Hi, I've lurked here for a while and created this account because this question is something I've been thinking about. Like most of you, I am worried about the new cold war on China by the West. That said though, on the question of Tibet I feel like some people can be inconsistent or intellectually dishonest about it...

I'm not saying we should balkanize China now in 2021 and I'm not a FREE TIBET fanatic, but I find it strange how so many on the anti-imperialist left (of which I'd consider myself a member) justify the initial annexation of Tibet in the 50s. Yes, I'm aware that Tibet used to be a much more backwards-ass place, and I'm not a fan of the Dalai Lama. But is the argument that it was OK because it made Tibet a better place to live in not basically a neocon sentiment ("we're bringing freedom and democracy")? Obviously neocons are not sincere about this kind of thing, but I'm of the position that unprovoked military occupation is pretty much always wrong.

Anyways, that's what I'm thinking about. Hoping this can open up a good discussion without things getting too heated lol.

  • gammison [none/use name]
    2·
    4 years ago

    Recommend everyone in this thread read dragon in the land of snow, by far the best history of modern Tibet. It criticizes the exile government while also criticizing the PRC for various actions its taken over the years ultimately taking a pro Tibet but anti exile government position. By far the most balanced history you'll find that is based on archive sources.

    One review I saw of it said "It will irritate both Chinese and Tibetan chauvinists as it explodes their myths, misunderstandings, and propaganda," which I'd agree with.

    Caveat, I'm pretty sure the author Tsering Shakya has occasionally done stuff with radio free Asia, which is very unfortunate, but looks like Rfa just using them since they are anti PRC. The book is pretty much the only one I can find based on archival evidence that is anti exile government and anti PRC. However the author has also written for SCMP, which Alibaba owns, before about Himalayan politics. Usually deriding India's right wing govt fucking with border negotiations that Bhutan and Nepal would otherwise be able to settle with China.

    Another source is Wang Lixiong, who writes about Tibet and Xinjiang from within China. Verso put out a book of a dialog between Wang and Shakya trying to articulate what Tibetan liberation should mean. Wang also wrote a book on Xinjiang, My West China; Your East Turkestan, documenting struggles in securitizing the region in 2007, arguing it was effectively being Palestinized and the PRC's policies were a self fulfilling prophecy of conflict. I don't know if that book has an English translation though. Though Wang also stands to be criticized as some of his writing takes an eerily similar tone to that of western colonizer educating natives even as he derides PRC policy as doing that. Both writers came to the conclusion that Tibet as part of China is a construct of Chinese nationalism, and absent radical change in how China manages its imperial holdovers, its obsession with "anti-separatism" will inexorably turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.