China Tibet and the Dalai Lama
Domenico Losurdo
L'ERNESTO 6 / 2003 of 01/11/2003
Who is, in truth, the Dalai Lama? Because so much of Italian left tends to accept the "sanctification" and not see the essence reactionary?
and transfigured by the celebrated Hollywood film, the Dalai Lama remains undoubtedly enjoy a wide popularity: his last trip to Italy was formally concluded with a group photo with leaders of the center-left parties, who wanted to testify so their estimates or their reverence for the champion in the fight for "liberation of the Tibetan people."
But who really is this? For starters, he was not born in Tibet in history, but undoubtedly in the territory of China, to be exact in the province of Amdo, in 1935, the year of birth, was administered by the Kuomintang. In family spoke a regional dialect of Chinese, so our hero learns the Tibetan as a foreign language, and is forced to learn it from the age of three years, namely the moment, recognized as the incarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, is taken from his family and segregated in a convent to be exclusively under the influence of the monks who taught him to feel, think, write, speak and act as the God-King of Tibet, or as His Holiness.
I assume this news from a book (Heinrich Harrer, Seven Years in Tibet, Mondadori, Oscar bestsellers, 1999), which also has a character of semi-official (culminating in the "Message" in which the Dalai Lama expressed his gratitude author) and has contributed greatly to the construction of the Hollywood myth. It is a remarkable text in its own way, which turns chapters in the history of sacred even more disturbing details.
1. A "paradise" appalling
In 1946, Harrer in Lhasa meets the parents of the Dalai Lama, where they moved for many years, abandoning his native Amdo. And yet they have not yet fallen Tibetans drink tea to the Chinese continue to speak a Chinese dialect, and for an understanding with Harrer, expressed in Tibetan, they need the help of an "interpreter". Of course, their life has changed dramatically: "It was a big leap to their small farmhouse in a remote province who now lived in the palace and the vast estates that were now their property." Had given the monks a child of tender age, he came to realize that in his autobiography that he suffered much from this separation. In return, the parents had enjoyed a prodigious rise in society. We are in the presence of questionable behavior? Let it never be said. Harrer immediately hastens to emphasize the "inborn nobility" of this pair (p. 133): how could it be otherwise, given that he is the father and the mother of the God-King?
But society is one where the Dalai Lama is called to govern? Albeit reluctantly, the author of the book ends by acknowledging: "The supremacy of the monastic order in Tibet is absolute, and you can only compare with a strict dictatorship. The monks are wary of any influence that might endanger their domination. " To be punished not only those who act against the "power" but also "anyone who puts in doubt" (p. 76). Let's take a look at social relations. It seems that the goods more cheaply is constituted by the servants (this is, ultimately, slaves). Harrer describes the joyful meeting with a senior official: even if it is a particularly important, he can still have a following of thirty male and female servants "(p. 56). They are stressed, not only unnecessary but even bestial: "About twenty men were tied to the belt dragged by a rope and a huge trunk, singing in chorus their slow dirges and advancing hand in hand. And panting in a bath of sweat could not stop for breath seize, because the leader did not allow it. This work is exhausting a portion of their taxes, a tribute to the feudal system. " It would be easy to use the wheel, but "the government did not want the wheel," and, of course, oppose or even question the power of the ruling caste could be very dangerous. But, according Harrer, does not make sense to shed tears on the Tibetan people in those years, "so perhaps he was happiest" (pp. 159-160).
was the unbridgeable gulf that separated the servants by the owners. For ordinary people, the God-King was not permitted to address neither the word nor eyes. Here's what happens during a procession: "The doors of the cathedral were opened, and slowly released the Dalai Lama [...] Devote the crowd bowed immediately. The religious ceremony would require that people lay on the ground, but it was impossible to do so because of lack of space. Thousands of people instead bowed his back, like a wheat field saber from wind. No one dared look up. Slow and measured the Dalai Lama began his tour around the Barkhor [...] Women did not dare to breathe. "
After the procession, the picture changes dramatically: "As awakened by a hypnotic trance the crowd at that moment passed from order to chaos [...] The monks soldiers right into the action [...] were mad whirl their sticks into the crowd [...] But despite the hail of blows, the beaten returned as if they were possessed by demons [...] now accept blows and whippings as a blessing. Flickers of smoky pitch fell on their heads, screaming in pain, here a face burned, the groans of trampled "(pp. 157-8).
It is worth noting that this show is followed by our author admired and so devout. Not surprisingly, the whole is contained in a paragraph with an eloquent title: "A god rises, blessing the hand." The only time Harrer, takes a critical stance occurs when he describes the health and sanitary conditions of the Tibet of the time. Storm the infant mortality, life expectancy is incredibly low, the drugs are unknown, on the other hand drugs circulate very unusual, "often lamas grease their patients with their holy saliva, or tsampa and butter are mixed with urine holy men to get a kind of emulsion that is administered to the sick "(p. 194). Here is our author also portrays puzzled devout and bigoted: if indeed the "God-Boy" was "persuaded to believe in reincarnation" (p. 248), he however, can not "justify the fact that drinking the urine of the Living Buddha," and that the Dalai Lama. Raises the issue with the latter, but with poor results: the God-King "alone could not fight these customs, and basically does not care too much." Nevertheless our author, who is content to just put aside its reservations, concludes unperturbed: "In India, moreover, was a sight to see people daily drink urine of sacred cows" (p. 294).
