Tibet Tibet Tibet

So much has been going on in Tibet recently, and the background and potential for analysis is so great, that I’ve simply avoided trying to blog about it. Not to mention that when I allow myself to think about it deeply, it threatens to move me to tears. Where do I even start? Well, how about some news (borrowed from a recent avaaz.org email):

Here are some links with more information on the Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:
BBC News: UN Calls for Restraint in Tibet
Human Right Watch: China Restrain from Violently Attacking Protestors
Associated Press: Tibet Unrest Sparks Global Reaction
New York Times: China Takes Steps to Thwart Reporting on Tibet Protests

And the Avaaz.org petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao (PLEASE SIGN).

In the blog world, Buddhist Chaplain Danny Fisher has had outstanding coverage of the events, analysis, and calls to action. Gary at Forest Wisdom has posted a probing and thoughtful account of the issue, leadings us beyond the particularities of this human-political struggle to what many take to be the heart of the Buddha’s teachings:

“Looking at the suffering of the Tibetan people, it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing the Chinese people, or at least their government, as evil. But this is too simplistic and also non-Buddhist. Buddhism is not a battle between good and evil like some kind of religious Star Wars epic. Rather, it encourages us to calm the mind, observe the way things are, and act out of wise compassion.”

and:

“The most important thing any individual can do for world peace is first create peace within themselves.” [from the comments section]

One of Danny’s links takes us to a Wildmind account of the recent protests, well worth reposting here.

As for my own thoughts… On the one hand I am very optimistic for Tibet and and for the Chinese people in general. The vast majority of the Tibetan people are suffering greatly under Chinese rule, as are a great number of Chinese – people whose cities are now under constant clouds of smoke from new coal-fired power plants, people whose farms have been destroyed by diversions of water, whose villages have been wiped off the map by landslides after the clear-cutting of trees.

This is not unlike the US in its age of industrialization, when native peoples were brushed aside in the name of progress and the European/white (and other) “workers” were also crushed under desperately unsafe, unclean, and underpaid working conditions. The similarity between current Chinese policy and America’s own race to expansion is not lost on the Chinese who try to justify their policies and denigrate American (Western) moral standing.

My optimism is that the Olympics will draw enough attention and international action on these issues to force a change of course in China. I reported recently on the commotion surrounding British athletes participating in the upcoming Olympics, and I believe that this will be only the tip of the iceberg. The world is sympathetic to Tibet.

Yet I am also pessimistic. Despite international sympathy, there has been no action. This could be due to laziness or more pressing interests, the new iPhone for instance, or what Barack Obama’s former pastor said. It could also reflect the enormous and growing power of China, especially as an economic powerhouse that controls a huge amounts of foreign currency and supplies our amazing thirst for cheap consumer goods.

It will take a sustained effort on the part of activists, scholars, and Tibetans themselves to get Western powers to move from words to deeds. Yet I’m not sure what exactly this will mean. We just witnessed a major movement in Burma, the so-called Saffron Revolution, crushed by a calculating and violent military government, and quickly forgotten – for the most part – by the Western world.

continued here…