyn Goldstein
http://books.google.com/books?id=Ep5l6JprtYcC&pg=PA590&lpg=PA590&dq=serf+tibet+goldstein&source=bl&ots=8HN526wMp4&sig=BvvzNCYBgaJTMJt1MpszytMw6pI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Jq1HT8bQAoa3sQL3lfTqCA&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=serf%20tibet%20goldstein&f=false
furthermore china miniority law guranntee advantage for miniority on varies issues, you can do a search on those law.
china is a developing world and has its issues, but NO country on earth lift 400 million peasants from absolute poverty to middile class status. the poverty in 80's china was 80%+, now its 16%.
this is ONE of the biggest reason why we haven't seen an arab spring type revolution in china. because lets face it, the oridinary people don't worry about religion/political freedom everyday, they worry about job security, better income, better live for their family. this is same in any country. before you can worry about political/religion, you have to put food on your table for your family, and thats why china is concentrate on economic development in order to satisfy majority of chinese. there will always be someone who are not happy about the system whether US or china.
http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/booksAndPapers/mmdebate-orig.pdf
http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/documents/The_Estate_System.pdf
all about serf system.
http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet
This fact is lost on the PRC propaganda team.
before 1950 tibet was a feudal/serf society!!! the peasant were own by lama. their government and religion are the same. the lama live like a king while the peasant suffer.
if you write about commy brutality during its culture revolution, IT HAPPEN in entire china.
did you bother to write about tibet serfdom before china take over
WikiLeaks released a cable containing analysis from PRC Tibetologist Bao Dong who wrote in 2007 that "the rapid increase inn Lhasa's floating population has harmed Lhasa's environment. Many of Lhasa's more crowded places, and especially big construction sites, are very dirty and have
become breeding places for disease. The crime rate has risen steadily along with the increase in the floating population...since the Qinghai-Tibet railway opened...most of these fall into the category of drifters, criminals, pimps and prostitutes, drug dealers and thieves."
(November 2007 issue of "Tibetan Studies,"
titled "Analysis of Lhasa's Floating Population After the
Opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railroad)
Tibet is the West. Just like California of yore, it is not yet as refined as the East Coast. But there are opportunities for all who work hard.
Nobody, in the name of whatever ideology, even in the name of deities sacred, has the right to hold back progress for a whole nation.
Junky little internet cafes which Chinese visitors are allowed to use all day, but local Tibetans cannot?
That ain't progress, brother.
Tibet has one of the harshest climates in the world.
I took 500 years for Native Americans to call themselves "American," and that was despite the fact that incoming Europeans began immediately to intermarry with them.
Chinese haven't even begun to intermarry with Tibetans in any significant number.
The US was formed with a slow trickle of people from every country on the planet over the course of five centuries. Tibet was taken in a military invasion as my father watched.
No comparison, brother; in 500 years, we'll talk.
What happened to "Nie wieder?"
This is insanity.
AND 14.5% growth in GDP as in the Tibet Autonomous Region?
Such silliness!
Services are very limited, and many cities are flooded with Chinese workers who get preferential treatment every time.
You can hang a sign saying "free services" all day, but if the door is locked, it's pointless.
It is not as if the Tibetan natives are suffering on a relative basis. Before, under the 14 iterations of the Dalai, 90% of the natives were slaves, over 95% were illiterate, and women were treated lower then dirt (being considered so unclean, that even today the Dalai 14 refuses to allow woman to join the Sangha - the Taiwan Chi Zhi nuns really took him to task on that one when he visited Taiwan). Life expectancy was around 45, and infant mortality rates were 3 times higher than on the Mainland. Today, most of that had been remedied, and Tibet's economy grew 14.5% in 2010.
Do you know what 14.5% growth means? Doubling of living standards every 5 years. Most of the herders now enjoy government housing, solar electricity, and 9 years of free compulsory (bilingual) education for their children.
No casinos required.
