Younger generation rejects non-violent tradition

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Younger generation rejects non-violent tradition

 

 

Violent protests in Tibet have emphasised the growing divide within the exiled community in how to win the propaganda war with China. The spiritual leader of the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama, abjures all violence and considers even hunger strikes and economic sanctions as illegitimate means of political protest.

Many younger Tibetans, versed in modern forms of political campaigning, appear to be rejecting the passivity required by their leadership. They have been emboldened by video footage and photographs showing fellow Tibetans revolting against Chinese "occupiers".

Some have even criticised the Dalai Lama publicly. Tsewang Rigzin, the president of the pro-independence Tibetan Youth Congress, rebuked him for refusing to call for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, adding that the protests in Tibet should continue.

"The Chinese have taken the Olympic torch through Tibet, they want to use the games to show Tibet is part of China," said Rigzin, 37, who was educated in the US. "It is unacceptable. The Olympics should be boycotted. I don't know why the Dalai Lama says we should accept the games."

Among the Dalai Lama's own advisers there is an acknowledgment that the younger generation are frustrated with the leadership's "middle-way" policy, a non-violent campaign for autonomy within China, which has seen six rounds of talks but few concessions from the Chinese.

According to regional observers, there has been a shift in the methods employed by Tibetan groups abroad. Protests have been increasingly reinforced by high-profile endorsements.

On his visit to India in 2006, the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, was taken aback when he was asked by LK Advani, the leader of India's opposition, to let the Dalai Lama return to Tibet.

"We saw it again when Björk shouted 'Free Tibet' in her concert in Shanghai a few weeks ago," said Phunchok Stobdan, an expert in Tibet at New Delhi's Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. "These things are choreographed. You need someone to suggest it and someone to accept it needs to be done."

The protests in Tibet may not have been engineered, but there were "organised elements ready for them", he said. "I was in a meeting in Taipei organised by the Taiwanese authorities five months ago and I saw Tibetans talking in groups about what would happen if there was a 'happening' and how to respond. It seemed clear to me they were ready for it."

Others, however, said there was little evidence to suggest that the protests in Tibet were organised. Claude Arpi, an India-based expert on Tibet, said that it was an "act of desperation".

He added that the Dalai Lama was growing old and reincarnations - finding a successor - have often been tumultuous.

"There is also the Han Chinese influx into Tibet," said Arpi. "Four million come every year thanks to the new railway. Even if 5% or 10% stay the Tibetans will be swamped in a few years. This is their last chance."

abjure – wyrzekać się

divide - dzielić

emboldened - ośmielony

emphasise - podkreślać

endorsement - poparcie

exiled – zesłany, wygnany

high-profile – o dużym znaczeniu

influx – napływ, przypływ

rebuke – karcić, ganić

reinforce – wzmacniać, zasilać

reject- odrzucać, nie zgadzać się

revolting - oburzający

swamp - zalewać

taken aback - zaskoczony

tumultuous – burzliwy, niespokojny

versed – biegły, wprawny, dobrze obeznany

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