The non Travel Blog

The (non) travel blog-

There wasn’t much I knew about Tibet until my traveling… I knew it was in religious, I knew it was exotic and I knew people wanted to “free” it, but I have to admit that until recently I didn’t really know all the reasons why.

A quick history lesson: Tibet had traditionally been the home of The Dalai Lama (reincarnations of The Buddha) and therefore epicenter of the Buddhist religion. A deeply sacred place governed by a monastic hierarchy. China had argued as far back as the seventeenth century (after helping to defend against invading Nepalese Gurkha forces) that Tibet was a Chinese province and not an independent country. This sovereignty was imposed until 1912 when, after the fall of the Qing dynasty, Tibet declared and regained its independence. In 1951 The People’s Republic Of China invaded. The peaceful country of Tibet could form little resistance and received no help from the UN. In ’59 an uprising in the capital city of Lhasa drove the Dalai Lama, and Tibetan government, to the city of Dharmsala, in Northern India, where they remain in exile to this day. From 1959-1961 over 6000 Buddhist monastery’s were destroyed and secular education was introduced. Ancient history right?…

Self-Immolations is the name given to the dramatic and ultimate political protest of suicide by fire. Most of us can visualize the picture of the most famous self-immolation, from the monk in 1968 protesting South Vietnam’s persecution of the Buddhist religion… (This picture was made even more famous as the Rage Against The Machine album cover). Since March of 2011 there have been 115 Tibetans die from self-immolation in protest against the Chinese oppression… TWENTY ELEVEN!!, that’s nothing, it’s yesterday, it’s now! I was in disbelief when this was told to me thinking if ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN people burned themselves to death in recent years I would have definitely heard of that happening. It turns out that China has gone through great lengths to keep a lid on this and off the international news feed.

The former “Forbidden City” of Lhasa that was once closed off to the western world is now accessible through Nepal. Travel companies line the streets in Kathmandu offering packaged, all inclusive, trips to Lhasa. They handle everything from hotel to transport to meals and even your visa into “China”. There is a quiet debate among travelers on whether or not you SHOULD go to Tibet. There are two schools of thought; on one hand the (14th) Dalai Lama “His Holiness”, although having been in exile from there (along with 140,000 other Tibetans) for 54 years, encourages people to travel to Lhasa to see the beautiful city as well as experience, in first person, the destructive aftermath and political dogma of the insurgence… On the other hand (and what I can’t get past) is that all your money to visit “Tibet” goes directly into the hands of the oppressive Chinese forces, thereby validating and supporting their occupancy. There are arguments that you can support Tibetans directly by shopping at their local stores and staying at small family owned guesthouses. Though there is some small validity to this, the system of ONLY being able to get there through one of these organized tours, means the overwhelming lions share goes elsewhere.

My humble political contribution is that I will not be making the trip into Tibet. Instead I leave Nepal tomorrow and head for India. I will be spending the majority of my time in the northern regions near Dharmsala where the Dalai Lama now resides. By chance he will be holding a 4 day speakng seminar from June 1st-4th. I am doing all I can to get there in time and making the arrangements to attend.

Bob