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A Simple and Brief Intro on Tibet
by David Shever
Understanding the Challenge
Tibetan teachers of past and present show us where
real value lies -- in the mind of deep compassion for all life, in the realization of selflessness, in an awareness discerning the interdependency of all things.
This profound understanding -- encompassed in Tibetan culture, thought and practice, is in danger of extinction due to a systematic political attempt by the Chinese occupying government to destroy Tibetan identity. |
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| Eastern Tibet was invaded in the late 1950's by the People's Liberation Army of China. With no hope of repelling the invaders, the Tibetan government had little choice except to try to negotiate with China. With no real military to protect the nation, the Dalai Lama attempted to work with the Chinese. Tibetans could only hope for the best, while they certainly feared the worst. China's leadership had announced many times that they had come to "help modernize" Tibet, and that once this was completed, they would return to China. However, such were not the real intentions of Chairman Mao, the supreme leader of China. He had told party comrades that China was a country with a large population and small land, while Tibet was a country with a small population and large land. Tibet was a prize to be obtained by deceit and force. As the world can today witness, the Chinese remain in Tibet. It has been over fifty years. It has been a long, sad history of cultural genocide of a smaller nation by a bigger one. Numbers of Tibetans managed to flee following the Dalai Lama to exile in India. Endlessly, China's Communist Party propagates
the narrative that Tibet has always been part of China -- this flies in the face of the evidence. China still today continues its domination with an iron fist and Tibetans are fast becoming a minority in their own land due to the relentless induced immigration of ethnic Han-Chinese to Tibet. This population transfer has been called, "the final solution". To the Chinese population, the Chinese government inculcates on its citizenry that the Tibetans are one of her minorities, are backwards and superstitious, they tell stories of how much China does to help the "poor" Tibetans and how happy Tibetans are for their help. It's simply Orwellian, it's simply a lie. To the world, China asserts that the Tibetan issue is a domestic "internal affair" and denies the legitimacy of international criticism or involvement. The lure of corporate profits and cheap goods continues to influence many global businesses and governments to turn a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis in Tibet.
Short term economic incentives seem to cause people to cave in. Over 1.2 million Tibetans have lost their lives directly as result of China's brutal occupation. Tibetans continue to live without basic human rights today under the rule of China. They do not have the basic freedom of speech which is the foundation for all valued human liberties to spring from. A concerted international effort to stand up for Tibetans and hold the Chinese regime accountable, seems to be the only way to end further atrocities and save Tibetan culture from extinction. |
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Copyright © 2009 seetheirfaces.com All rights reserved.
All photographs, artwork © 1991-2009 by David Shever |
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