tibet - the myth of shangri-la

7/28/2019 Tibet - The Myth of Shangri-La

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Tibet - The Myth of Shangri-La

We ought not suffer ourselves to be deluded by unfounded theory or specious argument. -AbbeFelice Fontana.

The recent uprising in Tibet, which was crushed by China, reopened old wounds of the Tibetanstruggle for independence from China. The international media was quick to highlight thetraumatic events of the Chinese crackdown in 1959 in Tibet, which led to the exile of Dalai Lamato India. The international condemnation of the tough action taken on the Tibetan protesters wasembarrassing to China as she was to play the host in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The badpublicity came at an inopportune time and blunted the PR exercise mounted by China as anemerging Super Power.

The international coverage of the uprising was to a large extent uniform expressing moraloutrage at the Chinese oppression but simplified the complex historical events of the Sino-Tibetan struggle. In the simplification lay the romantic notion that the Lamas (the priestly class)ruled wisely and with compassion. As the Dalai Lama himself stated that "the pervasive influence

of Buddhism" in Tibet, "amid the wide open spaces of an unspoiled environment resulted in asociety dedicated to peace and harmony. We enjoyed freedom and contentment.1

Hollywood version of Tibet

The romantic notion of idyllic Tibet where men, women and children lived in perfect harmony wasreinforced in the West by Hollywood movies produced by talented directors such as BernardoBertolucci's Little Buddha (1993) and Martin Scorsese's Kundun (1997) and Jean-Jacques

Annauds Seven Years in Tibet. In these excellently directed and lavishly produced films thereare powerful messages suggesting exaggerated reverence, with heavy-handed depictions of Tibetans, especially Tibetan monks, as solemn, holy and kind instead of as ordinary people whoquarrel and joke around. The Western World also idealized Tibetan culture as pure andotherworldly. As Jamyang Norbu, a Tibetan immigrant and writer living in Tennessee, said: ''Inthe West, the response to Tibetan culture is so worshipful and romantic. There are elements inTibetan culture that have all this magical, medieval stuff that Westerners love. The New Agething. The Tibetan thing has style the color, the costumes. To a great extent, we exist only inthe imagination of Western fantasists.''2

The slavish adoration of all things Tibetan finds articulation in the novel Lost Horizon, written byJames Hilton who popularized Shangri-La a place of perfect serenity. The novel tells a story of some Englishmen whose plane crashed in the Himalayas found peace and tranquility in thecompany of lamas who engaged them with philosophical conversation over endless cups of tea.This myth of Tibet a veritable Shangri-La - entered Western consciousness and struck asympathetic chord. This impression of Tibet as a Utopian world untainted by greed or corruptionexcited the imagination of western people and formed the basis of public opinion supporting theTibetan struggle against China.

Exploitative class structure

But did the popular opinion about Tibet as a Shangri-La have any basis in reality? Were thereany historical records to support the claim that it was Shangri-La ruled by the wise lamas? Acareful and scrupulous reading of Tibetan History reveals a radically different picture. Far from

being a Shangri-La Tibet was crushed from within by a viciously exploitative class structure.Until 1959, when the Dalai Lama last presided over Tibet, writes Michael Parenti, most of thearable land was still organized into manorial estates worked by serfs. 3 Even a writer sympathetic to the old order allows that "a great deal of real estate belonged to the monasteries,and most of them amassed great riches . . .. In addition, individual monks and lamas were able toaccumulate great wealth through active participation in trade, commerce, and money lending."4
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In old Tibet, there were a number of small farmers who eked out a living under extremely difficultcircumstances. These were the lucky ones as they were free peasants. The middle class was inthe region of ten thousand comprising small traders, merchants, and shopkeepers. Thousandswere beggars and some slaves who owned nothing. But staggering parts of the population -some 700000 out of 1250000 were serfs.5 The serfs and other poor peasants had no educationor medical care. They slaved for the lama and the secular landed aristocracy. They had no rightsand were subject to the whims of the lords. The plight of the serfs is chronicled in the Timely

Rain: Travels in New Tibet and also in other scholarly books such as Tom Grunfelds TheMaking of Modern Tibet, M.E. Sharpe, 1996; Anna Louise Strong, Tibetan Interviews, PekingNew World Press, 1929.

Hell on Earth

The exploitative regime of the Lamas was enforced through terror and wide spread use of torture.For runaway serfs and thieves the summary punishments were given such as eye gouging, thepulling out of tongues, hamstringing, and amputation. Notes Parenti In 1959, Anna LouiseStrong visited an exhibition of torture equipment that had been used by the Tibetan overlords.There were handcuffs of all sizes, including small ones for children, and instruments for cuttingoff noses and ears, gouging out eyes, and breaking off hands. There were instruments for slicingoff kneecaps and heels, or hamstringing legs. There were hot brands, whips, and specialimplements for disemboweling.6 The testimonies of the victims of torture are heart rending asthey are enduring chronicles of mans inhumanity to man.

The religious teaching of Karma was used to keep the iniquitous social order in place. Thepernicious doctrine taught that the poor had themselves to blame as they justly suffered for their sins committed in past lives. The rich enjoyed the affluence and prosperity as a reward for their virtuous deeds in the past. This religious dogma prevented any challenge to the social order andpreserved a status quo for the benefit of the Lama elites.

