Spectator's Journal: Letter From Little Lhasa
Singh, Ajay
SPECTATOR S JOURNAL by Ajay Singh Letter From Little Lhasa However great the violence used against us, it could never become right to use violence in reply. —His Holiness the Dalai Lama...
...I've given lectures in the West where people heckle me...
...Among Tibetan exiles there has long been a vocal minority that favors no solution for Tibet other than outright independence...
...They may have a long-term ally in India's new, assertive government...
...My aim is twofold: to find out if Thupten's death and the hunger strike will push hard-line exiles toward militancy...
...The Chinese would come down heavily on that sort of thing...
...I am confused...
...Free Tibet...
...But for all that, it isn't anti-Beijing sentiment that drives the TYC on a day-to-day basis...
...60 April 1999 • The American Spectator bureaucrats from Tibet who were not only intellectually impoverished but also too timid to pursue the aim of Tibetan independence...
...It was this frustration that led Thupten to his fiery death...
...An Indian law allows Tibetans who arrived in India before 1962, as well as those subsequently born in the country, to work in any government job save a handful involving high security...
...and "Westerners who put pressure on Tibetans not to oppose the Dalai Lama...
...But two generations of Tibetans have put their faith in that unwavering credo of their leader and still have no real hope of seeing their motherland free...
...Indian officials and Tibetan exiles already cooperate on intelligence matters because Tibet shares a long border with India and is vital to its security interests...
...I am surprised that a community widely perceived to be so spiritual and "passive" could have such impassioned people...
...Our government is very proud of saying this, but after 35 years it has yet to reassess its priorities," Lhasang says gravely...
...Once that hope dies, the disintegration begins...
...If somebody can immolate himself, there's no reason to believe there might not be a bomb next time," says Vijay Kranti, who has written a biography of the Dalai Lama...
...Lhasang's bitter experience with his government's apathy has made him one of its most outspoken critics...
...When policemen broke up their fast-unto-death demonstration, Thupten, 6o, decided to fight back...
...For several years until the early 1980's, it organized military training for young exiles in jungles surrounding Tibetan settlements in India...
...How long should we wait, wait, and wait...
...With sufficient public pressure—and as long as Tibetans don't endanger Indian security—that could lead Delhi to turn a blind eye to exile militant activities, including cross-border guerrilla strikes or involvement in terrorist operations in Lhasa...
...They were deeply disappointed with the Dalai Lama's government because, among other reasons, it largely consisted of a clique of Tibetan despair and the end of nonviolence...
...There's no proof of a direct correlation," he says, "but when autonomy was suggested divorce rates went up and children's school grades came down...
...By starting a non-governmental and democratically elected organization, the TYC's founders hoped to intensify the political debate about Tibet's freedom...
...L hasang Tsering, 44, a former TYC president and ex-principal of Dharamsala's Tibetan Children's Village School, will never forget his first encounter with a Tibetan minister three decades ago...
...1." That is something no past government has done for fear of antagonizing Peking, says K. Subrahmanyam, former director of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in Delhi...
...So far we have stuck together because of the hope of going back to a free Tibet...
...People areresigning themselves to their fate—they are giving up...
...Just before entering his office, I stepped on a small rug with the logo of the Olympic Games and a slogan: "The 2000 Summer Olympics not in China...
...But I have failed...
...Its ex-soldiers — martyr Thupten was one—would be invaluable if a militant movement ever took off...
...Lhasang asked him if he had any thoughts on what the first generation of Tibetans in exile should do in life...
...Days before the Indian nuclear tests shook the world in May 1998 —to wild rejoicing by Tibetan exiles in Dharamsala —Defense Minister George Fernandes, a long-time supporter of Tibet, called China India's "enemy No...
...We are sitting on a breezy verandah at the institute...
...There may be repercussions across the border, too...
...The lack of a positive response from His Holiness highlighted both his mistrust of Chinese authorities and his fear that many Tibetans would oppose any deal that would fall well short of self-determination for his people...
...But if you leave everything to him you naturally don't grab at opportunities...
...T he headquarters of the Tibetan Youth Congress is located in a modest two-story wooden edifice on a road sloping uphill from the town square...
