Pema Tsering, qui connaît depuis longtemps la question tibétaine de l’intérieur, prend ici quelque distance avec l’analyse traditionnelle, plutôt manichéenne de la tragédie qui se déroule sur le plateau du Tibet depuis plus d’un demi siècle.

Elle n’édulcore rien des tyrannies, des souffrances et des erreurs, des malentendus, des jugements à l’emporte pièce et des violences ; mais, par un texte exprimant à la fois une immense émotion et la très grande lucidité que seule peut conférer l’expérience du terrain et des hommes, elle répond au profond malaise que chacun ressent à la terrifiante vision des immolations par le feu, dont la répétition obsédante précipite le Tibet dans une tragique spirale nihiliste.

Avec beaucoup de compassion et une extraordinaire force de conviction, elle nous alerte sur le risque posé par les activistes radicaux et la répétition sans fin des images systématiquement négatives diffusées partout. La stratégie jusqu’au-boutiste ne triomphera pas des résignations, du désespoir et des angoisses. Au contraire, elle les nourrit. Aujourd’hui, seule une « énergie positive » serait de nature à stopper l’enchaînement infernal et tragique des haine et des violences.

Mais, créer avec la Chine une dynamique constructive est bien plus difficile que d’encourager les actes de désespoir, seule alternative proposée par la frange des extrémistes. La diaspora tibétaine ne manque ni de ressources ni d’espoir. Beaucoup n’attendent qu’une opportunité. FD

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A Different View, a Different Way

By Pema Tsering

Bangkok, April 2013.

The subject of Tibet, no longer forgotten, is now part of media culture reaching everyone who reads a newspaper or watches television. Everyone, from a Paris hairdresser to a Phnom Phen taxi driver has heard that the Dalai Lama is in exile and that the Chinese are (in most opinions) illegally occupying Tibet.

Pro Tibet activists are becoming louder and more efficient at lobbying and spreading their message, even getting an occasional sympathetic message in some countries’ parliament. In spite of all this, nothing really happens and the situation in Tibet remains the same. China, after all, is the United State’s banker, it is the world’s factory. Everyone makes money on China.

Thirty years of increasingly loud clamoring from the Tibetan diaspora has not changed anything for Tibetans in Tibet. There have been low level talks with the Chinese government, adopting a Middle Way that accepts the concept of an autonomous Tibet and increasingly impatient and angry exile youth who shun concessions and want full independence.

This paper examines the views of each and how they deal with the Tibetan issue and outlines the differences between the claims made by the activists and the actual situation in Tibet. Finally, it raises awareness on alternative, additional means of avoiding the Tibet issue from becoming yet another slide into a cycle of negativity and violence.

The Three Approaches

The Tibet support groups or groups who support the Tibetan cause, all in exile, fall more or less into three groups ;

1)The official view of the Tibetan Government in Exile (CTA) , who advocates the Middle Way, giving up full Independence and seeking autonomy under Chinese rule, one country two systems. This position is stated in different ways, sometimes emphasizing the inclusion of the areas that are part of ‘Greater Tibet’ or simply respect for the rights granted to minorities under the Chinese Constitution.

Their vision for the future rests on hope that discussions with China and sympathy from Chinese people will be the catalyst for increasing self determination. It is a mixture of a call for the present Chinese system to give more autonomy and for life under a more democratic system where Tibetans would be part of a Federation, similar to Russia.

2) The Independentists, most strongly represented by the Students for Free Tibet (SFT) and the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), who want full Independence. They have recently pulled out the 13th Dalai Lama’s 1913 Declaration of Independence that followed several stints in exile and coincided with the toppling of the Manchu Dynasty as a model of what they say could be happening in the near future ; the toppling of the Communist Party of China.

SFT see the Middle Way as another form of subordination, something that will put the lid on problems that they say will continue to fester. They see any option of cohabitation, of mutual respect between different ethnicities as impossible. (the Tibetan province of Amdo, now mainly in Qinghai, but also in parts of Sichuan and Gansu, has a large population of Hui (Chinese Muslims) Mongolians and Han. Most have been there several centuries.)

Their solution to the problem is being so unruly that the Chinese will be unable to bear the economical and social cost and seek to negotiate with the Tibetan Government in exile. They also look to the disintegration of the Chinese empire arguing that dictatorship can only last so long, and that the Tibetan people only need to wait for that moment.