Enter the Red Dragon

In 1950 the Chinese communists occupied Tibet and crushed the ill-equipped Tibetan army. In1951 the Seventeen Point agreement was signed and Tibet was officially incorporated into thePeople's Republic of China. Dalai Lama was given self- government in Tibet with the Chinesegovernment retaining control over military and foreign relations. In Eastern Kham and Amdo(Quingai) considered being outside the purview of the Tibetan Government, the Chinese initiatedland reforms. Most lands there were taken away from noblemen and monasteries and re-distributed to serfs. This aroused resentment among the landed class in Tibet. The Chineseaccusation was that Tibet under the Dalai Lama was regressive in nature and opposed all

attempts to modernize a serf society. The Chinese abolished serfdom and introduced socialreforms by reducing usurious interest rates and built hospitals and roads. Contrary to popular belief in the West," writes Goldstein, the Chinese "took care to show respect for Tibetan cultureand religion. No aristocratic or monastic property was confiscated, and feudal lords continued toreign over their hereditarily bound peasants.7

Meanwhile the relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese communists worsened. InEastern Kham and Amdo(Qinghai) the landed class with the monks started a rebellion in June1956, which eventually spread to Lhasa. The Chinese crushed the Tibetan resistance withextreme violence in 1959. After the Lhasa rebellion in 1959, the Chinese government loweredthe level of autonomy of Central Tibet, and implemented full-scale land redistribution in all areas

of Tibet.

Tibet as a pawn in the Cold War

The American involvement in the Tibetan struggle arose due to geopolitical concerns about the


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ideology of communism that was hostile to interests of capitalism. American foreign policystrategists, less inspired by thoughts of benevolence, saw a golden opportunity to halt the spreadof communism by actively supporting Dalai Lama. The CIA involvement with the bands of Tibetan fighters dates back to 1956 when the Tibetan fighters attacked the Chinese PeoplesLiberation Army. The CIA gave this group military training, support camps in Nepal and supply of arms. A propaganda unit called the American Society for a Free Asia a CIA front- espoused thecause of free Tibet.

The Dalai Lamas eldest brother, Thubtan Norbu, played an active role in this society.8 The CIAbankrolled the exiled Tibetan community throughout the sixties to the tune of $1.7 million a year according to the documents released by the State Department in 1998. The CIA also gave theDalai Lama annual payments of $186000. These facts were reported in the Los Angeles Times(15-9-1998) and also in New York Times (1-10-1998) by the publication of the article CIA Gave

Aid to Tibetan Exiles in '60s, Files Show written by Jim Mann. The documents released by theState Department are also analysed in a book written by Morrison titled The CIA's Secret War inTibet.

The armed resistance movement petered out in 1972 when the CIA abruptly withdrew support.Both President Nixon and Dr. Henry Kissinger saw that rapprochement with China served USgeopolitical interests. The Tibetans were left high and dry. There is another important reason, notdiscussed in mainstream media, why the resistance failed: because large sections of Tibetansociety who were serfs did not join the armed struggle against the Chinese. Unlike other liberation struggles against imperial invasions, the Tibetan resistance was confined to the landowning aristocracy and monks who lost the most during the Chinese occupation. The non-involvement of the class of peasants/ serfs spelt the death knell of the resistance.9

The bitterness of the 14th Dalai Lama was evident, as he knew that the US involvement in Tibetwas a game to thwart the expansion of Communist China. It had nothing to do with the plight of the Tibetan people. While thanking the CIA for its support in the Tibetan struggle he told JohnKenneth Knaus, an ex-CIA official, that the U.S. Government had involved itself in his country'saffairs not to help Tibet but only as a cold war tactic to challenge the Chinese.''

Today the financial support for Dalai Lama flows from the National Endowment for Democracyand other conduits. The US Congress has allotted annually a sum of $2 million for Tibetans inIndia with additional budget of millions for the democratic activities for the Tibetan ExileCommunity. Heather Cottin, in "George Soros, Imperial Wizard," CovertAction Quarterly no. 74(Fall 2002) has also alleged that the Dalai Lama also gets money from financier George Soros,who now runs the CIA-created Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other institutes.

Writing on the Wall

Beneath the smiling face of the 14th Dalai Lama that we see on TV interviews and at publicfunctions there is a worried man. The worries of Dalai Lama are founded on painful realitiesconfronting Tibet. In recent times the Han Chinese constituting 95% of the immense Chinesepopulation have settled in large numbers dominating the Tibetan economy. The Han Chineseviews the Tibetans with contempt. The economic levers are in the hands of the Chinese, whichhas aroused the antagonism of the local Tibetans. The culture of Tibet is in danger of beingeffaced by the demographic shift in favour of the Han Chinese.

The dark shadow cast by China as an emerging super power has blunted the bargaining power of Tibet in her quest for independence. In recent times China has meshed with the globalised

economy as a supplier of low cost goods to US and the world. With US slipping into recessionand real wages declining, the flood of cheap goods to meet declining purchasing power in USmay stem the consumer protest in that country. Hence, apart from posturing and making rhetoricalspeeches, the US establishment may find no reason to rock the Chinese boat. The USoccupation of Iraq against international law, which has cost precious lives, has turned public


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tibet - the myth of shangri-la

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