Ugyen Gyalpo
WOODSIDE, NY, US, 11 April 2020
China spends almost ten billion dollars a year on soft power, trying to give a facelift to its deteriorating global image by spreading lies and distorting the truth. The Chinese Communist Party declared this a new goal a few years ago, and as of last year began to build up its soft power as a complement to its fast-soaring economy and military strength.
Tibetans, Uighurs, and the Chinese who fled the Communist regime should bolster their efforts to counterbalance and beat the spread of these state-sponsored lies. We might not have billions of dollars in our hands, even our government in exile perched on the hills of Dharamshala is run on charity and chunks of USAID thrown to make us make believe that we exist and help us cling on a ventilator for now. But what we do have, is the invaluable freedom of speech that we enjoy day in and day out, and which can be properly used to propel the might of the social media to our favour free of cost.
Disinformation and distortions of truth sponsored by the Chinese State is all-pervasive in these platforms, from Western universities to local public libraries — as in the recent case in New York where visible efforts to undermine Tibetan history were on full display — state-sponsored propaganda at places of reflection and education, to misinform and distort the history of Tibet beyond repair and change public opinion about our cause. They have also used the social media to sow mistrust and disunity within the Tibetan community for so long now, with many fake accounts and through many paid traitors too.
Unless we do our part in demystifying the repeated lies, those lies can be transformed into a formidable wall of “truth” within a generation. Within no time we could become invisible, our voices inaudible, and we could become fixtures at the museum along with the fossilized remains of our past.
The power of social media has long been underestimated, and is seen only as a vanity by some. But if used properly my kins, as a tool, this is our greatest weapon, and we can transform ourselves into Internet soldiers.
I want to remind the world how a single tweet catapulted the Arab Spring, and toppled many dictators in the region as the firestorm rolled on. I want to remind us how social media was instrumental in the US presidential election that saw Trump, the most unlikely of the candidates, to rise and win the election.
I urge each and every one of us who have suffered the direct brunt of the CCP regime, I want to remind every Tibetan who, as of late having become sworn citizens of many Western countries, have lost touch with their motherland and who have started viewing the world from the perspective of a global citizen. For them getting carried away in the partisan politics of the adopted nation is more intoxicating, while losing sight of a nation that is falling fast within the crevices of anonymity.
For them, bashing the CCP and adoring a world leader who stands up against the might of CCP have become secondary concerns, before other once-perceived progressive and liberal Western views. Gone are the days when we embraced anyone who stood against the CCP, unless of course that President welcomes His Holiness to the White House (even if it is from the back door of the White House like Obama did, careful not to offend China) or a President who is a mass murderer but bestows upon HHDL the congressional Gold Medal like George W Bush did, or fancies painting a portrait of the Dalai Lama, melting the soft hearts of Tibetans.
I urge everyone to turn themselves into an Internet activist and spread the truth about the CCP consistently. The power of shares and retweets, with compounding effects on the people of the world, is unfathomable. We want our people, thought leaders, and intellectuals to not bask in their old glorious past, because for us the only thing that is constant is the endless pain and sufferings.
A true patriot is one who is consistent with their national call. When a nation like ours is facing dinosauric extinction, the calling can’t be any graver to be ignored. No deterrence should take the air out of our lungs and pull us down. Every calamity falling upon our nemesis is our opportunity to hammer them down. All we have to be is a patriot that rises from the heart, and each one should represent a ripple to create that ultimate wave without any external help.
“Activist” is not a rank or title that one can carry and then disappear in the thick of chasing your legend, nor a trophy that you can decorate. Activism is a building of momentum that must continue, a growing wound that must be taken care of, and an obligation that must be fulfilled for a lifetime.
We must all do our part to peel away the lies of China every single day, every single hour, and dismantle their Great Wall of Lies one brick at a time.
About the author
Ugyen Gyalpo lives in Woodside, New York, and works as an insurance agent for United Health Group, New York.
If we need a propaganda war against Xi Jinping, want to employ the COVID-19 pandemic to our advantage, then of course we should go forward. But we have to make sure our method is not self-defeating, and lets not make ourselves look silly or parochial in the eyes of the world.
