Statement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the Twelfth Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, 10 March 1971
On the 10th of March 1959, the Tibetan peoples uprising in Lhasa was
crushed brutally by the Red Chinese Army. So why do we commemorate this
daya day of defeat when thousands of our people died and when
Communist China proved her utter ruthlessness and her total disregard
for human values? It may sound paradoxical of me to say that we not
only dedicate this day to those who died for the cause of Tibet, but
that we also celebrate this day as a day of victory. For it was on this
day that the failure of the oppressive system of Red China in Tibet
became apparent and that the Chinese in their frustration to cover up
their deficiencies had to use violence to promulgate what is
essentially the reverse to Communist ideals: colonialism. On the other
hand, for us it was no defeat. Rather, it was a proof of the Tibetan
courage and their determination never to live under alien rule.
A thousand more uprisings may take place and a thousand times the
Chinese may crush them, but they will never be able to break the spirit
of liberty that resides in each one of us. My people will carry on the
struggle till we see Tibet once again in its rightful place among the
independent nations of this world. What more proof can I have of my
words than the recent reports coming out of Tibet? Determined
opposition against the Red Chinese resulted in the public shooting of
58 Tibetans around the month of February in 1970; while those executed
behind closed doors and in prisons remain unknown. In July the same
year, Radio Lhasa announced the successful suppression of an armed
revolt. No other details were given. Later reports said that revolt was
widespread in south-western Tibet inflicting more than 1,000 casualties
on the Chinese army. 124 Tibetans were executed when the revolt was
crushed. Three moths later the Chinese unearthed a secret Tibetan
resistance group in Lhasa called the “Organisation for the Struggle of
Tibets Independence”. The Chinese executed nine of its members and
sentenced the others to 20-30 years of imprisonment. All this has been
happening despite the fact that the Chinese are now using tactics that
would make their atrocities committed a few years ago pale by
comparison. I cannot describe in mere words the hunger, the misery and
the death that my people face in our country today.
In spite of the fact that we Tibetans have to oppose Communist China I
can never bring myself to hate her people. I believe that Tibet will be
free only when its people become strong, and hatred is no strength. It
is a weakness. The Lord Buddha was not being religious, in the popular
sense of the term, when He said that hatred does not cease by hatred.
Rather he was being practical. Any achievement attained through hatred
can neither be lasting nor binding. It would only be inviting trouble
sooner or later. And as for my people at this critical period, hatred
would just be an extra mental burden. Moreover, how can we hate a race
who do not know what they are doing? How can we hate the millions of
Chinese whose very minds are regulated by their leaders? And how can we
even hate those leaders who have themselves in the past been so
persecuted and have suffered so much for their nation and for what they
believe to be right? I do not believe in hatred, but I do believe, as I
have always done, that one day truth and justice will triumph.
I believe in this even though I know that millions march in the Chinese
army. She now even possesses mighty nuclear weapons that make her
feared by the most powerful nations of this world. But history is
unpredictable. Many great empires whose glory knew no bounds have
crumbled and passed away. And although never in her history has China
been so powerful as she is today, yet there is a weakness in this
colossus. Her very foundations are based on fear. Like primitive
beings, each person in China lives perpetually in fear of retribution
for the slightest mistake from his new “God”. Can such an institution
hope to remain? I say no. Nearly every totalitarian regime in history
had this in commonthey never lasted long. Eventually China has to give
way or break. And though tyrants and despots may continue to strut
about in the world, truth and justice will ultimately triumph, and as
ours is a just cause, I say with confidence that the time will come
when my people will fling away the yoke of Communist Chinas oppression
and rise up to build a new Tibetan Nation.
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to thank again all the countries
and individuals who are continuing to give us moral and material
support in our hour of need.
The Dalai Lama
March 10, 1971