Timing is everything, even in Tibet, a place where time used to stand still.Findlay's Phil Sugden and Carole Elchert believe this could be the year the world finally takes notice of the human rights injustices that have taken place in Tibet for nearly five decades.Sugden and Elchert, frequent travelers to the Himalayan region, said they are not surprised by the current rioting in Tibet, considering the deep frustration many Tibetans feel living under China's rule.
Lhasa, a city once home to the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, and still considered the holiest city of Tibetan Buddhism, has been transformed into a shopping mall for the Chinese, who can travel there via high-speed train.
Today a sprawling city of 1.5 million people, Lhasa has more Chinese than Tibetans.
"The Chinese have attempted to destroy the Tibetan culture over the years, but the natives, despite that, have somehow managed to remain a very religious people," Elchert said.
Sugden said the recent protests started peacefully in Lhasa on March 10, the 49th anniversary of China's invasion of the city. He said about 150,000 Tibetans died during the invasion while trying to protect the Dalai Lama and help him flee Tibet.
In the years since, 1.2 million Tibetans are said to have been killed while trying to regain their independence.
Every March, there have been demonstrations against the Chinese. This year's protests, which have resulted in either 13 or 100 Tibetan deaths — depending on which side you believe — are the most substantial in 20 years.
Sugden, a Bluffton University art instructor, has been to Tibet 12 times since 1978. Elchert, an assistant professor in communications at University of Findlay, has gone 16 times since 1981.
They were instrumental in arranging the March 1991 visit of the Dalai Lama to Findlay.
On several occasions, the couple experienced demonstrations near the Jokhang temple, a Buddhist shrine in Lhasa.
In 1988, while in Tibet working on their book "White Lotus," they met a Tibetan woman who had been identified as a demonstrator by Chinese police. She had been sent to prison for a year after being questioned and tortured.
"She told us they had smashed her feet with the butts of their guns after she had told them she supported the Dalai Lama," Sugden said.
"When she got out of prison the injuries had been so bad, doctors had to re-break the bones in her feet to reset them."
"We have heard lots of stories like that," he said.
So why should anyone in Hancock County care about what is happening in Tibet?
For one thing, Elchert said, people should care because Tibet is one of the few places on the planet where there are no journalists.
"We should care because we live in a free country," she said. "I think you have to be suspicious of a place where there's no opportunity for people to talk about their situation.
"This is a country where the Chinese have complete authority over everything," she continued. "It's a place where human beings don't have access to a free press, so whatever they are suffering, whatever is important in their lives, like living in a free and independent country, they have no voice."
This year, though, Tibetans may finally get an opportunity to be heard.
With the summer Olympics scheduled to begin in China in four months, Sugden said countries that consider human rights important will hopefully "make a statement" to the Chinese.
While he doesn't believe the United States or any other country will actually boycott the summer games because of unrest in Tibet, he said any country "with a conscience" should support the Tibetan cause in some other way.
Unlike now, where journalists are barred from Tibet because of demonstrations, media from around the world will be focused on China when the games begin Aug. 8 in Beijing.
Sugden said countries could send a strong message to Chinese leaders, for example, if athletes simply refused to take part in the parade of nations during the opening ceremonies.
"It would have to be a peaceful demonstration," he said. "Perhaps when the athletes are walking into the stadium, they could turn, and walk the other way."
Making such a symbolic statement would not change the past, Elchert admits, but could embarrass the Chinese government enough to grant the "zone of peace" the Dalai Lama, who remains in exile in India, has long advocated for those in Tibet.
After nearly a half century of being bullied, she said it's time for peace to happen.
"This is not just a time for Tibetans," she said. "This is a time for the whole discussion about whether we're going to continue doing business as usual without concerns for human rights."
Contact Staff Writer J. Steven Dillon at:
419-427-8423
Send an e-mail to Steve Dillon
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