Tibetans Need to Act Swiftly and The World Must Open Its Eyes

Tibetans Need to Act Swiftly and The World Must Open Its Eyes

September 17, 2012

Tibetans Need to Act Swiftly and The World Must Open Its Eyes

iPolak: In the second upcoming General Body Meeting of Tibetans in exile organized by the CTA, Tibetans should seriously engage in discussion and make a decision based on a realistic approach towards their struggle, rather than depending on the international community to pressure the Chinese government. This is a struggle for Tibet by Tibetans. History will remember.  Tibet was a free country before 1950 and therefore any Tibetan can demand freedom and individual Tibetans must respect each other’s freedom of speech and choice.  Dividing our own people on the basis of their democratic right to free choice and decision represents the continuation of what is transpiring in China and in Tibet under the Chinese Communist regime.  In the world’s present condition, if the middle way approach for Genuine Autonomy sought by the CTA is good enough, then Tibetans can support it, but every individual should and must take responsibility to ask questions, make plans and take action within some time frame of how they are taking the next step towards achieving Genuine Autonomy and what if it is not at all accepted or delayed like it is being done till now. We must understand that nine rounds of the secretive talks held in the CTA’s pursuit of Genuine Autonomy have proved futile and ultimately a failure.  Upon their resignation, two previous representatives expressed their frustration over the Chinese leadership's refusal to restart the stalled negotiations and their lack of response through all these years.  Through all this, we must realize that we need to act swiftly.

Sometimes, I do feel that our calls for our land sound as if we are seeking something that was never ours.  It is painful when our fellow Tibetans self-immolate for the sake of our freedom yet the Chinese government remains unmoved and continues to blame Tibetans in exile.

In our struggle for freedom, if we continue to focus on the creation of policies telling us what we should and should not do then over time, our struggle will lose its sustained energy.  Furthermore, it will divide our community in disagreement and as we become increasingly and solely engaged in our day-to-day life, far too little time and energy will be devoted to our struggle. The time may then come when our struggle will die in cold blood by our own hand. Every action and effort we make for Tibet must be measured, respected and justifiable.

I hope the CTA will make a decision as soon as possible and pursue realistic goals in a concrete timeframe.  We in exile should keep in our mind that our fellow Tibetans in Tibet are suffering and dying with hope still in their heart.  They are struggling every day and every moment.  Being in exile, problems and worries that we faced will keep on rising with time to come in various situation. It is endless and it may get worse as there are nothing like one’s homeland. This time of struggle in which we find ourselves is of historic importance and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to do something for our nation and for our people. We must all stand up together with the strongest determination for our common cause.

 

We must know our transgressors and we must identify our allies.

Sometimes, I feel Tibetans in exile scattered throughout India in various settlements are involved more in improving facilities and their individual conditions rather than focusing harder on how and when can we return back to our own land. This has become a curse in disguise. When we were children, we heard stories of our Tibet from grandparents and how they lived life and how Tibet once was. We dream of Tibet and imagine what our lives would be like back home.  Now we see children in nurseries drawing cars, phones, buildings and gadgets. As time passes, the evidence that things are no longer the same has become clear.

 

The Chinese Communist Party is a threat to today’s fast changing and interdependent world.  Under the CCP regime, China is now the biggest manufacturing hub of the world, delivering some of the best products like Apple’s iPhone to the simplest of items we see on the street.  The continuation of such massive scale production will use natural resources to such an extent that the five elements will revolt in the form of natural disasters such as those witnessed in recent years, disasters that many fear represent only the tip of the iceberg of environmental problems. At the same time, this regime is suppressing and inhumanely coercing their own people to such an extent that one day their own billion population will revolt against them and turn upon those nations and international players whose greed and inaction passively allowed them to suffer hell on earth. That time will prove very difficult and heart wrenching to witness, but it will come.

The Chinese people should not be considered a destructive people.  They are the source of many inventions, discoveries and have given the world many things to improve people’s lives.  Sadly, the Chinese Communist Party took control of the nation and its massive population under the banner of progress and development, in the process of killing their own people and staining the nation’s history with the blood of patriots and civilians. The Chinese people are victims of a system in which the world’s growing demand for cheap products is met by the CCP’s greed for profits and power. Corporations claim to promote progress under the guise of fair trade while they pump millions of dollars into the hands of a remorseless government that uses its funds to oppress its own people and further its political interests around the world.

It is truly sad and shameful that so many leading world nations and their leaders are complicit in this injustice. In developed and developing countries, we have strict and severe imprisonment for the trafficking of illegal substances of addiction.  But I feel that the time has come for people and their governments to realize that capitalist-driven multinational companies injecting people with greed and a never-ending need for more, the likes of which has never been seen in our history. Corporate research and development departments study human psychology to manipulate consumers and ensure an ongoing demand for their products, regardless of the result. This consumerism and horrific greed, allowed to thrive through the policies of the Communist Chinese regime, is slowly choking our world, our environment and our humanity, and is therefore not sustainable. People of the world must come to know that we are not the only living beings of the world and that without our humanity and the legitimate support and respect for human rights, survival of humanity itself may prove doubtful in the years to come.

 

(The writer is a member of Think Tibet, and presently, working in Dharamsala. E-mail: ipolak88@gmail.com Twitter @ThinkTibet)