The Dalai Lama fled Tibet ago 60 years to take refuge in India (afp_tickers)
Sixty years after the Dalai Lama's escape, international icon and Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Tibetan cause loses steam, suffocated by the passage of time and the emergence of China as a world superpower.
In Tibet itself the Chinese government eliminated any organized opposition. And abroad, for fear of trade retaliation, leaders appear less and less in public with the Buddhist leader, whose image remains largely positive.
"La suerte del Tíbet está en manos del Estado chino (…) Tibetans outside the region have no real influence on the fate of Tibet, ni siquiera el dalái lama", declara Nathan Hill, Tibetologist at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) from London.
in 2007, el líder religioso declaró que su tierra natal vivía "su época más oscura en 2.000 años". The following year, a few months before the Beijing Games, Deadly demonstrations and riots shook the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
"Hoy ya no se ven manifestaciones así", notes Kate Saunders, of the American association International Campaign for Tibet. He explains this for two reasons.: the adherence of Tibetans to the non-violence preached by the Dalai Lama and the mass surveillance of the authorities.
The Tibetan spiritual leader demands greater autonomy for Tibet - no longer independence- but negotiations between his emissaries and Beijing have been at a standstill since 2010. Critics accuse China of buying time in the hope that the death of the elderly leader will ease international pressure..
"Estado policial"
For fear that the Chinese government will take over the appointment of his successor, the 14thº Dalai Lama, of 83 years, often hints that the dynasty could die with him.
Beijing has already expressed its intention to intervene in the selection process of senior leaders of Tibetan Buddhism.
Whether the Dalai Lama remains a popular speaker, has reduced his international travel and has not met with foreign leaders since 2016.
"Está claro que el entusiasmo que los occidentales se manifestaron por el Tíbet en los años 1980 y las décadas siguientes se ha reducido fuertemente", estima to Katia Buffetr, ethnologist and Tibetologist at the Practical School of Higher Studies (EPHE) from Paris.
Even India, that offers asylum to the Dalai Lama since 1959, It's apparently not as welcoming as before.. According to the Indian press, the government encourages officials not to show themselves on its side, for fear of angering Beijing.
And while the campaign abroad falters, China's Tibetans fight to maintain their traditions.
"Viven en un Estado policial totalitario. If they question the restrictions, sufren las consecuencias", declares Gray Tuttle, professor at Columbia University, In New York.
At least 150 Tibetans immolated themselves with fire from 2009 in protest against Beijing, and most of them died. But the frequency of these desperate acts is on the decline..
The Xinjiang effect
Beijing rejects international criticism and stresses that it brought economic development to Tibet and gave Tibetans freedoms unknown under the former theocratic regime of the Dalai Lama..
The situation of Muslim Uyghurs, some of whom suffer in China's Xinjiang region (northwest) internment measures in the interest of the fight against Islamist radicalization, It also contributed to diverting international attention.
In a clear sign of this trend, the main person in charge of human rights issues in the German government, Bärbel Kofler, An application to visit Xinjiang was denied last year., but was taken without problems to Tibet, where foreign journalists still cannot travel freely.
Many residents of Tibet accuse Beijing of wanting to restrict their religious practice or dilute their culture., but the economic development is such that it invites some Tibetans in the diaspora to return.
"China es una economía que funciona muy bien. Therefore the Tibetans, like all chinese citizens, se benefician", estimated Françoise Robin, professor of Tibetan language and literature at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) in Paris.
"China es un país (…) on the rise. Often, para que haya rebelión o movimiento de masas se necesita también una desesperación económica".
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