My Political Naiveté of great men who once were.

My Political Naiveté of great men who once were.

Recently I wrote a cynical blog greatly criticising the South African government on refusing the Dalai Lama entry to South Africa. I, like most people reacted with great resentment and embarrassment that such an act was possible by my South Africa, a country that is a symbol of freedom and triumph of good over evil, how could we be at such odds with our revolutionary constitution.

My knowledge of this spiritual leader I have to admit was rather boxed, mostly influenced and confined to the romanticised splatterings seen in newspapers and on television aside from occasional chatter. I knew, there was this great messenger of peace, who wanted only liberty for his country and to be granted independence from the frequent human rights transgressor, mainland China. And then I dug below the surface…

It all started with me watching a 1992 Woody Allen movie, Husbands and Wives, the last starring him and Mia Farrow together. Me being me and my annoying new habit, I googled the movie off my phone, and along with usual synopsis, a little background info surfaced and I found out that the they had only a son together (aside from adoptions), who is now estranged to him due to Woody being in a relationship with his sons step-sister. So I read on about this son, Ronan Farrow, who was something of prodigy, whilst many celebrity offspring look to an MTV Sweet 16 party, he was accepted into Yale Law school at the age of 16 which he deferred to go work as an advisor for Unicef. He is quiet the journo and activist, voicing his concerns on China’s bankrolling of the genocide in Darfur. He then went on to write an article titled the “Genocide Olympics”, in which he gave Steven Spielberg a public roasting for helping out in the staging of the Olympics, he then went on in further articles for the Wall Street Journal, slating president Gee Dubya Bush for attending the opening of the Olympics when most world leaders chose to stay away. What message was this sending out? (like George cared), China is everywhere in Sudan and is a huge contributor to that economy and the genocide in Darfur, whilst also holding Tibet hostage. In Bush’s defence, he did say he did not want to cause offence to the people of China by refusing to attend the Olympics.

It was in response to those articles I came across, “Friendly Feudalism – The Tibet Myth” by Michael Parenti, posted up by a writer. It basically served to set right this Shangri La/Paradise Lost image of Tibet (pre-china invasion), that many western nations have believed and spread for the greater purpose of new age living. In this informative piece, one finds out that the Lama’s of past along with kin and linage were much revered upper class of Tibetan society who employed a vast many tactics and abuses that is not much different to what China is accused of now. What this elite feared most at the time of invasion was not the control of Tibet but more so the loss privileged lives and entitlement, something they believed was conferred to them due to good karma. In the same respect, Tibetan Serfs(slaves), consisting of many rural Tibetans, had to accept their roles in life as punishment for the bad past life they once lived hence being born into servitude much in the same way as the lower caste in India do and is blindly accepted as part of life.

This so called peaceful previous Tibet, practised eye gouging, flogging and numerous other indiscretions on any that did not follow their rule of law. Serfs worked the land and were paid next to nothing, making survival hard, so in turn they took out loans from their feudal masters, which could never really be repaid, placing them in a lifetime of debt. With China then taking control, the status quo of society was threatened as many land and social reforms would surely follow in line with communism and that could not happen. So in came the cavalry of the CIA, sponsoring the Dalai Lama and his group of followers to fight off communism. This was unsuccessful as a large number of the serfs and rural Tibetans would not contribute to this fight. In his piece he does not argue that China has not played its part in many wrong doings and atrocities, but more a case of explaining the “lesser of two evils”, as many rural Tibetans would love to see the Dalai Lama return but not a return to their previous way of living, though freedom may have been curtailed under Communism, one is not bonded as a slave as in the previous rule. And so Michael Parenti observes the now emerged Dalai Lama, conscious of this knowledge, reformed in his thinking, who even issued a statement in 1996 that surely must have sent quivers through the exiled Tibetan community when he equated himself to being half Marxist and half Buddhist and went on to explain that certain basic teachings of Marxism sought to treat all people fairly and justly.

I guess after his travels and experiences, the Dalai Lama, watching a changing world, is much more enlightened. One must wonder though if this will go down well with those exiled elite Tibetans, who make up a close group of his confidants. Will this new Tibet seek to emulate the much confused China, which under the façade of communism has corrupt capitalism at the heart of everything? Where will Tibet find itself in this world? How will the other Buddhist communities in Tibet that do not follow the Dalai Lama resolve to participate? Will there be civil war or further breaking up this small nation? And lastly, will there be US military bases set up to closely watch China as the CIA have always been wonderful benefactors to the Lamas?

After having read all of this, I stepped back to think of those who grew wiser through the passage of time, no one is born a saint but rather a work in progress, learning as we move along. Recently I have learnt of many utterances by an early Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian Observer Newspaper that does not exactly mesh well with the saintly image I had of him. I to, then learnt that he needed to go his course, he had his failures, but only through them did it lead to enlightenment. I note to myself, that he once ridiculed a black man along the lines of being ignorantly simple, a gatherer, living out his life in near nakedness, something Gandhi later opted for when he returned to India.

So do I rip up my Che Gueverra T-shirt for finding out about his downward spiral into madness and mayhem? He’d have surely sentenced most of the officials at Gauntanamo Bay to the firing squad for being too soft on prisoners. From philanderer to philanthroper, from catalyst with focus to instigator with no purpose, he was a person after all, now only protected by fairytale commercial Hollywood imaging that would have him turning in his grave.

Do I want someone to blow the dust of Nelson Mandela’s Madiba magic? With leadership comes courage and compromise, a balancing act very uncompromising. I must admit I’m too sensitive for this political bliss.

Power corrupts, absolute power crushes, quiet diplomacy subsides, underground democracy rages, there will be reprise and they will rise, so the cycle will continue, tides will turn, cultures overturn, civilizations born at the death of another, freedom fighters or terrorists, pessimists or optimists, to take up arms or peacefully work the farms, His-story or History, for where great men once walked lurks the shadow of a human being who once lived, whilst all around us, powers beyond us have kicked in, economic smeltdown and global meltdown, we simply look to live, watching MTV on our flatscreen TV.

By Luciano Vandyar

***Please note that these are ramblings of a human being, who is flawed and a contradiction of sorts and thought;)

Extra source reading :

Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth – http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

"No Olympic Medal for Bush," by Ronan Farrow, published in the Wall Street Journal, 11 July 2008. - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121573874309444673.html

"The 'Genocide Olympics'," by Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow, published in the Wall Street Journal, 28 March 2007 - http://www.genocideintervention.net/network/pressroom/coverage/2007/07/25/961