BOMBAY – Tibetan exiles, who have already nurtured a worldwide network of supporters, are trying to tap into a new activist base through a show of strength at the anti-globalisation movement’s chaotic annual gala.
At least 350 Tibetans are among the 100,000 people packed into a Bombay exhibition grounds for the World Social Forum, where noisy protests are held by the minute on everything from the US occupation of Iraq to organic farming.
But the Tibetan delegation’s small size belies a disproportionate visibility as maroon-robed monks and nuns hold nightly vigils, solicit signatures and stage a nearly constant march chanting, “Make Tibet a zone of peace.”
The mild-mannered Tibetans, however, often appear puzzled as they wade through the sea of causes. One gay rights activist insisted on putting stickers on the monks’ bare arms reading, “Judge me not by my sexual preference.”
Tsering Choemphel, a Tibetan studying in Pune near Bombay, held forth at an information booth, ready to list Chinese abuses in Tibet.
But asked on his views about globalisation, he said: “I’ve been hearing the term here. But I’m not clear what globalisation means.”
When given the standard definition of anti-globalisation activists — that greedy corporations are peddling polluted produce to exploited poor people — he said he was against it.
His colleague at the stand, Sonam Tsering, wore six buttons on his blue chequered shirt including one reading “World Peace Now” in both English and Japanese and another in French demanding government action against tobacco.
But regardless of their understanding of the causes around them, both students relished their time spent here.
“It’s been wonderful for us,” Tsering Choemphel said. “People from all over the world are coming and asking about Tibet.”
The Tibetans are a top beneficiary of the World Social Forum’s decision to move to Asia this year.
The forum, meant as a counterweight to the World Economic Forum of political and business leaders which opens Wednesday in Switzerland, was held for the first three years in Brazil, much too far away for the Tibetans.
But India is an ideal spot for the Tibetans as more than 100,000 of them live in the country, including their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama who fled Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
The Dalai Lama, who advocates non-violence to persuade China, has succeeded in putting the cause of the isolated Himalayan territory on the world map, with by his incessant travel and his winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Ngawang Drakmargyapon, a member of the government-in-exile set up by the Dalai Lama in India and spokesman for the Tibetan delegation in Bombay, said the Tibetans saw an opportunity at the World Social Forum even though “we are not necessarily an anti-globalisation movement.”
“The issues they are discussing here have an effect on Tibet, with the free market China is bringing in,” he said.
“What we have today in Tibet is cheap labour, prostitution and karaoke bars that are threatening Tibetan culture.”
He said the Tibetans had also found a few pointers from other activists. A banner set up by low-caste Hindus to collect signatures prompted the Tibetans to get their own 200-meter (-yard) cloth where people from around the world can show support for making Tibet a “zone of peace.”
“I have come here for the freedom of my people. I am doing my duty,” said Tenzin Dakpa, 23, a monk who lives in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Asked about the other rallies nearby where hundreds screamed slogans against the United States, the taciturn monk offered little opinion.
“I’m not sure what is happening in Iraq. I haven’t had time to follow it as I’m busy following the Buddhist rituals,” he said.
“But since they’re shouting, I’m sure something is wrong.”
