The People’s Daily and Tibet: Reality Check
There is a saying that some Chinese officials are fond of using when lecturing to foreigners about Tibet, which goes something like this: “Seeing once is better than hearing it a hundred times.” I was reminded of this when seeing two very different perspectives relating to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in exile. The reader can be the judge.
The first is a report in the mainstream Chinese media, People’s Daily, of October 28, the first paragraph of which says:
“The Dalai Lama always boasted devoting himself to advancing democracy, but his democracy practice often turns to be a laughingstock. For example, his ‘Tibetan People’s Parliament’ held the 8th session of fourteenth conference on September 7 in Dharamsala turned out to be a big joke.”
The “joke” actually refers to a very frank, acrimonious and forthright discussions that took place within the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile on a draft resolution during their recent session. Similarly, the People’s Daily refers to a recent write up by Jamyang Norbu la that was critical of Dharamsala. Then, by some quaint logic the article’s conclusion is: “All of this information revealed that the Dalai controlled everything about the ‘government in exile’. And the so called ‘government in exile’ and ‘parliament’ was only a pretense for democracy.”
This is not the time to see whether the issues relating to the draft resolution were right or wrong, or whether there was politicking going on during the discussions in the Tibetan Parliament. This is also not the occasion to discuss whether Jamyang Norbu la’s article reflected the reality of the situation or his own personal viewpoint. The relevant and significant fact here is that these Tibetans in exile were putting into practice a democratic process. As the People’s Daily report ironically and clearly testified, Tibetans in exile can dissent, and dissent publicly, without any risk of being thrown into some jails or being executed.
The worst part is that the Chinese official newspaper was relying on secondary information and distorting the context to reach on certain conclusions. To date, I have not known of any People’s Daily reporter having visited Dharamsala (or any Tibetan community in exile), not to speak of having watched the proceedings of the Tibetan Parliament. Judging by the way the report appears in the People’s Daily, including the very obvious misspelling of Tibetan names, I can guess that it contains materials translated into English from the Chinese translation of the original English or Tibetan.
On the other hand, three Nobel laureates were in Dharamsala in the last few days interacting with the Tibetan community there. There is a report on their website about a statement by them on their perception of the Dalai Lama and of the Tibetan people. I am reproducing the statement below.
“Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Maguire and Jody Williams today launched the Thank You Tibet! Campaign at a press conference in Dharamsala, India. Together with Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, the women released a statement recognizing the many contributions made by Tibetans and His Holiness the Dalai Lama throughout their fifty years in exile.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet affirm critical values that the world is in danger of losing. They are a model for all of us: despite the attack on their people and the displacement of their culture they preach and practice compassion and respect for the dignity of every person. Furthermore, by making a peaceful transition from ancient traditions of leadership by a small group of hereditary rulers to government by democratically elected leaders, Tibetans have set an admirable example. If a community exiled from their homeland and scattered across the world can come together and grow into a democratic society that respects human rights, every community can do so. The Tibetans also demonstrate how common core human values can and should transcend geography, ethnicity and culture.”
I think those Chinese officials are right who quote the saying, “Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.”
Photo Caption: Press briefing by two Nobel peace laureates – Jody Williams of the United States and Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland – in Dharamsala, India, on Oct. 28, 2009. (Sangey Kyap/TibetNet)
4 Responses to “The People’s Daily and Tibet: Reality Check”
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Q: How can you tell when a Chinese government official is lying?
A: His mouth is moving.
The Dalai Lama’s achievements in fostering democracy for Tibetans is very impressive, but hardly one that China’s dictatorial regime can be expected to applaud. I grew up in Spain during the Franco dictatorship, and in many ways the Chinese government reminds me of the Franco regime. Most political parties were banned, Franco repressed his national minorities such as the Basques and the Catalans, and political dissent was crushed. Yet today Spain is a democracy and the Basques and Catalans have political autonomy. If you have ever visited Bilbao or Barcelona, you’ve experienced what the Dalai Lama wants for Tibet. To put pressure on China’s regime, ordinary people need to boycott any products made in China. We give suggestions how to do and links to articles on China’s role in the global economic crisis on our blog, on the website http://www.FreeingTibet.com. The time for grassroots activism on this issue is NOW!
Obviously, neither the author of the article, nor the Communist Chinese government has the slightest notion of how democracy works.
Nicely put. People’s Daily also often accuse their detractors on Tibet with “confusing black with white”: this is the same people who put a portrait of Mao, a man responsible probably for more senseless deaths than Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot combined onto their currency and in the most revered position in the heart of Tiananmen Square, and yet criminalize possession of a portrait of the Dalai Lama, the Ghandi ji of our day and the most honored and lauded proponent of peace and reconciliation in the world today.
Emblematic of an absurd CCP facade built on sand. Bonaparte said: “When China wakes, it will shake the world.” If he were around today, Bonaparte of all people would know “When China falls, it will shake the world.”