...Still, I am genuinely surprised when he tells me he was a member of the Chushi Gangdruk, a CIA-trained resistance group that for two decades until the early 1970's waged a forlorn guerrilla war against the People's Liberation Army from the remote Nepal province of Mustang...
...I've met lamas who tell their followers that killing one Chinese is the karmic equivalent of building a thousand stupas...
...During a visit to the United States last November, the Dalai Lama countered widespread expectations by refusing to make a unilateral statement that would NAY SINGH, a Hong Kong-based writer, is the author of Give 'Em Hell, Hari...
...Jamyang is dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt with sleeves rolled up to reveal bulging biceps...
...But they mustn't forget Tibetans are very stubborn people...
...Jamyang tells Western audiences that, even among Tibetans, the Dalai Lama doesn't always have the final word...
...The Dalai Lama described Thupten's gesture as an act of "violence" that reflected the "frustration and urgency building up among many Tibetans...
...The leadership, he adds with disgust, is "uncertain, fumbling—it has no goal...
...Many of them could have gotten decent jobs if only they had been better informed by their own government...
...He then pointed toward the girls in the class and giggled, 'You can become actresses.'" Lhasang was shocked and saddened...
...An increasing number are also questioning the authority of the Dalai Lama, who has himself said that his health may not allow him to play a prominent political role for much longer...
...Of the thousands of Tibetans who graduate from college every year, the overwhelming majority end up doing petty businesses or join the ranks of India's unemployed...
...There is a growing sense of dismay and frustration," he says...
...Rather, it is discontentment with the Tibetan leadership...
...The TYC, which insists on full self-determination, charges that the Dalai Lama made the switch without consulting the Parliament-in-exile...
...And though the young men didn't realize it at the time, they had created a kind of political opposition—the first in Tibetan history—that today has 65 chapters and over 13,000 members around the world...
...I have no alternative solution to offer...
...The TYC also expanded its ties with resistance groups within Tibet, and continues to do so today...
...the Dalai Lama's insistence on non-violence...
...62 April 1999 • The American Spectator...
...We, the people of Tibet, need an answer," TYC president Tseten Norbu demanded...
...His Holiness is the only uniting factor that gives the public some hope," he says...
...Like virtually every other Tibetan exile organization, it maintains links with resistance groups in Lhasa...
...The 6-vear-old Nobel laureate then went on ) to make a candid, if surprising, admission...
...I mention something the Dalai Lama told me in an interview that afternoon...
...He is a director of the Amnye Machen Institute, an independent research and publication center that aims to address certain "imbalances and limitations in the intellectual, social, and cultural life of Tibetan people...
...Long live the Dalai Lama," he screamed, his body a mass of flames...
...At least we should have been given some direction...
...Within our policy guidelines we can choose both violent and nonviolent programs," he replies...
...The relationship between the Dalai Lama and his people is part of a great Tibetan paradox: Privately, many Tibetansfavor a more open system in which the political role of their supreme leader is drastically reduced or eliminated...
...It is in such a scenario that radicals such as Jamyang see a window of opportunity to help revive Tibet's militant struggle...
...I am lisThe American Spectator • April 19 9 9 61 tening to Jamyang Norbu, 4q, a playwright and novelist who came to India as a young child...
...But nobody seems to know about this ordinance," says Lhasang...
...he cries...
...A Che Guevara mustache and dark glasses accentuate his rugged, handsome face, making him look more like a guerrilla in his Sunday best than the intellectual he is reputed to be...
...His Holiness the Dalai Lama (1962) E yen though he had lived in exile from Tibet for 39 long years, Thupten Ngodup never gave up hope of returning to his homeland someday...
...Dismay at the lack of any meaningful progress on the freedom question, and frustration— especially among the youth—at the lack of direction for the independence movement...
...The TYC was founded in i97o — when Tseten was 11 years old —by four young, English public school-educated Tibetans...
...and to search for any truth behind reports of a rift between these hard-liners and the Dalai Lama's moderate leadership...
...His voice is deep but soft...
...How dare you criticize the Dalai Lama,' they say...
...Indeed, the most potent proof of that is the admission by many young exiles that they may not return to Tibet if it achieves autonomy — or even freedom — because of the difficulties in beginning a new life there...
...The Dalai Lama has tried to distance himself from such hard-liners, stressing his belief in ahimsa, or the Buddhist ideal of doing no harm...