3) Finally, there are various Chinese dissident groups, carefully picked for their positive views on Tibet, which they express in the media. These are more in the context of what the Kuomintang professed ; Tibet as part of China, but with the rights that group 1, the Middle Way, is requesting. They generally see the Tibetans partitioning from China as a human catastrophe and prefer the concept of an autonomous, non-military zone with fuzzy borders.

Group 1, followers of the Middle Way, save for the Dalai Lama who put forward the concept in 1988, repeats it quietly along with other items, unchanged for the last twenty years ; six million Tibetans, 6000 monasteries destroyed, etc, etc. People are beginning to wonder how committed they are to the Middle Way.

This is important ; the Chinese government has a tendency to wrap everything into one. They ignore the Dalai Lama’s claim that he has retired from politics and continues to consider the CTA as his arm, calling the Middle Way Independence disguised. Though endorsing the Middle Way is the official line, Privately, the CTA seems very much behind the independentists, appearing at their functions and publicly seen with the ‘Rangtzen Heroes’. All this makes their claim to the Middle Way a little shaky in the eyes of the Chinese.

Group 2, the independentists are the loudest of all. The SFT are young, savvy and know how to use media, though their taste in heroes often borders on Bollywood/entertainment i.e ; Rangtzen Warriors and rappers. Besides that, their manners and command of English are excellent and they know how to pitch their arguments. They are very organized, have hundreds of chapters all over the Western world and are the ones everyone hears.

Groups 1 and 2 ‘s reason to be is the Tibetan tragedy.

Group 3 uses it to support the claim for democracy in China. The recent immolations have given all of them a very strong platform ; the perpetrators attract attention without committing a violent act towards others. With this, they convey a constant reminder to the general public that the situation in Tibet is desperate. Along with great detail of each immolation, SFT fills the media with negative reports on life in Tibet ; Tibetans in Tibet are not allowed to study Tibetan, nomads are all being forced off their land and parked in housing outside large cities, life is hell on earth, etc, etc.

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Background (1)

Until the early 50’s Tibet was one of the most isolated and self protected places on earth. The Chinese asserted their presence in Central Tibet from the early 50’s. They were cautious at first, and the cohabitation between the Dalai Lama’s Government and the CCP lasted an uneasy 8 years that culminated with a revolt and the flight of the Dalai Lama in 1959.

What followed, the 60’s and 70’s, was a time of great suffering and unparalleled destruction. In 1980, Yu Yaobang visited Tibet and was shocked by the state of utter poverty that he found there, and vowed to make amends. Like in the rest of China, communes were dismantled, trade allowed and borders opened. Circulation between India and Tibet resumed and families were reunited. Dialogue was engaged and there was even talk of the Dalai Lama returning, at least, for a visit.

What had begun in great hope soon began to stall. The Tibetan Government in Exile wanted to include what was labeled as ‘Greater Tibet’ in the discussions, Tibetan ethnic areas that had once been part of Tibet around the 9th century, and were now included into the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan.

The Chinese could not consider dismembering four of their provinces and creating an Autonomous Region of enormous size. This created a stalling point. Finally, in 1988, the Dalai Lama publicly stated that Tibet sought a solution with China in the context of the Middle Way, autonomy and self-rule within China. This concession, which should have opened new doors, failed to do so. The issue of ‘Greater Tibet’ continued to hang, Tien An Men happened the following year and the Chinese leadership changed course. The continuing rounds of talks led nowhere, though individuals continued to move back and forth, visiting family on either side.

Throughout the 90’s and the first decade of the 20th century, Tibet and the refugee community continued to evolve, each in their own way. The exiles watched China’s economic rise and the importance it began to take in the world in general and they stepped up their efforts of claiming human rights abuses, getting some attention and respect, especially with the Dalai Lama winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. The whole effort of gaining attention became a force in itself.

The evolution of life in Tibet from 1980 is a complex one. In the first few years, economic freedom greatly raised the living standard of ordinary Tibetans, Then the changes going on in China began to seep in and with that the collisions that inevitably come in when a messy new meets old. Schools were opened, a limit on 3 children strictly imposed, towns were built in the middle of the pasture and consumer goods became part of everyday life.

