By Judith King
Ten years ago, the 6th July – the birthday of Tibet’s exiled leader, the 14th Dalai Lama – was chosen as an auspicious day on which to launch the Tibet Society of South Africa (TSSA) in Durban.
As the first Tibet Support Group founded on the African continent, the TSSA will be celebrating this event, in conjunction with the Office of Tibet SA, by holding a “Tibet Festival of Compassion” on the 17th July at Durban’s Jewish Club.
For Renato Palmi, founder member of the TSSA and architect of the current Tibet movement in South Africa, the formation of the Society was the realisation of a dream. While travelling alone and extensively through Tibet in the latter part of 1994, he observed the plight of the indigenous Tibetan people suffering under the heel of China’s oppressive military and economic domination, forged since the PRC’s invasion and illegal occupation of Tibet in 1950.
Although not a follower of Buddhism, Palmi felt obliged to inform his newly liberated fellow South Africans about the Tibetans’ freedom struggle and to rally support for their cause. He thoroughly researched the historical and contemporary political issues relating to Tibet, and once the word spread about this groundwork, he was invited by the Dalai Lama and members of his government-in-exile to a private meeting in Dharamsala, India, to discuss the concept of a South African Tibet Support Group.
Over the years since 1995, a team of dedicated individuals has volunteered time, energy, skills and private resources in funding, administering, promoting and building the TSSA. “We have raised the profile of Tibet throughout South Africa”, says Palmi, but he is still “constantly shocked at the lack of public knowledge and interest when it comes to the human rights abuses being perpetrated in Tibet.”
The Dalai Lama has visited South Africa three times during the past decade, first in 1996, then again in 1999 and most recently in November 2004. Palmi explains that there have been many opportunities for South Africans, especially those who follow Buddhism or have an interest in Tibet, to take on the Tibetan struggle, if only as a humanitarian commitment.
However, the TSSA’s activist interventions, which are non-violent in nature (as would befit any action taken on behalf of the Nobel Peace Laureate and consummate pacifist, the Dalai Lama) have typically been left to a paltry few to sustain. So only these committed people, who often number less than thirty, will silently picket the PRC Consulate in Durban on commemorative days, or write letters to media editors to strengthen the voice of outrage at the slow but steady extinction of the sovereign nation of Tibet.
“Many of the people who flock to see the Dalai Lama, demanding that he sign their books or bless them personally, and who are free under our exemplary Constitution and Bill of Rights, consciously choose not to do anything for his beleaguered people, the Tibetans – whose human, cultural and religious rights are relentlessly violated,” Palmi points out.
“How can we, who now enjoy our own, hard-won freedom, turn our backs on the repeated pleas of one of the world’s most revered spiritual leaders? The Dalai Lama is continually lobbying to democratic governments and beseeching social consortia in the free world to help save Tibet, while graciously respecting their various internal priorities and protocols.”
This is the role for the TSSA, as a registered non-profit organisation, that Palmi was originally inspired to forge. The Society’s activities have irked the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, and Palmi has tirelessly challenged the South African government on its silence regarding the oppression and exploitation of Tibet.
“Our government refuses to reply to these questions, or to talk about the human rights violations taking place inside Tibet, so one can only conclude that South Africa’s trade agreements with China are seen to outweigh the importance of the Tibetans’ human rights,” says Palmi.
When the TSSA put together a photographic exhibition entitled “The Truth About Tibet” over two years ago at Durban’s NSA Gallery, documenting the degradation of Tibet’s natural, cultural and human resources by the PRC, the Durban Chinese Consulate personnel tried unsuccessfully to have the exhibition closed down. “I have been labelled by both PRC and South African officials as ‘troublesome, mischievous and a threat to China’s good relations with South Africa’”, says Palmi with a smile. “Either I am much more powerful than I think I am, or our exposés have touched a nerve …” The TSSA celebrates its 10th anniversary with pride at what it has done for the exiled Tibetan community and for the Tibetan cause, working on a shoestring budget and within a shared infrastructure created through the loyalty of its relatively tiny membership. “Many of our supporters are not paid-up members but have helped ‘in kind’, and this collective effort has built strong bridges for the Society,” he says.
The TSSA has donated funds to support Tibetan orphans and young refugees living at the Tibet Children’s Village in Dharamsala, hosted numerous public events, participated in international social fora and NGO conferences, and facilitated cultural and religious exchanges between the South African and Tibetan nations. Exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks, political representatives and traditional doctors have been hosted for teachings and fellowship visits, and youth projects have been implemented at various schools in KZN, informing local learners about Tibet and fostering letter-friendships with Tibetan pupils in Dharamsala.
Palmi says that South Africans need to hear the personal stories of Tibetans who have either escaped from Tibet or been released from prison. “The suffering of these people would be very familiar to many South Africans who were brutalised under apartheid, and would bring home, in a very direct way, what an outrage it is that our Tibetan brothers and sisters are still nowhere near free,” he says.
“Cultural events are great, but they tend to perpetuate romantic fantasies about the old exotic Tibet, an aspect which no longer exists there, except for Chinese-scripted tourist attractions. We need our society to know about the cruel socio-economic hardships, and the ongoing torture and executions endured by Tibetans inside Tibet.”
“It’s a strange paradox”, he adds. “The Tibetan freedom movement, which is non-violent, receives little if any space in the South African media. Civil society and academia in this country don’t even know about, let alone speak out for, the Tibetan cause, yet they provide endless momentum for other freedom struggles that use only violence as a means to their ends. Even our President has given vocal support to foreign freedom movements, but remains silent on the issue of Tibet and our own country’s role in its subjugation.”
Palmi hopes that the ‘Tibet Festival of Compassion’ will encourage the public to become more knowledgeable about and active in saving Tibet: “It is not at all alarmist to say that the Tibetan people and their way of life are on the verge of extinction, unless we all, as one human family, join up in trying to stop China’s colonisation and destruction of this ancient civilisation.”
The event will feature Tibetan monks making a Sand Mandala, talks and films about Tibet and an evening performance of Tibetan traditional dancing. It is an ideal and unique opportunity for the public to meet and interact with exiled Tibetans. The day starts from 08h30 with the opening ceremony of the Tibetan Sand Mandala. There is a R20-00 entrance fee.
For further information on Tibet, log onto: www.tibet.org.za For more information on the ‘Tibet Festival of Compassion’, telephone 031 – 202 7577
FACTS ON TIBET:
The People’s Republic of China invaded Tibet in 1950. In 1959, the Dalai Lama was forced to flee into a life of exile in India. Well over a million Tibetans have died as a direct result of China’s occupation of Tibet. Tibetan monks, nuns as well as lay citizens are continually arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese government. Ethnic Tibetans are economically marginalised and have become a minority in their own country, due to the increase of Chinese settlers inside Tibet. The Chinese government has banned the Tibetan national flag, anthem and photos of the Dalai Lama in Tibet. The Chinese government controls and monitors all facets of religion inside Tibet and often forces Buddhist monks and nuns to swear allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party. The Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile have no formal representation at international institutions such as the United Nations.
