“As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery. … We have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.” These words were written by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
The Buddhist figurehead has become a symbol for peace and compassion across the globe, writing and lecturing on the topics of compassion and peace. And perhaps because of his activism, many people have come to regard Buddhism as a religion, if not the religion, of peace.
Which is why it is perhaps so shocking to learn that in just the past few months, scores of Tibetans — some of them Buddhist monks — have been burnt to death.
Occupation of Tibet and rights abuses
Since Tibet has been occupied in 1949 by China, countless human rights abuses have been documented, and it is estimated that more than 1 million Tibetans have died as a result of the Chinese occupation.
Prior to 1949, the country had its own government. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims that Tibet is part of China. The Tibetan government in exile maintains that Tibet is an independent state under unlawful occupation.
In addition to human rights, the right of self-determination and the right of the Tibetan people to maintain their own identity and autonomy remain and issue spurring protest.
Over half of Tibet’s rich forest stock has been felled and exported to China since the occupation began, and indigenous people have been forcibly removed or killed.
“Tibetans’ civil and political rights are under constant attack by the Chinese authorities,” the NGO Free Tibet reports. Tibetans are not free to practice religion. More than 6,000 Buddhist monasteries were burned to the ground by Chinese forces after the occupation began, and the Dalai Lama was exiled. If Tibetans protest or openly speak about their situation, they are arrested and taken to prison.
Prisons in Tibet are full of people detained for simply expressing their desire for freedom. People have been arrested and sentenced to prison for peaceful acts, such as waving the Tibetan flag and sending information about events in Tibet abroad.
Many Tibetans are imprisoned on unclear or unspecified charges, where they are subjected to beatings, electric shocks and deprived of food and drink. In 2008, the U.N. reported that the use of torture in Tibet was “widespread” and “routine.”
Tibetans are not free to protest or openly speak about their situation and peaceful demonstrations are stopped, sometimes violently, by Chinese military.
Self-immolations continue to grow
Since February of 2009, at least 62 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest the Chinese occupation of Tibet. In 50 cases the protesters have died.
This past week alone at least four Tibetans have set themselves on fire.
Human rights group FreeTibet reports the story of two young Tibetan cousins who set fire to themselves in a township protest north of Lhasa Oct. 25.
Tsepo, 20, died on the way to hospital, and Tenzin, 25, was taken away by government officials; his well being and whereabouts are unknown, the organization’s website relayed.
The cousins “called out for independence for Tibet, for all Tibetans to unite as brothers and sisters, and for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet as they set themselves alight,” the group said, adding that Chinese state security are out in large numbers in the area. Internet and telephone communication systems are often blocked.
Tibetans are afraid to talk about what is happening because they fear that their communications are being monitored by the government.
Czech news agency CTK reported that Tibet’s government, which has been in exile since Chinese occupation and genocide of the Tibetan people began in 1950, said last week it “seeks genuine autonomy within China” for Tibet and it wants China’s written laws to be implemented.
“We seek genuine autonomy within China and within the framework of the Chinese constitution, that is what we call middle-way policy,” said Tibetan leader Lobsang Sangay, who is taking part in the 16th Forum 2000 international conference, established by late president Vaclav Havel.
“So we don’t seek independence or separation from China, and we do not challenge China’s sovereignty or territorial integrity.”
China’s response
In response to the protests, Chinese officials said they plan to dole out cash rewards to anyone who informs them about people who planned to set themselves on fire.
Officials in Gannan (Kanlho) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture said informants would receive a reward of roughly $8,000. Moreover, the announcement also promised a reward of about $30,000 to anyone who gives any credible information about the most recent self-immolations., VOA reports
Last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei again accused the Dalai Lama of inciting the deadly protests, saying it “is despicable and deserves the people’s condemnation.” China’s government refers to the protesters as “terrorists.”
The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile have stated that they oppose all violence.
“I think that this [pattern of self-immolations] is conceived as dangerous by the authorities. The fact that this movement is spreading further to the east, closer to the Chinese borders, into these populations where you have educated Tibetans — students, monks — who have a tradition of thinking for themselves, I think they may be concerned about this,” said Robert Barnett, director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University in New York.
“It does suggest that boiling point could be reached as all these things come together,” Barnett stated.
“We have consistently expressed our concern about the violence in the Tibetan areas, about the continuing pattern of self-immolations, heightened tensions in Tibet in general. And we continue to both publicly and privately urge the Chinese government at all levels to address the underlying policies in Tibet that have created these tensions and which threaten the cultural heritage of the region,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at U.S. State Department briefing in Washington last week.
Rather than responding with a despotic fist, inspiring fear and suspicion, it would serve China well to take the Dalai Lama’s words to heart — and finally act out of love and compassion toward the Tibetan people in order to put an end to this wave of human destruction.