Our Tibet

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As we bemoan the fate of Tibet and rush to fill the streets in the big game of "douse the torch," it's important to keep in mind the many ways that we ourselves continue to trample on the rights of nations that live with us right here on our own continent.

The U.S. government has a plan currently on the table for an enormous nuclear weapons complex, eerily named "Complex Transformation." Weapons research is a notoriously toxic and dangerous activity so, logically, we aren't building the site near where any of us live. In fact, the plan's key site isn't on U.S. soil at all, it's on land that's a part of the Treaty-recognized territory of Western Shoshone.

Understandably, some people are upset by this plan, namely the Western Shoshone people and their supporters.

The United Nations has gone so far as to urge the United States to "freeze", "desist" and "stop" actions being taken against the Western Shoshone Peoples of the Western Shoshone Nation. The U.N. decision explicitly cited ongoing weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site. The United States, who, like China, tends to ignore outside criticism, is of course choosing to ignore the U.N.

The Shoshone have no Dalai Lama, Sharon Stone, or Richard Gere to bring attention to their cause. Luckily though, they do have you. And last time I checked we still live in a place that, on a good day, when the wind is blowing just the right way, vaguely resembles a democracy.

So you can help make a difference right now by commenting on the "Complex Transformation's" crimes against the Shoshone. Just click here and submit an official letter of protest. Act soon though because the deadline for public comment ends April 10.

If you happen to think it's wrong but you don't speak out, then you may as well live in Tibet, or as they call it these days, China.

Comments

[yexiaonan]

The Tibet Question is not about compassion, human right and cultural genocide. It is all
about real politics. The demands of the Tibet Government In-Exile (TGIE) of a Tibet
Autonomous Region (TAR) that will have its own army, have diplomatic relations with foreign
countries and on a Greater Tibet that includes part of the provinces now inhabited by other
ethnic groups are demands of an independent state except in name only. See Louise MacBain's
"Heads of State Should Be Aware of the Facts of Tibets and China".

Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader is to be revered. In reality, he is mixng religion with real politics,
hiding his political agenda behind a veil of righteousness that is tentamount to deceit and hyprocrisy
which somehow irresistably appeal to the liberal minded and those hell-bent on anything that still
carries the label of communism instead of being condemned.

This is not to say that China carries no faults and that ways need to be found to resolve the Tibet
Question.

[rhale]

The US Dept. of Defense, Dept. of Energy, and many others keep way too many secrets of science to themselves. The United States public deserves to understand more about nuclear weapons and why the military demands so many of our resources for their projects. We know nuclear mining is dangerous to human health, we know nuclear waste is harmful and science is not yet dealing with it productively. We know that peace will not be acheived in a war-based economic system. If we cannot communicate our concerns and information is ignored then how can good decisions be made?

[Thorn]

Clearly, you have never been to Tibet. (And it's "the Dalai Lama," Einstein.)

[Toby Barlow - Huffpost Blogger]

See Toby Barlow's Profile

What does that have to do with it? The fact is that within our own borders we also act in an arrogant, destructive and imperialist manner toward those whom we have "occupied." I have no doubt that there is great evil and suffering in Tibet. I also know for a fact that there has been suffering on the reservations of our country for more than a century. And while our ability to sway the Chinese government is debatable, I am not dissuading us from trying, and I pray for great success, I am merely encouraging us, while we're all up in arms, to do something about the mess we've got in our own backyard. Because here we can have impact.

[Thorn]

Hey! You went back and corrected the spelling of "Dalai Lama." You're welcome.

[rage]

TIbet belongs to China and we should stay out of that mess.

The U.S. isn't doing anything illegal to any Native American tribes so the U.N. should back off and worry about the problems in Africa.

Quit trying to interfere with the Olympic games. It only screws things up for current and future athletes.

[Thorn]

Tibet "belongs to China"? Did Poland "belong to Germany"? By the way, how you read my remark as interfering with the Olympics was majestically crazy.