Dublin Peace March for Tibet

by NOlympics Sun Apr 06, 2008 01:00

Details of China's Embassy in Dublin;

40 AILESBURY ROAD, DUBLIN 4, IRELAND

Tel: 00353-1-2691707

FAX:00353-1-2839938 ...

http://ie.china-embassy.org

E-mail: chinaemb_ie@mfa.gov.cn

by Coilín Fri Apr 04, 2008 15:35

To my mind, this kind of thought demonstrates the bankruptcy of military thinking, which masquerades as plain logic but is in fact plain unworkable.

Let us for a moment entertain the very widespread idea that military solutions sometimes work, and then proceed to other ways of thinking:

There are certain situations where an occupied country has a realistic chance of achieving outright military victory, as in Algeria's war of independence. For the sake of something current, where we have a lot of information about what is going on, we might take the ongoing war of resistance in Iraq, but here we ought to remember that the Iraqi administration under the Ba'ath Party spent 12 years (1991-2003) preparing a decentralised defence strategy based on militias capable of operating independently of each other, all around the country. Arising largely out of this strategy, the militias in Basra now amount to about 60,000 well-trained and -equipped fighters, and these have driven the British occupiers out through force of arms.

There are other situations where the conventional logic seems to justify armed resistance, but where there is no realistic chance that the resistance movement can achieve outright military victory. So, for example, the Danish resistance went around assassinating Nazi officers, but this activity on its own could not defeat the mighty Wehrmacht. You can argue all you like that it was the "right" thing to do, to fight the Nazis, because Nazism was such an abomination against humanity, but that is not the same as arguing that the Danish resistance had any chance of achieving outright military victory.

In the case of Tibet, the resistance movement at the time of the annexation in 1959 was no match for the Chinese army, in numbers, training or equipment, and has no chance of ever achieving the required military strength.

But, even if we could conceive of a resistance army of thousands of well-trained and -equipped Tibetan fighters capable of giving the Chinese army significant grief, there are good reasons to argue against such armed resistance:

First and foremost, if the Tibetans conducted a concerted war of resistance against China, and even if they were successful, they would probably inherit a country in an utter shambles, as we see in the case of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union. For example, they would have to destroy rail lines, roads and other Chinese infrastructure, and this would create immense social and economic hardship.

But such a war would also destroy the best of the indigenous culture and leave a vacuum that would probably be filled with some monstrous manifestation of indigenous Tibetan culture. Please consider the origins of the Taliban in Afghanistan as an analogy - a monstrous perversion of Islam, the religion of Peace. Fortunately, I don't think there is any great likelihood that this will happen.

To the best of my knowledge, the Dalai Lama - the spiritual leader of an overwhelming majority of Tibetans - has for many years advocated a "Third Way" - a non-violent political solution that would accommodate the aspirations of Tibetans within China. As far as I know, what the Tibetans want is freedom to learn their language and practice their ancient culture, and the recent protests are not about demanding independence, but about demanding this freedom. Note slogans about "cultural genocide" at the demo.

To my understanding, nationalism makes little sense within the prevailing Tibetan culture, because the concept of nationalism rests on ideas of division and separation, of "them and us", which are incompatible with holistic thinking about the essential unity of humanity. There is no point foisting alien ways of thinking on the people of Tibet, whether they be the ideology of Chinese communism or ideologies arising out of western nationalism.

I am reminded of a story about the Dalai Lama. At the end of a talk he gave, someone asked him, “Why didn’t you fight back against the Chinese”?
The Dalai Lama looked down, swung his feet just a bit, and then looked back up with a gentle smile and responded, “Well, war is obsolete you know.” After a few moments, he face turned grave, as he said: “Of course, the mind can rationalize fighting back…but the heart, the heart would never understand. Then you would be divided in yourself, the heart and the mind, and the war would be inside of you.”

Best,
Coilín.

by richard whelan - n Wed Apr 02, 2008 18:19

If you interested in future protests .
Look up the following link.
Related Link: http://www.tibetancommunityinireland.com

by Greendragon - Ireland-Tibetan Solidarity Wed Apr 02, 2008 15:11 paulhaze at gmail dot com

Congratulations to everyone who took part on the protest on March 31st. Unfortunately I missed the opportunity. I feel great compassion for the Tibetan people at this time. I am a member of a group of buddhists practising here in Dublin. Our lineage is Karma Kagyu which is from Tibet. Could you please let me know of any forthcoming marches so my friends and I can take part.

by jim Wed Apr 02, 2008 09:15

Peaceful protestors in Tibet are simply gunned down in the street or thrown into labour camps.
China will only vacate Tibet if it is defeated in a military conflict.

by richard whelan - none Tue Apr 01, 2008 23:46

Peace March for Tibet Monday 31st March 2008

by richard whelan - none Tue Apr 01, 2008 23:30

Peace March for Tibet Monday 31st March 2008
copyright images

by richard whelan - none Tue Apr 01, 2008 23:25

more images copyright