...If the Chinese continue to arm Pakistan, as they have done in the nuclear field," he adds, "the Tibet cause may attract more sympathy...
...He was in the eighth grade at the time and the Dalai Lama's education minister was visiting his school...
...Thupten died shortly afterward, earning the distinction of being the first Tibetan activist to commit self-immolation...
...Earlier this year, Thupten and a group of fellow exiles participated in a hunger strike in New Delhi to call on the United Nations to debate the issue of Tibetan independence...
...It is these fears that bring me to Dharamsala, a small hill resort perched on the western foothills of the Himalayan range that separates the Indian subcontinent from the high plateau of Tibet...
...The largest and most respected political organization in the exile community, it was the TYC that fired the first salvo against the Dalai Lama's administration just after Thupten torched himself, organizing a hunger strike that lasted 67 days...
...The place has some-what wistfully come to be known as "Little Lhasa," for it is here that the Dalai Lama resides along with some 8,000 Tibetans, plus his government-in-exile...
...He doused his clothing with kerosene, lit a match, and set himself ablaze...
...But in the end—and this is the point Tseten is trying to stress —the militant thinking of most Tibetans has always been moderated by their unqualified devotion to the institution of the Dalai Lama...
...We are the most successful refugee community in the world," he said, referring to the famed industriousness and relative prosperity of the exiles as well as his government's widely lauded efforts to preserve Tibetan culture...
...But we give the highest respect to His Holiness and out of consideration for him we have not chosen the violent path until today...
...An exclusive emphasis on nonviolence, coupled with the Dalai Lama's renunciation of complete freedom for Tibet, Jamyang continues, are undermining the unity of exiles...
...If you have self-immolations in Lhasa, there could be chaos," says noted sinologist Orville Schell...
...Tibet watchers believe that this dramatic action could inspire others to do the same, and steer the half-century-old independence movement away from the Dalai Lama's emphasis on non-violence...
...Publicly, however, they are wont to solicit his support for just about every decision outside their homes...
...The government-in-exile needs to dig it up and remind Tibetans, but for some reason it doesn't...
...At one time there were even exaggerated reports of plans to target Chinese embassies and personnel overseas...
...pave the way for a dialogue with Peking on the "Tibet question...
...You can do whatever you want," Lhasang recalls the minister as saying...
...Our national animal is the yak and we pride ourselves on being unyielding...
...One evening I stop by his cozy, well-stocked bookstore...
...It is no secret that the TYC laid the groundwork for a militant movement, even if it hasn't directly engaged in one...
...I ask Tseten if he is dissatisfied with the Tibetan leader's pacifist struggle...
...Further, because the Tibetan government is neither recognized by any country nor represented at the U.N., the Dalai Lama could not ascertain the crucial wishes of Tibetans back home...
...I have made every effort for the past 20 years for the self-rule of Tibetans," he told his people...
...Jamyang extends his right arm forward and flexes a pear-shaped tricep...
...Delhi also maintains a crack regiment of Tibetan commandos, the Special Frontier Force, which it raised under CIA tutelage in 1962...
...Phurbu Tsering, 32, an employee of the government-in-exile, explains how this practice affects Tibetans...
...Tseten is being less than truthful...
...This group is prepared to take up the gun and fight for the freedom of their motherland...
...What kind of leadership was this...
...The major irritant between the TYC and the Dalai Lama's administration goes back to 1988, when His Holiness unexpectedly reversed his 29-year-old stand on Tibetan independence by declaring he would settle for autonomy, with China controlling defense and foreign relations...
...For many Tibetans, it already has...
...p it eople always wonder how the hell Tibetans are going to make an effect on China — what's the point...
...Right now a lot of militant Tibetans are keeping quiet," says Jamyang, outlining three reasons why: A lack of opportunities to mount guerrilla operations in Tibet...
...The situation isn't much better today...
...Not a few gravitate toward drugs...
...Evidently, the TYC warmly welcomed what was perhaps the most depressing news in decades for the Chinese government...
...A 38-year-old man with shaggy hair and a broad face, Tseten gives my hand a firm shake, orders coffee, and leans forward somewhat nervously in his chair...
Vol. 32 • April 1999 • No. 4
