Tibetan Review Archives: Dharamsala

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Black Americans and Tibetans - Bhuchung K. Tsering (July 1999)

Black Americans and Tibetans
Article by Bhuchung K. Tsering (issue July 1999)

If you look at the Tibet movement in the United States, or, for that matter, throughout the world, one of the glaring points is the absence of a major support base among the Black community. President Nelson Mandela of South Africa is the only African political leader showing an interest in Tibet. Among spiritual leaders we again have to turn to Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

Within the United States, almost all Tibet support groups are composed of non-black Americans. The only black American actively involved in Tibetan affairs could be the monk who studied in Sera Monastery in South India. He is now ensconced somewhere in New England and seem to have been so Tibetanised that the last time His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Boston in 1998, I saw this monk being included in the "Tibetans only" audience.

Why has the Tibet movement failed to attract the Black community and how can we change the situation? The Tibetan Government in Dharamsala has been studying this issue and has even started an office in South Africa. We Tibetans need to ponder more on this issue at our individual level and even have a public debate.

It is not that Black Americans totally ignore Tibet. This was brought clear to me during the ceremony to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Movement held in Harvard University on June 2, 1999. Mrs Coretta Scott King, widow of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, was the main speaker. In her speech to the predominantly Chinese audience that evening, Mrs King dwelt at length on the vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the future of Tibet. She even went to the extent of appealing to the Chinese community to support His Holiness on his endeavour.

I am interested in ideas that our readers may have on how we can maximise our support among the Black community.

Bhuchung K. Tsering is a commentator based in Washinton, DC. He currently works with the International Campaign for Tibet.

Bhuchung K. Tsering: Promoting healthy competition among Tibetans (July 1999)

Promoting healthy competition among Tibetans
Article by Bhuchung K. Tsering (issue July 1999)

Between July and September (I think) Dharamsala will be announcing the best civil servant of the year. This award was instituted some years back. Also, those who graduated from Central Schools for Tibetans since the late seventies would remember that the Tibetan Department of Education also presents the Bum-kyon-sum-del ("Vase Devoid of Three Defects") award to the best student in each school every year. I am sure the awards are still being presented today. These, as also other awards like the Tibetan Youth Congress' Rangzen Award (for social works, etc), I believe, are well intentioned to generate a healthy competition among the Tibetan people. Competition of the right kind, as we know, is an incentive to do better. The awards, thus, were established to recognise the achievement of certain individuals and thereby be an incentive for others to follow that path.

So how have these awards fared? Let us take the case of the Bum-kyon-sum-del laureates, if you will. Except for the 15 minutes of fame the students may have received on the day of the announcement of the awards, they seem to be non-entities thereafter. The medal that symbolises their award does not seem to have any value once the students leave the schools. In fact, my educated guess would be that very few among the officials in Gangchen Kyishong, leave alone the average Tibetan refugee, would be able to identify some of these Bum-kyon-sum-del laureates. There is thus no recognition of the individual within the community, which in turn is not any encouragement for others to aspire to reach that position.

As for the best civil servant award, it has been mired in unwanted controversy from the very beginning, thus negating the very purpose of its institution. Although it has been some years since its inception, this award has failed to find a place for itself in the psyche of the civil servants. One reason for this is that except for the monetary reward (5,000 Indian rupees to be exact), the award recipients do not have any other practical gain.

How about changing the system and making these awards fulfil the objectives for which they were established? In order to achieve this, we Tibetans need to learn the art of effective management: You should not only perform an action well, but should be seen doing so. In other words, presentation is important (I am not advocating here symbolism without substance). To give a culinary example, we Tibetans do prepare delicious dishes, but do we present them well? We know the answer.

Give these awards a little bit of high profile. Currently, the best civil servant award is announced in conjunction with some other ceremony. Oftentimes, it may be that the award recipient himself or herself is stationed outside of Dharamsala and so is not present when he or she is being honoured. Why not make the award ceremony an important annual event in itself and arrange it so that the recipient is present. Make the recipient share his/her experience to the rest of the civil servants. Project the awardees in the publications so that others get to know about them. Consider the award as a positive factor for promoting the recipient to the next grade. Similarly, currently, the best student medal is just that, just a medal. It does not seem to have any further significance. How about taking into consideration the medals when providing scholarships or jobs, or even promotions. In short, do whatever it takes to make people want these awards.

Editorial: Tsering Wangyal - Choosing Leaders (February 1996)

Choosing Leaders
Editorial by Tsering Wangyal (printed in February 1996)

In April the Tibetans in exile will be going to the polls to elect the 12th Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies. This will be an excellent opportunity for them to improve the quality of people deciding their affairs at the national level. Since the outgoing ATDP took office five years ago, the Tibetan parliament has assumed far-reaching powers. Its members not only represent the people, they get to elect the ministers in the cabinet too. This effectively means that if the people don’t make their choices wisely they’ll end up getting the kind of government they deserve.

Last month we reported that only about half the adult population in exile have registered themselves with the Election Commissions. But we’ll still be lucky if only half of that number actually exercises their franchise. Very lucky, indeed, judging from what has been happening so far. The place where Tibetan Review is located is a hostel for about 200 college-going Tibetan students. But I’ve never heard of any of them going to the Tibetan camp to cast their ballots. Perhaps a few of them go on their own initiatives, but there never has been an organized voting day, anticipated and talked about in advance. For that matter, I also don’t remember people who work in the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala ever casting their ballots. There is no reason for believing that other places are any different.

So which Tibetan elect the memebers of their parliament? One can’t be certain, of course, but the pressure groups indulging in odious regionalism and sectarianism would be a safe bet. Plus those who go to the polls simply because they’ve heard the Dalai Lama say everybody should vote and hence the action has taken on an almost religious connotation. But once they get to the polling booth they have no idea who they should vote for. They would seek the help of someone there to guide them, which means that that someone can put the stamp on the name of anyone he chooses. The candidates have symbols but those symbols are not printed on the ballot papers, only their names; so Tibetans who can’t read are totally in the hands of others.

It is no secret that Tibetans in general, at least those in Dharamsala, think that except for the chairman, Samdhong Rinpoche, nobody in the 11th ATPD is worth getting excited about. Tibetans in Dharamsala, and in all other places, should do something about it if they don’t want to see the same, or similar, faces in the 12th ATPD. They should excercise their democratic right, a right many other people risk death to acquire. Perhaps the problem with Tibetan exiles is that they’ve had it too easy in this respect. They didn’t have to fight or undergo any suffering to get democracy: it was given to them - almost forced on them - by their leader. Of course it is not yet a democracy in the full sense of the word, but it is a beginning. The spirit is there. Instead of wasting this spirit, instead of misusing or not using this spirit, they should go out there and cast their votes.

They should try to elect people who will be good for the future of Tibet, which means good for themselves and all other Tibetans. They should try to elect people who have proven track records of commendable deeds. If they don’t know any such person, they should ask around. They should avoid being taken in by fiery orators who have no matching actions to their credit to support their words. Word is no substitute for deed; often it is an excuse for the lack of deed. And they should stay clear of anyone who is known to promote regionalism and sectarianism. Our society has enough problems as it is, thank you very much.