TIBETSPACE

TYC TO LAUNCH 2ND PHASE OF TIBETAN PEOPLE'S MASS MOVEMENT

Mr. Tsewang Rigzin, President of the Tibetan Youth Congress, today announced in Dharamsala, the second phase of "The Tibetan People's Mass Movement."  On July 28, Tibetan protestors will begin an "Indefinite Fast for Tibet--Without Food and Water," as a kind of preliminary action to a full-scale demonstration, based on Gandhian principles of satyagraha.  The demonstration will begin on August 7, 2008, the day before the Olympics open in Beijing.

The TYC is the largest Tibetan NGO outside of Tibet, and has long advocated independence for Tibet.  While they differ with His Holiness on his bid for autonomy, the TYC has always respected His Holiness's opinions and recognized him as the greatest living benefactor of the Tibetan people.  This recent announcement is extremely important as it represents the final initiative before the Olympics begin.  It is important that the world's attention be turned toward the Tibetan community during this time.  In the months following the March 10 demonstrations in Tibet, the Chinese were visibly surprised by the general outrage shown around the world, and it is time to rekindle this response.

And remember:  the Olympics in Beijing bring up several instances of racial and cultural suppression at the hands of the Chinese empire, and it's incumbent upon all of us to recognize that awareness of this widespread oppression provides us with more leverage in bringing awareness to the Tibetan situation.  So we should all applaud Luis Moreno Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, for seeking an arrest warrant for Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the President of Sudan on charges of genocide.  This is a brave and necessary step, and even if it has little immediate effect on Darfur, it serves notice to the world that the ICC has taken its role seriously.  China of course is directly implicated in the slaughter in Darfur, and while this action will have little impact on the Tibetan situation, it brings China's brutal foreign policy schemes into the light of day.  This can only benefit all those who suffer under the Chinese yoke.

Also, thanks to Agam's Gecko for alerting us to another racist policy well under way in Beijing as that city buckles down for the Olympics.  Here's an excerpt:

Bar owners in Beijing are now being forced to sign pledges to ban black people and Mongolians from their establishments. Question: Wasn't it the apartheid laws which disqualified South Africa from Olympic participation not so many years ago? Can we now disqualify China, or is there a double standard somewhere?

Excellent question, vital information.  With approximately three to go before the Olympics begin, it's important that our thoughts and prayers--and actions--take notice of the larger arena of human oppression.   Shaping the proper consciousness  doesn't require us to be on the front lines, and without the proper consciousness, nothing of  lasting importance will be accomplished.
 

U.S. REPRESENTATIVES MILLER (D-CA) & SENSEBRENNER (R-WI) INTRODUCE TIBETAN REFUGEE ASSISTANCE ACT

Representatives George Miller and Jim Sensenbrenner introduced a bill (HR 6536) in Congress to provide visas for 3000 Tibetans to enter the United States.  The bill comes on the heel of earlier legislation  (SR 504) calling for China to cease their persecution of Tibetans currently living in Tibet.  "The Tibetans face severe persecution under the Chinese government," Representative Miller said, "and must be recognized by the United States for refugee assistance. I am honored to have the opportunity to work with Rep. Sensenbrenner and our other colleagues to address this particular problem and I look forward to working with the State Department as this bill moves forward."

Bills, of course, move slowly through their stages, but I applaud Congress's long-term support of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people.   And  visas themselves take a good deal of time and patience in the post 9-11 era,  but Tibetans, as I currently understand the phrase, can apply for political asylum in the United States, and I would assume that this would become an option for many who are granted a visa.  As a refugee, their status is clearly defined (this comes from the Refugee Act as amended in 1996):

'a refugee' means a person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it . . .

Tibetans are roundly considered to fall under this definition, and we would hope that our country might eventually become a safe harbor for those Tibetans who would wish to come here.

 

WATCH THESE VIDEOS: THE SUCCESSION OF THE DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN DEMOCRACY

Early in 2008, Robert Thurman, President of Tibet House hosted a panel discussion with Elliot Sperling, Jamyang Norbu, and himself.  The topic examined concerns the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in light of China's decision to control the recognition of these incarnations.  In my previous posting, I included Jamyang Norbu's brief talk on High Asia, which was a part of this discussion.  Below you will find five further installments.  Each one lasts approximately ten minutes, and is extremely informative.  So take your time, take notes, and listen to each of these speakers responding to one of the central problems that confronts contemporary Tibetans as they grapple with the Chinese empire.  You simply can't find information--with its special quality of spontaneity and intelligence--like this anywhere else. Finally--many, many thanks to Tibet House for making this extraordinary discussion available on YouTube.  In the following segment, Robert Thurman is speaking.

