Oh, What A Tangled Web
Buddhist monks, I always thought, were the most sublimely peaceful people in the world. Buddhism, I thought, truly was a transcendental state of being, from which no violence could emanate, merely peaceful contemplation and a realization of the higher truth and beauty of existence. It may very well be all of that. Certainly, taking the exterior and the expressed interior of the Dalai Lama, and the universal peace and love that he espouses, this is the face of Buddhism.So what we've been seeing of late in Tibet is another aspect of Buddhism; this is Buddhist rebellion against an unjust and cruel occupation of a traditional culture and religion that deserves respect, not the relentlessly steady and stealthy annihilation that has been the course of action by Chinese rule. Whose manifest destiny is this? The transporting and encouraged migration of Han Chinese to Tibet to tip the scale of population as much in favour of China as possible.
The expenditure of vast sums of money and energy and materials in modernizing transport by road and rail and air to Tibet to further encourage migration and settlement of Chinese, bringing business and opportunities and tourists to the area has enriched the Chinese settlers, but not Tibetans. Ethnic Tibetans experience a different standard of living; economic growth has yet to embrace their lives.
China remains adamant in the face of appeals from the Dalai Lama, whom China has succeeded in demonizing, terming him an unregenerate threat to the sanctity of a whole China, a one-China, an indivisible China. This is China's ideal of an engineered society; the geography of Tibet is their unquestioned hegemonic property. Chinese overlords, Tibetan supplicants.
What the Dalai Lama appealed to China for, as a supplicant for his people, his culture and his religion under dire siege, was to be granted ethnic and cultural respect - tolerance - not independence. What to the outside world appears to be a moderate and reasonable request, signifies to China a grave offence against its sovereignty. China will not be placated by a humble request from a mendicant preacher.
An earlier uprising by native Tibetans, in 1959, quelled, quashed murderously by China was what led to the Dalai Lama fleeing into exile in fear for his life. Where neighbouring India gave him respectful refuge. His kingdom is bereft of his presence; he holds court in India, among other exiled Tibetans, all eager and hopeful that they may some day soon return to their embattled historical landscape.
And what began as a peaceful demonstration in Lhasa, on the half-century anniversary of that earlier insurrection, degenerated into violence, days later. China will not release Tibet, return their independence to them. Insistent on the legitimacy of their historical imperialism, centuries old, confirmed in the early years of Communist rule. Affirmed again in 1989 by another brutal crackdown led by China's current president.
What to do? A powerful country is faced with an outlawed demonstration turned into a violent insurrection, yet again. There is no political currency for entertaining the slightest thought of loosening the country's iron grip on Tibet. It's a troublesome province that requires, time and again, a hard thunk upside the head to remind it of its humble lack of independence.
Violence. Buddhist monks and their followers setting fire to Han Chinese shops and businesses, cars and homes. Groups of protesters continue to set fire to shops, businesses and cars owned by the Chinese interlopers; they burn Chinese flags. Ultimately, every Chinese-owned shop is destroyed. Tibetan-owned shops and businesses left untouched. This is a response to the insult against Buddhist Tibetans against the restrictions on their right to worship.
All contact with the outside world - while Chinese troops have been brought in with their tanks and armoured vehicles, replacing the Chinese police who were outnumbered and attacked - has been closed off. There is a determined hunt to discover the whereabouts of the core group of protest leaders, and their associates. The full extent of the letter of the law will be brought down upon them, hard.
The monks and their supporters who marched into the town of Xiahe attacked government buildings, the police station and the police, before being dispersed. Foreign journalists turned away at roadblocks. Thousands of Chinese troops have been pouring into the neighbouring provinces where three million Tibetans live.
No country can afford to allow violent insurrections to disrupt the lives of its citizens. To destroy property, defy authority, upset the economic and social stability of society. Is that not so?
Labels: Justice, Political Realities, Religion, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, March 16, 2008
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