TIBETSPACE

MARK YOUR CALENDAR, MARK YOUR HEARTS: LOSAR, 25 FEBRUARY

When Losar arrives this year, it marks the 60th anniversary of the Chinese invasion, the 50th anniversary of the ultimate occupation.  Special events are being planned.  And of course March 10, Tibetan Independence Day, is huge this year. 

So wherever you are, whatever you're doing, if you have an interest in Tibetan matters, simply pay attention.  Pay attention to the blogs, keep up with the Chinese media (remembering that state-controlled media offer up their own state-controlled form of truth, and that gives us essential information about the state's self-conception), write a letter or two, exercise your compassion.

It's all we can do, it's what we can do, and if we can do it consistently, mountains will move, things will change.

CHINA DETAINS 81 TIBETANS IN LHASA

China has "detained" 81 more Tibetans in Lhasa, renewing its Strike Hard campaign that originally began in 1983.  The campaign is activated by the Chinese whenever oppression is deemed necessary.  With the Tibetan New Year approaching in February, the Public Security Bureau, the overseers of Strike Hard, are sending a message to the Tibetans that there will be nothing new about the upcoming year.

The New Year, of course, is always a good time to consider human atrocity, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights has published its annual Human Rights Report for 2008.  I've only glanced through the report, but it appears that very little has changed over the past twelve months.  I note in passing that 80 Drepung monks arrested during the March protests last year have yet to reappear.  Eighty families who have no information regarding their loved ones.  It's a small thing, right, in the face of the massive deprivations that totalitarian governments regularly impose on their citizens?  In the face of what the Tibetans have already faced?

Not really.  Human atrocity is viewed from two perspectives.  First, we view it by the numbers alone; the greater the number, the greater the atrocity. Eighty monks unaccounted for can't and shouldn't fall in the same category as six million murdered; statiticians of atrocity understand this innately, and our collective grief arises from those horrendously expansive numbers.  Sadly, the size of the number often has a direct impact on the force of our corrective response. 

But the other perspective, the perspective of the family who loses a single loved one, and never hears from her again, is equally compelling, and from the perspective of the oppressor, equally effective in the broad demoralization that gradually saps organized resistance.  In fact, to the surviving family, the difference between one dead and a million dead is, in periods of deepest darkness, negligible.  The loss of one loved one comes to equal in the grieving imagination the loss of one million.  Security forces, levying their grim tax on human life, understand this, and apply this understanding at the business end of their rifles, their straps, their cattle prods.

Eighty-one missing in Lhasa.  A conceivable number?  Let's hope not.  And that's a prayer.

 

OBAMA AND THE SECRET KATA

As many of you know, a story has been floating around recently that Obama had a kata hidden away in his pocket during the inauguration, a kata, no less, blessed by the Dalai Lama himself.  It was purportedly given to him by Senator Feinstein whose husband, Richard Blum, had acquired it from His Holiness.  When asked if Obama would like to have it after the inauguration, Obama reportedly indicated that he would prefer to have it on him during the ceremony.  If you read some of the comments to the article referenced above, you'll see that Blume and his business deals aren't held in the highest regard by some readers.  A very interesting revelation, not of Blum, whose business practices may or may not be reputable (I simply don't know), but of the fundamental misunderstanding of the gift.  Unless Obama plans on auctioning the kata on eBay and pocketing the profits, his acceptance of the gift and the spirit that lay behind the blessing of it are the essential actions that we need to focus on.  If, in fact, the kata was offered, and if in fact Obama accepted it (and this story hasn't been confirmed, and I can't imagine that such a story would ever be confirmed by the White House), we can assume that our new President accepted the gift in the spirit in which it was originally offered--as a gift signifying the compassion that knows no racial, national, or political boundaries. 

That has to bode well for us, right?

HIS HOLINESS SENDS LETTER OF GREETINGS TO CHINESE

 Wishing the Chinese a Happy New Year, His Holiness the Dalai Lama sent the following letter to the Chinese people, both around the world and in mainland China:

On the occasion of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, I extend my affectionate greetings to all our Chinese brothers and sisters across the globe, including those living in Mainland China.

The past year witnessed many developments throughout the world and particularly in China, at times worrying us while at other times filling our hearts with happiness. Besides having to bear the brunt of natural disasters and other problems that hit the country, China also had the proud moments like hosting the world's greatest sporting event, the Olympic Games. The year that ended is, therefore, marked with great changes taking place everywhere.

These days, due to the global economic meltdown, the people of the world in general, and of the developing countries in particular, are plunged into an abyss of anxiety and suffering. To pray for the end of all sufferings of humanity, as well as for their happiness and well-being, is a responsibility that rests on all believers.

Besides having a long history of over 5000 years and a splendidly rich cultural heritage, China is also the most populous nation in the world. Moreover, it is emerging as a super power in terms of political, economic and military might. However, China cannot perform the responsibility of a super power in this modern and progressive world if there is no freedom, rule of law and transparency in the country.

President Hu Jintao's policy of creating a harmonious society is indeed laudable. Such a policy is indispensable for China as well, if it were to make a mark globally. Harmonious society should, however, come about through mutual trust, friendship and justice. It cannot be brought about by brute force and autocracy.