And here is Elliot Sperling:

Jamyang Norbu is next:

And the last two segments involve general responses, first from Robert Thurman:

And finally from Elliot Sperling and Jamyang Norbu:

WATCH THIS VIDEO: TIBETAN (MIS)REPRESENTATIONS

As the Tibetan cause becomes more visible around the world, so too do those commentators who are vying for authority and respect.  As a result of these growing numbers, however, misinformation, disinformation, and progaganda have increased as well, and in the following video you will see Jamyang Norbu announcing the new journal, High Asia, which is devoted to correcting those misperceptions about Tibet and Tibetans that are becoming more and more prevalent online, in books, and on the air waves.  Propaganda does not come simply from Beijing anymore.  It's everywhere, in the most unlikely locations and streaming from the most unpredictable podiums. 

RANGZEN: SAY IT LOUD (AND WATCH THIS VIDEO)

For any of my readers who haven't heard of Jamyang Norbu, it's time to become familiar with his work.  He's a prolific and astute commentator on all things related to Tibet, and his authority and broad-based appeal only seem to grow as the years pass.  Information about Norbu is widely available, but this site provides a concise starting point.  The motherlode, however, lies in his blogsite where he regularly posts substantial, ground-breaking essays.  Pay special attention to the "Comments" section, which is always long, mostly serious, and informative.  This section consistently attracts authoritative and well informed voices, and you will learn much from reading it.   You'll find here the best and the worst of the Tibetan debate:  everything from the ego-driven "I'm-a-greater-authority-than-you-are-because-I-know-this-or-that" to the plaintive, intelligent, carefully considered arguments for Tibetan independence. It has become the great clearing-house of opinion on Tibetan affairs. I read it continually.

The video below was posted in late May of this year and records Norbu's speech at a rally organized by Team Tibet in San Francisco.  It runs just under eight minutes and begins with a series of images before Norbu begins his speech (sit through those; Norbu's coming).  His brief talk provides a nice summary of the major issues in the fight for Tibetan independence (distinguishing between religious freedom, human rights, and independence), and gives you a dose of his charisma.  He also places the Tibetan struggle in the larger context of the Chinese empire . . . Burma and others.  He could have easily added, of course, Darfur.

So have a look at this video.  There is a larger issue here which I will comment on in my next posting.

CHINA: EARTHQUAKES, NUCLEAR TESTS, CONSPIRACY THEORIES & A MEDIA NARCOSIS

The story at this point hasn't got legs, and isn't likely to find them, but rumors have circulated recently that the earthquake in China was caused by an underground nuclear test carried out by the Chinese military.  Have a look at one of the recent articles here.  As you'll see, the story has all of the elements of a good conspiracy theory--unexplained physical evidence, suspicious troop movement in the area, anonymous sources defined as "experts," anecdotal evidence everywhere--but it is nonetheless a good story. particularly now that Iran is lobbing missiles through the empyrean air over the Middle East. 

'Tis the season to be testing, apparently.

And not only nuclear missiles . . . China has recently evidenced the kind of talent for hair-splitting that would test the mettle of the best American Sophists who are still wondering what our definition of "is" is.  China has now announced that they will be happy to talk about His Holiness's personal future, but certainly would have no interest in discussing Tibet's future.  Revel in the rollicking embarrassment of it all here.

A teaser from the article:

The Chinese official averred that the Tibetan people had overthrown the 'theocratic system' and established the "People's Republic" in Tibet in 1959.

'He has lost all right to negotiate on the future of Tibet,' Dong said.

You decide not to respond to this because you don't have the time, the patience, or the  emotional reserves it takes to stoop this low, right?  Errors of this nature are like those errors that crash your computer . . . they're so egregious, so viral, so malevolent that they will certainly and clearly crash the engine that's spreading them, right?

Probably not.  Have a look, for example, at the popular perception of Barack Obama in the United States.  Twelve percent of both Democrats and Republicans currently believe he's a practicing Muslim.  Thirty-six percent are convinced he attended a Muslim school while he was living in Indonesia.  And when The New Yorker cover hit the stands yesterday, the firestorm that erupted over its bungled intention--Or was it bungled?--showed just how ready we are to believe whatever we wish to believe without seriously considering the evidence.

