The case For Tibet-AlterNet

The Case For Tibet
By Bill Weinberg
AlterNet: May 14, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/rights/85353/?page=entire

Indigenous people around the world see in the struggle for Tibet their own struggles for recovery of land and autonomy…Over the past two months since the March 10th uprising, the Chinese security forces have carried out sweeps and “disappearances,” occupied monasteries and villages, and opened fire on unarmed protesters. When such actions are carried out by U.S. allies such as Israel or Colombia — or in occupied Iraq and Afghanistan — we don’t have to ask ourselves who’s side we are on. Like the Palestinians, the Tibetans have been pushed into exile, denied self-government in their homeland, and overwhelmed with settlers sent by the occupying power. We have a greater responsibility of solidarity to the Palestinians, because our government funds their oppression. But the fact that U.S. imperialism is attempting to exploit their struggle does not mean we have no responsibilities to the Tibetans…The Dalai Lama is not demanding independence for Tibet. He wants autonomy for Tibet within a unified People’s Republic of China. His demand is essentially the same as that of the Zapatistas, who demand local Maya autonomy within Mexico…If we are going to speak up on these and other such struggles in our own hemisphere, tactical considerations as well as moral imperatives demand that we not remain silent now about Tibet — or loan comfort to its oppressors and occupiers.