By Tenzing Jigme
This year, for the first time in the history of almost fifty years’ of Tibetan freedom struggle in exile, we witnessed activists for a Free Tibet go inside Tibet and hold protest there. The momentum is on our side. As the 2008 Olympics approaches, the eyes of the world will be on China. This will give our movement a platform to expose China to the world; expose them of the truth in an unprecedented manner that Tibetans have not done before. We all know that Tibetans in Tibet are being denied the most basic human rights. When the Universal Declaration of Human rights has been so grossly violated by the China and no one else in the world is dared to do anything so strongly about it then it is our duty as Tibetans to speak out for our people. No matter how tough it is and how many adversaries our movement faces, we have to keep fighting because that is the right thing to do.
One of the Students For a Free Tibet (SFT) activists who participated in the Everest Base Camp Campaign last month was from Scotland. I asked him when he was returning back home from Katmandu? He replied that he had to be back in two days’ time to catch up with the upcoming elections in Scotland. Scotland is a country that has an autonomous arrangement with the United Kingdom but there are many Scottish who opt for independence at the same time. He wanted to get back and vote to make sure that his country remained an autonomous region because he believed that was in the best interest of his country.
Being a Tibetan this was really interesting to me. Lately there has been some sort of outcry among some Tibetans in the community after His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) adopted the Middle Way Approach. The middle way approach basically calls for Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People and self-governance through an autonomous arrangement (See Options for Tibet’s Future Political Status Published by Tibetan Parliamentary & Policy Research Center, 2002). After lot of conflicting thoughts; research and studies have convinced me that this is pretty much the best possibility for Tibetans to gain their basic human rights back. There are about thirty three countries in the World today that enjoy an autonomous agreement. If we get complete independence then so much the better, but for now I think the chances of reaching an agreement with the Chinese is more realistic through the Middle Way Approach.
At a Tibet Support Group Conference in New York couple of years ago, Special Envoy Lodi Gyari stated that China had made it clear they will not come to the table to discuss the issue of independence for Tibet. Other than that, they are open to any discussion. This has been the PRC’s stance since the days of Deng Xiaoping. The TGIE has not much of a choice but to act in accordance with the Chinese. In order for there to be any progress on the Tibet issue they understand that some sort of compromise must be met so that they can meet face to face with the Chinese Government Officials. This is the first step to start some sort of dialogue before anything else. We know that China is a very powerful nation. It has been over forty years since the illegal occupation of the nation of Tibet by China. Over these years the world has seen a very different China from the years of Mao. China has grown to become a very powerful nation both economically and militarily. They can easily be put right there with the United States and Europe in terms of how much influence they have on world affairs. This makes it an even bigger challenge for us Tibetans and the Tibetan freedom movement to achieve our rightful goal.
Our movement has witnessed an increase in political activities and direct action campaigns related to Tibetan Freedom Struggle around the world in the past couple of years. Younger Tibetans are getting involved in the movement. All these are good signs. But then there are some who like to go around giving fiery speeches about complete independence, and resort to crude criticism of His Holiness and the TGIE at every opportunity they get. Most of these individuals I know love their country and have great passion for the Tibetan cause. But when one goes around instigating each one against another then we become divided. We live in a free society, so every individual is entitled to his or her freedom of speech, but I think that these kinds of negative acts are more harmful to the Tibetan movement than being helpful. The road to freedom for us travels through unity. The Chinese have also in the past resorted to different tactics to infiltrate into Tibetan communities and tried to divide us. Tibetans need to be wary and make sure China does not succeed in doing that. Countries like South Africa and East Timor which recently got their independence have taught us how powerful a united voice can be.
Tibetans need not look far. India is an eye-opening example. Gandhi’s philosophy of “Unity is strength” helped India gain independence after more than 300 years of British rule.
Time is running out fast. His Holiness is getting older. Any support we have right now in the international community is directly or indirectly due to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s charismatic influence. By failing to negotiate and compromise to an agreed term among ourselves, how long must we wait before our culture will be totally wiped out? China has already extended modern highways and railroads extensively into Tibet, which is further accelerating the transfer of Han population and other ethnic Chinese minorities into cultural Tibetan territories. Still works are underway to build more railway and highway networks and increase flight connectivity inside Tibet. We know that Tibetans have already become a minority in Tibet. If Tibetans continue with their excessively arrogant approach without some practical foresight, there is reason to believe that complete annihilation of Tibetan race may not be a distant imaginary flip. By then it may be too late to be penitent.
Therefore it is important for Tibetans to stand together behind His Holiness, the TGIE, and show China that we support our leaders and the policies of our elected officials.
All Tibetans at the end of the day want rangzen. Even when he speaks to Tibetan audiences around the world, His Holiness has always called on Tibetan not to give up the struggle for freedom. Governments have to bend and be flexible in their diplomatic effort to reach a compromising solution. If tomorrow, China concedes with the kind of agreement proposed by the TGIE and is ready to create a genuine autonomy that is mutually acceptable to both sides, I find there is no reason why we should not accept it.
We owe that to the Tibetans who still live in Tibet. Tibetans in Tibet have waited and suffered long enough. Any kind of opportunity for them to gain their freedom back must not be missed. They have been waiting for years to put a picture of His Holiness in their homes, they have been yearning to get a chance to raise the flag of Tibet in their country and most importantly they have been waiting for years to see His Holiness return to his land and get a blessing from him. The sooner they get that opportunity the better for all of us.
The writer is an activist, musician and a free lance writer. He started and was the President of SFT chapter at the University of Colorado in Denver (1999-2002). Currently he is the Executive Director of Colorado Friends of Tibet and was also elected President of the Tibetan Association of Colorado for 2007. He can be contacted at: tenzingj@yahoo.com
