N.S.Venkataraman
June 12, 2017
While China forcibly occupied Tibet more than six decades back, the Tibetans living around the world as refugees have not lost their hopes of regaining their motherland.
With massive economic and military power, China has so far succeeded in silencing the world opinion about its misdeeds in Tibet, and it’s unethical to act of driving out several Tibetans out of the country. Not wanting to lose the trading and investment opportunities in China, almost all countries across the world have chosen to ignore the plight of Tibetans and the gross injustice done to their cause. However, while the government across the world remain unconcerned about China’s violation of human rights in Tibet by it’s forcible occupation, many people around the world are aware that injustice has been done by China and there is a desire that the cause of Tibetans should win ultimately.
People across the world mainly younger generation who may not know the history of Tibet and how Tibet’s spirit and culture have been violated by China should be told about this.
While there is no way that Tibetans can get back their motherland and freedom by appealing to China to see reason and observe fair play, Tibetans still have enormous moral force at their command that can force China to see reason and vacate Tibet, if the moral force can be applied appropriately. There are elegant, peaceful and civilized ways of doing this.
China’s economy is almost entirely dependent on its capability to trade its products across the world. China makes a variety of products, and quite a number of them are those meeting the day to day requirements of individuals. Such products vary from toys and play books for children, zip fasteners used in the garments and hundreds of similar items that are used by persons in the day to day life. In most of the shops in many countries, such Chinese goods are exhibited prominently and sold in vast quantity.
Tibetans and their sympathizers around the world need a way to register their protest against the injustice done to Tibetans by China and the best way to enable them to register their protest is by starting a worldwide campaign to boycott the products and goods sold across the world under the name “Made in China.”
Such soft campaign of boycotting the Chinese goods would immediately spread far and wide if it were launched effectively as the cause is genuine and the objective is right.
Every one knows that China is a dictatorial country and there is a deep communication gap between Chinese citizens and the Chinese government. People just obey the dictates of the government unquestioningly, and in most cases , they may not be aware of the particular reason behind any action of the government. It is entirely possible that Chinese citizens themselves may not be aware of the harm done to Tibet by China.
The campaign to boycott Chinese goods and services across the world will send a clear message not only to the Chinese government but also to the citizens in China who sell their products across the world in thousands of shops, about the prevalent hard feelings on the present Tibet scenario. This will bring worldwide focus on the plight of Tibetans and the injustice done to them by China.
While such boycott will certainly not result in dramatic change in the attitude and approach of the Chinese government to the Tibetan issue immediately, the moral force that such boycott would unleash on China would remain conspicuous, which the government in China and Chinese citizens cannot ignore.
Such soft campaign would reflect the spirit that Mahatma Gandhi introduced during the freedom movement in India when the mighty British empire could not face the protest by millions of poor Indians. Such campaign which would be nonviolent and peaceful would also be in tune with the philosophy that Lord Buddha espoused and gave to the world.
The ball is clearly in the court of Tibetans and their sympathizers, and they should launch this soft campaign to boycott the Chinese products, to achieve their target of liberating Tibet, by conducting the campaign in a sustained way through media, forum discussions and lecture programs all over the world.