The Chinese viewed this as a sign of progress that they had introduced to a backward area. They said they wanted to bring economic development to Tibet and the Western provinces. University departments began research programs on the yak and modernizing ways to conduct animal husbandry. Most of these moves were experimental and untested. The Chinese scholars tended to stay out of the field and few of their ideas had any practical applications.

The nomads viewed it all with resignation, suspicion and contempt. With its typical top down approach, the government imposed new rules to improve the input on the high plateau ; it imposed fencing, luring the nomads into owning their land, in their search for a meat market let the number of cattle rise to dangerous levels, and made a program to provide nomads with winter housing. The nomads followed the rules they couldn’t avoid, but continued to do things their way when they could, especially since it meant their survival.

Other aspects of modern life became popular ; motorbikes, solar panels, cotton and wool cloth, shoes, hats and ready made clothes from the market. Supplies were easier to get, less time could be spent on making everything oneself. The price of wool was high and brought in extra income. The first generation of schooled children brought in the rewards of government jobs that diversified family income. Slowly though, becoming part of global scene had its problems too. In 1990, the world price of wool fell and with it that of other commodities. By 2000, the government job market was saturated and the children who had been to school didn’t want to be nomads anymore.

Even if they tried, their years out of the system made them loose their edge in a harsh way of life that requires highly toned herding skills obtained since childhood. These youths found themselves stuck between two worlds ; their education level, centered on Tibetan, mass produced poets and writers but little else. It was no match for the competitive Chinese job market. Though some managed to modernize traditional trading methods and became wealthy in the process, most couldn’t compete with the enterprising Chinese that were making their way inland in search of new markets.

They continued to barter with the middlemen who brought little income. Schooling and 3 children policy made for too few people to look after too many animals. Emphasis on the meat market led to overgrazing ; too many animals for too little pasture. Those who were denied schooling for the sake of their family herds grew bitter, resenting their lack of literacy, feeling life has bypassed them. Everything happened too fast, there was no time to adjust and diversity efficiently.

Background (2)

The CCP still sets the rules in rural areas, as it does everywhere else. Many of the local officials are issued from Tibetan families, but most of the higher level ones are Chinese. Officials receive instructions and objectives from higher up that they try to fulfill. Their rise in the system depends on it. A social scientist in far away Beijing has an idea on how to reduce poverty on the plateau and passes it down.

It translates into number projections and five year plans that include model farms and industrial areas, induces meetings in prefectural towns that include lively evenings, quick announced visits in the field that insure positive reports for their superiors, which in turn are linked to securing their promotion or at least maintaining their privileges. That these developments mean little in terms of practical application because no one asked for them or was trained to make them work doesn’t really bother anyone.

This is what most of life in Tibet, inside and outside the TAR is about ; a decent life for some, a harder one for others. Many youths, who don’t know where their life is going, confused by change and with no one who can direct them, live aimlessly, riding their bikes, playing pool and drinking beer on the money from their parent’s sold cattle.

One learns to avoid talking about politics, the Dalai Lama, the TYC or anything else about life in exile in public places, in front of people one doesn’t know well, or without taking the batteries out of one’s cellphone. A strong monastic presence goes on, keeps people together as they did in the past and giving them hope that even if life is hard, there are other rewards ahead. Thousands of monasteries have been rebuilt in the last 30 years and signs of a rich and very traditional cultural life can be seen everywhere.

There are many problems in Tibet, and there are rings of truth around what fills the media. There are arrests and some nomads have been parked in shoddy housing. There are think tanks and Social Sciences Institutes that want income figures to go up and talk about raising sheep in glass houses, bringing Holstein cows to increase milk productivity, parking the dris and dzomos into fenced off farm like areas, of ridding areas of pigs (one official decided he didn’t like pigs) of selectively raising only sheep or yaks in certain areas, etc, etc.

There is talk, fortunately little action. No one wants to be on the field, risk failure and have social problems on their hands as a result. Lately, the reforms have become easier to implement ; hand outs to fix existing houses, insurance for dead animals (though this encountered many problems and was dropped in some areas) and subsidies for the very poor. Actual implementation of any of the schemes depends very much on the mindset of the local officials and how they choose to dispense the funds they receive from the Central government.

