I just want to underline the fact that the fundamental issue in
Tibet is that the Chinese government is carrying out a plan to
systematically overwhelm the indigenous Tibetan population
with a huge influx of ethnic Chinese immigrants, thereby
"solving" the Tibet problem for China through the power of
sheer demographics. It was for this purpose that China
constructed the first-ever railroad connecting Lhasa with
the Chinese rail network.
The Tibetans, of course, are not stupid. They know exactly
what is happening, and undoubtedly will not meekly acquiesce
in being dispossessed of their land and culture -- any more
than the Palestinians are giving up without a fight in the face
of overwhelming Israeli power.
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From: Cort Greene <cort_greene@xxxxxxxxx>
Date sent: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:53:47 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: !b_a_Act: The Riots in Tibet
http://www.marxist.com/the-riots-in-tibet.htm
The Riots in Tibet
By Heiko Khoo
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Faced with riots and bloodshed in Tibet, the Chinese
government responded by casting the blame on the Dalai
Lama and the campaign by Tibetan exiles to raise the
Tibet issue internationally, in advance of the Olympic
Games. Undoubtedly the Dalai Lama, with his followers
and friends, have an interest in using these events to
exert political pressure on Beijing in the media
spotlight, but that alone cannot explain what is
happening in Tibet today.
Tibet Autonomous Region
Chinese reporters at the Xinhua news agency reported
the scene in Lhasa:
"Dense smoke blanketed the cloud dotted blue sky,
burning wreckages emitted an irritating smell and
hundreds wailed over the bloodshed.
"Vandals carrying backpacks filled with stones and
bottles of inflammable liquids smashed windows, set
fire to vehicles, shops and restaurants along their
path."
Friday March 14th in Lhasa is described as
"a day when the capital was left in chaos after an
outburst of beating, smashing, looting and burning,
which officials say, on ample evidence, was
?masterminded by the Dalai clique'."
Although the attacks on people and property had no
political content, they were sparked off by monks'
protests on March 10th. According to the Peoples'
Daily 300 monks from Zhaibung Monastery confronted
security forces and provoked physical clashes.
Onlookers then took up the torch and mobs
"set off on a destruction rampage and spared nothing
and nobody on their way. Rioters set fire to
buildings, torched dozens of police cars and private
vehicles and looted banks, schools and shops. Innocent
civilians were stabbed, stoned and scourged. At least
10 died, mostly from burns."
All reports of the violence speak of youths in their
20s being involved in the rampage. A Muslim steamed
bun shop owner, who was stabbed, reported that several
vandals broke into his shop in the tourist zone. "They
came to beat us directly and we didn't dare put up any
resistance, only begging," he said, "I know some of
them. They were nice people before."
The explanation offered by the national and local
Communist Party is hollow, although the spark for the
riots and bloodshed was the monks' and the Dalai
Lama's campaign; the cause of the riots was something
totally different. Tibet has seen an influx of Chinese
businesses; the wealth accumulated all over China by
the newly rich has opened opportunities for
investments large and small. Those who fail to benefit
are the Tibetan unemployed and migrant workers from
the villages.
In the state sector in Tibet, where employment
opportunities are booming, Tibetan nationals are
unlikely to get the jobs. They are easily out-skilled
by the vast pool of potential recruits from every
corner of China, thus fostering nationalist
resentment.
The ?average wage' in China represents the earnings of
a specific group of employed people in China, known as
'staff and workers', including layers of public
employees from upper-ranking cadres down to workers in
public utilities or state-owned factories. It
therefore excludes migrant workers or workers in small
factories or workplaces.
The ?average wage' in China's cities as a whole is
14,000 Yuan a year, (US$1800) but wages in Tibet are
nearly double the average, higher than in Shanghai and
second only to Beijing. State sector employment
accounts for nearly 94 percent of employment in Tibet
as opposed to 66 percent in China's cities on average.
The problem is that such relatively well-paid state
employment is disproportionately allocated to people
of ethnic Chinese backgrounds. Higher wages are
justified on the basis that living in Tibet takes you
far from family and friends and often causes serious
health problems due to the effects of high altitude.
Tibetans, whose skills are generally lower than the
ethnic Chinese migrants, look on them as a
deliberately privileged layer.
Alongside the influx of state employees, engaged in
administration and infrastructure projects, has come
an influx of ethnic Chinese traders and to a lesser
extent Hui Muslims, whose businesses thrive on the
high spending power of state employees and tourists.
Their nationwide networks mean Tibetans can't compete
with them. The boom in Tibet has encouraged all manner
of migrant entrepreneurs to open shop, including
beggars' rackets and sex workers. Tibetans often think
they too are subsidized by Beijing. Thus it is easy to
see wherein the roots of ethnic discontent lie.
All over China the wage levels of workers have not
risen in line with the economic boom. Under pressure
from the army of migrant workers and the rapaciousness
of private sector employers, wages for many have been
frozen. According to the All China Federation of Trade
Unions (ACFTU) 26% of China's workers have not
received a pay rise for five years despite the economy
growing at an average of 10.6%. Profits have been
boosted not only by new machinery and work methods but
also by holding down wages. The ratio of overall
labour costs to GDP has fallen from 53.4 percent in
1990 to only 41.4 percent in 2005.
Officials in Lhasa and Beijing, claim that the ?Dalai
clique', "organized, premeditated and masterminded"
the bloody riots and discontent of young Tibetans.
This claim is pure foolishness! It is the growing
income and opportunity disparities that foster
explosions of discontent, here in an ethnic riot or a
labour conflict, there in a peasant revolt. It is
almost comical, that with absurd income disparities
fuelling the anger of tens of millions, the slogan of
"build a harmonious society" should have become the
Party mantra.
A genuine Communist, i.e. Marxist, policy would
sensitively and harmoniously develop the nation and
its minority regions on the basis of a democratically
planned economy. Instead of this the leadership of the
Communist Party of China pursues a bureaucratic plan
to open up Tibet to the market.
The riots are not simply a plot by the ?Dalai Clique'.
Although it is clear that the major Western
imperialist powers have an interest in weakening China
and will exploit the discontent of the minorities in
this vast country. The real, and most direct cause of
this conflict is to be found in the policies of
pro-capitalist forces in control of the party. This
will bear bitter fruit all over the nation. While
looking at the burnt out scene in central Lhasa, a
Tibetan trader by the name of Rawan told the People's
Daily, "It was once a shopping haven, but now it is
all deserted, like a hell."
On the road to capitalism disparities of income and
investment inevitably stir up regionalism, ethnic and
national conflicts, resulting in violence and turmoil.
Should Tibet ever successfully break away from China,
then, as in the past, it would fall prey to one or
other of the imperialist powers, "Tibetan
Independence" under capitalism is a pipedream.
A united struggle by the Chinese workers together with
the Tibetans and other minority groups against the
capitalist transformation of China can lay the basis
for a voluntary union of the peoples based on a
genuinely democratic plan of production under the
control and supervision of the workers and peasants
themselves.
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