A glance at Dutch journalist Annelie Rozeboom's insightful book, Waiting For the Dalai Lama, Stories From All Sides in the Tibetan Debate (2011, Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong, 222 pages), should be enough to have many readers reaching for it.
The truth about China's occupation and human-rights violations in Tibet, obscured by propaganda thicker than billowy clouds in the Himalayas, isn't easily found. By tackling this topic with supreme professionalism, the author does almost everyone a big favor.
Mind you, China's Communist leaders fear and detest books like this because the author never bows to their commands, despite probing at issues near to their hearts.
“Redi, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, puts on his annual meet-the-press-face: small, round and annoyed. Exasperated, he stares at the rows of Western journalists in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. He looks them straight in the eyes. After the third question about human rights issues in Tibet and the Dalai Lama, he bursts out, ‘All of you think that the old Tibet was so great. But we didn't have anything to eat. My brother died of starvation. Myself, I was bitten by dogs while I begged in the streets. I still have the scars. You call that a life?’ ”
In 1950, Chinese troops invaded Tibet. Nine years later the Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to Dharamsala, India, to live in exile with thousands of followers. “The longer the situation in Tibet lasts, the fewer people try to go back. Most of the young people who live in Dharamsala have never been to Tibet. They are fighting for independence for a country that they have never seen.”
The Chinese government vilifies the Dalai Lama as “a separatist troublemaker”, but many Tibetans hope and wait for him to return soon. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama travels the world to seek support for Tibetan autonomy. “Western diplomats… would like to do something to ensure better treatment of the Tibetan people and bring about serious negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama. And it would help if the local cadres and police would treat the people as if they were human, as opposed to separatist enemies who need to be crushed.”
The author summarizes China's policy: “Tibet gets some of the profits, but freedom is out of the question.” A Chinese official in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, explains that Tibetans want riches and development. “It's like that everywhere in the world, and there is absolutely no reason why this would be different in Tibet.” Rozeboom calls him partly right. “Of course the Tibetans want to develop. But they are also deeply religious, and if they had to choose between their faith and the Chinese plans for development, the Chinese wouldn't stand a chance.”
Most statements by China's authoritarian regime prove mainly that the truth lies elsewhere. Unrestrained by an opposition or a free press, Beijing's representatives often blatantly lie or spin the truth so far out of shape that it's unrecognizable.
Facing Chinese distortions, the Tibetan exiles may veer to the opposite extreme. “…the authorities-in-exile give you all their figures. They state that since the Chinese invasion of Tibet, 1.2 million Tibetans have died. Some were executed, others starved. The Chinese media deny these claims, of course….”
By listening and reporting the words of both sides, the Chinese-speaking Rozeboom nobly tries to make sense of it all. “Both sides always declare that they are ready to hold talks without any preconditions and then immediately start making up stipulations.”
The author looks, listens and reveals with helpful clarity. “As a visitor who is not looking for spirituality, I find the temples in Tibet dirty, dark and depressing. Even the Potala, the Dalai Lama's old palace, is like a castle from the middle ages.”
The author interviews Chinese officials and ordinary citizens plus Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet, among them monks, nomads, farmers, intellectuals, refugees and even a professional imitator of Mao Zedong. Her presentation peaks when she converses with the Dalai Lama himself.
Tibetans have witnessed terrible things. Many have endured imprisonment and torture: “After my arrest the officials abused me, kicked me and beat me with rifle butts…. Blood was streaming out of my nose and mouth.”
“There are indoctrination attempts everywhere in Lhasa. Everyone seems to receive lessons in ‘patriotic behavior'. And the authorities don't seem to trust anyone. You can feel the tension, and the us-against-them thinking everywhere.”
After so many decades of trying, has China won the hearts of many Tibetans? That's another question with vastly different answers depending on who replies. In fact, demonstrations, protests and shows of defiance happen regularly. “…the more the Chinese authorities try to oppress the demonstrators, the more determined they get.”
“Even in quiet times, Tibetans get arrested for all kinds of reasons: talking to foreign reporters, singing patriotic songs, hanging posters, or even just being in possession of the autobiography of the Dalai Lama.”
As a long-time European correspondent in China, Rozeboom often reported on the country's economic rise and its dubious deeds in Tibet. Now living in Madagascar, she teaches journalism and English and runs an English newspaper.
Almost everything that's revealed in Waiting For the Dalai Lama sends extra rays of light into dark corners of the Tibet debate, taking readers closer to an objective, accurate assessment. Will anyone else in Asia publish a more forthright and revealing book this year? Unlike most questions about Tibet, this one has an obvious answer – almost certainly not.
Approval rating: 95 per cent.
For more information: www.blacksmithbooks.com
(January 26, 2011)
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