Interview with the Dalai Lama: 1960

On this day of honor for Martin Luther King Jr, an iconic figure in the African-American civil rights movement and staunch advocate of non-violence, I was inspired to find a video clip of the Dalai Lama, another iconic man of peace and leader of human rights for his people. Searching through my archive footage, I came across a film made in 1960 called "Fifteen Minutes in India" where the Dalai Lama is interviewed by a man referred to by the (unknown) narrator as Prince Panu of Thailand. Unfortunately I have no information other than the title, the date, and that it was filmed in New Delhi, India. That said, the ten minute interview excerpted here is the essential part and is probably the first time it's ever been seen since then. In it, the Dalai Lama shares his feelings and wishes in the wake of his escape from Tibet and the atrocities done to his people under Chinese occupation.

Though he thanks the world for their attention to this tragedy, the oppression suffered by Tibetans — those under Chinese rule and the refugees who have lost their homeland — still exists today. While the CIA secretly funded the Dalai Lama's Government in Exile and continued to support the Tibetan resistance until the Nixon Administration, no substantial political aid was given to Tibet by the US. In 1959, former CIA Officer Ken Knaus and the Dalai Lama's brother, Gyalo Thondup, helped get a resolution passed in the United Nations that called for the respect of fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people. They got two more resolutions passed in 1961 and 1965 that supported human freedoms in Tibet as well as their right to self-determination. But the US was never willing to openly support Tibetan independence; the one thing that would've made any real difference.

Leave it to say that the Tibetan issue has been off the table in US-China relations since the Nixon Administration, and the issue of basic human rights in China has essentially been sacrificed in favor of economic stability. In February 2009, when the question was raised whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would press the issue in her visit to China, she infamously replied, "We know what they are going to say because I've had those kinds of conversations for more than a decade with Chinese leaders. We have to continue to press them. But our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis." In anticipating Chinese President Hu Jintao's first state visit to the US this week, it's been reported that President Obama will make room for discussing human rights in his public appearance with Hu, as well as during private meetings. We'll see if that happens and what, if anything, comes from it.

As for any hope of political support for Tibetan rights — whether it be independence or genuine autonomy within China, as the Dalai Lama currently calls for — as long as China's power continues to be influential, they're likely to be on their own. Fortunately for Tibetans, the Dalai Lama continues to be a spiritual beacon that attracts worldwide, if not political, attention to his people's cause. In their ongoing struggle with what is now the second largest power in the world, there is no doubt that Tibet faces overwhelming odds. But Tibetans can look to history and find countless struggles similar to their own, and remember that whenever the people have kept fighting for their rights, they have eventually won them. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle." And in the words of the Dalai Lama in this interview, "In the present circumstances, I have only my hope. It is a small hope, but it is indestructible."

on KEFIBLOG.COM

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Dalai Lama
• Tibet
• China
• Tibetan occupation
• US foreign policy
• India
• archive
• Martin Luther King Jr

[goldenkey007]

@Junellemalee

China would outlast the Tibetan cult leader by waiting for him to die.

[Junellemalee]

What amazing footage. And so sad that Tibet is still not free, and the Dalai Lama still can't return home. For anyone who doubts Tibet's and the Dalai Lama's cause...please investigate for yourself. Believing a communist government that doesn't allow external media and has so much control isn't logical. The rest of the world has been watching for years, nothing to gain or lose from forming a view. Investigate for yourself properly...

[PoppinKhorn]

@walle1999 so tibet is not under oppression right now? -_-

[walle1999]

@chirfu The extent this puppet of the west shit talks china under false pretences is disgusting to many chinese, hes a hypocrite and a liar yet the western world praises him.

[chirfu]

@walle1999 what is the point of harboring anger against the dalai lama? He cares only for each human to attain peace.

the energy spent hating the dalai lama is energy you could put to something more pressing in your life.

[BoomDoneNext]

@walle1999 whatever

[walle1999]

@BoomDoneNext You buy into that crap, pitiful.

[BoomDoneNext]

@walle1999 hahha its so hard for me right now not to call you insults but I wont... instead I honour you... and hope that you awake quickly for the benefit of all... such as I hope to attain. Metta to you and everyone around you.

[Naxer84]

LONG LIVE DALAI LAMA

[walle1999]

Fuck the dalai lama, western media would promote anything thats against China