Fifty Long Years

Tuesday was the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against the Chinese Communists, one of the many tragic dramas in the blood-soaked 20th century. Perusing the internet on the Tibet/China issue I notice virtually only two positions – the pro-China one (almost entirely Chinese with a few Western ‘realists’ and cynics sticking their bib in) and the pro-Tibet one which seems much more board-bases. I notice now that the Chinese web sites highlight all that was negative about the old Tibet – serfdom, slavery, primitive justice and an almost complete lack of modern development, all of which is true. They make a great deal of CIA skullduggery in Tibet in the 1960’s and 70’s knowing that booing the wicked old CIA will always find you a few friends. But didn’t China support, train and finance communist insurgents in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaya and Indonesia for decades? Why is it unacceptable for the ‘Running Dogs’ to do this and but not for the Absolutely Correct Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China?(that’s how it described itself in the 1970’s). Then they go on to claim that Tibet has developed under their rule, which is ironic because this is exactly the same argument the colonialists and the imperialists used to use to justify their domination of other countries. Nonetheless this is generally true too.

When I was in Tibet in 1984 I noticed the massive reforestation that had gone on around the Lhasa valley, a valley which had been completely denuded in the old days. The realists and cynics love to scoff at Western supporters of Tibetan independence, claiming that they suffer from the Shrangla La syndrome, a hopelessly unrealistic view of the old Tibet. They are quite correct for the most part. But of course the cynics and the Chinese sympathizers are equally unrealistic about Chinese rule in that they downplay its appallingly brutality and the fact that it is almost universally resented by the Tibetans. The two things I saw in Tibet that most sticks in my mind are these. Directly in front of the entrance of the ancient Ramoche Temple in Lhasa was a stinking urinal (and I mean ‘stinking’) and when I went in to use it (I was desperate) I noticed that the floor was entirely paved with Mani stones. Now Mani stones don’t mean much to me but I know that they are considered sacred by the Tibetans. This was probably only one of numerous ‘in your face’ ‘f*#+k you’ insults that the Chinese inflicted on the Tibetans religious sensibilities. When I visited the then still neglected and partly ruined Drepung Monastery, a young monk took me by the hand and gesturing to me to be quiet, led me into a building, along a passage and up some stairs. We emerged on a third floor balcony overlooking a courtyard. Stacked in the courtyard were thousands of butter lamps, cymbals, bells and pieces of gilded metal that had once been parts of large images. Beside a pair of industrial scales were perhaps 50 large sacks full of small Buddha images. I am sure that the Tibetan did and still do deeply resent all this desecration and destruction. And the old excuse that it was all done by a few ‘bad elements’ is a lie. It was a deliberate policy of the Chinese Communist Party, the same party that still rules the country.
Then there is the Tibetan exiles and their supporters who have a pronounced tendency to romanticize the old Tibet to an almost comical degree. Take the Khampas, a bunch of murdering highwaymen who terrorized of the northern grasslands. And when they weren’t doing that they were preying off pilgrims at Mt. Kailash – in between chanting Om Mani Padme Hum. A recent book about them is called Gentlemen Bandits. I don’t think so! Another book I saw recently is entitled The Tibetan Art of Parenting. What! Read travelers accounts of the level of hygiene in Tibet and the superstitions and taboos that surrounded childbirth, and shudder. And traditional Tibetan medicine? All the diplomatic missions to pre-1951 Tibet mention being swamped by people pleading for medicine and medical treatment. Smallpox and syphilis, easily cured or prevented in the West, were all… you get the general idea. And as for the catastrophe of the Chinese invasion, much of the blame for this can be laid at the door of the Galupa monastic hierarchy. For 34 years after 1912 Tibet had the opportunity to join the world community, to make friends, to build alliances, to join the League of Nations, the International Postal Union, etc. and they failed to do so. In fact, they adamantly refused to do so. Every innovation was blocked or undermined by senior monks, who saw them as a threat to their power. For all their abilities to defeat phantom Hinayanists and Sautantikas in mock debates, they knew nothing of the real world and their obstructive ignorance cost them and their people dearly.

So where does that leave us. To me it’s very simple. Whether old Tibet was a feudal hell or a spiritual paradise, whether the Chinese are vicious oppressors or much-needed reformers, the Tibetan people want to be and deserve to be masters of their own destiny. Put it to the vote and let them decide. Of course, the Communist party will never allow this because they know what the outcome would be. They will not let even the Chinese people decide who rules them for exactly the same reason. The Dalai Lama and his followers defiantly have right on their side but unfortunately right doesn’t mean much in the world of realpolitics.