Though the exile groups claim that it is difficult to obtain exact information of what is happening in Tibet, they seem to make little effort to acquire any. Tibet inside and out of the TAR is no longer closed. Thousands of Tibetans visit their families in Tibet every year, coming and going quietly. There is also extensive research by Western scholars conducted on the field since the 80’s that has grown into a very vast body of publicly available information such as the Western Case Reserve, among others.

In spite of these resources the activists seem only interested in detailing abuses, which they use in their to support their Human Rights issues. The rest, the everyday life of the majority of people gets little attention. It is almost as if people outside of Tibet are afraid that they may have something positive to say about life there.

All over the world, SFT chapters are campaigning for the rights of the Tibetan people. They lobby politicians in the US, Europe and Australia, organize demonstrations and events. They make young Tibetans in India and the West feel purposeful, give them an opportunity to speak publicly and experience media advocacy making them part something, challenging the giant, the CCP. They encourage visits to Tibet, where members go loaded with prejudice and look at to find points to justify their prejudice. This is easy to find especially in Lhasa with its tight security and heavy armed presence.

They debate point by point how nomads are being driven off their land, deplore tourism in Tibet, and seek to boycott Chinese goods. They are « cool » the way adolescents are, repeating the same thing, screaming, shouting and enlisting rappers and singers. Older Tibetans look at them with affection, thinking they haven’t forgotten who they are, a least they still fight for their identity. They are all the media and the public ever hears about Tibet. The other groups, the researchers and NGO’s who work out of Tibet, those who have the facts and insight to paint a realistic picture of life in Tibet are quiet, no one hears them.

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Black claims and grey reality

SFT insists that the ultimate Chinese aim is to remove the nomads from the pasture. They claim that climate change is the reason why the Tibetan plateau is depleted, that overgrazing is a pretext to park the nomads and let the pasture regenerate. The truth is much more complex ; there are too many animals, herding is the nomad’s only skill so they increase the numbers to boost their earnings. Cash has become a hot commodity that buys motorcycles, televisions and now, cars.

There were fewer animals in the past, and fewer needs, though local wars over grazing rights were a constant occurrence. It is dangerous for the nomads to advocate that overgrazing exists ; it gives a reason to be for the strange experiments that got some of them parked into towns. They have no other form of income, no modern skill to use their natural assets, basically, no other choice.

SFT uses the photos of the new towns and nomad housing to press their charge of resettlement. These forms of housing exist all over the plateau, a trend that began in the 70’s at the time of the communes and called ‘winter settlements’. At that time, they were built of wood and stone, and offered winter shelter.

The present scheme, begun en masse around 2000, is still called « winter villages » and in most places, the houses are distributed on a lucky draw basis, free or subsidized. In some areas, the contractors and local officials took big cuts and, in others, the nomads were penalized for not moving in. The settlements are in the village’s administrative center, along with the school, the monastery and the CCP office. They are meant to offer a home for the winter months and a place where older people can stay with children attending the local school, while the rest of the family is out in pasture.

I could site many other cases involving differing reports on education or the use of Tibetan language, but the aim of this paper is not to catalog the differences and misinterpretations propagated by Tibet Support groups. The aim is to evaluate the constructive aspect of such a strategy and the effect that such strategies hold, in Tibet especially.

The Opening of China, Tibet loosens

China is a country that has lived under dictatorship for the last sixty years. People had grown used to difficult conditions, and even after the open door policy, have learned to circumvent the system to get that whey want. They are patient and complain little. They accept abuse though increasingly they are getting to know that there are ways around that too.

They know how to wait, and most Chinese live normal lives. Things may be unfair but thinking they are doesn’t make them go away. Outsmarting the system is better ; it gets you what you want without the risk. The loosening effect had been slower in remote areas, especially Tibet and the Western provinces that are the home of several million Tibetans. In spite of that, between 2003 and 2008, the system had progressively eased to allow more and more movement ; private schooling, and increasing number of NGO’s that provided help in training and education, passports being issued and for those who could afford it, opportunities to travel and study abroad.

