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Repression vs
resistance in Tibet
By Andre Glucksmann,Karel Schwarzenberg, Desmond Tutu,Richard v
The grim spectacle of young monks, nuns and lay people setting themselves on
fire to protest conditions in their homeland is a stark reminder of the gloom
and despair that now prevails on the Tibetan Plateau. These acts of
self-immolation ¡X at least 36 since March last year ¡X have been staged to
protest the increasingly heavy controls that China¡¦s government in Beijing has
imposed on Buddhist religious practices. At the end of last month, a
self-immolation occurred for the first time in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, which
may be a powerful portent of new turmoil in Tibet.
The self-immolations are a stark rebuke to the Chinese government¡¦s claims that
the lives of many in Tibet have been improving. These singular acts of
desperation, irrespective of their motives, should be viewed in the wider
context of ongoing religious and political problems in Tibet. Current official
Chinese policies threaten the existence of the Tibetan language, culture,
religion, heritage and environment.
Simmering tensions have been fueled largely by the lengthy ¡§re-education¡¨
campaigns imposed on the Tibetans, who are forced to publicly renounce their
spiritual leader and profess patriotism and loyalty to China. The escalating
situation in the Aba/Ngaba region, a heavily Tibetan area in Sichuan Province
where tensions have led to the imposition of unprecedented security measures, is
particularly worrisome.
Aba has long had one of the densest concentrations of Buddhist monks and
monasteries anywhere in the world. The security crackdown to stem protests there
and the virtual sealing off of the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, where the first of
the current wave of self-immolations occurred, appears merely to have spread
protest farther afield. Article 36 of the Constitution of the People¡¦s Republic
of China guarantees all citizens the right to freedom of religion; therefore,
religious freedom in Tibet should be respected.
In April, a group of 12 Nobel Peace Prize laureates sent a letter to Chinese
President Hu Jintao (JÀAÀÜ) urging him to ¡§respect the dignity of the Tibetan
people¡¨ and open ¡§meaningful dialogue¡¨ with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and
other Tibetan leaders. The US Senate and the European Parliament have adopted
resolutions expressing their frustration over Chinese policies. There should be
no doubt that the rest of the world is well aware of the gross violation of the
Tibetan people¡¦s fundamental rights and dignity.
China has legitimate aspirations to be accepted as a responsible stakeholder in
global affairs. The best way for its government to achieve this goal is to
demonstrate that it can care for the needs of all of the people living in China,
including Tibetans, in a responsible manner. The Chinese government should
contemplate the merits of greater openness in Tibet and put a stop to
intimidation and harassment, which merely breed further frustration and
resentment.
The fate of people arbitrarily imprisoned due to their religious beliefs and
participation in recent protests adds to the growing worries about stability in
Tibet. To ensure greater transparency, the Chinese authorities should lift
restrictions on visits by independent international media and human rights
monitors to provide as accurate a picture of the situation on the ground as
possible.
The international community ought to initiate an open and honest dialogue with
China at all levels, urging it to guarantee freedom of religion to all of its
citizens in accordance with its international obligations ¡X and its own laws.
Andre Glucksmann is a philosopher and essayist. Karel Schwarzenberg is
foreign minister of the Czech Republic. Desmond Tutu is archbishop emeritus of
Cape Town and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Richard von Weizsacker is a former
president of Germany. H.R.H. Prince El Hassan bin Talal is the chairman and
founder of the Arab Thought Forum and the West Asia-North Africa Forum. Vartan
Gregorian is the president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. Michael Novak is
a former US ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights. All signatories are
members of the Shared Concern Initiative.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
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