TIANANMEN MEMORIES AND CTA’S OUTREACH TO CHINA
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The commemoration in the U.S., earlier this month, of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre was strangely subdued, especially within the Chinese student community in this country. It was very different in the period following the actual events of ‘89. I was in the States on a lecture tour with my friend Lhasang Tsering la, and we met and talked to many Chinese students. There were about 40,000 of them in the country at the time. After the military crackdown in Beijing, Congress passed legislation giving them asylum and permanent residency.
Most of them had really little or nothing to do with the protests in Tiananmen, but the cachet of being a Chinese pro-democracy activist was high in Europe and America then. The students we met all expressed near missionary zeal in their advocacy of democracy (or their understanding of it) and were no doubt sincere about it then. The way I remember it though, on the issue of Tibet, they could be very annoying, even obnoxious at times.
At our talk at Cornell University in Ithaca, Lhasang la and I were preceded by Rinchen Dharlo la who had just been appointed the Dalai Lama’s representative in New York. The Chinese students in the audience spoke to him in the most condescending way and scolded him about raising the issue of Tibet. They declared that the issue of Chinese democracy took top priority. Once they had thrown out the Communist Party and made China a democracy, then freedom for Tibetans could be discussed. I pointed out that the opposite was equally possible and the regime could become even more repressive and murderous. One snip of a fellow piped up “We the Chinese people will never allow that.” I laughed and shouted back “When have the Chinese people ever had a say in their own politics.” Lhasang la also jumped right in and didn’t mince his words.
Most of the actual Tiananmen activists we met in later months, Chai Ling, Shen Tong, Wu’erkaixi etc., were ambivalent on the issue of Tibet. But the exile government saw an opportunity for “outreach” with China and Chinese dissidents. A great deal of energy and money was spent, especially from His Holiness’s private fund in “cultivating” these people and it essentially got us nowhere. ICT staff devoted a lot of time to shepherding Chinese dissidents around Washington D.C. and introducing them to members of Congress and the administration. But not one of these dissidents ever came out openly to declare his or her support for the Tibetan cause. The few guarded circumspect statements they made about human rights for Tibetans were something they had to do anyway. No one would take them seriously if they didn’t. And where are these so called dissidents and pro-democracy activists now? According to Ian Buruma in his 2003 book, Bad Elements, Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing, they have either become go-getting business types and flashy media consultants, or are fighting among themselves, often viciously.
This is not to say that the Tibetan issue does not have real Chinese friends. Wei Jingsheng, one of the earliest and most steadfast champions of Chinese democracy, has spoke out openly and regularly for the cause of Tibetan independence. The journalist Cao Changqing has written two separate pamphlets discussing Tibet’s right to independence and the need for Tibet to be independent for the survival of the Tibetan people. Veteran Laogai research scholar and human rights activist Harry Wu spoke out in Dharamshala last March, making a strong case in support of Tibetan independence. In an act of censorship of sorts, his remarks were not reported on CTA’s websites and the video of his speech was not made public. I myself have personally met a number of Chinese activists especially in 2008, who supported Tibetan independence. More recently a Chinese dissident operating under the nom de plume of Kalsang Dhondup, has, on his own steam, been diligently translating every one of my writings (and doing an bang-up job, I am told) and circulating it in the Chinese language digital world. I have not paid him a cent or introduced him to Nancy Pelosi. Check out his website.
But these days the exile administration does not want Chinese friends who call for Tibetan independence or the overthrow of the Communist regime. They want Chinese friends who will come out in support of the Dalai Lama’s signature China policy, the Middle Way Approach (MWA). His Holiness himself has expressed great confidence in the success of his “Approach”. In a 2010 Hindustan Times interview he declared “One Day I Will Win Over the Chinese”. In order to realize this vision an “outreach” program has been developed and has been ongoing for some years.
In July 2010 His Holiness went on Twitter, to post messages to the Chinese people and to take questions from them. But even before this “Twitter” episode His Holiness had used his interviews and press conferences with press international media to reach out to those he now regularly refers to as his “Chinese brothers and sisters”.
