Since March 14, Tibetans' group protest activities have spread from Lhasa to other neighboring provinces, such as Sichuan and Qinghai. The CCP's (Chinese Communist Party's) one-voice propaganda defined the protests as "rebellion," "riot," "disorder," and "chaos." The CCP has incriminated the vandalism and burning incidents in Lhasa as serious crimes of organized violence, which was supposedly premeditated and carefully plotted by the Dalai contingency and other Tibetan independence supporters. Many Western media outlets, as always, did nothing more than reproduce and transmit the remarks made by the CCP controlled media. Without any legitimate investigation, they quoted terms, such as "disorder" and "riot" in their reports to describe the CCP's bloody suppression of the Tibetans.
Even media that traditionally opposes the CCP's repression adopted its propaganda, using such terminology, in reporting the Tibet issue and other civil right promoting activities in China. In fact, events in which the Chinese people strike back against their suppressors are definitely not riots as the CCP describes.
In reviewing historical events over the past 50 years, what was labeled as "Tibetan riots" by the CCP were actually Tibetan's fighting against the dictatorship of the CCP.
As a matter of fact, whether it was the peaceful student demonstration on June 4, 1989 in Tiananmen Square that the CCP classified as a "disturbance" and "uprising," the surging civil rights protests in recent years, farmers appealing to get their land back, cumulative efforts of people who were involuntarily relocated opposing the CCP's dictatorship for denying citizens their basic human rights—these were actually promoting the universal values of "democracy, freedom and human rights." They deserve the respect and support from the world.
I hereby appeal to the international community and the public, especially the foreign media, to stop following the deceiving propaganda of the CCP and stop calling civil rights movements "riots, chaos or civil unrest and disobedience." If no one had the courage to stand up and oppose tyranny, who would offer any kind of hope to this country/nation? Is this a world of truth and justice?
Tibetans Resisted the Great Leap Forward in 1959
In October 1950, CCP troops numbering 40,000 defeated 8,000 Tibetan soldiers at Kangcang. At this time Tibet's regional ethnic autonomy was established under the "17-Article Agreement" which deals with Tibet issues. But seven years later, the CCP started its socialist transformation of the country, which led to the disintegration of the autonomy it once had.
The 10th Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Kyrgyzstan, addressed Beijing authorities in his "Seventy Thousand Memorial." He said "After Tibet implemented the People's Commune system, Tibetans only have three private possessions—an outfit, a quilt, and a bowl with a set of chopsticks. A lot of people were left with hardly anything to eat and as a result, many families starved to death. When he returned to Tibet, many Tibetans fell to their knees and cried piteously."
In 1958, a group of the Tibetan people resisted this situation. For many it was a disaster that was directly caused by the establishment of the communes and the so-called "Great Leap Forward." Armed conflicts occurred in many areas. In 1959, under Mao Zedong's command, what he referred as the "People's Liberation Army" opened fire to suppress Tibetan protestors. More than 80,000 people were killed. At the same time, many government officials from this region, which was supposed to be autonomous, were rounded up and arrested by the CCP. Mao then abolished the local government of Tibet. On March 10, the Kashag Government led by the Dalai Lama, along with hundreds of thousands of people, fled Tibet. They established a government-in-exile in Dharamsala, a mountainous area in northwest India.
This event was referred to as the "1959 Armed Rebellion" by Beijing authorities. However, it was recognized internationally as the CCP's armed invasion of Tibet.
Economically Plundering Resources
In 1980, during his visit to Tibet, Hu Yaobang, the then the CCP's General Secretary, said, "The standard of living in Tibet is even worse than 30 years ago." To obtain resources, for 10 years the CCP has been increasing the investment rate in Tibet, but the quality of life for Tibetans hasn't changed much. Only a small number of people were able to benefit from this.
Aid sent to Tibet from the Hunan Province was in the form of a 12-meter-high sculpture of Mao Zedong. Many Tibetans obviously regarded this as a huge insult. The Lhasa Stadium is considered one of the top 10 architectural designs in Tibet, but since Tibetans don't hold sports activities inside stadiums, this is actually completely irrelevant to their quality of life.
