[Vision2020] Tibetans Struggle Against an Orwellian Government

[Ted Moffett]

Nick et. al.

Thanks for this essay.

It is appalling that China is hosting the Olympics this year.  Given China's
ongoing suppression of basic human rights, which recent incidents in Tibet
highlight, China's hosting of the Olympics is an insult to the Olympic
tradition.  China's involvement in Sudan and the Darfur genocide is alone
enough justification to boycott the 2008 Olympics:
Steven Spielberg boycotts Chinese Olympics
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/13/wspielberg113.xml

Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg has pulled out as artistic
adviser to the Beijing Olympics over the Chinese government's policy towards
Sudan and the conflict in Darfur.

"I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual,"
he said in a statement.

"At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies,
but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes
against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur."

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their
homes in the five-year conflict between Sudan's Arab-dominated government
and Darfur's ethnic African rebels.

Human rights activists have accused China of being partly responsible for
the trouble in Darfur because of its diplomatic backing of the Sudanese
government.

Spielberg said: "Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for
these ongoing crimes, but the international community, and particularly
China, should be doing more to end the continuing suffering there.

"China's economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan
continue to provide it with the opportunity and obligation to press for
change."

China is the biggest customer of Sudan's oil, and there have been complaints
by officials the Games were being politicised after China was the target of
Darfur advocates.

------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett


On 3/18/08, nickgier at adelphia.net <nickgier at adelphia.net> wrote:
>
> Good Morning Visionaries:
>
> This is my radio commentary for tomorrow, 92.5 FM at 8:00AM and
> 9:30AM.  The 1100 word version is at
> www.home.roadrunner.com/~nickgier/tibet.htm.
>
> TIBETANS STRUGGLE IN DEALING WITH
> AN ORWELLIAN GOVERNMENT
>
> By Nick Gier
>
> In 1999 I visited the Drepung Monastery, 3 miles outside of Lhasa. There I
> saw firsthand evidence of Chairman Mao's Red Guard attack in
> 1966.  Political graffiti defaced the walls of the huge temple complex in
> which 10,000 monks used to reside.  The Red Guards destroyed two of the four
> colleges, and they either killed or exiled all but 500 of the monks.  Since
> 1959, an estimated 1 million Tibetans have died and 6,000 monasteries
> destroyed.
>
> Everywhere I went Tibetans either flashed a picture of the Dalai Lama, or
> asked if I could give them a picture.  Possessing his picture is illegal, so
> I was surprised to find several his pictures on open display in a travel
> office I visited.
>
> On March 10, 400 Drepung monks marched on Lhasa. Half way to the capital
> city, they were stopped by the police, many were beaten, and 50-60 were
> arrested.  At Lhasa's Sera monastery, where I watched dramatic philosophy
> debates in 1999, 500-600 monks took to the streets shouting "we want an
> independent Tibet."
>
> On March  14, Tibetans in Lhasa reacted to the suppression of the monks by
> throwing rocks at the police and setting fire to cars and Chinese
> businesses. The Chinese government reported that 16 have been killed, but
> Tibetan sources put the death toll at 80.  One Chinese source said that the
> police were ordered not to fire back, even though several of them were
> reported killed by a barrage of rocks.
>
> Observers believe that the Beijing government has been measured in its
> response because of the upcoming Olympic Games and the pressure that the
> government is under about its human rights record.
>
> The monks timed their protests to coincide with the 49th anniversary of
> the Dalai Lama's flight from his home country. On March 31, 1959, after a
> grueling 15-day trek from Lhasa, the Dalai Lama crossed the border into
> India, where he set up a government in exile in Dharmsala in the foothills
> of the Himalayas.
>
> Chinese officials have blamed the Dalai Lama for the protests, but he has
> always been committed to a peaceful solution to Tibet's status. On March 18
> the Dalai Lama declared that he would step down as political leader of the
> Tibetan exiles if his followers in Tibet could not use nonviolent methods.
>
> Much to the distress of many Tibetans, the Dalai Lama has given up the
> idea of an independent Tibet.  He is willing to work with the Chinese
> authorities as long as there is a democratic vote to determine his status
> and other basic issues. The Beijing government, however, refuses to meet
> with him, and there have been no talks of any kind since 1993.
>
> After a disastrous attempt to wipe out religion in China, the Communist
> government established an ingenious but oppressive compromise.  Through the
> State Administration of Religious Affairs, the government carefully controls
> the religious lives of Chinese Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists.
>
> Catholics may not pay allegiance to the pope, and Buddhists may not appeal
> to the authority of the Dalai Lama.  Most of China's Christians, numbering
> perhaps as many as 40 million, attend illegal "house" churches.
>
> In August, 2007, the ministry of religious affairs, in a proclamation
> right out of George Orwell's 1984, declared that no Tibetan lama could be
> reincarnated without its permission.  This was a very stupid and clumsy way
> for the government to determine who the next Dalai Lama will be.
>
> In announcing the new law an official explained that it was "an important
> move to institutionalized management of reincarnation."  It was an answer to
> the Dalai Lama's announcement in 1995 that his successor would be born
> outside of Tibet and China.
>
> The Beijing government has already chosen the new Panchen Lama, the Dalai
> Lama's right-hand man.  The 6-year-old boy the Dalai Lama chose for this
> position was kidnapped by Chinese authorities and he has not been seen since
> 1995.
>
> The Dalai Lama has become one of the world's most celebrated spiritual
> leaders.  His simple charm and embrace of all religions has won the hearts
> of millions.  Many have asked the Dalai Lama how they can become Buddhists,
> and his answer is that people ought to stay within their own religions.  All
> of them, he claims, have a core of goodness.  ]\
>
> As the Dalai Lama once said, "my religion is kindness," and one could not
> conceive of a better way to dialogue with the world's religions.
>
>
>
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