In a 2008 Newsweek interview His Holiness attempted to redefine Tibetan/Chinese relations before the ’59 Uprising as being warm and intimate and not bitter and antagonistic as generally perceived:
You know, till 1959 the Tibetan attitude toward the Han Chinese was affectionate, very close, something normal. Chinese traders in Lhasa used to be referred to with affectionate respect. But, of course, the name of Communism is feared in Tibet because of what happened in Mongolia, and to part of the Buddhist community in the Soviet Union. Then the Chinese Communists entrenched themselves; more soldiers came and their attitude became more aggressive, more harsh. Even at that time we complained about these ‘bad Communists,’ but we never said ‘bad Chinese.’ Never.
His Holiness is not limiting himself to giving press statements but making every effort to personally meet Chinese people on his travels, even tourists and visitors in Dharamshala. Among these are Chinese “intellectuals” (khaypa) that he often mentions in his public talks as supporting his Middle Way Approach. To name a few: Li Jianglin, Ding Yifu and Chen Pokong who claims “he has met the Dalai Lama on many occasions”. These people give a surface impression of being sympathetic to Tibetans, and in fact write on Tibet and claim to be experts on the Tibetan issue, but are invariably vague on harder political issues. None of them appear to be in Beijing’s bad books or have records of even being detained by the PSB. One source in the CTA told me that these days His Holiness meets more Chinese visitors than any other outside group. This has troubled many Tibetans, particularly some retired officials, one of whom spoke to me about this. It would certainly be reasonable enough for us to assume that among the many, many Chinese who are readily ushered in to meet His Holiness (a privilege that a lot of us Tibetans do not have) there are definitely some agents of the Chinese intelligence service.
I am sure readers have come across media accounts of China’s enormous spy program to infiltrate American high-tech firms, universities, research institutes, possibly even the military and the bureaucracy in order to steal secrets and influence policy. The Chinese intelligence agencies have used visiting scholars, university students, tourists and other innocuous visitors for this purpose. Much the same sort of people meeting the Dalai Lama. There have been a number of well-attested security breaches in Dharamshala. In one instance when such a breach was uncovered and officialdom questioned, the then prime-minister Katri Professor Samdong Rinpoche, declared serenely that it did not matter as Tibetans had nothing to hide.
Chinese intelligence operations abroad are directed principally through the Ministry of State Security (MSS). But in our case we should not overlook the United Front Works Department, the agency that handles the Dalai Lama’s negotiators. Dharamshala is blissfully unaware of this but the mandate of this agency, revealed in a 2010 Canadian publication, includes the recruiting of agents among the Chinese diaspora (and among sympathetic foreigners), the control of Chinese students abroad, propaganda and long-term clandestine operations.
Most Tibetans in Dharamshala are woefully unsophisticated and naive when it comes to such matters. Dharamshala spy paranoia is invariably directed at “new arrivals” from Tibet. Generally it amounts to very little, but last year we had the case of an alleged spy Penpa Tsering, who was arrested by the Indian police for planning a “terrorist poison plot.” He turned out to be a low level agent of the Gonganju (PSB), and his terrorist plot was probably a dud as there has been no follow-up to the initial report issued by the Security Department of CTA.
But the many prosperous-looking Chinese tourists, pilgrims and of course “intellectuals” who seem to have open access to the Dalai Lama, and take up much of his time these days, appear to enjoy full security clearance. In fact I am told that that many exile religious organizations regard them as valuable patrons or jindaks.
His Holiness seems convinced that through such outreach tête-à-têtes with Chinese visitors he is somehow influencing China’s perspective on himself, and invariably gaining its trust and sympathy. Unfortunately, he has been able to get very few of these people to come out openly and declare their support for his Middle Way program.
