Tibetan

[Richard Smith]

common threads of conquest

first stage: Heavy hand
- a show of force breaking down the heart of a people group
by forcibly replacing things indigenous with the unfamiliar.
language,ceremony,government,and even rights.
assimilate the mind,take the children from parents
for re-education.
( Chinese Gov. is still at this heavy hand stage in Tibet)

final stage: Soft Hand
Conquerors  eventually encourage "revival" "celebration" of
indigenous culture . Assimilated ones are no longer a "threat"
when  the mind views its own culture as reduced
to mere color, decor,food, a garnish...a tourist attraction.

The Han Chinese politically conquered
the indigenous minority people of Southern China in the 1800's.
 Now Chinese government wants to revive "culture".
It encourages minorities to dance, sing, hold ceremony
perform as tourist attractions on stages, in restaurants
and even in reconstructed tourist villages outside Kunming.
Families there are even allowed more than one child.
And there is a special university for minority students.
Kunming, I have visited and seen it's show of "culture".

I hope all indigenous leaders are aware of these tactics.
"culture" defined by conquerors is highly questionable

Richard Zane Smith




On 5/1/08 9:18 AM, "William J Poser" <wjposer at LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:

> The article: 
> http://www.cctv.com/english/special/todaytibet/20080428/107350.shtml
> on how wonderfully things are going for Tibetan is Chinese government
> propaganda. The reality is that China is engaged in cultural genocide
> in occupied Tibet as part of which it promotes Chinese at the expense
> of Tibetan. Here is a recent Reuters article in the Vancouver Sun:
> http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=9a994eb2-e9e8-45cf-ab0e-
> 88de470367fc
> 
> You can download the Free Tibet report here:
> http://www.freetibet.org/files/Forked(1).pdf
> 
> Bill