planet earth looks blue

The Dalai Lama spoke in India for the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against China.  For the first time, he showed frustration, calling what his people have experienced under Chinese rule “hell on Earth.”  In the past he has only mentioned a peaceful path, and still believes that Tibetan autonomy will happen.  The Dalai Lama offers a compromise relationship with China - that Tibet would willingly remain a part of the People’s Republic of China, holding no ill will for their oppressors, but only want to live as Tibetans, in Tibet, under their own law.  China claims that they were the liberators of Tibet, and even intend on making March 28th Serf’s Emancipation Day.  To them, the “rebels” of Tibet have always wanted to return their country to a feudal system in which they are in charge.  

There are reports that hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been killed since China invaded Tibet and took control in 1951.  Tibetan culture has been at risk since then, and the people are afraid of the Chinese military.  Foreign journalists are only allowed into Tibet under tight restrictions.  Still, the Dalai Lama continues to ask only for a resolution that would appease everyone, despite the horrors the people of Tibet have faced, many for their entire lifetime.  As generous as this seems, President Hu Jintao seems to be having a different conversation.  The Dalai Lama will most likely continue with his peaceful pathway to justice as long as he is alive.  And China will probably continue only with its intermittent acts of aggression towards Tibet.  But what happens when the 73 year old Holy leader is gone?    

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