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March 14, 2008

The Dalai Lama on Tibet protests

Posted by derek at 12:04 PM ET

The Dalai Lama - I am sooo sick of this guy. Commenting on the recent protests in Tibet, the Dalai Lama criticized the Chinese government for, among other things, the "politicization of religious issues." Really?! This, coming from a man who is revered as a God-King, who once technically legally owned everything and every person in Tibet, and whose religious position allowed him to stand at the top of a brutal and oppressive serf-based society...now he says we should keep politics out of religion?

The Dalai Lama has urged his followers (in a statement primarily geared towards international media, mind you) not to resort to violence. This is an interesting irony since the protests in Tibet are commemorating the armed uprising launched against China in 1959, which was initiated by "his holiness" with funds and training provided by the CIA.

The only reason the western media pays any attention to this parasitic clown is because his fantasy of returning to power in Tibet often conveniently dovetails with western attempts to encircle and put political pressure on China.

To quote another famous figure in Chinese history, the Tibetan people may very well have "a right to rebel." It's unfortunate that their just struggles against real greivances are either hijacked and diverted by cynical political operators like the Dalai Lama or are distorted by naive new-agers who romanticize what was one of the most brutal societies on earth.

PHOTO CHRIS GREENBERG

More entries on: From the intern desk | Global politics | Religion

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Reader comments:

I think we are living in the age of hypocrisy. Dalai Lama is portrayed by the scientologist incline Hollywood as being faultless and non-violent. A quick check on history would show the opposite. He was trained and armed by CIA just like they trained and armed Bin Laden back in the days. So now they are commemorating their CIA backed armed rebellion with rioting against businessmen and stores owned by non-Tibetans. But another Hollywood saint-wanna-be Richard Gere is quick to call for boycott of China if they don't treat the violent rioters properly.

Posted by: Ed at March 14, 2008 10:18 PM

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you are all assholes and are complete and total morons and obviously dont know his accomplishments or the importance of his position.

Posted by: danielle at March 16, 2008 09:34 PM

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Well, if we don't know about his accomplishments or the importance of his position, why don't you tell us about it? Feel free to defend serfdom and theocracy while you're at it.

Posted by: derek at March 17, 2008 10:37 AM

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I am glad to find this article, because this seems to be the only website on earth that revealed the relationship between Tibet and CIA. Every other website is blasting Chinese Government. Who would want to start this riot? Definitely not the Chinese, and I don't believe people in Tibet would started this riot on their own wihtout some foreign motivation. In the midst of this International Attention, someone must have taken benefit.

Posted by: Vicky at March 17, 2008 01:41 PM

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hmmmmm. Looks to me like severe ignorance on both side of the positions stated above. Why don't you all do some serious reading on Tibet before you jump on a public forum and make such lame non-backed up assumptions and judgements.

Have any of you even been to Tibet or even talked to Tibetans or Chinese from Tibet??

I think not.

Unless you have you are in no position to pass judgement like this.

Posted by: bob at March 17, 2008 03:42 PM

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Hmm indeed. The original post was a criticism of the Dalai Lama specifically, not an attempt to analyze the current Tibetan movement, so I think we're having several discussions here.

I think the current events in Tibet are likely complex and not as monochromatic as simply being "initiated by foreigners." China has accused the Dalai Lama's organization of sparking the events, but I haven't seen any evidence of that, so there's no reason to swallow that whole. Some monks have been protesting the continued imprisonment of their colleagues stemming from actions last fall in Litang, a town in the ethnically-Tibetan area of Sichuan province. So it's not like these events sprang from nowhere - it's been simmering for some time. I also don't think that "who benefits" gives an ironclad explanation for an event. That method on its own often leads to pretty kooky conspiracy-theory type thinking.

Some actions in the current upsurge have been targetting Han civilians, by burning their shops, beating people up, for example. The Chinese have been playing this up, for their own reasons. It's unclear, though, if this is a dominant aspect of the protests, or just represents a peripheral excess. Of course, there is deep anti-Han sentiment among big sections of Tibetan society, who see their culture being threatened by a wave of Han migration. The situation can't be helped by the ugly Han chauvinism and racism so prominent in China today.

Bob - I actually have been to Tibetan areas in China and asked Tibetans a little about these problems - their answers are predictably varied, representing the wide range of opinions you find in any nation. More importantly though, on an epistemological tip, I don't think that this direct experience is necessary for forming an opinion on something. Much can be learned by making an analysis of the wealth of information already out there.

Posted by: derek at March 17, 2008 04:45 PM

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What are the evidence that Dalai Lama wants Tibet to return to the same reality of serfdom instead of, say, social democracy? He is not the same individual he was 50 years ago. Moreover, he was raised in that environment, taught to accept it. Your judgment of him is very narrow minded. He is trying to do what he can to push the right of self-determination for his home-land. He has that right. You are not privileged to his thought process and have no clue as to what intentions motivate his actions. I would suggest to stop judging people, in general. Address tangible actions and their outcomes without making speculations on people's character. Especially, of an individual who was able to earn respect of so many.

Posted by: Sky at March 20, 2008 11:16 AM

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Sky - A good source of evidence is what the Dalai Lama himself says. For example, in an interview he gave in the book China, Tibet and the World, the Dalai Lama complains that although the Chinese have allowed the freedom to worship, maintain stupas, monasteries, etc, it is insufficient because they lack the "proper settings" for their religion. These proper settings of course, include the return of a much larger monastic system, and resources to fund "proper teachers" and "study in depth." In the old days, the only way this bloated religious bureacracy could be maintained was through the exploitation of the Tibetan people. Have things changed so much today?

It's true the Dalai Lama is not calling for a return to the old system exactly as it was - if he did he would have no support from anyone. But his plans certainly neccesitate a deepening exploitation of Tibetans, with a significant cut going to himself and his band of privileged exiles.

There is much more to discuss: the misogyny inherent in Lamaism, the questionable material basis for independence, and more, but I'll leave it there for now.

The Tibetan people have it bad enough now, let's support their struggle without upholding someone who dreams of being another exploiter whipping their backs.

Posted by: derek at March 20, 2008 12:38 PM

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He is the key political figure in a tibet community. Without Dalai Lama people would pay as much attention to Tibet as they have to Darfur or Afghanistan. There would be no struggle within Tibet, most likely either.

Who is to judge what is "bloated" or not? A monastic bureaucracy served in place of a government, for people who accepted it even though we perceive them as exploited. If there is evidence that people were brutally oppressed at the time when they have not voluntarily submitted themselves to the authority of the monks, there is no evidence that the same would happen if Tibet was to become independent. Tibetans need access to quality social services and education, Chinese government has virtually colonized them and denied all of that. Dalai Lama and his followers is Tibet's only hope at the moment and no other alternative exists. Unless, of course, someone is willing to step in with more "fair" alternatives to the Chinese occupation and engage the world community, at the very least, to the same extent as he has.

Posted by: Sky at March 20, 2008 04:06 PM

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On Sky's relativist turn, which brings back shades of Richard Rorty, I'll just point out quickly that many Tibetans themselves were more than happy to throw off the feudal traditions of the Lamas and eager to re-distribute land when the Chinese moved in. It is hardly just "our perception" of them - it seems it was their perception as well.

As for your claim that the Dalai Lama is Tibet's only hope, all I can say is that we must have very different ideas as to what constitutes human liberation.

Posted by: derek at March 24, 2008 11:18 AM

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