The Dalai Lama – What We Will Not Be Hearing
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Dalai Lama Tours Canada
By: Tristan Downe-Dewdney
CNP President and Founder
April 19, 2004
The Dalai Lama is on a tour of Canada from April 17th to May 6th. The exiled spiritual leader will be meeting with politicians and Tibetans, as well as making a number of speeches. Some estimates place the number of Tibetans in Canada close to 700.
The visit has caused some political controversy, especially in Ottawa, where he will meet with Prime Minister Paul Martin. The Chinese government has warned against Canadian political authorities from coming into contact with the Lama. Trade relations, according to Beijing, are at risk over this issue. It has been for this reason that the Department of Foreign Affairs has issued documents to mayors, premiers, and political personalities across the country regarding what are recommended topics for discussion, and subjects that are out of bounds.
This has seen nearly unanimous support. The many political leaders have assured that they will only meet with the Lama regarding spiritual matters. The opposition has been quick to condemn these sentiments, calling Beijing’s threats “typically aggressive and provocative Chinese diplomacy.â€
This dispute has raised a number of questions in the minds of Canadians. Inevitably many want to know what this man has to say that is so dangerous or slanderous.
The invasion of Tibet by the Peoples Liberation Army of China saw massive human rights abuses. Since the invasion, it has been made illegal to posses any picture of photo of the Dalai Lama. The cultural cleansing of Tibet has seen 6,000 of its roughly 6,200 monasteries destroyed. Tibetan has been replaced by Chinese as the official language of the nation, and is the only language taught in schools. It has also been made illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to join the few remaining monasteries. These combined policies have left the nations ancient culture on the brink of extinction.
The human toll of the occupation has also been tremendous. In the uprising of 1959, 87,000 Tibetans were killed by the PLA. The repots of exiles have challenged this number, with some claiming over 400,000 deaths. Between 1950 and 1984, some 260,000 Tibetans died in Chinese prisons or labor camps. The commonly accepted number of deaths of Tibetans since 1949 sits at 1.2 million.
The uprising of 1959 followed an attempt by the Chinese government to kill the Dalai Lama on March 10th of that year.
Communist containment policy in Canada fell apart as it did in much of the world nearing the close of the Cold War. Words like “tolerance†were used to excuse the human rights abuses of nations like China, with many governments fighting to be the first to reap the benefits offered by the massive Chinese economic potential.
This has silenced Canadian governments, as well as many around the world. Human rights are simply not a priority compared to the economic gains offered by submission to China. Hence, there has been only tentative efforts made to hear what Tibetan advocates have to say.
Paul Martin will be continuing the tradition of placing trade over rights, as only “spiritual matters†shall be discussed between him and the exiled peace advocate.
The Dalai Lama will appear on the 25th in Toronto at the Sky Dome. For security reasons, no one will be admitted with cameras, recording devices of any sorts, or anything larger than a small purse. Bags will be suspect to discretionary investigation.
@ April 22, 2004