To wait more than 50 years for freedom is exquisite torture — torture that’s wearily familiar to the millions of Tibetans who have lived under Chinese oppression since they were invaded in 1949. It is the same torture that forced Lodi Gyari Rinpoche, special envoy of the Dalai Lama based in Washington DC, to flee from Tibet in 1959.
When Rinpoche set foot on South African soil earlier this month as a delegate to the third World Conference on Democracy in Durban, he must have been struck by the historical parallels between this southern corner of Africa and his faraway spiritual home.
South Africa celebrates 10 years of democracy this year. But it shares with Tibet a painful toil for freedom, having suffocated under formalised oppression, in the form of apartheid, for more than 50 years.
“We want South Africa to continue to have the best relationship with China. But as China’s friend, South Africa should remind her that great nations are revered not for large numbers of people or powerful economies but for their principles. South Africa has a moral responsibility to speak out about the situation in Tibet,” Rinpoche says.
And the situation, he says, is a systematic and prolonged attrition of Tibetan culture and lifestyle.
“Non-Tibetans are being moved into Tibetan regions either intentionally through Chinese resettlement programmes or simply because Chinese people are looking for new opportunities. We are becoming a minority in our own country. The Chinese now have the edge in competing for jobs and resources,” says Rinpoche.
Freedom of religion and cultural practice are also constantly eroded and little activity takes place without police scrutiny. “His Holiness has said that one of the biggest dangers is that Buddhism will be reduced to superstitious belief and ritual because nobody is allowed to study the philosophy of our religion,” he says.
Thousands have risked their lives trekking across the treacherous Himalayas to live in exile alongside their leader and spiritual chief, the Dalai Lama. It’s been reported that about 6 500 monasteries have been destroyed by the Chinese.
Yet Rinpoche as a Buddhist and a diplomat stresses that Tibetans do not harbour hatred towards the Chinese and separates the people from the abhorrent dictates of a political system.
He is one of the chief representatives engaged in talks with the Chinese. Negotiations centre on the Dalai Lama’s Five-Point Peace Plan or so-called Strasbourg Proposal, which calls for autonomy for Tibetans. Another round of talks is on the cards within the next few months and Rinpoche is hopeful the new Chinese leadership will be open to dialogue.
“For the first time they are listening to our views and taking a consultative approach. We are putting all our energy and resources into these talks while continuing to protest the serious human rights violations and the destruction of our environment,” he says.
Rinpoche explains that seeking outright independence right now is premature. “At this stage we are asking to be able to run things like our own education systems and our own cultural activities, later we will look at things like governance.”
It’s a lopsided trade-off at best and far from what many Tibetans hope for. “The people will not be happy, we know this,” he concedes.
Rinpoche says it is the Tibetan people’s respect for the Dalai Lama that keeps the simmering discontent from bubbling over. Impatient Tibetans, particularly the youth, are disillusioned by the non-violence and passive resistance approach, despite this being a cornerstone of Buddhism. For many who have grown up with an absent leader who is routinely snubbed by the world’s leaders, non-violence seems toothless and outmoded. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has reportedly declined to give the Dalai Lama an audience when the Nobel Prize laureate visits the United Kingdom in May.
Still Rinpoche is unwavering about passive resistance.
“His Holiness is very clear, he will disassociate himself from any act of violence because once violence starts there will be no end,” says the man who was a founder member of the Tibetan Youth Congress in the early Seventies.
Right now the stalling tactics of the Chinese are hamstringing negotiations. There is even the idea that simply waiting for the 14th incarnation of the Dalai Lama to die will vaporise the “Tibet problem”.
Not so, says Rinpoche: “This is very dangerous thinking because the Tibetan people will be so deeply affected by the Chinese government’s actions that it will stay with them for many generations.”
Non-violence and passive resistance seems glaringly incongruent in a modern world dominated by war-hungry hawks. Even during South Africa’s own struggle non-violent resistance had to be relinquished, as Nelson Mandela says in Long Walk to Freedom, “It is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle”.
Rinpoche is not swayed: “Our non-violent struggle is so precious. It is such a wonderful exercise. If we succeed it will be a victory for everyone. We can never say that this or that is not our problem because we live in a small world.”
He adds: “South Africa needs to remember that the struggle for freedom did not take place just in South Africa. It was a giant, international collaboration that bought the country to the conclusion where it can now celebrate 10 years of democracy.”
South Africa is one of only 12 countries in the world where there is a Tibet Office in place. In April last year a South African Friends of Tibet organisation was also established.
Perhaps the cry from the mountain kingdom is starting to reverberate across the seas. And even if its echo falls on the deaf ears of politicians, its message is crystal clear to the open hearts of those who breathe in freedom like they breathe in air.