TROUBLE IN TIBET – CULTURAL GENOCIDE

TROUBLE IN TIBET – CULTURAL GENOCIDE

The Exiled Supreme Ruler of Tibet His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama expressed deep concern about Cultural Genocide in Occupied Tibet.

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA
SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE

 

Photo: Reuters

UNPACIFIED PLATEAU: TIBET

Disorienting social and economic change is under way in Tibet. The exiled Dalai Lama accuses China of “cultural genocide” (monasteries are being harassed, and in some parts of the plateau Chinese-language education erodes traditional ways). Government infrastructure investment in the Tibetan Autonomous Region has spurred mass tourism, but Tibetan resentment at missing out on tourism – and construction-related jobs was a big cause of rioting in Lhasa and elsewhere in 2008. Nor do the 6 million Tibetans (seen as troublemakers by China) migrate much to places with more opportunities: only around 1% have settled outside the plateau. The few private-sector jobs in Tibet mostly go to Han Chinese, so educated Tibetans mostly work for the government. The Chinese name for Tibet, Xizang, means “western treasure house” but Tibetans have little share in its spoils.

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Sep 19th 2016
More background from The Economist

Tibet: the plateau, unpacified (Sep 2016)