 |
| Howard French |
FirstPost:
“The Dalai Lama is a great and charismatic spiritual figure, but a poor and poorly advised political strategist,” wrote Howard French, a long time foreign correspondent for the New York Times. “The Dalai Lama should have closed down the Hollywood strategy a decade ago and focused on back-channel diplomacy with Beijing. He should have publicly renounced the claim to a so-called Greater Tibet, which demands territory that was never under the control of the Lhasa government. Sending his envoys to talk about talks with the Chinese while simultaneously encouraging the global pro-Tibet lobby has achieved nothing.”
The Hollywood trap keeps the Dalai Lama as the nostalgic reminder of a simpler time, a romantic counterweight to an aggressive China, a salve for our materialistic money-grubbing selves. The tragedy of Tibet is its plight is what keeps it alive in western consciousness. The Dalai Lama has made his people the posterchildren of what Pico Iyer calls “one of the fastest growing nations of the world – the land of the deracinated (since by some counts there are now one hundred million refugees in the world, part of a tribe that is twice as populous as Australia and Canada combined)”. And he has done this just by being himself – a twinkling man with an infectious laugh carrying the yellow card of a refugee.More in FirstPost.
Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.
3 comments:
A very small minded and politically positioned article: Is it not about time that people sitting in the China camp, seeking political adoration and self gain, re-evaluate the real essence of HRH Dalai Lama. When will China realise that suppression of people breaks every human right. HRH Dalai Lama stands for everything that Buddhists stand for, he is a guide and pure inspiration. China and its political allies should, with hesitation, or conditions, drop its persecution of the man, the faith and the followers.
Chinese and many people in the developing world knows cystal clear that it is the west that makes this political monk a celebrity. China agrees to negotiate with him is merely playing a chess game with the west. The real enemy is the west and once this is defeated, the rest will be easy to sort out. I am surprised why China would not pick dissidents in the west and crown them with the same celebrity status now that it has got money and influence. China must adopt the same hard-line posture like Putin.
I agree with Nigel Harvey. In any event - the Dalai Lama stepped down from all his political roles last year. He is merely the head of the Yellow Hat Sect. That said, maybe China could take a leaf out of Mongolia's book on how to include a Buddhist cleric as head of the Church and still allow independent government: http://www.2point6billion.com/news/2011/12/05/mongolia-enthrones-its-dalai-lama-10484.html
Post a Comment