Some claims have been made that Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo had expressed support for the Middle Way Approach. But going through his statements one only sees expressions of approval for Tibetan “autonomy” and for Beijing to have talks with the Dalai Lama. Nowhere is there any mention of support for the Middle Way Approach. The only genuine Chinese intellectual who has supported MWA is Wang Lixiong. But in an article dealing with the arrest of the Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti in January of this year, Wang writes:
“The path he (Ilham Tohti) has chosen is the Uyghur version of the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way Approach. But other Uyghurs universally reject it. They believe that facts have already proven that the Dalai Lama has caused Tibetans to waste 30 years without achieving any results and that arresting Ilham and accusing him of the crime of ‘splitting up the country’ once more proves that the ‘Middle Way Approach’ is simply a case of wishful thinking.”
This outreach effort is not confined to His Holiness meeting Chinese visitors, but has been institutionalized within the CTA with its own cadre of Chinese speaking officials appointed to what might be called “outreach” desks in New York, Switzerland, Taiwan and elsewhere, who organize symposiums, parties and social gatherings with whatever Chinese they can lay their hand on. This program has His Holiness’s full support and appears to enjoy considerable resources, unavailable to other Tibetan offices.
One of the more important “outreach” events organized so far has been a Sino-Tibetan conference ‘Finding Common Ground’, held in Geneva from 6−8 August 2009. According to the organizers it was “attended by over 100 Chinese and Tibetan scholars, educators, writers and human rights advocates”. Around twenty Chinese, all expenses paid by CTA, participated in this symposium, among them being Yan Jiaqi, a U.S. based social scientist who had served as a senior adviser to Zhao Ziyang, the ousted prime-minister of China who passed away in 2005. His Holiness also spoke to the conference.
In the “Final Document” that came from this conference there was NO endorsement for the Middle Way Approach. Instead a kind of compromise expression of “respect” for MWA was included. Five other core resolutions passed by the conference on “Resolving the Tibet Issue” offer such well meaning but anodyne suggestions and observations as “respecting the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people”, and “the resolution of the Tibetan issue is closely related to the democratization of China.” It also called on the Chinese people to reflect critically on “Han Chauvinism” (a term coined by Mao in 1956 describing Chinese superiority complex), and stated that “The Chinese government must comply with the principle of the rule of law.” The last and most feeble of these resolution stated that the Dalai Lama’s right to return to his homeland “must be respected”.
The last resolution generated some discussion, about the Dalai Lama visiting Wutai-shan (riwo-tsenga), as a first step. “His wish to go on a pilgrimage to Wutai Shan is his right.” But one participant pointed out that “the authorities fear even a visit by the Dalai Lama will unleash strong latent forces” hence no permission would be given for even “…a simple pilgrimage to Wutai-shan”.
I think the conference must have closed on this subconscious awareness of the inflexible reality of PRC’s refusal to negotiate with the Dalai Lama and even less the exile administration. Period.
The exile administration, including the prime-minister Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, has made the Dalai Lama’s “outreach to China” a strategic policy of his own administration. In his Phayul article of 2008 the Sikyong goes into detail as to why such a strategy was vital for resolving the Tibet issue. He provides the example of Mahatma Gandhi, who Sikyong claims cultivated friendships with “British people from all walks of life” to obtain support for his cause. Of course, Sikyong is wrong here on two counts.
First of all the friendships Gandhi made with nearly all white people in England, Africa and India, were genuine personal relationships based on a variety of shared interests, activities and beliefs, and not premised on “cultivating” them purely for political support.
Secondly the English and others who rallied to support Gandhi, notably Madeleine Slade (Mirabehn) whom Sikyong mentions, and the Rev. C.F. Andrews (Deenabandhu), were committed to the Indian freedom struggle for independence from Britain. Gandhi didn’t have to compromise with them on his goal of independence, as we Tibetans have done by progressively watering down our original goal of independence to the Middle Way, then to the Sikyong’s “Partial-Middleway” (giving up democracy and even accepting Communist rule) and then finally to just “showing respect” for the MWA, as was resolved at the Geneva conference.
