By Patrick Fitzgerald
Not solely for students whose cars feature “Free Tibet” bumper stickers nor for those who camped out to be first in line to acquire tickets for November’s sold out appearance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, last night’s panel discussion on “Peace, Non-violence and Human Rights” kicked off a series of talks designed to educate those looking for the deeper meaning behind the Tibetan Freedom movement.
Hosted by the Stanford Friends of Tibet (SFOT) in Cubberley Auditorium, the panel featured Tenzin Tethong, former cabinet member of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, Chris McKenna, executive director of the Tibet Justice Center; and Kim Morris of the Trace Foundation. Moderating the discussion was Giovanni Vasallo, president of the Bay Area Friends of Tibet.
“We’re trying to educate the Stanford community on issues related to Tibet so they might appreciate the visit of the Dalai Lama more,” said Star Lee, a graduate student in neuroscience and SFOT secretary. “I don’t think the Stanford community is aware of all the issues surrounding Tibet.”
The panelists focused on issues including China’s human rights violations in Tibet as well as the Tibetan commitment to nonviolent resistance.
“I think there’s a shift in trying uman rights in a much broader context, including looking at the way people are actually living,” McKenna told the audience. “The political prisoner (issue) is always going to be there.”
According to Tethong, no real development has taken place over the last 50 years, and there is no guarantee Tibetans will continue their practice of nonviolence.
“Simply to have an image of Tibetans as peaceful and nonviolent is not quite correct,” he said. “The vast majority of Tibetans are on a nonviolent course, but many have absolutely no resources or abilities to resist with violence.”
McKenna concurred.
“Tibetans aren’t the only group focused on destabilizing one-party rule in China; rural areas everywhere are pretty bad,” he said. “The level of dissatisfaction in China is very high, and under-reportedly high.”
Morris pointed out that while much of the world focuses on individual cases, collective rights — such as health care, education, housing and employment — are just as important, adding that potential inroads in health care and tourism are a double-edged sword.
“We need to be preserving traditional medical practices,” she said. “The style of tourism is often not very environmentally friendly and may not give people a true picture of the culture.”
For concerned students such as Lee, Tibetan culture — not politics — deserves the spotlight.
“We don’t want to make this seem very political,” she said. “I used to think this was a lost cause. It still might be the case, but there is a culture that’s being lost.”
Lee doesn’t have to look far to find a situation that compares.
“It would be a great tragedy if Tibetan culture ended up like Native American culture here,” she said.
SFOT plans to continue the lecture series each Wednesday leading up to the Dalai Lama’s visit. Next week’s theme features “Impermanence, Empathy and Compassion,” and will be led by Arjia Rinpoche, Abbot of the Kumbum Monastery in Tibet.
