The Sun Never Sets on Western Propaganda
"The cor****ate media blitz of disinformation and well-crafted
propaganda is designed to delegitimize China while building
credibility and sympathy for those favored by imperialism"
www.radicalleft.net blog
Many U.S. progressives and liberals are sup****ting the Dalai Lama and
the Tibetan opposition to the People=92s Republic of China.
So are George W. Bush, Rush Limbaugh, the CIA, and every pro-
imperialist government and media outlet. The vast majority of the
peoples of China, including many in Tibet, oppose the U.S.-sup****ted
separatist movement.
How could the so-called left be on the same side as Bush, the CIA and
the ultra-right?
How do we explain the paradox of progressive people sup****ting a
movement that is financed and sup****ted by the proponents of the U.S.
empire, as well as by all the other old European colonial powers that
divided, humiliated and looted China for a full century prior to the
1949 revolution?
This riddle is solved by appreciating the impact of the effective CIA
propaganda sup****ting the Dalai Lama and the old Tibetan ruling class,
which lost its power, privileges, serfs and slaves because of the
Chinese Revolution.
This propaganda is echoed in the Western media constantly and has
affected liberal public opinion.
The National Endowment for Democracy funds the Dalai Lama and the
Tibetan opposition.
It also funds or funded the pro-U.S. opposition to Venezuelan
president Hugo Ch=E1vez, the fascist opposition to former Haitian
president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the opposition to the Cuban
Revolution.
The NED also funded Ronald Reagan=92s contra war against the Sandinistas
in Nicaragua.
=46rom 1995 to 2005, the NED gave $2,047,479 to opposition Tibetan
publications, radio stations, organizations and other institutes.
The Dalai Lama has a long history of working closely with the U.S.
government. In fact, he and his sup****ters have been on the CIA
payroll since the 1950s.
The International Campaign for Tibet, the Tibet Fund, the Tibet Voice
Project, the Tibet Information Network, the Tibetan Literary Society,
the Tibetan Review Trust Society and the Voice of Tibet all advance
the progressive-sounding call for a "Free Tibet."
They are all funded by the NED, which is itself funded by the U.S.
State Department and the CIA.
According to historian Allen Weinstein, "A lot of what [the NED does]
today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA." Weinstein helped
draft the legislation that created the NED.
Many progressives in the United States believe that Tibet is severely
oppressed by the government of the People=92s Republic of China.
They have been convinced that the Dalai Lama is a man of peace who has
been ruthlessly suppressed by China, and that he has the allegiance of
nearly all Tibetans.
Most of these individuals sincerely believe in the right of self-
determination and believe that the People=92s Republic of China has
violated this right.
Among this sector of liberal and progressive opinion, the reflex to
any struggle between China and what they perceive to be the Tibetan
people as a whole is to express profound solidarity with those they
consider to be the oppressed.
But this view obscures the essential social and class dynamic in
Tibet. Influenced by a false conception, people who should know better
lose their critical faculties.
Knowing that George W. Bush is an imperialist, one must pause and
ponder the question: Why did Bush award the Congressional Gold Medal
to the Dalai Lama in a highly publicized White House ceremony in
2007?
Bush would never conduct such a ceremony for a genuinely progressive
person. Bush views the Dalai Lama in much the same way he viewed Ahmed
Chalabi before the invasion of Iraq=97as a useful tool for the U.S.
empire.
Demonization campaign a prelude to imperialist intervention
The demonization of China is in full swing now. Demonization is the
imperialists=92 preferred tool to delegitimize their targets and prepare
the ground for a destabilization campaign and possible military
intervention.
The demonization tactic has been consistently applied preceding regime
changes, coups and invasions: the invasion of Panama in 1989; Iraq in
1991 and 2003; Haiti in the first half of 1990s; the aerial
destruction of Yugoslavia in 1999; the military coup in Venezuela in
2002; and the new threats against Iran. The pattern is crystal clear.
Our party has profound political differences with many of the policies
of the Chinese Communist Party, especially its promotion of capitalist-
style market practices
But we feel that it is necessary to expose the hidden and not-so-
hidden efforts of the Bush administration, the CIA, the Democratic
Party, and other centers of political power to destabilize and
dismember the People=92s Republic of China.
Most Chinese people recognize that this effort, if successful, would
hurl both China and Tibet backward.