There were other British promoters of Indian independence notably Horace Alexander and Wilfred Wellocks who formed the Council for Indian Freedom (C.I.F) and brought together Quakers, Pacifists, and members of the Independent Labor Party together to champion the Indian cause. The British supporters of Gandhi I find most appealing are the textile-workers of Greenfield Mill in Lancashire who lost their jobs because of Gandhi’s Swadeshi movement boycotting English textiles. There is a famous photograph of Gandhi visiting the mill in 1931 and, instead of the trouble that had been expected, receiving a warm and rousing welcome from these unemployed workers.
Our “outreach”, if we are to have one, should not be to self-serving and self-styled Chinese “intellectuals” (in the hope of gaining access to the rich and powerful in Beijing) but to the actual people of China, suffering under Communist rule and yearning for democracy and freedom. The Dalai Lama should be a spokesperson for our real “brothers and sisters” in China – the dispossessed and the oppressed: dying by the tens of thousands in “cancer villages”, slaving in Laogai Labor camps, and being turfed out of their homes and farmlands for development projects to enrich the oligarchs and Communist bosses. He might also speak out for Chinese Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners deprived of their right to worship and unrelentingly and cruelly persecuted by China’s Communist government.
JN la—a clear voice in the muffled crowd !
As a Tibetan my first ever experience of meeting a Chinese student, female, 22, who knows about Tibet’s problem, ended up like personally caring ( going as far as saying CCP is a family mafia and Tibet is historically independent country with its uniqueness) to virtually shirking when distanced, when can be kept in touch on social networking site or any. And now almost mute and gone. Why? It’s his or her way of dealing with us or our real case in hand. It’s, yes, one person. And I want to meet another one,educated so far or a student in a college or university. I met her in January, 2013. Even if I tried to clarify our ground, she almost acted like she already knew. When I went to see her off at a railway terminus in Paris, I asked her if it could be a problem for her if I was among her friends. She proudly said, “It’s between governments, not individuals.” But she had to tell me after a month that facebook was banned in China. She couldn’t even give me her skype ID yet. Though she is still in France pursuing her major in Economics, she may be leaving soon to China. I am so sure she would cancel her facebook account before going home. But she at least showed a manner. How many more can be there, educated or students, who won’t show even such a manner. Yes, Jamyang La, if it is to be reached out, it’s those as per your direction or recommendation…. It’s those who would show more closeness.
I still remember His Holiness the Dalai Lama publicly saying that it’s now the time to find faults internally as to atone or hone further. And added not to praise ourselves. Let others, namely outsiders, praise. It was not longer than six years before. But now the atmosphere seems to be so criticism-sensitive as per the deliberate attempt in preempting public at large with glittering words and self-praises. It’s really an insidious disease, a deliberate attempt to silence and make a petty name at last.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1950/11/11/1950_11_11_085_TNY_CARDS_000225879
Thanks JN la for another informative piece. I was trying to copy-paste a new story on the latest issue of the New Yorker titled “Tibet Resists” but it doesn’t seem to work here. I hope you got to read it.
Thank you Jamyang la. I agree wholeheartedly.
Every Han Chinese person I have ever discussed Tibet with will only accept Tibetans on Han-Chinese terms – at best as little children forever needing guidance, at worst as savages needing Han civilization. Even a neighbor who is a genuine Tiananmen survivor has absolutely no sympathy.
Meanwhile over on Phayul, a former Tibetan prisoner of the CCP is described as being “NOTORIOUS for his stand of independence for Tibet”.
Tibet was an independent nation, with a government, a flag, a national army. Will we soon see the great patriotic XIIIth Dalai Lama labelled as “notorious”? Perhaps to be replaced in terms of adulation by the great communist collaborator Phunstok Wanggyal?
Surely it hasn’t come to this? How sad.
An honest analysis of our situation & only on this bLog will you find one.
I agree – a very INFORMATIVE article that’ll make u really THINK.
I have to add – Just wondering about the source of funding for the ‘Tibetan public talk’ in the US.
Appears to be a TOC – Tibetan voice of China in America. US is a free country and all – I guess anything goes??
There is misconception that its only the Chinese government is oppressing Tibetans while Chinese people are not.
