Some of the people who made our activism on Tibet possible have been working on the Tibetan cause for many years. In a recent video conference a question was asked about it’s present condition, specifically in the context of ‘visibility’. Is Tibet being afforded the exposure and concern it surely merits? At this point the contribution of our veteran activists was of particular interest, and as an end-of-year contemplation here’s a summation of what was presented.
It was suggested that despite the obvious, instantaneous advantages and reach provided by the internet, online news and social-media the subject of Tibet was receiving a troubling shortage of exposure. In part this was attributed to the impact of the Covid insanity; which left so many in a state of self-concentration, fearful and effectively paralyzed into a condition of unthinking. There’s truth in that. We saw across Twitter an exclusive, obsessed attention to that flu-like virus and the narrative-of-doom surrounding it. This lasted for nearly two years, and still lingers here and there.
Meanwhile, the associated policies and actions implemented by various Governments were often of such an oppressive, anti-democratic and brutal nature that many concerned with civil freedom and human rights understandably turned their attention to the injustices and abuses implemented in their own cities and towns.
This was a response we had, hence our decision to place-on-hold action on Tibet, since a number of us were genuinely disturbed by the medical tyranny and authoritarianism which emerged.
Yet, the vicious terrorism, which has blighted Tibet since China invaded in 1950, not only continued during the past two years of a world gripped by pandemic mania, but intensified to a suffocating dystopian oppression. Tibetans are under a digital, mass-surveillance stranglehold, their every movement monitored, recorded, assessed by the occupying Chinese Regime. Their cultural and national identity is being eradicated towards an extinction point, families dislocated, children taken away to be programed as model citizens, loyal to the dictatorship of Xi Jinping. It is the genocide of a people through an indoctrination of children, denied their Tibetan language, groomed to worship the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, given a constructed history in which they identify as being from China.
As Tibetans are exploited and bullied into being lab-rats for various Covid testing programs and experimental drugs. The already totalitarian grip was tightened to the point of asphyxiation in response to the virus, reports of entire villages and towns locked away, Tibetans incarcerated, food rationed, denied freedom to leave homes. Harassed into lines for daily testing and yet more injections. They have also been targeted as subjects for a mass DNA harvesting program, the objective of which is to assemble a complete data-base. Of course Tibetans have only one choice, compliance or incarceration and misery.
But such harrowing conditions, as observed during our conference call, seem to have not concerned the editors of news channels or the print media. With a handful of notable exceptions politicians too have been silent on Tibet, yet managed to find voices-of-concern on the condition of Uyghurs. Politicians who do speak-out seem increasingly to omit any reference to the Tibetan people.
It’s as if Tibet has been regarded as a lost cause. That the destruction and forced changes are of such a magnitude and impact as to remove any hope or future for Tibetan culture. If this explains the worrying lack of political solidarity or concern for Tibet’s people then, as was commentated during our discussion; what we are witnessing are governments (while actively dedicated to the freedom of Ukraine) complicit in the annihilation of Tibet! This state-of-affairs must not go unchallenged and a renewed effort and determination is urgently needed to ensure the just cause of Tibet is not allowed to fade into the lesser read pages of history.
This post was originally published on TIBET, ACTIVISM AND INFORMATION.
