Tibetan Independence

Guide Note

The Tibetan Independence movement has existed in various forms since 1959, when an armed insurrection was mounted by remnants of the Tibetan civil authority against China, which had annexed the kingdom in 1951. The Tibetan government, headed by the political and religious leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, has ever since functioned in exile, in Dharamsala, India.

While the Dalai Lama has pointedly embraced nonviolence, the 1959 insurrection led to a period of decades in which Tibetan culture and Buddhist religion were suppressed by the Chinese authorities, sometimes violently, and in which Chinese policy has been to settle ethnic Chinese people in the area, thus reducing Tibetan influence on public life and private institutions. In recent years, attention has been focused on the Tibetan nationalist cause by celebrities including Bjork and Richard Gere, and with events including the Tibetan Freedom Concerts.

In March, 2008, protests erupted on the anniversary of the 1959 rebellion. Reports have claimed that Tibetan protesters have been using to their advantage the fact that China is under intense scrutiny during the year it will host the Olympics, although the Dalai Lama has publicly said that the Olympics should go on as planned, and has threatened to resign his position if Tibetans continued using violence.

Fast Facts

1. Support of Tibetan nationalism is illegal in the People's Republic of China
2. Pictures of Dalai Lama are smuggled across the border as devotional objects
3. Current Panchen Lama, Tibet's historical second-in-command, was appointed by Chinese authoroties