Some in the liberal camp might argue that, though U.S. motives may be
impure and even imperialist toward China and Tibet, this does not
diminish the legitimacy of Tibet=92s fight for independence.
Progressives should think this through. For more than a century,
Wa****ngton has sought to build a world empire.
Its foreign and military policies focus exclusively on achieving and
maintaining its global aspirations.
It is not tenable for progressives to view the issue of self-
determination in the abstract; we must account for the strategic
designs of imperialism.
The historical analogy of Cuba=92s war for independence from the Spanish
Empire comes to mind. The U.S. military invaded Cuba in 1898 under the
pretext of sup****ting Cuba=92s independence from Spain.
Soon, the U.S. government=92s own imperialist goals were revealed as it
turned Cuba into a protectorate, seized Puerto Rico from Spain and
invaded the Philippines.
Mark Twain and the other leaders of the Anti-Imperialist League in the
United States exposed the true nature of the U.S. project to
incor****ate Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines into a new U.S.
sphere of influence.
Progressives in the United States would be well served by remembering
this legacy and applying it to U.S. imperialism=92s unfolding struggle
to "liberate" Tibet from China.
Twain and his colleagues were deeply sympathetic to the cause of Cuban
independence from Spain, but they still militantly opposed the U.S.
intervention.
They understood it was a cruel and cynical U.S. ploy to conquer Cuba.
Unlike the current struggle by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Youth
Congress, Cuba=92s independence movement was led by genuine
revolutionaries like Jos=E9 Mart=ED.
Mart=ED, the "Apostle of Cuban Independence," represented the slaves, ex-
slaves, workers and peasants against their Cuban bosses and
tormentors, as well as the foreign colonizing power.
The Dalai Lama, on the other hand, is the voice and figurehead for the
ruling elites who lived off of the labor of serfs=97modern-day land-
slaves.
Mart=ED fought the foreign occupier while the Dalai Lama was a well-paid
cog in Britain=92s colonial machine in Asia.
Myths and facts of pre-revolutionary Tibet and the Dalai Lama
The popular presentation of old Tibet is the Hollywood version of
reality. It is both Orientalist and racist.
Old Tibet is viewed as a nation founded on peace and spiritual
harmony, populated by gentle monks who lived humbly side-by-side with
a rustic peasant population at one with nature.
In this mythical depiction, the brutal communist government of China
is cruelly occupying this idyllic Shangri-la.
Tenzin Gyatso, known as the Dalai Lama, heads the Tibetan opposition
movement financed and cultivated for more than 50 years by
Wa****ngton.
He is the religious leader of Tibetan Buddhism and former ruler of
Tibet=97the "god-king" of the Tibetan feudal system until 1959.
Prior to 1959, 95 percent of the people lived in shocking, slave-like
conditions, while an extremely repressive aristocracy "lived in
opulent splendor. =85 Among the populace, a common appellation for the
rich was =91ones whose lips are always moistened by tea.=92"
A 1940 survey showed that "38 percent of the households never got any
tea, but either collected herbs that grew wild or drank =91white tea=92=97
boiled water.
"...51 percent could not afford to use butter (tea and yak butter were
main staples), and 75 percent of the households were forced at times
to resort to eating grass cooked with cow bones and mixed with oat or
pea flour."
Education was almost non-existent, and what did exist was exclusive to
the nobility. Health conditions were abysmal, with an estimated 90
percent of the people suffering venereal disease and about 30 percent
infected with smallpox.
In 1959, infant mortality was 430 deaths per 1,000 births and average
life expectancy was 35.5 years.
Of a serf=92s production, 50 to 70 percent was owed to his manorial
master, in addition to forced labor called "ulag." Dozens of taxes had
to be paid, including a butter tax, meat tax, wool tax, woolen cloth
tax and a tax on tsampa=97a staple food usually made from barley=97to
sup****t the monasteries.
Prayer festival taxes, hay taxes, utensil taxes, meat taxes, past-due
taxes, corv=E9e taxes in the form of labor, military taxes and others
had to be paid to the government. Many additional taxes were paid to
the feudal lord.
The extremely high number of manor estates and monks=97who performed no
work but lived from others=92 labor=97was an enormous drain on society.
Out of the 37,000 inhabitants in Lhasa, Tibet=92s capital, 16,000 were
monks. The Drepung monastery alone had "185 manors, 20,000 serfs, 300
pastures and 16,000 herdsmen."
