Letting power prevail in the U.N.
Martha Knox
Guest Columnist
COLUMBUS, Ohio
He is known by many names. Some call him Kundun or "the presence." Officially he is Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, which means Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate Defender of the Faith and Ocean of Wisdom. He calls himself a simple Buddhist monk. However, he was born Lhamo Dhondrub, and is known to most of the world as the 14th Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama is the Tibetan Buddhist leader. In 1989 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to China's occupation of his country. Last Thursday, he was not even invited to the Millennium World Peace Summit at the United Nations, despite the fact that more than a thousand other religious leaders around the world were invited. The reason: Fear of offending Chinese leaders.
China began gaining control of Tibet in the 1950s. During the occupation more than 1.2 million Tibetans were killed, 120,000 were thrown into exile, many women were forcibly sterilized and 6,000 monasteries were destroyed. Even today, the Chinese will not reveal the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second most important figure. In 1959 the Dalai Lama sought asylum in India for more than 80,000 Tibetans.
The Dalai Lama is an extremely valuable figure in the effort toward world peace. He is the spiritual leader of millions of Buddhists in the world, including many in the United States.
Because of his Nobel Peace Prize and his non-violent opposition to China, the Dalai Lama is a positive inspiration and symbol of hope for many suffering at the hand of oppressive governments in the world. He is very well educated, being aware of and influenced by other cultures and religions.
The philosophy of the Dalai Lama is the opposite of religious or political righteousness. He favors "secular ethics" for the world as a whole and stresses the responsibility of all people to take care of each other rather than only depending on institutions.
China, on the other hand, is a prime target for human rights activists. It easily leads the world in executions (don't worry Dubya, Texas is gaining fast). Many refugees fleeing the forced abortion and sterilization policies are seeking asylum in other countries, including the United States. Most recently China has been using the Internet to further violate human rights, such as in the case of Huang Qi. Qi faces possible life imprisonment for electronically publishing information about the 1989 military crackdown at Tianamen Square where thousands of civilians were shot.
It is understandable that the U.N. is trying to be careful. China is a powerful country and it will be necessary to sometimes compromise in order to achieve peace. However, people should be leery of what kind of message leaving the Dalai Lama out of the Summit will send to the rest of the world, as well as what message it sends to China. It could be taken as support of China's occupation of Tibet, or a sign of weakness on the part of United Nations leaders.
When the U.N. sacrifices some of its stated principles, even in efforts toward a higher good, all it really does is put itself at the mercy of bullies. The U.N. has already been harshly criticized by several world human rights organizations for failing to formally criticize China's human rights record.
If the U.N. is truly destined to lead the world toward peace, it is going to have to be a stronger leader.
This column first appeared in the Ohio State University newspaper, The Lantern, on August 17, 2000, and is reprinted here courtesy of U-WIRE.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, August 23, 2000
