西藏需要世界的支持
——为Ny Tid写的文章
http://www.nytid.no/en/translations/20091001/blank/
01.10.2009 唯色
去年三月的西藏事件发生之后，国际社会给予极大关注，对于苦难中的藏人而言，完全是雪中送炭。正是因为国际社会的呼吁和抗议，才使得中国政府对藏人的秋后算账有所收敛。
我们知道，国际社会指的是各国民众而不是各国政府。民主社会对民众民意的重视，与极权社会有天壤之别。广大民众声援西藏，政府做出相应反应。所以我们更应该感谢的是许多国家的民众而不是政府。
政 府总是多变的。就像北京奥运如期举行时，西藏事件差不多已被政要们遗忘。如今，中共的西藏官员仍然在强硬地推行他们宣称的"同达赖集团打一场你死我活的敌 我斗争"；中国内地的大量移民依然在源源不断地涌入拉萨等藏地，继续争夺经济市场的最大利益；绝大多数藏人依然被边缘化并继续在被粗暴汉化的进程中丧失民 族性；藏地的所有寺院仍在继续开展"爱国主义教育运动"，僧侣们被强迫否定自己的信仰，辱骂尊者达赖喇嘛……一切依然如故，成千上万的藏人所付出的巨大牺 牲，不是被北京奥运会淹没，就是被金融危机吞噬。
一些中国专家等人士认为国际社会对中国政府施压，将会导致西藏人民的处境更加恶化，但我 不同意这样的观点。西藏人民的处境一直以来都不好，这五十年的事实可以证明这一点。文化大革命期间，西藏6000多座寺院只剩下了十几座，而那时候，国际 社会是否对中国政府有过任何施压呢？
中国政府不会因为国际社会施压就罢手。当然它会出于一时之需，稍微收敛，但当需要满足之后，又会变本 加厉。就像去年因为举办北京奥运，中国政府面对国际社会的施压，就摆出与尊者达赖喇嘛的特使谈判的架势，但等奥运一结束，它就翻脸，中断对话。而且对被捕 藏人的判刑非常严苛，许多藏人都被判刑十年、十多年甚至无期徒刑。
然而，这并不是说，国际社会的施压是无效的。其实最好的效果，或许应该 是来自民间的多方合作，比如在为被捕藏人提供法律援助和人道声援时，最近取得的一些成果，证明其外因是：不但有境内外藏人的持续关注，以及中国法律工作者 的介入，还有国际媒体的报道和国际人权组织的呼吁。
另外，除了在政治上的施压，或也可以从其他诸多方面，比如文化、艺术、卫生、教育、环 境保护等方面，为西藏人的生活和处境提供一些行之有效的帮助和改善。当然，这么多年来，国际上的许多NGO组织在藏地做出了非常宝贵的贡献，令许多西藏人 受益，而这应该是将来继续努力的方向。佛教有句话：今日种下的善因，将为未来结下莫大的善果。对藏人来说，滴水之恩，当涌泉相报。
2009-06-15，北京
Tibet Needs the World's Support
12.08.2009 Tsering Woeser
Beijing, China. After the events that occurred in Tibet during March of last year, the international community paid close attention, and for the hard-pressed people of Tibet this attention was 'like a gift of charcoal when it's snowing.' It was because of international appeals and protests that the Chinese government's eventual settling of scores was somewhat restrained.
We know that the term "international community" refers to the populace of all the nations rather than their governments. Democratic societies attach importance to the will of the people; this is the big difference between them and authoritarian societies.
Governments have acted in a way that reflects the broad popular support for Tibet. We owe a debt of gratitude, therefore, but it is to the peoples of the world rather than to their governments. Governments are always fickle. When the Beijing Olympics were due to start, V.I.P.s from governments all over the world seemed to have forgotten the events in Tibet. These days, Chinese Communist officials are still pursuing a hard line in what they proclaim is "a fight to the death with the Dalai Clique." An enormous wave of migrants from inland China continues to flood Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, and they are still grabbing the lion's share of economic opportunities. The majority of Tibetans are still marginalized and continue to lose their ethnic character amid a crude process of Sinicization. And in all the monasteries of the Tibetan region, a campaign of "Patriotic Education" is still being carried out in which monks are forced to deny their faith and revile the Dalai Lama. Everything is as before, and the enormous sacrifices endured by so many Tibetans either were drowned out by the noise of the Olympics or got lost in the financial crisis.
There are China specialists and other notable people who think that if the international community exerts pressure on China, that will actually make the plight of Tibetans worse. I disagree. The history of the last fifty years shows that the circumstances of Tibetans have never been good. The Cultural Revolution left not much more than ten monasteries standing in Tibet, where before there had been well over six thousand. During those years, was the international community putting any kind of pressure on the Chinese government?
It's true that foreign pressure is not going to make the Chinese government stop doing what it's doing. Of course the government may relent, slightly, on account of temporary needs; but once those needs have been met it will crack down again. Thus last year it was because of the Beijing Olympics that the government, in the face of international pressure, made a show of negotiating with the special envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; but as soon as the Olympics was over the government suddenly turned hostile and broke off the talks. Moreover, the punishments meted out to Tibetans who were arrested have been exceptionally harsh; most have been sentenced to ten years or more, even life imprisonment.
Even so, I don't mean to say that intervention from the international community has been to no avail. Actually, the best results probably come from people-to-people contacts, from working together in many ways. For example, such collaboration has brought legal aid and pleas for humane treatment on behalf of Tibetans who are in detention, and these efforts have recently had some effect. What has been demonstrated is that not only Tibetans (both at home and in the diaspora) are continuing to pay attention, but even lawyers from China are getting involved, in addition to the reports filed by international media and the appeals made by international human-rights organizations.
Another thing: political pressure is not the only way to provide Tibetans with effective help. Culture, the arts, public health, education, and environmental protection are some of the many other avenues for improving the conditions under which Tibetans live. For a long time, now, many international NGOs have made an extremely valuable contribution in the Tibetan region and quite a few Tibetans are better off thanks to their work. Future efforts should be continued in this direction. There is a Buddhist saying that karma is like a seed: a good deed planted today will someday bear fruit in a tremendous reward. In regard to the Tibetan people, a trickle of kindness shall be recompensed with a bubbling fountain.
Woeser wrote this piece for Ny Tid.
http://www.nytid.no/en/articles/20090812/tibet-needs-the-world-s-support/