[Marxism] Tibet

[Peter McLaren <drpetermclaren@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tibet, History and the CIA
By Gary Wilson
Published Mar 19, 2008 10:03 PM,
Original title : Tibet and the March 10 commemoration of the CIA's  
1959 'uprising'
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/tibet_0327/

Has Tibet become the front line of a new national liberation  
struggle? Or is something else happening there?
The U.S. news media are filled with stories about events unfolding in  
Tibet. Each news report, however, seems to include a note that much  
of what they are reporting cannot be confirmed. The sources of the  
reports are shadowy and unknown. If past practice is any indicator,  
it is likely that the U.S. State Department and the CIA are their  
primary sources.
One frequently quoted source is John Ackerly. Who is Ackerly? As  
president of the International Campaign for Tibet, he and his group  
appear to work closely with the U.S. government, both the State  
Department and Congress, as part of its operations concerning Tibet.  
During the Cold War, Ackerly's Washington-based job was to work with  
"dissidents" in Eastern Europe, particularly Romania in 1978-80.
A private international security agency in Washington, Harbor Lane  
Associates, lists Ackerly and the International Campaign for Tibet as  
its clients, along with former CIA Director and U.S. President George  
H.W. Bush and former Pentagon chief William Cohen.
AP, Reuters and the other Western news agencies all quote Ackerly as  
a major source for exaggerated reports about the clashes that have  
just occurred in Tibet. For example, MSNBC on March 15 reported:
"John Ackerly, of the International Campaign for Tibet, a group that  
supports demands for Tibetan autonomy, said in an e-mailed statement  
he feared 'hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested and are being  
interrogated and tortured.'"

Qiangba Puncog

Qiangba Puncog, a Tibetan who is chair of the Tibet Autonomous  
Regional Government, described the situation quite differently at a  
March 17 press briefing in Beijing.
According to china.org.cn, China's state Web site, the Tibetan leader  
said that allies of the exiled Dalai Lama on March 14 "engaged in  
reckless beating, looting, smashing and burning and their activities  
soon spread to other parts of the city. These people focused on  
street-side shops, primary and middle schools, hospitals, banks,  
power and communications facilities and media organizations. They set  
fire to passing vehicles, they chased after and beat passengers on  
the street, and they launched assaults on shops, telecommunication  
service outlets and government buildings. Their behavior has caused  
severe damage to the life and property of local people, and seriously  
undermined law and order in Lhasa.
"'Thirteen innocent civilians were burned or stabbed to death in the  
riot in Lhasa on March 14, and 61 police were injured, six of them  
seriously wounded,' said Qiangba Puncog.
"Statistics also show that rioters set fire to more than 300  
locations, including residential houses and 214 shops, and smashed  
and burned 56 vehicles. ...
"Qiangba Puncog also claimed that security personnel did not carry or  
use any lethal weapons in dealing with the riot last Friday. ...
"The violence was the result of a conspiracy between domestic and  
overseas groups that advocate 'Tibet independence,' according to  
Qiangba Puncog. 'The Dalai clique masterminded, planned and carefully  
organized the riot.'
"According to Qiangba Puncog, on March 10, 49 years ago, the slave  
owners of old Tibet launched an armed rebellion aimed at splitting  
the country. That rebellion was quickly quelled. Every year since  
1959, some separatists inside and outside China have held activities  
around the day of the rebellion. ...
"Any secessionist attempt to sabotage Tibet's stability will not gain  
people's support and is doomed to fail, he said."

Meeting in New Delhi
Whatever is taking place in Tibet has long been in preparation. A  
conference was held in New Delhi, India, last June by "Friends of  
Tibet." It was described as a conference for the breakaway of Tibet.
The news site phayul.com reported at the time that the conference was  
told "how the Olympics could provide the one chance for Tibetans to  
come out and protest." A call was issued for worldwide protests, a  
march of exiles from India to Tibet, and protests within Tibet--all  
tied to the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
This was followed by a call this past January for an "uprising" in  
Tibet, issued by organizations based in India. The news report from  
Jan. 25 said that the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement" was  
established Jan. 4 to focus on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The  
beginning date for the "uprising" was to be March 10.
At the time the call was issued, U.S. Ambassador to India David  
Mulford was meeting with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. U.S.  
Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky made a similar visit to  
Dharamsala last November. Dobriansky is also a member of the neocon  
Project for a New American Century. She has been involved in the so- 
called color revolutions in Eastern Europe.
Phayul.com reports that the Tibet "Uprising" group's statement says  
they are acting "in the spirit of the 1959 Uprising."

The 1959 uprising
Knowing more about the 1959 "uprising" might help in understanding  
today's events in Tibet.
In 2002 a book titled "The CIA's Secret War in Tibet" was published  
by the University Press of Kansas. The two authors--Kenneth Conboy of  
the Heritage Foundation and James Morrison, an Army veteran trainer  
for the CIA--proudly detail how the CIA set up and ran Tibet's so- 
called resistance movement. The Dalai Lama himself was on the CIA  
payroll and approved the CIA's plans for the armed uprising.
The CIA put the Dalai Lama's brother, Gyalo Thodup, in charge of the  
bloody 1959 armed attack. A contra army was trained by the CIA in  
Colorado and then dropped by U.S. Air Force planes into Tibet.
The 1959 attack was a CIA planned and organized coup attempt, much  
like the later Bay of Pigs invasion of socialist Cuba. The purpose  
was to overthrow the existing Tibetan government and weaken the  
Chinese Revolution while tying the people of Tibet to U.S.  
imperialist interests. What does that say about today's March  
uprising, that's done in the same spirit?

  
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