The reality is a bit sadder. If it's so good why are the majority of Tibetans unhappy with China? Yes, if your Han Chinese the situation in Tibet is not too bad. Ethnic Tibetans live a different experience, as this recent report clearly shows:
http://wwwÂ.jamyangnoÂrbu.com/blÂog/2012/02Â/20/reportÂ-from-lhasÂa/
If life is so good (according to these wonderful numbers) then why aren't Tibetans happy? Yes living standards and conditions might be better than before (they were pretty bad in Han China too) but in TIbet they are only really better for those who are Han Chinese.
Maybe peruse this recent report:
http://wwwÂ.jamyangnoÂrbu.com/blÂog/2012/02Â/20/reportÂ-from-lhasÂa/
As to the comments regarding slavery and women, obviously you don't really understand what the situation really was, nor what has gone down in the last century, nor what the Dalai Lama's current efforts are in order to improve the lot of ordained women. At the risk of explaining in detail something which might not be within everyone's historical nor theological grasp: There are now nunneries in India which are giving women the full education that monks receive. The issue isn't Tibetan, it is a world wide Buddhist issue: the ordination lineage for nuns was lost centuries ago. Although the Taiwanese claim to have this lineage intact it is not necessarily accepted by all. The Dalai Lama has actually been actively engaging many parties in dialogue to find a way to reolve the matter. He is not like the Pope who can simply issue a decree and all must obey, he doesn't even have that authority amongst Tibetans. Nor would he presume to.
The words "Dark Ages" came to mind.
As for discrimination against women, you can swear up and down all you want. It does not change the fact that all of the 14 iterations of the Dalai believed, and the Dalai 14 still believes, that women are too unclean to get close to Buddha, and thus they cannot be allowed to join the Sangha of his sect.
Religious or terrorist training?? There is often a fine, or nonexistenÂt line between the two, with fanatical cults that teach self immolationÂs. When even death cannot deter, it is time to de-legalizÂe the entire sect. Public safety and societal stability is more important than any claim of the selfish wishes of any religious sect to interfere in the political process. AssimilatiÂon is the only viable road going forward.
Start with banning the brainwashiÂng of children - no one below the age of 18 should be allowed to be housed or indoctrinaÂted full time in any house of worship, be they madrasas, churches, or monasterieÂs. A Sunday school session or two is fine, but 24 hours a day immersion of children in religious brainwashiÂng is simply sick.
These self immolations are not terrorist acts, nobody else is targeted or hurt.
Again there is just a very thin line - and often no line at all between self-immolations and suicide bombings. Buddhism, much like other religions, had its share of really sick practices over thousands of years, many involving self infliction of harm. The danger to society is that if even death cannot deter, the sect is turning extremist and dangerous, and should be handled accordingly.
Report from Lhasa: February 18, 2012
I have just returned from Lhasa. Tibetans are disappearing; everyone is terrified about the bloodshed which seems inevitable.
Lhasa consists of approximately 1.2 million Chinese and approximately 200,000 Tibetans. The majority of these Tibetans live in an area which is now almost entirely enclosed by military compounds with walls between 10-16 feet; some with barbed wire. This isolation gives the impression of what the Warsaw Ghetto was like. Inside the “enclosed” area groups of armed soldiers, S.W.A.T. teams, and police patrol the streets 24 hours a day. Military drill songs can be heard throughout the day. S.W.A.T trucks and rows of 6 to 15 armored vehicles and tanks come through the area on a daily basis. Each vehicle has 3 to 4 soldiers at the opening turret, armed with assault rifles or machine guns aimed at the Tibetans.
http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2012/02/20/report-from-lhasa/
GOOGLE Lhasa city and see if it is possible to hold a population of 1.4 million!!!
The 2010 (Nov.) census reported a population of only about 560,000. It also showed the TOTAL population of 3 million for the entire Tibet Autonomous Region, with 90% being native Tibetans. WHERE did this 1.2 million come from?
Tibet was and is under threat of militant terrorism. The foreign funded terrorist had caused serious destruction and deaths to civilians. Unrest calls for vigilance.
In any case if one thinks that people are happy living in a prison there is little one can do to change this mindset until it finally undoes itself. The state of paranoia that engenders this kind of iron fisted approach is itself the problem, it is what perpetuates resistance.