Local officials eager to participate in developments that could earn them a promotion welcomed new ideas. Tourist was on the rise, and with it, jobs for many young Tibetans who had learned English abroad. This brought in new people, new exchanges and ideas. In 2006, several tens of thousands of pilgrims from Tibet crossed the border to attend the Kalachakra Initiation in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. Special buses that drove right through the border in Dam were arranged to accommodate the flow between Katmandu and Lhasa. In 2004, there was even talk of issuing permits to all the Tibetans in exile who wished to visit their families and of cancelling special permits to Lhasa altogether.

2008 : the Hardening of Tibet

Then came the riots in 2008 and everything clamped down ; NGO’s were evicted, schools shut down, English programs halted and the students disbanded, areas closed to tourists months at a time, passports no longer renewed, singers arrested. Most people accepted quietly ; they had seen worse and cynicism mixed with hopelessness settled in.

Many tour guides went out of business and went for other occupations. In 2012, about 20,000 pilgrims crossed the border to attend the Kalachakra in Bodh Gaya. On their return, a great number were arrested and placed in hotels (that they had to pay for) to receive « special reeducation » for ten days to a month.

Others, from Kham and Amdo, were ordered to return to their homes without stopping in Lhasa. Since the self immolation of two Tibetans from Qinghai last year, all Tibetan from outside the TAR need permits to go there. While the activists claim that they will get rid of the Chinese by making their life impossible, people in Tibet watch as the little freedoms they had waited so longer for being taken away.

Life goes on, it just gets a little more hopeless and depressing. The only hope they have to cling onto is that the world is watching, that people outside of Tibet care, that the activists, whom they believe to have powers well beyond the reality will set things right.

Tibetans caught on quickly that rioting would only bring more repression. They chose non-violent demonstrations and self-immolation to express their dissatisfaction with the increasingly tense situation. When one person self immolates, others feel encouraged to follow, especially if this was a prominent and respected person.

The activist groups watch eagerly, documenting each one, praising the immolators as heroes, a proof to the world that Tibet is being oppressed beyond tolerance, justifying their campaign. They have little idea of the mood in Tibet and how a place feels when self-immolation happens.

People know immediately ; there are sad whispers and sighs, worry that one will lead to another, wondering when the next clamp down will occur. There is also solidarity, Losar is more quiet, shunning singing and dancing, the only things that lightened up the hard life of the farmer of nomad.

A strange rumor began to circulate around November last year, when the numbers got close to 100, a belief that if the numbers can reach the magic number of 200, something out there will happen to answer their prayers ; the Dalai Lama will come back, freedom denied will be restored, Tibet will be free, the wishes expressed in the last words spoken by the self immolator’s will be granted.

In a move to find the perpetrators, the authorities, who claim that the self-immolations are orchestrated by the “Dalai Clique” harass innocent people from India or Nepal visiting their families in a show of finding culprits. It is difficult to say that self -immolation is « non violent ». Rather, it is directing violence on oneself instead of on the outside, to make one last point. Besides creating despair and increasing unease with the authorities that don’t know what to think or how to react, they are much talked about and little understood. They also offer no solution, only feeds the fire of the activists who themselves, in spite of the their claims do little besides much noise.

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Getting Sympathy from the Chinese People

The Dalai Lama always urges his people to earn the sympathy of the Chinese people. He means it. The SFT and the Tibetan government in exile endorse this view, in their own limited ways. In the case of the first, the definition of « Chinese People » seems limited to dissident groups that they exchange with in Western countries and in the second, talks with the Chinese government.

What about the several billions of Chinese out there ? The Chinese people at large, the ordinary people living in China, have little sympathy for Tibet in general. Fed negative press by the official media, they know nothing of the wrongs that were perpetrated. They know that life was bad, but theirs was just as bad. They even view the Tibetans with envy ; they get subsidies and have a right to have 3 children, « What are they complaining about ? Why is their life worse than ours ? »

Even those who are educated and been in the West have a difficult time assessing the past in relation to Tibet. Many like Tibetans are Buddhist themselves and are fascinated that such an exotic place as Tibet still exists. They want to see its culture alive, its story told, are aware of the often senseless policies that direct life on the Plateau, but don’t see fomenting despair as a constructive solution.