The very fact that Chinese of every colour from Jet Li, Jacki Chan to commoner will always think that Tibet has been part of China for hundreds of years and that Chinese have liberated Tibetans from feudalism etc.
Chinese claim that Tibet is impoverished yet many Chinese immigrate to Tibet to earn several fold more doing the same job in China. Ironically poor Tibet happens to name as Xitsang (Western Treasure House).
$ billions Chinese pour in Tibet cannot be matched for the real estate value of 2.5 million square km. Anyway most of these money goes into the hand of Chinese to further oppress Tibetans.
I hate to see when Tibetan lamas entertains Chinese including celebs such as Jet Li who have a very strong Chinese position on Tibet.
Its really sad to see when Mao is often praised by HHDL.
Hi Jamyang la,
Your pieces are always so well written and informative. However, I must say, as someone who would like to follow the advice of an intellectual of your ilk, your own suggestions for our path to freedom are never clear in your writings. I am a rather young guy, interested in what Jamyang Norbu la has to say, and what he would do if we would follow.
Your criticism of our leadership and their ideas are objectionable to some, but I find them amusing. Still, I have no clear understanding of what you would do if you were our leader. You seem to be an expert at picking cherries (as a worthy critic), and again I don’t mind it, but even as your supporter, I wish you would change your schtick every now and then, and let us know what you do in their position. I mean, I do recall a few instances where you let us clearly know what you would do, such as advising Kundun to lead us on the streets in protest like Gandhi did. Otherwise, we are left to glean and deduce what Jamyang la would do if he was the leader, given the often worthy criticisms you make of our current leadership. I don’t want to do that anymore, because I may be missing the point as a non-scholarly young man. I just want to clearly read what Jamyang la would like us to do to fulfill our shared aspiration of Tibetan freedom.
Since you invariably write in an easy to read, story telling manner, I challenge you to come out with some fun way to expose your readers to “what you would do, if you were the leader of Tibetan exiles (in the hypothetical sense we would follow your every word to a ‘T’). If you did make such things clear, step by step, especially to your younger readers, you could at least give us some much needed food for thought. I hope this is not too much to ask, and you will fulfill this request. Thank you Sir!
Dear Jamyang Norbu la, yet another sharp and unyielding analysis. This one is much needed and it’s very timely. We’re at a great historical moment right now when the CCP has managed to anger all sections of Chinese society. The fact that they bully Hong Kong, Taiwan and just about every neighbor is making more and more people rise up against them.
So it’s important to work together to share the causes and maximize the impact. I’ve been amazed at reaction from Chinese (mainly inside China) on social media (Twitter mainly) whenever I tweet about Tibet (in Chinese language). My such tweets are always retweeted by the Chinese within minutes. Yesterday a Chinese activist in D.C. Tweeted: “Tibetan National Congress is good.” after I tweeted that TNC has been a major force pushing the Congress to vote yes on renaming Chinese Embassy’s street address to Liu Xiaobo Plaza. I was calling out to the Chinese now it’s perfect time to work with the Tibetans. Another example is that a Chinese inside China tweeted: “I support the indedendence of HK, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Guangdong, etc..” in reaction to Chinese government’s accusation of HK’s democratic referendum of going towards independence His tweet was a popular one that was retweeted many times.
My point here is that it’s very important for Tibetans to be in touch with ordinary Chinese, as you wrote in this piece. And such connection can be done through all available channels and platforms, not necessarily organized or cultivated by the CTA. Social media is a great platform and it doesn’t even require any budget. I was encouraging Jigme Ugen of TNC and a few other Tibetans to tweet more and I translate his tweets into Chinense whenever I have time. Twitter is where most of the most open-minded Chinese and the most prominent Chinese activists are. FB is not as popular with Chinese because of the Great Fire Wall is more difficult to get through on FB than Twitter, but there’re more and more Chinese users on FB. Another way of being in touch with foot soldiers of Chinese democracy movement is to mobilize Tibetans who can speak and even write Chinese (Tsering Woeser is a great example) and there’re a few I know of on FB. It’s important to get these Tibetans to tell the Chinese people the truth about Tibet, in Chinese language.
