"DHARMSALA, India – Life for Tibetans under Chinese rule has been "hell on earth," the Dalai Lama said Tuesday, attacking Beijing in a speech to mark 50 years since the failed uprising that forced him into exile.
The unusually harsh rhetoric from the Nobel Peace laureate, who accused the Chinese government of treating his people "like criminals deserving to be put to death," highlighted the widening gulf between the two sides since last year when violence engulfed the region and talks broke down.
"These 50 years have brought untold suffering to the land and people of Tibet," the 73-year-old Buddhist spiritual leader told some 2,000 Tibetan exiles gathered to commemorate the 1959 rebellion.
Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to split Tibet from China and fomenting the recent violence, denounced his speech as "lies" and underlined the development it had brought to the vast Himalayan plateau.
The Dalai Lama's 30-minute speech in Dharmsala, the two-street town perched in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas where he set up his headquarters in exile, was a systematic indictment of Chinese rule in Tibet.
Decades of China's communist experiments, particularly the violent xenophobic Cultural Revolution, "thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth," he said, adding that these campaigns led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans.
Tibet's unique religion, culture and language are "nearing extinction," he said."
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer Gavin Rabinowitz, Associated Press Writer
The Dalai Lama seems to have had enough with the Chinese Government, and who can blame him? China has repressed Tibet for quite some time now, and has exiled many Tibetan people away from their native land. He is one of the most peaceful people on the planet, and a speaker for his people. The fact that someone on such a high spritual level has to instill some anger and harsh word shows that this is a truly serious thing affecting his people. I wish there was a way to have a large power to support Tibet. But sadly in this day and age it is hard for almost any super power country to really do anything about it. The most powerful countries in the world such as the United States, China, Russia, England, etc. cannot not be touched when all of these economies depend on each other in some shape or form. I think on a broader scale for almost any civilian should realize that our countries are doing all that they can to totally control us.
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2 comments:
"control us"...now i think thats just going a bit too far. and if it were true then shame on us (the other "superpowers") for ALLOWING this to happen
Well if you think about it, there are more and more laws that give the government more power over us i.e. Patriot Act. When I say Control Us, i don't mean that they'd treat us as mindless zombies, I am just saying that they could possibly just have more control of what individuals do.
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