Articles in English 3/18/2008
What happens in Tibet?
It shouldn´t be a secret that my heart beats for the Tibetans - and has done so, ever since I discovered they existed. That happened some years back, when I was in Nepal doing research on Himalaya aviation, in connection with my story "Annapurnasyndromet" (The Annapurna Syndrome). Nepal hosts quite a lot of Tibetan refugees, and the tribe of the Sherpas in the Mount Everest area is Tibetan - as are lots of other Nepalese people.
Concerning the actual events in Tibet, here up to the OL in China, they are less simple to look through. Who in our part of the world does not sympathize with the Tibetans - these hardy weather-beaten modest people with vivid eyes, steamrolled and ill-treated by orks from the east? And no doubt that the behaviour of the Chinese in Tibet has been outrageous, as is the whole Chinese claim on the land. In relation to the OL, it shouldn´t bother me a millimeter if the unrest should spoil the the big corrupt sport-money-machine, the most positive aspect of which is lack of importance.
My concern is that such a spoiling will not benefit the Tibetans. They will be in a worse, not better situation afterwards. The Chineses' revenge will be terrible. To which comes another rodent: Are these riots the Tibetans' own invention? Or did by coincidence some American mole pass by with a bag of money and sweet promises of support in a crisis situation?
We have seen that before - for instance with the Kurds in Iraq after the first Gulf war: They were promised American support if they rioted. When they did, the support didn´t appear - instead the Iraqi army arrived and performed a massacre on the Kurds.
The cards in Tibet are laid up: The Americans dearly want confrontation with China. Right now, the support to a Tibetan riot will provide lots of good PR for the evil empire, which has, as we know, promised us war for a hundred years, including against China. I am afraid that the Tibetans have become pawns in that game.
It won´t help them. For even if the "international opinion" could move China to improve the conditions of the Tibetans - promise more autonomy - the effect would be temporary. When the unrest has settled, the Tibetans will be beaten in line again. That train has long been moving: A great research project has in 1999 shown that Tibet has large deposits of copper, iron, lead, zink and other minerals. That makes Tibet China's richest province, in respect to natural resources.
This, and not the wish of cultural connection between Tibetans and Chinese, caused the Chinese to build the railway to Lhasa, the capitol of Tibet. This railway will, within a few years, be extended further west. Guess what is out there: Large reserves of crude oil and natural gas.
And guess what the Tibetans' odds are in that game.
 
Tibet - Roof of the World. Meagre highland populated by tough people with gentle eyes.
 
Tibet was annexed by China back in 1950. Thanks to newly discovered mineral deposits, it is today Chinas' richest province. The Tibetans are a small population of nearly 3 millions. Here, Students for a Free Tibet are demonstrating. Will they succeed?
 
Lhasa, capitol but not not so "metroplish". But the country has no lack of beauty (right: Miss Tibet 2004). |
