The Tibet Problem

How would you like to be born in a country that isn’t. I don’t know about you, but i remember when Tibet was a country you could find on a map. I distinctly knew where it was, along with Bali, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Peru, and all those places that National Geographic made a young child yearn. So how has it just disappeared without a fuss? It’s not like this is the 13th century where wars and a country’s borders were as mercurial as Paris fashion. By God! We have Media and the Internet now to document every tweet twittered around the globe. So how did this slip by everyone’s notice? Did the World’s Head Cartographer come to work with a hangover and forget to put all the lines in their proper places?


Since 1959 Tibet has run a paradoxical existence – living on the front page news while simultaneously disappearing from the political/social/geographical structure that identifies a country. There is an enormously long list in the World news archives of both documented and undocumented crimes against the Tibetan people. I would think with such a prestigious list that it would be nigh impossible to simply make Tibet disappear. Yet it happened. Go to your local bookstore and find a Tibetan map or travel book. Won’t find it. Because Tibet doesn’t exist.

Tibet, the country-that-was, populated by some of the most peaceful people on the planet, doesn’t rank. And for some reason, the slaughter of these people is less important than the slaughter of the people in Iraq or Afghanistan. That’s sarcasm; i don’t condone slaughter under any circumstance. But it makes me wonder how governments chose who they are going to “help.” Is there some sort of raffle? A lottery? Pick a number between 1 and 100, the closest gets ten thousand troops?

The reason Tibet lacks a country’s borders and slaughter intervention isn’t because of drunk cartographers, losing lottery tickets, or even for lack of caring. The reason is one word. China. Yes – the Chinese government is sitting back in their smug largeness knowing damn well that no one, not even the U.S. government, wants to tackle this big, hairy, one-eyed yard dog guarding its latest kill. China has monstrous financial clout – what product doesn’t carry the “made in China” stamp? And how does anyone say “no” to them without getting blacklisted. If they want Tibet, who’s gonna argue? There is even a web site called “China’s Tibet.” Possession – 9/10ths of the law…

So why is China going through all this trouble over land that is seemingly too dry and too high (average elevation 13,000 ft.) to be of any value? What is it that the Chinese government wants? Oh, could it be the 27,000 sq. mi. of virgin forests? The 10 million tons of chromite (used to make stainless steel) or any number of other minerals like lithium carbonate, copper, and boron? Or maybe the 1000 plus plants for medicinal use? The massive and yet untapped capacity for solar, wind, hyrdo, and geothermal energy? You betcha. Not that i blame them for wanting it. It’s the torture, rape, and murder in getting it that i have a problem with. It’s the degradation of a nation’s people. The bastardizing of a culture that wanted nothing more than to be left alone. China is doing to Tibet what the white people did to the Native Americans. The musician Sting wrote lines to a song, “history, will teach us nothing…” It’s a blanket statement, but i tend to agree.

So what can be done for Tibet? Can the lines be re-drawn? Can a culture be saved when it is pitted against profits to be made? I don’t know. There are people – great people – working with all their might to bring a non-violent and happy ending to the plight of Tibet. Is there hope for this method? Maybe. There is always hope.

Yak and Yakboy
Photo by Onu Tarek