At this point, Harrer may proceed without hindrance in his work of transfiguration of the pre-revolutionary Tibet. In fact, it is full of violence and do not even know the principle of individual responsibility: the punishment may also strike the relatives of the transverse and responsible for a lack of even very minor or even imagined (p. 79). But what happens for crimes considered more serious? "They told me of a man who had stolen a golden lamp with butter from one of the temples of Kyirong. He was found guilty of the offense, and what we have considered an inhumane sentence was completed. He was publicly severed hands, and her body mutilated but still alive was wrapped in a wet yak skin. When she stopped bleeding, was thrown into an abyss "(p. 75). But even minor offenses, such as "gambling" can be ruthlessly punished if committed in the days of solemn festivals, "the monks are relentless in this regard and greatly feared, because more than once happened that someone has died under the strict flagellation, the usual punishment" (pp. 153 -3). The most savage violence characterizes the relations not only between "godlike" and "inferior", but also between different factions of the ruling caste: the leaders of frequent "military revolutions" and "civil war" that characterize the history of Tibet pre- revolutionary (the last occurs in 1947), are made to "draw the eye with a sword" (pp. 224-5). And yet our zealous convert to Lamaism is not limited to declaring that "punishment is rather drastic, but they seem to be commensurate with the mentality of the population" (p. 75). No, the pre-revolutionary Tibet is in his eyes an enchanted oasis of non-violence: "After a while, 'that is in the country, none is more possible to kill a fly without thinking. I myself, in the presence of a Tibetan, I would never have dared to crush an insect just because it annoyed me "(p. 183). In conclusion, we are witnessing a "paradise" (p. 77). In addition to Harrer, this is also the opinion of the Dalai Lama, who in his "Message" final surrenders a yearning of years lived by God-King "remember those happy days we spent together in a happy country" (happy) or, according to the Italian translation, in "a free country."
2. "Invasion" of Tibet and China's attempt to break-up
This country was "happy" and "free", this "paradise" is turned into a hell from the 'invasion' of China. The deceptions are unending. Really make sense to speak of "invasion"? Which country had recognized the 'independence' of Tibet and maintained diplomatic relations? In fact, even in 1949, published a book on US-China relations, the U.S. State Department include a map of Self-explanatory: with great clarity both Tibet and Taiwan were entered as integral parts of this large Asian country, committed to ending once and for always to the territorial amputations imposed by a century of colonialist and imperialist aggression. Of course, with the advent of the Communists to power, everything changes, including maps: historical and geographical every falsification is permitted if it can revive the policy at that time began with the Opium War and that is advancing towards the disintegration of Communist China.
is a goal that seems about to be realized in 1959. With a radical departure from the policy followed until then, she had seen him work with the new government took office in Beijing, the Dalai Lama chose the path of exile and begins to wave the flag of independence for Tibet. It really is a national claim? We have seen that the Dalai Lama himself is of Tibetan origin and is forced to learn a language that is not his mother tongue. But also focus our attention on the indigenous ruling caste. On the one hand this, despite the general and extreme poverty of the people, can pursue his refined cosmopolitan tastes: his banquet is squandered "all the delicacies of the world" (Pp. 174-5). A refined taste them are parasites, their ostentation ostentation, do not give reliable proof of provincial narrowness "blue foxes are from Hamburg, cultured pearls from Japan, via Bombay from Persia, turquoise, corals Italy el ' amber from Berlin and Königsberg "(p. 166). But while it feels similar parasitic aristocracy from all over the world, the Tibetan ruling caste looks to his servants as a different race and less, yes, "the nobility has its own strict laws: it is allowed to marry only those who are of the same rank "(p. 191). What is the point then talk about the struggle of national independence? How can there be a nation and a national community if, in recognition of the same white singer of the pre-revolutionary Tibet, the "demigods" noble, far from seeing their fellow servants, boil them and treat them as "inferior" (pp. 170 and 168)?
On the other hand, what does the Dalai Lama when Tibet began to wave the flag of independence? It is the Greater Tibet, which would have to embrace large areas outside of Tibet proper, annexing that populations of Tibetan origin living in regions such as Yunnan and Sichuan, for centuries an integral part of Chinese territory and sometimes historic cradle of this and multinational-old civilization. Clearly, the Greater Tibet was and is an essential element of the proposed dismemberment of a country which, since its rebirth in 1949, continues to trouble the dreams of world domination fondled in Washington.