SFT and the other groups never talk about the Chinese NGO’s who head Tibetan projects aimed at giving local populations more say in their lives, acting as a buffer for circumventing, toning down or getting rid of the top down local policies with their often absurd projects. They teach local Tibetans how to claim their rights, how to stand up against illegal mining and how to manage their assets more efficiently. They give courses in leadership, management, Chinese and English. They look for ways to bring hope and to legally circumvent the system the way they have learned to do.

Tibet needs hope and happiness more than anything else. People need courage and the belief that their lives are going somewhere, that they are worth living, that there are ways to make their lives better in the present situation.

The activists feed on negativity and negativity breeds despair. It creates a blind spot to optimism, the driving force for seeking solutions. It encourages people into believing that the only way they can be useful and serve their nation is by lighting up like a torch, that their worth as a human being doesn’t go beyond that. « Tibet burns » is a favorite slogan for the « Rangdzen » warriors and rappers. Yes, Tibet burns, and what happens after it has all turned to ash ?

In a free society everyone is allowed to express their views. Activism is necessary to balance options, though the problem is that there is little out there to balance the Tibetan activist movement. The Tibetan diaspora is rich in talent and groups doing everything from blogging to painting to music to banking and new business ventures. Many have visited Tibet and some have worked for NGO’s there, but few have sought to go further, to make their life there. There are no precedents, no structure, no encouragement from inside Chinese Tibet. There is no one outside who encourages it either, or sets the tone, no route to follow, and event if it is possible, it is difficult to be the first. Tibet’s future though, relies on someone being the first ; others will follow.

What Tibet Needs

What Tibet needs now is constructive energy. The fall of the Chinese dictatorship, in spite of all the brave words and comparisons to the Arab Spring dramatically uttered in Union Square on March 10th this year, is no more certain than North Korea deploying a nuclear weapon. Even if it were to happen, it could give rise to unprecedented chaos, something even the Dalai Lama does not wish for.

The views of the Chinese government and those of the Tibetan government in exile are at such odds that the gap could take years, generations to close. What happens in the meantime ? A whole society in Tibet is beginning to fall into a negative spiral of violence and despair. Waiting for the political climate to improve is not an option, there will be little to save if one does.

What Tibet needs now is to survive and surviving means being smart ; one has to look for and take advantage of what opportunity comes by, be ready for setbacks and slaps in the face. If one falls, one has to be ready to rise at the slightest easing. It is difficult, it is not pleasant, it is dangerous and it doesn’t bring fame and glory. One has to swallow one’s pride and control one’s anger, open one’s mind and be ready to love and forgive.

But the results come, slowly, but surely. They come in finding ways to gain support within the system that leads to improving people’s moral and livelihood, the keep culture alive, to give Tibetan tools that will allow them to economically, culturally and spiritually become masters of their own lives in the context of a growing China.

The Middle Way and independentists depend on certain opportunities that no one can foresee or control to reach their goals. They think that they carry the whole of the burden of the future for Tibet, but what are they offering ? Extreme views and hope for talks with an adversary that holds all the cards. Their presence adds diversity and options, but it cannot be the only one out there. There should be a parallel force that has no official or political mandate but interacts with people in China at all levels with no political overtones.

There needs to be a constructive force that enlists a different kind of support ; the kind that engages in finding solutions for everyday problems and concerns of the type the NGO’s have been trying to do for the past few decades, though not always successfully.

This force must seek to move forward regardless of political change. It should interact with Chinese people and organizations who are already supportive of Tibet and have done work in the area, share and benefit from their experience ; find another level of Chinese officials to talk to ; not about politics but about education and economic development and convince them that there is no risk in trying new things. They should be like a fifth column that seeps in everywhere, bringing change that fits the Tibetan situation and temperament, change that will take root regardless, waiting for a better day.

The Tibetan diaspora is full of talent, hope and resourcefulness. This new generation should be this force and they should enlist the good will of others who want to see Tibetans be part of the 21st century in their own country. A force that shuns politics and divide, that is ready to work with whatever it has to work with, who is strong in diplomacy and innovation, who is not scared by the walls that come up constantly.

A force that builds confidence and convinces China that a happy, constructive Tibet is better for everyone. This is much more difficult to achieve than encouraging desperate acts and following the « all eggs in one basket »approach of the activists.

This is entirely possible. There are many out there waiting for opportunities. Someone has to start.