There is a further danger.  The popular media--I can't and won't attempt a definition of this phrase--so draws us out of our ourselves, so thoroughly interrupts any moment of potential introspection that might haphazardly arise in our lives, that we are losing the unique analytical powers that introspection bestows upon us.  And here's the stinger:  I don't see those powers returning, not as our culture's common inheritance, without each of us making eccentric and individual commitments to bring it back.

And of course individualism and eccentricity are what the popular, homogenizing media fears the most.   

Weariness with the Chinese obfuscation is symptomatic of this.  Constantly overload your media victims--that's what we are, victims of the media--with patently absurd and obviously time-wasting assertions, and soon you'll have us where you want us:  in a state of media narcosis where snippets of Jon Voigt's fascination with his estranged grandchildren are entwined seamlessly with reports of forced sterilization in Tibet.

Here's the problem.  The brain is a highly capable organism, and it can multi-task with the fluency and speed of a computer, but it's not so good at quality control, particularly when the incoming data stream is a corporate mixture of sludge, trivia, tragedy, and tears (this latter, of course, the staple of the American afternoon talk show).  China's rhetoric--and don't kid yourself, it's working--is no different from McDonald's rhetoric in its essential technique:  overload, overload, overload the air waves with fatuous claims and misleading suggestions, and while there'll be those who monitor and scoff, the media deployed in this fashion is akin to a kind of intellectual carpet-bombing:  some will escape, and pride themselves in having escaped, but most will succumb.

So in America, where we gallantly try to divert attention from our $250 billion trade deficit with China by periodically suggesting to the Chinese that the Tibetans have feelings too, we're drowning in a de-regulated media.

It is tiring, of course, to point out all of the small inaccuracies and tragic lies coming from the Chinese leadership, a stream of propaganda that seems recently to have grown in quantity and boldness as the Western leaders back off their threats of a boycott.  It is so tiring in fact that I often feel that it's no longer worth the effort.  Won't Americans see through this anyway?

No, they won't.  So this, then, is our fight.  The media fight.

Most of us aren't on the ground in Tibet; most of us aren't confronting the Chinese security forces on a daily basis, fearing for our lives.  I don't think we should ever forget that simple fact.  That is not our fight.

We're dealing with the media, our own front lines.  And that's a very different enemy, one that requires very different strategies for victory.  But that's our fight, should we choose to enlist. 

CRACKDOWN IN TIBET, SEVEN PEACEKEEPERS DEAD IN DARFUR & BUSH IS OFF TO BEIJING

Kudos to the Los Angeles Times for reminding their readers, as the outcry for the Beijing boycott has faded to a whimper, of the unique opportunity our leaders have missed, an opportunity that might have aligned us, however fleetingly, with the global struggle for human rights.  It should be noted, however, that the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, have made it abundantly clear that their absence from the Opening Ceremony has nothing to do with a boycott.  And while the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose country has a substantial Tibetan population, has declared his intention to boycott, one Canadian newspaper has called his gesture empty and meaningless, and implored him to attend.  As the Times points out, boycotting the Opening Ceremony would seem the perfect compromise, making a clear statement to China, while allowing the athletes to perform their appointed tasks.  To walk away from such a humanitarian opportunity this rare, to turn a blind eye to these blatant, long-term, and highly organized programs of human oppression, seems inexplicable and indefensible to me.

At the very least, this should be pointed out with mechanical regularity. 

AFTER THE BUSTED BOYCOTT, WHAT NEXT?

Most Americans had to be disappointed today when they read Lodi Gyari's report on the Tibetan delegation's recent meeting with the Chinese.  Disappointed, but not surprised.

"There is a growing perception among the Tibetans and my friends that the whole tactic of the Chinese government is to engage us to stall for time," said Lodi Gyari, who led the two-man team which met Chinese officials in Beijing.  While commentators like Jamyang Norbu have long embraced a far more impatient version of this opinion, even the most conservative of us realized early on that these talks seemed nothing more than empty exercises, designed to quiet the international community until the Olymics were done. 

Of course, it's sometimes difficult for Americans to read between the lines of Gyari's carefully considered prose, but one sentence in today's statement concerning China's stall tactics seemed to verge on the comical:  "My colleague and I told our Chinese counterpart candidly that we ourselves are beginning to inch towards this school of thought."  Inch?  How about leap?  Pounce?  While the Tibetan delegation expressed its disappointment with the talks, the Chinese had another perspective:  "The Chinese side expressed the view that the dialogue process has been productive," Gyari reported, "and that we need to keep in mind that a half-a-century-old issue of great complexity, cannot be resolved in a matter of years."  These are the kinds of comments that simply defy a rational response . . .

