Tibet and china.. are highly charged issues. and are not going to cool off by pretending otherwise.
conventional approaches have met with no positive progress so it is time to try something new.
if it was a question of ‘good and evil.. right and wrong’ then the way would be clear. such a scenario belongs in dream world.
there are very old issues involved here. I realize in many ways I am probably way out of my depth.
yet…
eventhough making peace between warring factions is in the short term as thankless a task as is--- at best. nevertheless, some cats are directed to be peacemakers, not the prize-winners of popularity contests…. so here goes….. :grunt:
Tibet is, from my angle/distance, obscure but has a long history of involvement in and association with china just as china has been involved with Tibet. it seems that this has happened in terms of imperial struggle and also through Mahayana Buddhism. this is the key.
one time i read a book by a scotsman who had travelled to Tibet about 90 years ago. he found it to be in a state of decay… and described it as having suffered 600 years of crumbling. a huge power there had suffered some kind of blow some time in the past ---but was not out… .. it was still a national entity.. the foundation was there.. .. a sovereign state. and due the appropriate respect. ( the scotsman btw returned and grew vegetables in scotland (findhorn) but that is another story.)
this kind of thing shows up in the movie 8 years in Tibet (or was it 7?)--the one with brad pitt .. ( I don’t care so much for brad pitt.. he just has too much baggage. ). Tibet was certainly quaint but so in need of being brought up to speed... agreed.
there are also the books of t. lobsang rampa that were popular a few years ago that give some sort of an impression... I liked him... . (the doctor from lhasa.. the cave of the ancients.. etc..) a bit weird (but not nearly as weird as the tibetan of alice bailey…if you ever came across the master d.k.…)
i once had the good fortune to hear the dalai lama speak. he travels a lot.. he has two jobs.. he is basically a monk and the king of Tibet in exile. he escaped over the border into india after the peoples’ liberation army seized his kingdom. 50 odd years ago. I just shake my head and wonder about the panchen lama. but it’s not the only thing. the 13th dalai lama ( who was a very able statesman) foresaw the demise of his country.
i have heard that many atrocities have been committed by the occupying forces. many murders. torture, detentions. ( the red guards get around.)
i accept that there has been a kind of genocide of the Tibetans who stayed. their culture has been under siege like the traditional chinese in the cultural revolution. much has been lost.
it makes me wonder why the chinese are so violent towards the tibetans. I can only imagine that there are reasons (ghosts) from the past that I know nothing about.
Tibet, on the other hand has gained the benefit of many of life’s 'comforts'.. I guess…. a modernish infrastructure.. some secularish education.. there are good chinese even in the communist party.. I have a lot of faith in people.
still the overall impression given to me has been of heavy-handed rule by immigrant chinese and oppressive provincial government backed up by a hard-line desk in bei jing. all this at the expense of the indigenous population.. I am not saying it is definitely so coz I haven’t been there myself and I realize just how distorted things can become and how heated issues can get.... it is just a strong impression backed up by facts on the ground for what that is worth.
so. to get at the real issues is going to require some unconventional questions and a shift in the way the problem is understood.. such questions are definitely not going to be posed here ---not atm. .. not a chance.... this cat knows its limits.
i might give a hint though.
there will have to be a sorting out. . Tibet is Tibet . it is an ancient entity with its own powers, secrets and alliances. the office of the dalai lama is not to be trifled with any more than is the leadership of the chinese: communist or nationalist.. ..
there is also that beast called international opinion..
Beijing got a shock at the reaction after the tian an men massacre and radically changed its approach.
backlash is hard to treat and always unexpected. attitudes re. the chinese occupation have been building and hardening for years.
it may not be long till the cards are reshuffled and a new hand is delt. this has happened in the past and can happen again.. who would have predicted genghis khan??? cats just hide from a thunderstorm like the ones that can brew..
however….in this world of an infinite number of possible futures all may yet be well. there is much more we don’t know than we do.
my feeling is that there has to be a clear border between tibet and china and the former should be a self governing autonomous region.
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