According to statistics, all the timber transported from Aba, Tibet to the mainland from 1955 to 1985 could cover the diameter of the earth 13 times. The CCP's over-exploitation of Tibet's mining resources for the past 50 years has caused a great imbalance in its fragile ecosystem. Originally, there were about 4,000 lakes Tibet. Nearly half of them have dried up now, and large areas of grassland have had serious desertification.
Beliefs And Culture Destroyed
Of course, the most horrible thing any government can do to its citizens is suppress their beliefs. Tibetan Buddhism is their spiritual pillar. Monks are the local political, economic and cultural backbone. They were also the main target of the trampling and destruction by the atheist CCP. According to statistics, before the CCP seized control of Tibet, there were a total of 4,573 Tibetan monasteries which housed as many as 280,000 monks and nuns. But six years later, only 553 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries were left, and the number of monks and nuns was reduced to only around 6,900.
Traditionally, Tibetan people occupied such areas as Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan. But now it is partitioned into different provinces by the CCP to prevent Tibetans from forming any kind of conglomerate or unity.
Replacing the Tibetan language with Chinese is also an indisputable fact. Instruction in Tibetan was outlawed during the Cultural Revolution. Although both languages are now taught in primary and secondary schools, even today, Chinese is the only language of instruction permitted in higher education. This causes many Tibetans to become proficient in Chinese but not the Tibetan language.
The CCP Branded People as Thugs in 1989
In 1989, the 10th Banchan Lama died suddenly during a visit to Tibet. The visit was a tour to inspect the damage caused by the Cultural Revolution. His death shocked Tibetans and caused rumors everywhere. On March 5, the largest-scale conflict with bloodshed since 1957 broke out in Lhasa.
According to international human rights organizations, the CCP instigated protesters to burn, kill, loot, and commit other violent crimes. The purpose was to give the Chinese military an excuse to open fire. Two days after the conflict began, a snow mountain lion flag rose from the Jokhang Monastery. Dozens of monks and nuns walked out of Jokhang. People followed them shouting, "Punish the perpetrators of religious persecution" and "Execute those soldiers who killed our Tibetans!"
However, the whole event was considered a sign of Tibetan independence by the CCP, who followed suit with the suppression by killing. After the crackdown, Tibetan monks went through a large-scale reform. They were forced to break ties with the Dalai Lama. Those who did not accept the "new commandments" were expelled from temples. For example, more than 200 monks were forced out of the Sang Dongba Temple, leaving only 12 for changing oil and cleaning.
Dalai 'Chanted Buddhist Scripts': I Do Not Seek Independence
The CCP always insists the Dalai Lama's goal is to split China and seek Tibetan independence. However, the Dalai Lama has repeatedly stated publicly that Tibet does not want independence, only regional autonomy within the framework of China's Constitution. He admits Tibet is part of China, but hopes that the Beijing authorities agree to take the "one country, two systems" as the basis of autonomy in Tibet. In addition, he has attempted to negotiate with Beijing on the issue of autonomy for several decades.
So far no progress has been made in these negotiations. The Dalai Lama said, "I am not seeking independence. I have repeated these words hundreds of times, but they still do not believe me."
In fact, the CCP believes it, but doesn't want it. Since Tibet is already in their hands, why give Tibetans more power? The CCP's current policy is to delay the issue. After the Dalai Lama dies, the CCP can simply designate a person as Dalai to assume full control of Tibet.
The Reincarnation of the Dalai Lama Must be Approved by Beijing
Effective September 1, 2007, the "Living Buddha Reincarnation of the Tibetan Buddhist Management" stated, "Unless approved by the Government, the reincarnation of a living Buddha is illegal, null and void." Obviously, the CCP wants to be able to control the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Thirteen years ago, the Dalai Lama found the Banchan Lama reincarnated as a boy, who had been jailed for 11 years. At the same time, Beijing assigned another boy as the reincarnation of the Banchan living Buddha.
The CCP has deprived Tibetans' their civil rights in matters of economics, culture, politics and beliefs. March 10 was the 49th anniversary of CCP rule in Tibet. On March 14, 2008, in Lhasa, Sichuan and Qinghai, during this time before the Olympics Games, groups of Tibetans began protesting against the CCP, leading to global concerns about the CCP's persecution of individuals based on their beliefs and the suppression of civil human rights.
