Comments on: The Great Betrayal: why global recession means we can abandon Tibet

By: philip

philip — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:53:31 +0000

Hi.
Thanks for the connection betw Tibet’s circumstances and where we all may be headed or how we all can choose where we are headed.

Please, could you give me a reference for the shelling of the monasteries during the Cult. Revol.?

Thanks!

By: Manu

Manu — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:46:36 +0000

This is shameful for western democracies. They have become so materialistic with trade and commerce that no moral obligation remains for people who are percecuted. China has, since early 50 sytematically occupied and made Tibetans refugees in their own land. They invaded Iraq but would not do anything for people of Tibet.Even people in Chians mainland have no freedom.Remember Tinaman student protest.China is nothing but big bully.

By: Manu

Manu — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:34:22 +0000

The west did go to Iraq to get rid of Sadam Hussein because there is oil in that region.Since early 50 Tibet is persicuted and systematic uprooting is happening but none of the western democracies did any thing but lip service to suit their own agenda. They just placate China even after Tinaman Square riots. Wake up befor it is too late.

By: stefan

stefan — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:22:15 +0000

one other we never hear is that Tibet seems to be a place with a lot of resources, it may have no oil but there is gold and other metals. i guess the continuous invading of china in tibet has more to do with that than with anything else…

By: Klaus

Klaus — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:40:12 +0000

I agree. The world needs Tibet more than it needs China. Tibet’s extraordinary spiritual tradition offers us far more useful skills in terms of self-reliance and personal resilience than the economic/material offerings that China is supplying.

Tibetan Buddhism can teach us how to tame the grasping mind that causes us to want so much in the first place. Through meditation we can learn to enjoy life with less need for consumption and grasping after material possessions and live a richer, simpler life.

How ironic at this crossroads in human history that most of the world’s leaders choose China’s economic benefits over something that could be of far greater and longer lasting value.

What the UK Government has done is appalling and should not be tolerated.

By: Mari Shackell

Mari Shackell — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:51:58 +0000

I do not agree that Tibet’s culture is being eradicated. Like so many people around the world, I deeply lament and mourn the atrocities inflicted on the Tibetan people by the Chinese regime now and in the past which have caused such unbearable suffering. Also, far more contoversially in terms of world opinion, I share with the author of this article very many fears about the dangers of economic growth and globalisation.

But for all that, Tibet’s heritage to the world is safe and very far from forgotten. Tibet’s greatest gift to humanity lies in its outstanding spiritual heritage which is now thriving all over the world. The horrific events in Tibet in the 1950s triggered a diaspora in which many Tibetans fled across its borders and established new centres of Tibetan culture and learning abroad. Amongst these refugees were some of Tibet’s finest minds, best scholars, teachers and spiritual practitioners, together with their sacred texts and teachings which in many cases survived only because they had been learnt by heart. These extraordinary gifts and legacies are now becoming available to us all.

Far from being forgotten, the tragic events in Tibet have brought the country into the international spotlight and made it one of the greatest global “causes celebres” for human rights. It is this cause which we should champion – the rights of people to practise and share their own cultural and spiritual traditions freely and without fear of persecution. In this respect, the Tibetan people have acted and continue to act as a beacon for all of us. The world needs Tibet and Tibet needs the world!

By: Bernie Barclay

Bernie Barclay — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:33:53 +0000

This whole nightmare scenario is at least coming to a head. As well as pouring our energies into local Transition, let us not forget the global picture and give communities and, in this case, nations our support.

check out: http://www.freetibet.org/

love and solidarity to all
Bernie

By: Finn Jackson

Finn Jackson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:08:39 +0000

I started reading this thinking “What has this got to do with Transition?”
Now I understand.
Thank you.