Why Tibet Shouldn’t be “Freed”

Both Tibet and the Dalai Lama have established some sort of image of peace in the West. Through their suppression by the Chinese years ago and the movie “Seven Years in Tibet”, the Western world has created a fixed image of both the region and its spiritual leader. The truth is though, that this image is both flawed and outdated. But it is hard to eradicate, as it is more widespread than real knowledge about the area. One can compare it to the fact that most Westerners think that sushi is raw fish. Sushi is actually the rice with vinegar. It would be like people thinking that pasta is the sauce of spaghetti. But the image persists.

I do not say that in the past there were no times where China made mistakes and Tibet was treated wrong. But this conflict can now only be solved through political dialogue. It is way past the time where there is one party that is in total right and multiple things have happened. You can’t pick a side unbiased and the tangled situation should be dissected, rather than tumbled over to one side.

The Tibetan “Freedom” movement gets supported, but is that really what this movement is all about? I’ll tell you why I sincerely doubt that giving them what they want, will solve problems rather than create them.

Firstly; they used violence to attack the Olympic games. The Olympic games are a series of peaceful events, who have absolutely nothing to do with the question. On the contrary, the spirit of the Olympic games is to put aside your differences and compete in sports even though you may be at war politically. This means that these Tibetans harm innocents just for their cause. I frown upon this, as I don’t trust people to establish a free environment, when they will harm people’s freedom just to grasp power. Secondly; the riots had no clear cause. This means that only the liberation of Kosovo and the leap for independence by Taiwan (which failed of course) incited a feeling that now was the right time to grab power. After all we are talking about a highly hierarchic society. The Chinese will also never fall for the Dalai Lama’s cry for independence, because the Buddhists are spread all the way to inner Mongolia. Giving the Tibetan Buddhists freedom would mean that the others deserve it too and China would lose a third of its territory. The last point I will make is the strongest. China is a non-religious state. I mean that there is no state religion and every Foreign influence by a religious leader or influence from a worldly leader in Chinese religion is considered illegal. It is either the first or second paragraph of the Chinese constitution. This is a good thing. But instead the West will “free” Tibet and place it under the rule of fundamentalist Buddhists who will make Buddhism the state religion. What will happen to the non-Buddhist Han Chinese and the Muslims in that part of the country? They will be suppressed both politically and religiously. It’s like China has a hammer and hits Tibet. Then it is quiet for a while then Tibet starts to whine. Then the West would come and give the hammer to Tibet so they can hit China. How stupid is that. The right way to handle is to try to take the hammer away from China and let them apologize and shake hands.

I rest my case, do as you like, but if you don’t want a war between fundamentalist Muslims and a fundamentalist Buddhist state, you should think twice before you shout “Free Tibet”.