The End of Tibet
by Al
Rolling Stone has a very long article on Tibet on their website called, “The End of Tibet.”
It discusses a lot of things, most of them very depressing but it echoes things I’ve heard in the last year or so about the changing nature of Tibetan society as more and more Chinese poor into the country, marginalizing the Tibetans. It also brings up the issue of violence and resistance. I first read about this last year but the younger generation in India is, in many ways, tired of preaching nonviolence since it seems to gain them nothing. They are seeing their homeland destroyed while nothing stops it. They are actively discussing taking a page from resistance movements in Palestine and elsewhere. Suicide bombers are being discussed. Apparently, in places in Tibet, violence and the killing of Chinese has begun happening on a greater scale.
This is all very depressing. As one of the places where the Dharma has played such a role and where the tantric Buddhism that my heart is connected to has resided for so long, it is so very horrid to see it destroyed and its people lose themselves.
Personally, given China’s growing strength economically and militarily in the world, I see no reason to believe that Tibet will be its own nation again. Most of the world, lip service aside, could not care less as long as they don’t have to witness the destruction themselves.
Comments
Hey Al,
Yeah, the whole thing about resulting to violence, whether it’s the Tibetans or “most of the world,” is that, in my opinion, it only has even a chance of being morally justifiable if there’s some reasonable chance of success, and if succeeding would not end up being worse for people on the whole than not resorting to it in the first place. Making a decision to start killing people should involve a rational evaluation of the circumstances, not just romanticism and/or despair.
I think you’re right: there’s no reasonable chance right now for Tibet to be its own country again. Probably the best deal that can be cut for them is a degree of civil rights brought about because of the attention of the West, which will be undercut if a resistance movement emerges and gets itself branded as “terrorist.” Sometimes, the realities are simply hosed and unpleasant–ask the Lakota, for example–which is one of the reasons they call it “samsara.”
W.B.
That is very very sad. I love Tibet and have huge respect for the Dalai Lama, but just don’t know if there’s any way of saving Tibetan culture, apart from keeping up the pressure from the West – though it would help a lot if Western governments were prepared to censure the Chinese government. In a way, it’s a shame there’s no oil in Tibet….