Profoundly superstitious beliefs, complete religious control by
Tibetan Buddhist lamas over the m***** and severe punishment,
including death, for any type of disobedience effectively kept the
people from questioning their conditions or rebelling.
It is no coincidence that the recent chain of events leading up to the
present turmoil began on March 10.
On that day in 1959, the Dalai Lama and the feudal nobility launched
an armed rebellion in Tibet in opposition to major social changes
introduced after the triumph of the Chinese Revolution.
Revolution brings change to Tibet
The aim of China=92s October 1, 1949, revolution was the emancipation of
all the people of China, including the 55 smaller nationalities within
Chinese territory.
The government=92s initial attitude toward Tibet was one of extreme
caution on the matter of reforms. The government was cognizant of the
profound control that Tibetan rulers wielded over the serf population,
as well as the historic resentment of the Tibetan nationality towards
the Han nationality.
The 1951 "Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet"
signed by the new revolutionary government and local Tibetan leaders
provided for economic development, education and health care
programs.
At first, the old, reactionary social relations were not disturbed.
The pact established that "the local government of Tibet shall carry
out reform voluntarily, and, when the people demand a reform, shall
settle it through consultation with the Tibetan leaders."
Public social projects were inaugurated immediately. The first two
roads ever built in Tibet began construction in 1950 and took almost
five years to complete. One crossed 14 mountain p***** over 1,500
miles from Ya=92an in Sichuan province to Lhasa.
One truck could trans****t in two days what it used to take 12 days for
60 yaks to haul. Schools and hospitals were built. (8)
But by 1959, the ruling priesthood, still owners of virtually all the
country=92s wealth, strongly opposed any attempt to reform their system.
Counterrevolutionary bands opposed to change waged paramilitary
attacks.
Despite the obstacles imposed by the Tibetan ruling circles, the
central government continued the development projects. It firmly
believed that the impoverished Tibetan m*****, gaining from the
progress, would eventually take part in their own emancipation.
There were tremendous difficulties, as one directive from the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to the reformers showed in
the early 1950s:
"As yet, we don=92t have a material base for fully implementing the
Agreement, nor do we have a base for this purpose in terms of sup****t
among the m***** or in the upper stratum.
"To force its implementation will do more harm than good. Since they
are unwilling to put the agreement into effect, well then we can leave
it for the time being and wait. ...
"Let them go on with their insensate atrocities against the people,
while we on our part concentrate on good deeds=97production, trade, road-
building, medical services, and united front work (unity with the
majority and patient education).
"So as to win over the m***** and bide our time before taking up the
question of the full implementation of the Agreement. If they are not
in favor of the setting up of primary schools, that can stop too."
After eight years of harsh opposition by the feudal lords, the new
Chinese revolutionary leader****p took direct action in 1959 to
overturn the serf system.
The Dalai Lama set the date of March 10, 1959, for a reactionary
uprising. The Chinese People=92s Liberation Army stayed in the barracks
for 10 days while the Dalai Lama=92s forces attacked, winning over the
people by revealing who the real aggressor was.
Because the uprising lacked popular sup****t and was confined to the
area around Lhasa, it was quickly defeated.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for exile in India, eventually landing in
Dharamsala.
There, he developed a close and long relation****p with the CIA. His
two brothers had already been working actively with the CIA since the
late 1950s.
The Dalai Lama=92s treasures preceded him out of the country, as well as
the wealth of the nobility who joined him in India. Smaller numbers
went to Bhutan and Nepal.
Tibetan exiles and the CIA
In the late 1950s and 1960s, the CIA trained hundreds of
counterrevolutionary exiles in sabotage and terrorism. This took place
on bases from Saipan to Virginia, including the main center of Tibetan
operations: Camp Hale, in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
U.S. intelligence do***ents, which were released in the late 1990s,
do***ent the close relation****p between the CIA, the Tibetan exile
movement and the Dalai Lama personally:
"[F]or much of the 1960s, the CIA provided the Tibetan exile movement
with $1.7 million a year for operations against China, including an
annual subsidy of $180,000 for the Dalai Lama."
Imperialist sup****t for the Tibetan "independence" movement is
reminiscent of their sup****t for Cuban counterrevolutionary forces
that fled to exile in Miami after the island=92s 1959 liberation from
U.S. neo-colonial rule.
