Tattva

In 1963 a Buddhist monk sat down on a busy street intersection in Saigon and then burned himself to death protesting the lack of religious freedom under a US-backed regime. In 1998 when Delhi police tried to break up a hunger strike against China’s human rights abuses, a 60 year old Tibetan immolated himself. In March 2008 two monks committed suicide in response to raids of monasteries by Chinese police.
 
Why do people resort to such drastic measures in response to suppression of religion? And why should Hindus be upset that the Indian and Nepali governments are jailing, and in some cases physically beating, non-violent Tibetan protestors? Besides the fact that Buddha’s birthplace was in Nepal, his contributions to reforming South Asian society, and the shared beliefs between Hinduism and Buddhism, this article will examine why Hindus should be concerned about places like Tibet.

Historical similarities between India and Tibet

Attempts at cultural genocide and religious conversion
England’s government tried to wipe out Hinduism numerous times. British soldiers destroyed ancient Sanskrit documents, demolished temples, and stole cultural artifacts. The goal was to get rid of any evidence of a great, ancient culture before the coming of Westerners. The British also hired brahmins to mistranslate Sanskrit scriptures. Hired pandits had also spread false information to trick people into being loyal to England. British officials forced Indians who wanted government jobs to speak English only and children were taught that India’s culture was inferior to that of Europe.

In China “patriotic education campaigns” are used to indoctrinate Tibetans. This is similar to past programs used by the US government to train Native American children to view their culture as inferior and lose touch with their traditions. Tibetans are expected to speak Chinese rather than their native language and to declare loyalty to Beijing over Buddhism. During the invasion of Tibet, troops destroyed Buddhist monasteries, stole artifacts, and burned holy books. Lamas are also picked by the government and used to stifle dissent. 

Each time a rebellion happened in either India or Tibet it was followed by multiple revolts around the country. These demonstrations reflected resentment at the colonizer government’s lack of respect. The British at one point fired guns into non-violent Indian demonstrators. Beijing has also admitted that they fired into Tibetan crowds. What has stopped these cultures from being destroyed is the people’s strong belief in Dharma. Both Hindus and Buddhists have always remained loyal to their heritage and religious beliefs.

Claims at being the chosen ruler
When the British took over India they falsely claimed that they were the rightful rulers because light skinned “Aryan” invaders took over India in 1500 BC and introduced Hinduism and language. Evidence now shows that the Aryan Invasion theory was made up by historians working for the British government. Archaeologists have now proven that no invasion took place, that the majority of South Asians share genetic DNA with Africans and not Europeans, and that Hinduism is not a religion imported from Central Asia or Russia. 

China invaded Tibet in 1949 claiming that Tibet historically has always been Chinese. This is unproven as numerous countries stated that China illegally invaded Tibet. During WWII countries like England signed treaties with Tibet to move military supplies into China to fight against Japan. England also tried to conquer Tibet when it claimed India, yet Chinese troops never fought with the British – it was Tibetans who defended their land.  

England argued that if given independence, India would fall apart. China also claims that if Tibet is given greater freedom or independence that Tibetans would not be able to survive.

Environmental Destruction and Poverty
Both Hinduism & Buddhism emphasize protecting the environment and treating animals with respect. In fact it was Buddha who revived vegetarianism among those Hindus who saw no moral problem with animal sacrifice.

The British carried out large scale deforestation and became wealthy by pillaging India’s land for natural resources. They also displaced tribal peoples living in forests (unfortunately this continues today by the Indian government on behalf of Western corporations). England also seized large tracts of land from farmers, leaving many Indian families homeless or landless. Seizing farm land from Indians created a large cycle of poverty that has continued and multiplied into the present.   

Tibet’s large forests have lessened in size with Chinese development. Water from rivers have been diverted, animal species have been declared endangered, and oil, gas, gold, and minerals are being mined with profits going to Beijing. Since Han Chinese are encouraged to migrate into Tibet, less farm land and less business ownership is available resulting in increasing poverty amongst Tibetans. 

A lot of Westerners like to believe that poverty comes from laziness but the truth is that large scale poverty is a result of colonialism, imperialism, and corporate and government exploitation. Extracting natural resources can bring in billions of dollars but the profits rarely go to local people. Instead they go to the colonizer government. Seizing land and livelihood from locals is a major cause of poverty. This is seen all over the world where colonizers or multinationals have stolen land from locals and have not given any monetary compensation. This has happened with indigenous populations in places like the US, Hawaii, Australia, Latin America, and Africa.

How South Asian democracies and other regimes handle dissent

Last year thousands of Burmese peacefully marched alongside Buddhist monks in protest of higher oil prices. Burma’s military dictatorship called these protests “unlawful” and ordered troops to shoot into crowds of unarmed people. Earlier this year protests sprang up in Tibetan communities in China (including in Beijing), angered at the lack of religious freedom and control over their own land. In response the military sealed off borders in and out of Tibet, restricted movement, and closed off monasteries from food and contact. Similar action was taken against the small Uighur Muslim community in western China.

What makes a democracy different from a regime is freedom of speech and freedom of movement. Yet India, the world’s largest democracy, has told Tibetans in Dharmsala that they cannot leave the city or move freely within India. India has recently lifted restrictions on the Karmapa Lama, allowing him to visit the US. But for years India restricted this Lama from leaving the country. Nepal recently held free elections, ending monarchy-rule and ushering in a “people’s revolution.” But the Nepali government says it will shoot anyone that protests against China’s Olympic torch relay onto Mt. Everest. Nepali police have also used batons to beat Tibetans participating in non-violent sit-ins.
     
Using force, sometimes fatal, to stop people from peacefully assembling and telling people they cannot move freely is what happens in dictator-run regimes, not in democracies. It seems like the governments of India and Nepal are more interested in profits from trade with China rather than granting human rights to its own population. India used 15,000 policemen to protect the torch in Delhi – why don’t they use this many officers to protect women who are victims of “Eve teasing”? Nepal will use armed military to protect the torch’s ascent onto Everest – why not invest the money spent on force on developing impoverished rural areas?

Although Hindus generally receive little press when it comes to human rights violations, there are cases around the world where their religious freedom has been trampled upon. Under Taliban rule Afghani Hindus were forced to wear clothing to mark their faith. Kazakhstan destroyed the country’s only Hindu mandir leaving devotees homeless. Thousands of Malaysian Hindus were beaten and fired at with water cannons when protesting against discrimination.

While there are ideological differences between Buddhism and Hinduism, the attacks on Tibetan Buddhists are the same types of attacks on Hindus – they are an attack on the practice of Dharma. Considering that Hindus are already an outnumbered minority in the world it would make practical sense to form alliances with groups such as Buddhists. Since Hindus are dealing with these human rights violations in other countries it’s hypocritical that Nepal and India are denying its Buddhist minority freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of movement. Tibetans have publicly praised Gandhi and the Hindu tradition, but why is this same loyalty not being shown to Buddhists? Hindus around the world must ally themselves with Tibetans and pressure India, Nepal, and other countries like the US that economically support China to grant Tibetans greater freedom and independence.

Further resources
Cultural Survival:  www.cs.org
Save The Hindu campaign: www.friendsoftibet.org/save
Tibetan Youth Congress: www.tibetanyouthcongress.org
Tibetan Nuns Project: www.tnp.org

Ravi resides in Chicago. He attends DePaul University and is studying International Relations and Asian American studies. His interests include martial arts and writing articles on racism, human rights, animal rights, and environmentalism.

 Email This Post

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 2:09 am and is filed under Current Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.