Tucked away in the laps of the Dauladhar range is the political seat of the Tibetan government in exile and home away from the stolen home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of other Tibetans in the area. It’s been more than sixty-three monsoons since His Holiness started living in Dharamsala and his presence has turned this once quiet hermit village into a global hub and a magnet of foreign exchange.

Turning back the clock, when you look into the early rare black and white footage of the days of 1959-1960, when His Holiness was in his twenties, gives you an instant impression through his body language of how his stay in India would be temporary. It is hard to believe that his stay which seemed momentary back then, has now extended to over six decades, spanning two newer generations of Tibetans who are already born outside of Tibet into India as refugees, and how His Holiness has morphed from his early twenties into an old wise man in his late eighties with sparse white eyebrows.

Truth be told, with each passing dreary monsoon of Dharamsala, it is increasingly becoming drearily evident too that Tibet will never ever regain its former sovereignty and also never cease to exist since even seven decades of forced assimilation has left Tibetan unchanged,

For too long, Tibet has been used as a pawn to counter China’s stratospheric rise. Used as a stick to poke China to irritate her whenever needs arise. Case in point, the shifting change of U.S policy on Tibet is rooted in gross ambiguity. It pisses me off to find identical ambiguities of U.S policies in the affairs of other countries. Tibetan cause is no exception and is juggled like a ball with the changing winds. The political definition that would make or break a country’s outlook is being switched at their will. One day, U.S policy recognizes Chinese suzerainty over Tibet and the other day recognizes Tibet’s sovereignty vis a vis in dealing with China. Whatever fits the bill of the time to swing the pendulum for their own self-interest has been the paramount mantra of U.S foreign policy.

It’s funny how politics is being played. Even our host India isn’t lagging too far behind in this aspect of the game of ambiguity. Although, India is slowly trying to redeem herself from the blunder Nehru made in sacrificing Tibet on the altar of geopolitical self-interest. Just a few years ago Modi scraped all Dalai Lama events to appease the Chinese leader. From the days of snubbing His Holiness, India has come a long way to stand up to China’s bullies. Signs of cozying up to His Holiness in recent times for their own political self-interest are evidently clear. Case in point, Modi wished His Holiness on his Birthday despite China’s full condemnation and declaring His Holiness as a separatist. Regardless, from a Tibetan standpoint, Modi wishing His Holiness on his birthday is a huge political and symbolic gesture. All of these shifting stances and symbolism actually amount to nothing to the actual promotion and targeted and forceful advocacy for the independence of Tibet. It’s just using the Tibet card as leverage to make a geo-political score in this chess game.

But we are still here seven decades later, hoping against hope to draw our own self-fulfilling wishful imagination of China changing slowly and CCP slowly crumbling invoked from the collapse of the Soviet Union. But the fact of the matter is otherwise. Xi-led CCP is growing stronger and more dominant and vicious by the day.

Against such a dismal backdrop, CTA aka Tibetan Government in Exile launched a newly revamped Museum of Tibet in Dharamsala to counter China’s malicious efforts to cement a false narrative through mass disinformation and rampant Sinicization campaign. It is urgent to open more Museums in Tibet like the one in Dhasa in Western Hemisphere too. We already have enough monasteries and foundations. Let’s build Museum like the one in Dhasa to showcase to the world the forgotten story of Tibet.

Taking ownership of our own history should become our top priority and a matter of sheer urgency. Tibet’s case has become a case of an endangered species that is forced on the brink of extinction and CCP is the wrath that has vowed to bury us alive. I have said many times already that Tibet’s case has become a case of a leper that no one wants to touch but only sympathize with. Given all the political headwinds, the indomitable Tibetan spirit has prevailed and has risen like a phoenix from the ashes when the world left us for dead.

In recent years, Xi Jinping has vowed to control Tibet with an iron-clad with his three-step plan

1. Crushing of dissent

2. Sinicisation of Tibet

3. Fortifications of Tibet.

The brutal crushing of dissent is well recorded. Tibet has witnessed the volcanic explosion of Human suppression in countless self-immolation to date that has lightened the dark skies over Tibet.

The fortifications of Tibet have forced many young Tibetan to be forcefully recruited into the elite Chinese army. The vicious plan to pit one Tibetan army against the other has already caused the death of a Tibetan fighting in the covert Indian army. A full-blown war on the gates of heaven would be catastrophic to the Tibetans since in both fronts, Tibetans will be forced to fight off each other like cockfighting.

After the biggest surveillance campaign the world has ever known, it is almost impossible to escape Tibet by crossing over the Himalayas, as drones armed with precision weapons patrol the Himalayan passes 24/7 through which thousands of Tibetans have escaped on foot for decades now.

To counter Xi’s three-step plan, I propose these three steps that require zero dollars but incalculable patriotic fervor.

1. Taking Ownership of Our History: It’s just crucial. We are not doing that enough. As simple as commemorating the 13th of February as our Independence Day. It is symbolic enough to push China on the hind leg. For once, let’s throw the blindfold of political correctness in aligning with our political mandate of Umaylam out of the window for God’s Sake when taking ownership of our history. The word independence and Rangzen can’t be taboo all the time, especially in this context nor is it anti-Dalai Lama as many of you who like to stereotype Rangzen supporters as.
2. Let’s reclaim the truth of Tibet hidden behind the brush of sinicization by retelling our stories to everyone, whether at your workplace, at school, or at university. By using social media as a tool to spread awareness about Tibet. To be honest, Tibetans have underestimated the power of social media. Don’t forget that a single tweet catapulted the Arab Spring that ushered in the downfall of a few dictators. For the sake of perspective, China spends half a billion dollars on misinformation campaigns by distorting history and spreading them on social media and also by paying influencers to tell a false narrative about Tibet. Every Tibetan should be morally obligated to become an activist and use the power of social media to educate and enlighten the world about the truth and suffering of the Tibetan people
3. Fortification of our actual borders that encompasses the three provinces of Tibet by resurrecting the case of Tibet as a buffer state like it was for centuries. We should also work on amplifying the pain of losing Tibet that has caused unprovoked skirmishes at the Indo-Chinese occupied Tibet borders and also how countries that depend on the rivers flowing from Tibet are paying a hefty price after China has started diverting the river with mega dam projects leaving countries and its ecosystem that depends on the water below high and dry.

Xi probably wants to turn Tibetan borders towards India into an impregnable fortress by forcefully recruiting Tibetans into the Chinese special force. But one thing he has to realize is that the Tibetan spirit is still very much impregnable even after decades of trying to suffocate it. Xi Jinping can certainly move bodies under the barrel of the gun to fulfill his agenda but he can’t rule over the indomitable Tibetan spirit.

Xi Jinping even after forcing his portrait into the altars of Tibetan shrines, Tibetans inside of Tibet celebrated the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama by praying on his altar embedded deep into their minds and moated conscience. The presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and not his absence from the soul of Tibet underscores the sentiments of the Tibetan people.

CCP might have taken us out of Tibet but they have definitely failed to take Tibet out of us.

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