Thread by @andreasmoun

No Halt to the Cultural Genocide

The #Communists not only destroyed countless relics but also robbed the #Tibetan people off their livestock, jewelry, their robes and tents also.

Thread-Analysis

Tibet was hit fiercely with the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The impacts were severe and it left a huge hole in the cultural domain of the Tibetan land. The Chinese troops entered the once holy land of Tibet and destroyed everything that they could.

Monasteries were bombarded with artillery and dyamites, the libraries were looted and rare, precious books, scriptures and paintings were burned to ashes. The Dalai Lama was tagged as a criminal and a separatist.

Tibetans were then forced to adopt the Chinese ways of living and still are under the constant threat and surveillance of the Chinese Communist Government. The Cultural Revolution scarred Tibet as badly as it did the whole of China.

The Communists not only destroyed countless relics but also robbed the Tibetan people off their livestock, jewelry, their robes and tents also. Tibetans have talked about how they were left with almost nothing to survive on and how they, with their nomadic matchlock

weapons were no match against the red guards carrying automatic weapons. During the period when the entire world was under strict lockdown to avoid the shackles of the COVID 19 pandemic, China despite being severely

affected as well did not lost the opportunity to torture the Tibetans yet again. Several Tibetan monasteries, nunneries and schools were forced to close down during the lockdown.

The recent upsurge that became yet another saddening event for the Tibetans were the demolishment of a 99 foot tall statute of the Buddha in Kham Drakgo in the Sichuan Province. According to other sources, it has also come out in the light that 45 huge prayer wheels

erected near the Drakgo Monastery has also been removed and the prayer flags have been burned down.

The bronze statue of the Buddha was built with the contributions of the local Tibetans in Drakgo with great effort. The cost totaled upto 40,000,000 Yuan, around 6.3 million USD.

The Buddha’s statue was built on 5th October 2015 to ward off natural disasters since Drakgo was hit with a major earthquake in 1973 that lead to the death of thousands of residents and also caused widespread damages to the land.

The statue was built with the permission of the local authorities and was not an unlawful act. The higher officials however started expressing their disliking of the size of the statue although it was causing no harm to any aspect.

The authorities, without any consideration ordered the demolition on 12th December 2021 and stated the false accusations of how the height of statues as such is prohibited. This was the false reason given behind the demolishing of the statue of Buddha.

This reason however seems completely irrelevant of the destruction of the prayer wheels that also faced the same fate along side the statue. Drakgo Monastery’s Gaden Namgyal Monastic school was also demolished a few weeks before this incident under the claims that

they had no proper documentation and were violating the law. China’s targets and the motives behind the targeting of such Tibetans institutes is clear from the get go. The destruction of the statue and the prayer wheels is a direct attack on the religious traditions of Tibet.

The lack of religious rights in Tibet has been emphasized on various grounds. The lack of rights for the Tibetans to study their own culture and language is clear from the demolishment of schools like the one in Drakgo since they serve as an important hub of education related to

Tibet. These attacks will continue without a speck of doubt since the communist party’s aim is to completely wipe out every aspect of the Tibetan ethnicity, be it their tradition, language, culture and religion.

China’s oppression in Tibet has gone on for decades and so has the Tibetan freedom struggle.

Tibetans in Tibet have seen, witnessed and experienced the firsthand oppressiveness of the Chinese rule. The communist party of China that has led the government

for a centenary has opted for the most brutal ways to deal with Tibetans. The complete Sinicization of Tibet is their ultimate goal. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is seen as a grave threat to their plan which is why the communist government has tried to defame him at all times

One of their main targets now is to appoint the next Dalai Lama as per their will so as to gain control over the religious rights of the Tibetans completely. The same strategy has been seen with their appointment of the Panchen Lama.

It is clear however that they have no right to do so but the fact that they claim to have always owned Tibet is being used as leverage. China’s illegal occupation of Tibet was in itself a matter that should have been taken seriously and dealt with on the international platform.

The news of oppression in Tibet, the deaths and the destruction of the land stirs everyone to the core and makes us dread the fate of the Tibetans who live in a land as such with no freedom or escape. Tibet’s issue is coming out in the limelight but it needs more support.

Tibetans have suffered endlessly with their identities at stake. No country or its people should have to witness their land’s ill fate from afar with no power in their hands. A skyhigh statue of the Buddha was demolished and wiped off the land.

Many more incidences as such will occur and more news of Tibetans dying for the basic rights will come up if the matter is not tended to at once.