But what would happen in Tibet itself, if the ambitions of the Dalai Lama had made? Let well as by the servants and the "inferior" to which clearly does not pay much attention to the followers and devotees of His Holiness. In any case, the pre-revolutionary Tibet is a "theocracy" (p. 169): "Europe is hardly in a position to understand what importance attaches to the smallest whim of the God-King" (p. 270). Yes, "the power of the hierarchy was unlimited "(p. 148), and it was exercised on any aspect of" the people's lives is governed by the will of God, whose only performers are the lamas "(p. 182). Obviously, there is no distinction between the religious sphere and political sphere: the monks allowed "to Tibetan marriage to a Muslim only to the condition of not recant" (p. 169), were not allowed to convert to Islam from Lamaism. Along with the sexual life marital relationships also knows a regulatory eye: "punishment for adultery apply very drastic, for example, cut the nose" (p. 191). Is clear: in order to dismember China, Washington did not hesitate to mount, the horse fundamentalist fundamentalist of Lamaism and the Dalai Lama.
Now, even His Holiness was forced to take note: the project has substantially failed secession. And so the statements that we would be satisfied with the 'autonomy'. In reality, Tibet is an autonomous region for some time. It is not about words. Already in 1998, albeit with criticisms, Foreign Affairs, the American magazine close to the State Department, with an article by Melvyn C. Goldstein has let slip important awards: the Tibet Autonomous Region of 60-70% are ethnic Tibetan officials and applies the practice of bilingualism. Of course there is always room for improvement, the fact remains that, following the spread of education, the Tibetan language is spoken and written today by a number of people far higher than in pre-revolutionary Tibet. It should be added that only the destruction of the caste and barriers that separated the "demigods" from "inferior" made possible the emergence of broad-based national and cultural identity of Tibet. The current propaganda is the reversal of the truth.
While enjoying wide autonomy, Tibet, thanks to massive efforts by the central government, underwent a period of extraordinary economic and social development. Along with education, the standard of living, and life expectancy is also increasing the cohesion between different ethnic groups, as confirmed inter alia by increasing intermarriage between Han (Chinese) and Tibetans. But what becomes the new workhorse of the campaign anticinese. It is a striking example the article by Bernardo Valli in La Repubblica on 29 November. Here let me quote the summary: "The integration between these two peoples is the ultimate weapon to clear the ancient culture of the country on top of the world." Clearly, the reporter was left dazzled by the image of Tibet in the name of ethnic purity and religious fundamentalist groups is the dream and secessionists. To understand the regressive nature, just give the word to the reporter who inspired Hollywood. In pre-revolutionary Tibet, as well as the Tibetans and the Chinese "may also be encountered lhadaki, Bhutan, Mongolia, Sikkimese, Kazakh and so on." I am also well aware of the Nepali: "Their families are almost always in Nepal, where they also come back from time to time. This differs from the Chinese, who willingly marry Tibetan women, leading an exemplary married life "(pp. 168-9). The greater "autonomy" that is claimed, no one knows if the Tibet itself or for the Greater Tibet, it should also include the possibility of the regional government to prohibit mixed marriages and to create a cultural and ethnic purity that did not even exist before 1949?
3. The co-optation of the Dalai Lama in the West and in the white race and the reporting of the Yellow Peril
Republic's article is valuable because it allows us to grasp the subtle racist vein running through the countryside anticinese in progress. As you know, in seeking the origins of the breed "Aryan" or "Nordic" or "white" racist mythology and the Third Reich have often looked with interest to India and Tibet: it is here that the moves would take the triumphal march of the race.
In 1939, following a shipment SS Austrian Harrer arrived in northern India (now Pakistan) and then enters here in Tibet. When he meets the Dalai Lama, now recognizes and celebrates it as a member of the superior white race: "His complexion was much clearer than that of the average Tibetan, and even some shade whiter than the Tibetan aristocracy" (p. 280). Entirely unrelated to the white race are the Chinese. Here is an extraordinary event because the first conversation with His Holiness Harrer: he was "for the first time with only a white man" (p. 277). As a white substance, the Dalai Lama was not inferior to the "European" and it was still "open to all Western ideas" (pp. 292 and 294). Very different role-the Chinese, mortal enemies of the West. Harrer confirmed the report to a minister-monaco "Tibet's sacred" in the ancient writings, he told us, we read a prophecy: a great power to wage war in North Tibet, destroy religion and impose its hegemony in the world "(p . 141). There is no doubt that the complaint of the Yellow Peril is the main theme of the book that inspired the Hollywood legend of the Dalai Lama.
Back to group shots that ended his recent trip: physically absent but can be considered ideal in mind and Richard Gere other Hollywood stars, flooded with dollars to celebrate the legend of the mysterious God-King came from the East.
is painful to admit it, but we must take note: it is for some time now that he turned to history and geography, a certain left turns out to be able to eat only theosophical myths and movies, without distancing even by film legends more turbid.
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