Soon after Fulgencio Batista=92s overthrow, the CIA trained several
thousand Cuban reactionaries in bombings, assassination and other
terror tactics in the name of "freedom" and "democracy."
The terrorist project, codenamed JM WAVE, became the largest operation
in the CIA=92s history.
Cuban extremist exiles in Miami claim to speak for Cubans who live in
Cuba as they work to destroy the social gains that the vast majority
of Cubans sup****t.
Similarly, the Tibetan reactionary opposition exiled in Dharamsala
fights to overturn the social gains of Tibetans living in Tibet. China
has made it clear that it will defend its territorial integrity.
Tibetan right-wing groups could not exist without U.S. and European
financing or the sup****t of organizations such as Re****ters Without
Borders and Human Rights Watch. Actor Richard Gere, chair of the
International Campaign for Tibet, has given a high profile to the
issue.
Today=92s Tibetan "independence" movement
In 1989, a U.S.-influenced public campaign to elevate the Dalai Lama
as leader of a Tibetan government-in-exile began to accelerate and
continues to the present.
The Dalai Lama was granted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. As a prelude
to the present unfolding events, George W. Bush awarded him the
Congressional Gold Medal in October 2007 despite protests from China.
The Dalai Lama claims to seek dialogue with China for discussions on
autonomy, but that would only be the first step toward an eventual
breaking away from China.
Tibetan counterrevolutionary forces lay claim not only to the 470,000-
square-mile territory of the TAR [Tibetan Autonomous Region], but also
to much of four surrounding provinces that would triple the TAR=92s
political territory to 1.5 million square miles.
There are new formations in the Tibetan right-wing opposition
movement, such as the Tibetan Youth Congress.
These younger activists demand immediate separation from China, while
the Dalai Lama claims to be only for autonomy. These are only minor
tactical differences in what amounts to an internationally financed
and coordinated counterrevolutionary campaign.
The method of operation, financing and putsch-style mobilizations are
very similar to other U.S. plots targeting governments for overthrow.
The recent riots in Tibet, reminiscent of the "color revolutions" that
took place in former socialist states like Yugoslavia (2000), Georgia
(2003 Rose Revolution), Ukraine (2004 Revolution) and Kyrgyzstan (2005
Tulip Revolution), bear the markings of a CIA-directed offensive.
Attacks on 17 Chinese embassies and consulates=97as well as on the
Olympics ceremonies in Greece=97is more evidence of a high level of
central coordination and planning.
Tibetan "self-determination" under the present cir***stances
In the current epoch, it is not possible to speak of independence in
an abstract sense.
Since the triumph of the first socialist revolution in Russia in 1917
and the subsequent development of a socialist camp=97including China=97
imperialist influence has not permitted any state or nationality to
remain neutral.
Every national struggle today contains within itself a class struggle.
Tibet is not simply a nationality united by religion, culture and
history. There are two cl***** deep in struggle.
One of these cl***** is the former ruling landlord class, which never
gave up its dream to reconquer its privilege. It is backed by U.S.
imperialism, whose ultimate objective is breaking up China.
The other is the vast majority of Tibetans, who=97despite the
shortcomings and mistakes of the central government=97have greatly
benefited from the Chinese Revolution, which ended feudalism not only
for Tibetans but for all of China=92s peoples.
If the Tibetan separatists succeed, Tibet will become a vassal state
under the control of the United States. Wa****ngton will have dealt a
major blow to China and taken one more step toward the full overturn
of the Chinese Revolution. For Tibet, this would not be "independence"
at all, but a return to feudal and neocolonial servitude.
It might seem hard to stand up in the United States against the
maturing campaign against China.
The cor****ate media blitz of disinformation and well-crafted
propaganda is designed to delegitimize China while building
credibility and sympathy for those favored by imperialism.
This is all the more reason for progressive people and opponents of
imperialism not to buckle under the pressure.
Bush, the Pentagon and the Democratic Party leader****p would prefer
nothing more than U.S. students forming "Free Tibet" committees and
protesting against China=92s fictitious "cultural genocide" in Tibet
while Wa****ngton continues its very real war and occupation of Iraq.
The death of one million Iraqis does qualify as real genocide.
The people of China, including the Tibetans, cannot be assisted by
imperialist sanctions, covert operations and military intervention.
http://www.radicalleft.net/blog/_archives/2008/4/8/3625635.html
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