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by L. Andres Cabanilla
On the streets of any major city or college town it is not uncommon to be harangued by the Free Tibet crowd and their stories of the poor oppressed people of Tibet and their magical culture of love and understanding. It’s a daily occurrence and especially vexing given the fluffy dreads and gleaming white skin of these panhandlers. I recently saw the Dalai Lama hanging out with Hollywood celebrities and rock stars. His people’s plight is more well know than any other political cause on the planet. “Don’t these celebrities give them money?” I thought. Despite my personal worries–one friend Lockjawed and another with scurvy, I decided to look into the issue of Tibet, and try to understand its people’s predicament, and why, if they’ve been so successful in promoting it, they’re still in such
difficulty.
The Tibetans essentially exist in two forms: there’re the Tibetans living in Tibet, and there’re the exiles living on the outside. Contrary to usual patterns, Tibet’s refugees are actually better off than those who stayed behind. As a result of the Chinese invasion of 1966, which kicked the piss out of a very mediocre homeland defense, Tibet joined The Empire, while the Dalai Lama and the hierarchy fled. Those inside Tibet live a quiet fruitful existence, and those on the outside are the more vocal and powerful faction, working to secure freedom from the Chinese government.
Given that Tibetans base much of their identity on their religion, the Dalai Lama functions as a spiritual leader, a fundraiser with the voracity of the GOP, as well as a political voice for the people. And he does a good job. Every year millions of people visit Tibetan freedom webpages, Free Tibet rock concerts, fundraisers and attend dinners with the biggest names in entertainment. This is great for Tibet, but it warrants a return to the original question: Why the fuck are they still hitting me up for contributions?
A large contingent of the Tibetan refugees live in Nepal. If a person were to actually travel to Nepal and visit some refugee Tibetans, they might begin to understand: In Nepal the average yearly income is under $250. The refugee camps in Nepal are by comparison gated communities that allow the Tibetans a tax shelter to live a relatively plush life financed through the sale of souvenirs and piece of mind to tourists. While these Tibetans are poor by American, European or the Dalai Lama’s standards, they are well fed and well kempt far beyond their hosts. Despite this fact, they offer no help or assistance; they mostly keep to themselves and the tourists. This is especially shocking and self defeating, as Nepal is on the verge of several humanitarian disasters and close to being overrun by Maoist terrorists who would love to skull fuck some Buddhists.
Of all the Free Tibet websites an interested person could think to visit, few of them voice any concern or solidarity with any other religiously, politically or culturally oppressed area. Even Nepal, which sustains the refugees, and seems to be teetering on the verge of joining the Chinese empire in a strikingly similar manner to the Tibetans, is of no consequence to the hierarchy. The Tibetan occupation is a small microcosm of the systematic regional invasion by the Chinese government and sadly, is not unique. Tibetans, and those who work on their behalf, seem to know or care little about their neighbors. Inside the Chinese realm of power, the harsh reality and repetition of imperialism is striking. I talked to Professor William Nee, an expert on Chinese imperialism, currently working at Guangdong University in Shanghai, in an attempt to understand more thoroughly.
Are the Tibetans victims of the Chinese occupation, or are they merely profiting off of pity?
“Well, a bit of both. Tibet has a thriving tourism industry, a well-developed infrastructure and a fairly decent standard of living. However, they are under the rule of the Chinese government. But as far as that goes it’s actually a fairly tame occupation. Economically, Tibet is in much better shape than the majority of ethnic Chinese even. That’s not to say they are wealthy, but in terms of purchasing power, access to healthcare and nutrition, they are far beyond average.”
So you mean to tell me the Tibetan province is actually in pretty good shape compared to other oppressed areas?
“Yes. By all Asian standards they are pretty well off.”
But are there any other oppressed areas?
“Well there is Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Outer Mongolia.”
Where are all these places?
“There all occupied provinces of China, western China really.”
How do they fair?
“The conditions in these areas are deplorable, really terrible, near starvation conditions; far below any standard of measurement.”
Please, expand on that.
“Many other regions are regularly brutalized by ethnic Chinese, and are too poor to afford basic necessities. They live in squalor and have no hope or prospect of improving on that.”
Basic necessities, what do you mean by that?
“I mean to suggest things like clean water, food for starving children, shoes and safety equipment for farming...”
You mentioned earlier that the Tibetans have relatively few restrictions by the Chinese; they openly practice their
religion and maintain a thriving tourist industry. Is this typical of all regions? For example, one province you mention, Xinjiang, has a large Muslim population. Are they free to practice religion and live in safety?
“No, it’s Ultra Violence, like A Clockwork Orange. Violence, rapes, torture, economic exploitation, anything you can imagine. Plus the government is moving in large numbers of ethnic Chinese to make it appear as though the majority of people in the region support the government’s presence there. It’s a fairly common tactic for all these areas. The ethnic Chinese will eventually drown out the local cultures and completely replace the indigenous population.”
So Tibet is the wealthy region as far as Chinese imperialist provinces go?
“Yes.”
The facts surrounding the Tibetans’ plight should come as a shock to many and draw into question the means and tactics by which they have become America’s token charity. For a long time now I’ve heard stories about the
magnanimity of the Tibetans. It wasn’t until I began to research the topic that I realized what a well-crafted political spin movement it was. The fact of the matter is that the Tibetans have had a rough go of things since the Communists came, but attention to their problems has greatly mollified the pains, quite unlike the majority of imperialist victims. Moreover, their current problems are a shadow of the grim realities for their neighbors in China and neighboring refugee camps, not to mention the
hundreds of other areas in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The fact that they are greatly unwilling to use their publicity to help others explains their success in keeping public hype focused on themselves, yet should strike any logical person as greedy and disgusting. It’s plainly and simply a dick move by the Tibetans. The movement has, by this point, become a corporate gimmick and a far cry from the stated goals.
It’s time for the Sympathy Movement to move past this cliché, to a real pandemic or genocide that might yield real results. If you’re a youngster or ageing hipster looking to get politically involved, move past the rows of bumper stickers and t-shirts, and give your time and money to people who really need it: the Xinjiang Muslims or the Qinghai natives, Chinese political prisoners or the Native American tribes of the Southwest and Artic North. The world is full of unspeakable injustice, and if you’re spending your time at rock concerts with Sharon Stone and Richard Gere, your problems are by definition trivial, even bourgeois. It’s probably this fluffy attitude that made the Chinese want to stomp them in the first place. Sympathy for Tibetan freedom should be as non-existent as the Tibetans’ concern for their neighbors in true need. Next time you see a tin rattler, do your part and tell those fuckers to fuck off; your money’s going to Qinghai!
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