INDEPENDENT TIBET – THE FACTS (Jamyang Norbu)

I recommend this article to anyone who wishes to start learning Tibetan views of their nation's history with regards to the current Chinese occupation. This is necessary in today's climate because most of the world sees Tibet and Tibetans through the very racist and colonialist viewpoints of the Chinese. The whole colonial "savage being saved by enlightened masters" schema that was used by Europeans for centuries is the same schema projected onto Tibetans by the Chinese - who get very indignant even at the idea that Tibetans may possibly look upon China as an oppressor. Chinese people were taught that they "liberated" the Tibetans. The reality is that they "liberated" the ownership of Tibet from the Tibetan people, who are now being pushed aside - only allowed to live on the margins as long as they cater to official Chinese versions of Tibetan identity. Tibet as a whole now has become entirely controlled and dominated by the Chinese, who now claim Tibetans as a "Chinese" national minority, the better to excuse the dispossession of Tibetans from their land.

In many ways, this is similar to what America has done to Native Americans - lying about the pre-invasion societies, brutally conquering them and calling it "progress," then claiming the land while turning its native inhabitants into a mere ethnic group, subsumed under the dominant people who assume this process has made everything turn out for the best. And by this, meaning "the final best." As in no alternatives for the natives and the very idea of their own independence is considered either extremist or laughable.

But like the nations that existed in what is now the USA before they were invaded and subjugated, Tibet was independent. It was independent right up until the Chinese invasion of 1950. In fact, except for a brief submission to the Mongols, Tibet has never been seriously invaded or ruled by outsiders until 1950. This fact is continually denied by the Chinese government and people who insist that Tibet is an intrinsic part of China and always has been. The American counterpart of this fraud is to simply claim that native nations weren't really "nations" per se but "tribes" and "bands," despite the historical evidence that the vast majority of native people in what is now the US, lived in towns and villages and had settled agricultural lifestyles. It makes it easier on the conquerer's conscious to lie about the people they have conquered. China denies the horrific brutality it has inflicted on Tibet just like America denies the horrific brutality it inflicted on the several nations it destroyed to make the myth of "virgin land" a reality.

I raise the example of Native America as a comparison to help illuminate the situation with regards to the occupation of Tibet so that the next time you may read something like "Old Tibet was a hell on earth" or "China brought progress and modernity to Tibet" or "Tibetan independence is a lie" you may be able to grasp where such ideas come from. Racism and its ugly cousin colonialism are alive and well in the 21st century. The fact that it's being perpetrated by one Asian nation against another (and not by Europeans) shouldn't fool anyone one bit.


Now here is that article.........

INDEPENDENT TIBET – THE FACTS (Jamyang Norbu)


http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2010/03/04/independent-tibet-–-the-facts/

"This is a considerably revised and expanded version of the document, Losar Gift for Rangzen Activists, that I posted on Feb 25, 2009. This version has new information and illustrations. Last year when I was in India I gave a talk and powerpoint presentation based on this essay at a number of Tibetan schools and centers. I am happy to report that everyone was uplifted and energized by the sheer volume of indisputable facts substantiating Tibetan independence. It may have hit a sore spot in Beijing, though, for I was denounced at length on bbs.tibet.cn for this specific presentation. In order to ensure’s Beijing’s continued “sensitivity” on the issue of Tibetan independence, a Chinese translation (in traditional as well as simplified script) will be up on lovetibet.ti-da.net, and other sites thanks to freedom activist Rosaceae. A full Tibetan translation will be at www.khabdha.org, and also be published in Tibet Times, all thanks to Gedun Rabsal la. You can also go on rangzen.net for the translations and for downloading print-ready pdf files to make flyers. I would like to thank all organizations that printed and distributed flyers last year, and would encourage them and others to do so again this year on March 10th and other occasions. Feel free to contact me for questions or suggestions."

http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2010/03/04/independent-tibet-–-the-facts/