I started working on the Tibet cause about 18 months ago at the height of the self immolations. It was the self immolators that inspired me and urged me to take action. As a Tiananmen Massacre survivor, in a way, I understand their intention, courage and sacrifice. Here’s my open letter to the Tibetans I posted on my Facebook in April, which has been shared by a few Tibetans: https://www.facebook.com/notes/rose-tang/an-open-letter-to-my-tibetan-brothers-and-sisters/556317744486351
Many thanks!
@10 on the fence
Well, for starters Jamyang Norbu writes very clearly in his latest blog entry- The dialectics of being Sheep
“It is time for all Tibetans living in the free world to start grow tusks or something else”.
@Pasang: Is your tusk growing in real? Or growing on Shadow Tibet blog? lol….just doing a reality check!
NG
@pasang
“It is time for all Tibetans living in the free world to start grow tusks or something else”.
Does that mean warfare? What does it really mean, with no ambiguity. I want to clearly understand what Jamyang la wants us to do, instead of criticizing others. I want to follow Jamyang la’s lead, I really do, but he needs to make it clear, without the use of metaphors or analogies. What strategy does he have that is more effective, please tell me, I am a young man ready to take action. We are all in this fight together, so just state what we should do in no uncertain terms Jamyang la. Thank you Sir!
Rose Tang you sure got big balls taking on the Mafia Party of China. Nice dopamine rush reading your facebook article, a fellow kindred spirit! I really wish more Chinese people see, feel,think with your eyes, heart and head, how utterly corrupt the system is. Yes, I suppose it takes time to educate the somnambulistic people.
You are doing all you can to spread awareness, much appreciated. Xiexie and happy tweeting!
Jamyang NOrbu la said grow tusks means grow some balls and fight back against the CCP. Stop sucking up to the bullies,fight back by whatever means. All this sucking up has gotten us no where in 60 years meanwhile Tibet is filling up with more Chinese immigrants which outnumber the native population and its going to get worse as time goes on.
http://tibet.net/2014/06/20/zhu-weiqun-you-are-not-who-you-say-you-are/
@rANGZENWALLA: When are you in India or America, how do you actually the brutal communist? Do you mean only fighting in blog and emotions or actually grow real tusk and show your real balls on the real battleground? Let remove this ambiguity first before making huge statement from the comfort of homes! Jamyang la actually acknowledged his own ability and comfortable living on the Hill of TN amongst hillbillies, yet he is able to contradict himself to the point that people need to grow “tusk” and “shoot” before talking. If JN himself cannot do what he is actually talking, what do you really expect from the rest? It seems JN is fighting the herd the “sheep like people”.
NG
Tibetans in exile have clearly shown that they are incapable of growing anything but their own pumped up image of themselves as being patriots…we are a sorry bunch living in a la la land,a few protest marches a year and “Like” on Facebook is all we can muster.
I can only think of two individuals in exile who could be considered of having grown ‘tusks’,one a broken man living in Dharamsala and the other living in Tennessee….both wishing,hoping and maybe delusional that our people will stand up for Tibet.
…the sad reality we face today is that our people have joined the Dharamsala leadership in congratulating each other on the launch/relaunch of UmeyLam….this madness of celebrating a document that gives up the rights to our land and freedom for our people is unique to us Tibetans in the history of mankind…..
….we obviously have clearly shown that we don’t deserve our country.
again, this blog is practicing censorship, stooping down to the state of ccp.
ng
@ON THE FENCE, when it comes to a nation and the people’s struggle, there is no rock solid formula as such. Everything has to be carried out with strong determination in your mind and high hope in your heart. It is all about guess work. Does the middle path proponent have any formula and plan? I don’t think so. Hence, the only option left before us is none other than standing up for the truth which is independent Tibet. Even Gandhi had walked in the darkness and ultimately freed India from British. Other than standing up for the truth, he never had any bullet proof formula. However, in the near future, we will have to make compromises and at that time we shall see. But as of now, lets stand up for the truth.
