The Dalai Lama's hidden past - CIA stooge
In 1956 the Dalai Lama, fearing that the Chinese government would soon moveon Lhasa, issued an appeal for gold and jewels to construct another throne
for himself. This, he argued, would help rid Tibet of ``bad omens''. One
hundred and twenty tons were collected. When the Dalai Lama fled to India in
1959, he was preceded by more than 60 tons of treasure.
[url]http://www.greenleft.org.au/1996/248/13397[/url]
The Dalai Lama's hidden past
25 September 1996
Comment by Norm Dixon
Most solidarity and environmental groups supporting the Tibetan people's
cause have not questioned the Dalai Lama's role in Tibetan history or
addressed what it would mean for the Tibetan people if the Dalai Lama and
his coterie returned to power.
A 1995 document distributed by the Dalai Lama's Office of Tibet aggressively
states that ``China tries to justify its occupation and repressive rule of
Tibet by pretending that it `liberated' Tibetan society from `medieval
feudal serfdom' and `slavery'. Beijing trots out this myth to counter every
international pressure to review its repressive policies in Tibet.'' It then
coyly concedes: ``Traditional Tibetan society was by no means perfect ...
However, it was not as bad as China would have us believe.''
Was this a myth? Tibet's Buddhist monastic nobility controlled all land on
behalf of the ``gods''. They monopolised the country's wealth by exacting
tribute and labour services from peasants and herders. This system was
similar to how the medieval Catholic Church exploited peasants in feudal
Europe.
Tibetan peasants and herders had little personal freedom. Without the
permission of the priests, or lamas, they could not do anything. They were
considered appendages to the monastery. The peasantry lived in dire poverty
while enormous wealth accumulated in the monasteries and in the Dalai Lama's
palace in Lhasa.
In 1956 the Dalai Lama, fearing that the Chinese government would soon move
on Lhasa, issued an appeal for gold and jewels to construct another throne
for himself. This, he argued, would help rid Tibet of ``bad omens''. One
hundred and twenty tons were collected. When the Dalai Lama fled to India in
1959, he was preceded by more than 60 tons of treasure.
Romantic notions about the ``peaceful'' and ``harmonious'' nature of Tibetan
Buddhist monastic life should be tested against reality. The Lithang
Monastery in eastern Tibet was where a major rebellion against Chinese rule
erupted in 1956. Beijing tried to levy taxes on its trade and wealth. The
monastery housed 5000 monks and operated 113 ``satellite'' monasteries, all
supported by the labour of the peasants.
Chris Mullin, writing in the Far Eastern Economic Review in 1975, described
Lithang's monks as ``not monks in the Western sense ... many were involved
in private trade; some carried guns and spent much of their time violently
feuding with rival monasteries. One former citizen describes Lithang as
`like the Wild West'.''
The Tibetan ``government'' in Lhasa was composed of lamas selected for their
religious piety. At the head of this theocracy was the Dalai Lama. The
concepts democracy, human rights or universal education were unknown.
The Dalai Lama and the majority of the elite agreed to give away Tibet's de
facto independence in 1950 once they were assured by Beijing their
exploitative system would be maintained. Nine years later, only when they
felt their privileges were threatened, did they revolt.
Suddenly the words ``democracy'' and ``human rights'' entered the vocabulary of the
government-in-exile, operating out of Dharamsala in India ever since.
Dharamsala and the Dalai Lama's commitment to democracy seems weak. An
Office of Tibet document claims ``soon after His Holiness the Dalai Lama's
arrival in India, he re-established the Tibetan Government in exile, based
on modern democratic principles''. Yet it took more than 30 years for an
Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies to be directly elected from among the
130,000 exiles. Of 46 assembly members, only 30 are elected. The other 16
are appointed by religious authorities or directly by the Dalai Lama.
All assembly decisions must be approved by the Dalai Lama, whose sole claim
to the status of head of state is that he has been selected by the gods. The
separation of church and state is yet to be recognised by the Dalai Lama as
a ``modern democratic principle''.
The right-wing nature of the Dalai Lama and the government-in-exile was
further exposed by its relationship with the US CIA. The Dalai Lama
concealed the CIA's role in the 1959 uprising until 1975.
Between 1956 and 1972 the CIA armed and trained Tibetan guerillas. The Dalai
Lama's brothers acted as intermediaries. Before the 1959 uprising, the CIA
parachuted arms and trained guerillas into eastern Tibet. The Dalai Lama
maintained radio contact with the CIA during his 1959 escape to India.
[url]http://www.nybooks.com/articles/391[/url]
Volume 46, Number 14 ? September 23, 1999
The Dalai Lama and the CIA
By Daniel Wikler,
To the Editors:
Jonathan Mirsky states [NYR, June 10] that the Dalai Lama is wrong to give
(reluctant) credit to the CIA for his escape from China. "The Dalai Lama,"
Mirsky writes, "has been misinformed?. The escape operation was an entirely
Tibetan affair."
According to Evan Thomas's recent The Very Best Men, an account of Desmond
Fitzgerald, Richard Bissell, and other leaders of early CIA covert
operations, his flight was "aided by the CIA?. Tony Poe?was the CIA's man on
the ground. He later presented a crayon portrait of the Dalai Lama's flight
out of Tibet to Richard Bissell, while Fitzgerald told his family about Poe
and the Dalai Lama racing down the runway of a remote mountain strip, a step
ahead of the blazing guns of the PLA."
Thomas notes elsewhere that Poe (real name: Poshepny), who later lived in
Laos "in a house decorated with a string of ears that had been chopped off
the heads of dead communists?," "was sometimes said to be the real-life
version of the mad Colonel Kurtz of Apocalypse Now.?"
Daniel Wikler, Ph.D.
Department of Philosophy
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
[url]http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/nytimes.htm[/url]
1. New York Times Interview with the Dalai Lama
Source: The New York Times, 11/28/1993
Written by: Claudia Dreifus
Q: Did you say that killing sometimes is acceptable?
A: Comparatively. In human society, some people do get killed, for a
variety of reasons. However, when you have an established army, and
countries with those armies go to war, the casualties are immense. It's not
one or two casualties, it's thousands. And with nuclear weapons, it's
millions, really millions. For that reason, the arms trade is really
irresponsible. Irresponsible! Global demilitarization is essential.
Q: In Tibet, from the late 1950's until the early 1970's, one of your
brothers was involved in leading a guerrilla movement against the Chinese.
In fact, the guerrillas were supported by the C.I.A. How did you feel about
that?
A: I'm always against violence. But the Tibetan guerrillas were very
dedicated people. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives for the
Tibetan nation. And they found a way to receive help from the C.I.A.
-------------------------------------------------
Free Tibet--Dalai Lama's Naked Truth Exposed
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WyHd6efzKk[/url]
Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth
by Michael Parenti
[url]http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles9/Parenti_Tibet.htm[/url]
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