15.02.13 – 00:14 –
Criminal Aldama | DHARAMSALA.
PHOTO: Chokey demands greater commitment from the international community to resolve the conflict. :: Z. ALDAMA
- Consider the hundred immolations against Chinese repression as «an extreme expression of patriotism»
- Tenzin Chokey General Secretary of the Tibetan Youth Congress
«The Dalai Lama is now just a spiritual leader. That is why we are free to propose another model»
«I see the cracks that exist within the country and remember examples like those of the USSR and East Timor»
A Tenzin Chokey You are terrified of accessing your Facebook account. It is the way through which news reaches him of compatriots who decide to immolate themselves in protest of the repression suffered by the Tibetan people at the hands of China.. On Wednesday he received the photograph of the young man who decided to set himself on fire in Kathmandu, Nepal, coinciding with the centenary of the proclamation of independence. There are already a hundred like him since 2009. Of them, 83 They have died. «It is an extreme expression of patriotism and frustration», argues the general secretary of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC). Theirs is a controversial political organization established in the Indian city of Dharamsala that, although he worships the Dalai Lama, openly criticizes the politics of the spiritual leader.
Conocido como la 'vía intermedia', the system that guides the Central Tibetan Authority - the Government that went into exile in Dharamsala after the occupation of the Asian giant- busca la integración de Tíbet en China dentro de los parámetros de la Constitución que rige el país comunista y sin poner en entredicho la soberanía de Pekín sobre 'el techo del mundo'. However, the TYC considers that «after half a century, It has been shown that this route does not work».
-You advocate for independence without restrictions.
-Yeah. I believe that there are plenty of historical and cultural reasons to justify Tibet's right to its own state..
-The Dalai Lama, however, has reiterated that the objective is a «genuine autonomy», Hong Kong or Macau style.
-The Dalai Lama is, now, only a spiritual leader. in 2011 decided to cede all political power to the prime minister, Lobsang Sangay, that is democratically elected. That's why, We are now free to propose different models than the one he coined. We collaborate with the Government, but we hope that it changes its objective and is more ambitious.
-In the current situation, with an increasingly stronger China, ¿He doesn't think it's a suicidal strategy.?
-Sometimes I think about the strength of the Chinese superpower and despair, other times I see the cracks that exist within the country itself, like corruption and social disenchantment, and I remember examples like those of the Soviet Union or East Timor. Our goal is not a utopia. We need, yes indeed, greater involvement of the international community.
-Beijing considers them a terrorist organization that is inciting the immolations in a display of religious fundamentalism..
-It isn't true. We do not encourage immolations. We are not the ones to judge people who decide to end their lives before China does so. And the statistics show that they are not fundamentalists but normal people. There are monks, Yeah, but more than half have no connection with religion.
Propaganda failure
-¿What causes them to catch fire??
-There are two main reasons: the total rejection of the Chinese occupation, and the desperation to which the abuses they suffer daily at the hands of the security forces lead them. It's their way of showing love for the country.. And most of them are young - some, even, minors-, the average is in 25 years, a fact that demonstrates the failure of the Chinese propaganda under which they have grown up, which aims to convince Tibetans that communism has freed them from feudalism. I feel immense pain every time I receive news about a new immolation, but I understand the reasons that lead to it and it is not in our power to avoid it. We can discuss whether it works or not, but not about whether it is right or wrong.
-Judging by the criticism and the reduced impact that these types of actions have abroad, They don't seem to help the Tibetan cause much..
-Their usefulness should not be determined by the impact they have abroad., but for what they have achieved in Tibet. The immolations have united the people. Before there was a lot of internal fighting, but now we have joined forces. There are people who have decided to never fight again with those of their own ethnic group to gain strength.. And it is evident that the Chinese Government is in a very uncomfortable position because it loses control. Now the soldiers don't carry rifles, but fire extinguishers.
-Talk about ethnicity and religion. ¿They seek a State based on those two pillars? ¿They would allow Chinese who have been living in Tibet for a long time to vote in a hypothetical self-determination referendum?
-Of course they couldn't vote.. They are emigrants that Beijing sends to dilute the Tibetan identity, and they are not even comfortable in Tibet. They go only to make money and leave after a short time. It is not their habitat. We believe in a Tibet for Tibetans.
-You, however, He was born in India and has never set foot in Tibet. ¿What legitimacy do you think you have?, the same as an Executive in exile who has never been voted for by the citizens, to decide the future of that territory?
-It is true that, in the strictest sense, The Government in exile has no legitimacy in Tibet. But I'm sure that, if they could, Tibetans would vote for him. We seek a State based on ethnicity, and there exists in us an inexplicable connection with our land that unites us wherever we are..
-¿Something like what happens with Israel, promised land of judaism?
-It's something I've asked myself many times., but I think not, it's not the same. I have grown up with the stories that my parents and grandparents told me about Tibet., where they had to flee. It was their land, and every new year they say «this year we will return». What is there is a military occupation. Yo, although I was born in India, I'm not Indian. I don't even have that nationality. I am Tibetan. And I hope to instill that feeling in my son..
-¿What do you think will happen when the Dalai Lama dies??
-It could be an important turning point.. In fact, I fear that the Tibetan movement cannot remain peaceful for long.. We advocate non-violence, but China exerts increasingly brutal pressure. Now he goes against the families of those who immolate themselves and rewards informants. Seek to confront us at all times. The situation is extreme and everything has a limit.