NG I am not talking about you. I know you have no balls or very tiny ones. I am directing people to the article about the massive inflow of Chinese migration into Tibet carried out by the Chinese government to cleanse Tibet of the natives, and as time goes on, while we are still in the wait mode, the problem is only going to get worse. What are you going to do NG?
NG, it has already been made clear by the webmaster and by myself that comments using outrageously foul language as yours did will be junked.
Honestly!!!!
when the Tibetans will ever learn their hard lesson and experience with Chinese?!!!!
I am not Tibetans, but I can understand why Tibet still under Chinese, and seems like there is not even any sign that Tibet will ever got independence in the near future, no offence, but this is my opinion
the majority of Chinese despise Tibetans every day, believe Tibetans the “Dark skinned, retard, barbaric people”, and still Tibetans replay to them…PLEASE!!! we are not barbaric people!! we are civilised!!! but Oh no!!! we are sorry!!! we can’t change the color of our skin!!!!
what the hell is this!!! STOP BEGGING the Chinese!!!!
when the Tibetan will ever understand how to resist by there own hand, and seriously STOP BEGGING the Chinese!!!!
its your issue any way, and you responsible on how to handle it….unless Tibetans will understand the true Chinese culture, and TRUE Chinese way of thinking…they will begin to step the true way of resolving their issue
but they must begin…before its too late!!
TSERING TOPGYAL
AGREED!!! very true!!!
Thumbs up!!!
Pls stop this nonsense follow middle way
Now we have all come to where THEY that don´t want change want us to be….the chinese population as the final straw of hope to grasp at…???
Compare where we are now to where we were in 2008 !!!!
And remember who stopped us…not the chinese !
We have all let the people of Tibet down !
The chinese continue to suffer or get rich, live or die under the CCP and that won´t change !The CCP has international support and we can´t even support each other in the fight for freedom in Tibet !
Our only chance is to disrupt business and politics in our countries and show both the chicoms and their buddies in our high places that we have courage and are willing to sacrifice in solidarity with the people of Tibet.
If we don´t start getting our act together and show at least DHASA that we are not taking this crap any longer then I am certain that within the next few years the Tibetan flag will disappear from the official scene completely,saying FREE TIBET will be banned and the NOGO´s will be reduced to some foolish kind of “we are all brothers and sisters” circus ( it´s already in process)!
Everything has become so ridiculously foreign to what this Cause was once about although the Cause inside Tibet has never changed.
That is solely our fault for accepting a leadership that is either too stupid to lead, has been compromised by the chicoms or is just comfortable in exil. Probably a combination of all three.
It´s either time to quit or to make a stand and making a stand begins at home !
@ 25
Middle way, side way, I don’t know. Follow your heart. We take Buddhist philosophy to a whole new level of middle everything so much so that we might start saying laugh only up to middle way or you can smoke the joint but only up to middle way. This kind of clinical deduction based on rationale and endless debates and intellectualizing from mind/brain based is all good ok but heart is compromised. We are conditioned that living from the heart is foolish and unwise.sometimes maybe But it is from the heart that you reach Buddhahood. You dont reach from intellectualizing and philosophizing. Just my few cents.
THERE IS NO MIDDE WAY
THEREIS NO RIGHT WAY
THERE IS NO LEFT WAY
THRE IS ONLY THE RIGHT WAY FOR TIBET.
TIBET’S RIGHT TO IS RANGZEN
TIBETANS’ RIGHT TO SEEK RANGZEN
So good to read and see you are still kicking the pig from the trough. It’s inspiring to see your unwavering commitment to freedom. For me, Tibet is any other nation. People who want to be free. Just like any people. The world’s discussion, denial or thoughts about Tibet reflect on the kind of world we live in and the justice we have. But I admire Tibetans for being partisan so long after being taken over. Sure the european partisans fought the Reich bitterly, but then the Reich eventually died, in the same generation. Tibetans have been putting up with the crap for so much longer and still keep on. So keep on keeping on. Some of us westerners have a spine and stand with you. Some of us, like me, even kick that pig hard.