I still cannot help but feel that a boycott of the Opening Ceremony would have been an effective means of maintaining the kind of international pressure that was brought to bear on the Chinese in the wake of the March protests.  But that's a dream, as the Globe and Mail reports: 

The boycott movement is now in tatters, with no major Western leaders still on board. Only a few smaller countries - Estonia, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic - have announced that they will not send any representatives to the opening ceremony in Beijing.  Several other leaders, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, are not planning to attend the opening ceremony, but they have made it clear that that they are not participating in a boycott.

Even our state newspaper here in Arkansas ran an editorial a couple of days ago protesting China's involvement in the genocide in Darfur and pronounced these the genocidal games.

If our world leaders are unable to respond forcefully to the Chinese, we can.  Watch the Olympic Trials, then cut the television off.  Don't watch the Olympics. 

Besides, the Tour de France has started, and they're trying to clean up their act this year, which is more than I can say for the rogue's gallery that will soon be packing for Beijing.

THE BOYCOTT BROUHAHA

Having just returned from an extensive 3-week trip to India, I was disheartened, angered, dismayed, confused, but unsurprised, I guess, to see that Bush has announced that he will, in fact, attend the Opening Ceremony in Beijing.  "He believes he's going to China to support first and foremost our athletes. He sees this as a sporting competition," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.  It doesn't matter whether Bush sees the Olympics as a "sporting event" or not--it's entirely typical of the man to resort to simplistic, literal-minded language when confronted with complexity of any sort--but it does matter that his advisors have decided to side with China on this issue.  We all, of course, know why they have done so, and the reasons are unflattering:  money & power, both of which China has far more abundantly than Tibet.

The damage done by such a decision will not be immediately apparent to a President who believes that the Olympics are a series of athletic contests because the damage done here concerns the relationship between our national language and our national consciousness.  George Orwell spent a great deal of his time and energy worrying about the kinds of damage that political language inflicts on a country, and what he has to say in "Politics and the English Language" is directly pertinent to the current problem.  Here , Orwell is talking about the typical political speech, the kind that we all have grown to dread and decided largely to ignore whenever we are confronted with it:

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible.  Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of political parties.  Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.  Defenceless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets:  this is called pacification . . . Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them.

And so the Olympics, to our President, are a "sporting competition."  The mental picture of the Olympics, however, goes something like this:  the state-sponsored crackdown in Tibet, the arrests, the detentions, the torture, the refusal to negotiate in a meaningful way with the Dalai Lama's envoys, the fundamental denial of human rights to the Tibetans, the continual stream of 3000 Tibetans a year down into India, the forced sterilization and abortion programs in Tibet, the denial of education to Tibetans . . . all of these atrocities are bracketed, minimized, and overlooked when the Olympics becomes a "sporting competition," and our heads-of-state arrive in Beijing for the party.  The wink-and-nod between the Chinese and the visiting heads-of-state as they arrive in Beijing in August will simply nauseate.

It might well be, as some have argued, that the Chinese have become too powerful to snub in this fashion.  That the consequences for such a snubbing too grave, too serious.

I, for one, am thankful that such reasoning never held sway with Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela,  Desmond Tutu,  Aung San Suu Kyi, Jimmy Carter, Elie Wiesel, Lech Walesa, and Vaclav Havel, to name a few.

TEXT: TIBETANS IN EXILE TODAY

Tibetans in EXile Today, or TEXT, is an oral history project being run out of the University of Arkansas.  The project begins this month as Professor Sidney Burris and Geshe Thupten Dorjee travel to India with fifteen students, video cameras, tape recorders, and sound equipment to begin taping and archiving interviews with the oldest Tibetan monks, nuns, and lay people who are currently living in India and have vivid memories of Tibet before 1959. The assumption of the project is simple:  as these elderly Tibetans pass away, so too do their personal histories; there is, accordingly, an increasing urgency that this work be undertaken and completed in a timely fashion. The ultimate goal of the project is to build an online archive of these interviews that will be accessible to the general public.  While in India, the students, under the direction of Professor Burris and Geshe Dorjee, will begin interviewing a broad range of Tibetans in the three-week period alloted to them, and upon return, they will begin the process of editing the film and producing a promotional DVD, as well as preparing the interviews themselves for the archive.  Stay tuned for updates, and please keep these intrepid travelers in your hearts and minds.