Tibet - Cultural Genocide

Please imagine something shocking. Imagine that an alien power two thousand miles away - as far from here as Moscow or Istanbul - has decided to settle twenty million of its most illiterate people to live in your country. Worse, the alien power has decided to eliminate all traces of your traditions, your history, your way of life, and even your language. Absurd ? I am sorry to tell you that it is not. It is happening right now, though fortunately not to us here. It is happening to a far off country of which we know little. A country larger than Britain, France and Germany combined but with a population of only one and a half million.

The Chinese in Beijing are doing this to Tibet, and doing it now. How do I know ? Because I have just returned from a week visiting a village called McLeod Ganj which is six thousand feet up in the foothills of the Himalayas. It used to be a hill-station of the British Raj and claims to be the wettest place in the world. Now it is the headquarters of the Tibetan Government in Exile, with the blessing of successive Indian governments.

MEPs meet the Dalai Lama

I was there with a small group of MEPs from all parties and several nationalities. We met the Dalai Lama privately and discussed the situation in Tibet with him for two hours. He is sixty-six, tall and thin with spectacles, down-to-earth, speaks good English, and has a great sense of humour and a high-pitched giggle which is infectious. To me he stands on a par with Nelson Mandela. His entourage, and all Tibetans, are in awe of him because he is a reincarnation of Buddha.

Escape from Tibet

Around three thousand Tibetans each year escape from Tibet to come to McLeod Ganj. In desperation they leave their native land and trek across the high Himalayan mountains, past Mount Everest. Their journeys are on foot and take about a month. They hide and sleep by day, and walk at night without torches to avoid detection by Chinese border patrols. Near the end many eat grass in order to survive. Few make it over thirty. I met a new arrival who had been a senior policeman in Lhasa : initially, he said, he believed the Chinese were bringing material benefits, but later he realised they were deliberately crushing the Tibetan way-of-life so that other parts of China would not rebel either.

As soon as the refugees arrive they have an audience with the Dalai Lama. Their young children are put into schools where they are educated and learn to read and write both English and Hindi. Parents are housed separately in simple shelters with corrugated tin roofs where they learn a skill, such as carving, metal-working, or even on computers so that they can earn a living. Should it matter for us in fortunate England about saving the way of life of a remote and obscure people of whom we know so little ? I think so.

Philosophy of Happiness

I am not religious but Buddhism is an attractive creed, being about non-violence, reincarnation, and bringing happiness to all living creatures. Tibetan Buddhism is the purest example of that philosophy put into action. The Tibetans' beliefs unfortunately make it easy for their giant neighbours, the Chinese, to crush them. The history of the 1930s in Europe tells us that if the world stands aside and allows little countries to be occupied by totalitarian regimes, it can lead to worse for all of us later on. What can we do to help Tibet ?

Dalai Lama to address Parliament

We MEPs have invited the Dalai Lama to speak to the whole European Parliament - an honour we normally accord only to a head of state - on 24th October in Strasbourg. The purpose is to give him a platform to appeal to world opinion. Whatever the sceptical British think about the European Parliament, it is taken by the rest of the world to be the voice of Europe. The Chinese government will be furious but we shall reply that to them they must start to respect human rights, both of Tibetans and of their own citizens in China, especially if they wish to keep the Olympic Games in 2008.

What you can do

You too can help if you wish. The young refugee Tibetan children need financial sponsorship for their upbringing. Simply post a donation to the Tibetan Childrens Village, Dharamsala Cantt 176216, Himachal Pradesh, India. Or, for a copy of their standard form with the details of their bank account, write to me at 10 Church Lane, Navenby, LN5 0EG, or telephone me on 01522-810812, or send me an email from the Visitors Page on this website. Thukje-Che. That means Thank-You in Tibetan.