Not only should the Chinese citizens have economic facilities, but they should also enjoy the freedom of conscience, education and to know what is actually happening around the world. These freedoms are indispensable for human societies. If - in this fast-changing modern world - one does not keep abreast of the daily happenings

around the globe, then it goes without saying that one will be naturally left behind. In China today, popular news outlets such as television, radio and Internet - including the international news services like the BBC and CNN are blocked - thus preventing its people from knowing the true information about the world's events. I am immensely disappointed by such negative actions of the Chinese government, which greatly hamper the fundamental rights as well as the short and long-term benefits of the Chinese people.

The 21st century is regarded as a century of information revolution. And yet some countries of the world, which includes China, impose restrictions on the free flow of information. Such actions are anachronistic and hence there is no way that these can be sustained in the long run. Therefore, I believe that China too will soon become more liberal in terms of disseminating and sharing information.

Last year, many Chinese intellectuals came out with a number of articles and other campaign activities, calling for freedom, democracy, justice, equality and human rights in China. Particularly in a recent development, we saw an increasing number of people from all walks of life signing up to an important document called the Charter '08. This is indicative of the fact that the Chinese people, including the intellectuals, are beginning to demonstrate their deep yearnings for more openness and freedom in their country. It is, therefore, a matter for all of us to take pride in.

While once again extending my warm greetings to the Chinese people, I hope and pray that in the coming year the People's Republic of China will be able to create a meaningful harmonious society by ensuring equality, justice and friendship among all its nationalities.


The Dalai Lama
25 January 2009

Note: translated from the Tibetan original

CHINA STRIKES HARD

A few quick notes:

China's aggression against the Tibetans in and around Lhasa continues unabated.  Read the report here.  The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy has just released its Human Rights report for 2008.  You can download the Adobe file here.

With the Olympics over and done with, China is ratcheting up its oppressive strategies again.  We all need to make certain that President Obama is aware of our concerns regarding China, so write your Senator, and write the President.  It helps.  On a related note, Kirsten Gillibrand, who has inherited the Senate seat from New York, has ties with Tibet and the Dalai Lama.  Read the story in The New York Times.  She did a report on Tibet as a student and even met the Dalai Lama.

MONKS AT DREPUNG TORTURED, FORCED TO RENOUNCE HIS HOLINESS

 As the Chinese continue their "patriotic re-education program," monks at Drepung Loseling outside of Lhasa are being tortured, imprisoned, and forced to renounce their allegiance to the Dalai Lama.  Apparently, the human rights violations are continuing unabated, and perhaps, according to some sources, escalating.  (Read the story here.)  It's important, as the new administration takes office in D.C. next week, that we keep these developments uppermost in our minds and prominent in our consciousness.  The Israeli / Palestinian aggression is now filling our national quota for human atrocity, but attention to one human-rights problem invites attention to them all, and so we must realize that this particular front is broad, but deeply inter-connected.

Political action is often too narrowly defined in America; raising awareness is the first step of effective action, and that's a step that all of us can take wherever we are.

CHINA, OUR CHINA

 While Nixon and Frost are currently in the movie houses across the country, it's well to remember that the United States and China are rather quietly marking three decades of diplomatic relationships, ushered in, of course, by Richard Nixon himself.  Secretary of State John Negroponte was recently in Beijing to commemorate these three decades by watching, of all things, a ping-pong tournament, and one that was designed to mark the "ping-pong diplomacy" inaugurated by Nixon and Chairman Mao (full story here.)

Our relationship with China, of course, has a deep impact on our response to Tibet.  Human rights abuses against the Tibetans are proceeding apace, with the latest installment involving what one source, at least, is calling the "live corpses."  Abused and tortured Tibetan prisoners are now being turned over to their families at the point of death, and their release is being tallied by the Chinese as a freed prisoner.  It's difficult to underestimate the wretched cleverness of the Chinese in matters of this sort.

Americans who actively support Tibetan rights find themselves now between a rock and a hard place.  It's become common for us to see China as a "market," to shrug our shoulders, and to prepare ourselves for the inevitable and ongoing relationship between our two countries.  Have a look at the labels on your clothes, your coffee cups, your running shoes, and see just how implicated you are in supporting China and their policies in Tibet.  Even if you've done all you can to avoid buying Chinese, your fellow citizens haven't, and so the soul you save is your own.  Tibetans are still dying.

But China is not simply a "market," any more than we are (or used to be in healthier economic times).  It's helpful to remind ourselves continually that China is a nation of frequent and frequently suppressed protests; it's a nation whose history seems organized around long periods of fruitful and productive isolation followed by periods of troubled immigration and exposure; it's a nation of some of the bravest and most intelligent dissidents on the world stage.  Example?  Gao Yaojie, or Grandma Courage, as she is known in China.  Here is a woman who has heroically fought for AIDS awareness in China, and at age 81 is still going strong.  Read her story here.  You'll notice that she has all the qualities we associate with the spiritually accomplished:  kindness, compassion, fearlessness, and a wry humor about her lifelong struggle for an open society.

China has many such people . . . they don't control the media, they don't run the government, they don't command the armies, but they are contributing to China's national life, to its pulse, if you will, and we must never forget that.  In fact, we should continually visualize China as a nation with a healthy share of silent liberators. 

It wouldn't be far from the truth; not as I'd visualize it.  Besides, I'm having trouble discovering anything else worth doing.