So, how do we connect the virus with the Chinese government, and in the process highlight our own Tibet issue? Well, our brethren are doing their best in their own ways, some condemning bat soup and saying, “Look, the Chinese are merciless, they eat bat soup. They have also been merciless with us Tibetans since 1959.” While such methods work in some sections of the global population, it can also backfire, and some might see us as prejudiced, deriding the cultural norms of the Chinese people.
What we should do is make a clear distinction between:
1. The ruling CCP led by Xi Jinping and
2. 1.4 billion innocent Chinese people who are also suffering under the CCP.
The Chinese people themselves are victims under CCP’s brutal dictatorship and cover-up. Chinese doctors and whistle-blowers have also been abducted for speaking up.
When we say ‘Chinese virus’, we are also attacking innocent Chinese, such as the Wuhan doctor and many other brave Chinese individuals (who might or might not consume bat soups). That doesn’t add up.
We can say ‘CCP Virus’ or ‘CCP-made virus’ or ‘Xi Jinping’s virus.’ But we can’t put all 1.4 billion Chinese people in one basket. What about the Chinese Buddhists who visit the Dalai Lama? What about Chinese scholars who support the Tibet issue?
So, please, don’t say ‘Chinese virus’ or ‘China-made virus’. It makes Tibetans look very immature and vindictive, and lacking in attention to detail. Let us remember HH Dalai Lama’s call of friendship with…
Let’s not bother about whether Ugen Gyalpo la is a Republican or Democratic supporter in the present context. People like to guess and jump to conclusions without really knowing the details of a person. It is not the issue whether he votes this party or that party in his constituency. I only viewed him as a good and responsible Tibetan, who hasn’t forgotten his roots and sincerely wants to join us in the Tibetan freedom struggle. Please do not paint him in the different political shades and colours. Let him remain as a good Tibetan who shares his knowledge and experience with us.
I agree with him and see a real point in supporting what he tells us. Yes, we should dismantle the wall of lies and expose the regime’s sinister designs to dominate the world and suppress free speech and democratic values.
Aren’t we supposed to rally behind Nancy Pelosi (HH Dalai Lama’s friend) and AOC? Pelosi and Trump are sworn enemies, and she had to tear up a paper in front of cameras in protest against Trump’s arrogance and rudeness.
I think HH Dalai Lama will be disappointed if he learns some Tibetans are supporting Trump.
“Aren’t we supposed to rally behind Nancy Pelosi (HH Dalai Lama’s friend) and AOC?”
I’m sure His Holiness would like all us Tibetans to use our own discretion and act accordingly. Tibetans enjoy bi-partisan help and support on many of the issues so why should we box ourselves into one category?
HHDL has expressed his fondness for George Bush Jr, but we have some Tibetans calling him a “white supremacist” — is that ok then?
“Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez are sworn enemies”
I do not know if they are sworn enemies but i do know that when Nancy Pelosi was attacked by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggesting that she is racist, President Trump came to Pelosi’s defence saying “I think Cortez is being very disrespectful to somebody who’s been there for a long time. I deal with Nancy a lot and we go back and forth and its fine but i think that a group of people is being very disrespectful to her. And you know that, I don’t think Nancy can let that go.”
The Democrats have given into the radicals and given up common sense.
It has been rightly said that the pen is mightier than the sword. We must not rely on someone to do the job of dismantling China’s lies. This is what has made us a people who lost our country, a vast and rich land, because we didn’t take our responsibility seriously. Our natural resources are now shamelessly plundered by the daylight robber that is Communist China.
Each one of us must use our intelligence, knowledge, and patriotism to push the pen to destroy the myth and fabrications created by the CCP, in order to legitimise and completely own our nation for good. The responsibility falls on every Tibetan. The older generation of Tibetan writers have done their job to rebut and clear the air of obfuscation created by the CCP about the independent status of Tibet. Writers like the late Prof Dawa Norbu, Rangzen advocate Jamyang Norbu, Lhasang Tsering, Review Editor, the late Tsering Wangyal, Marxist K Dhondup, T Shakya, etc. There are hardly any young writers of their calibre among our younger generation, even though they have had far better opportunies than the older generation who fled as children from Tibet.
Let us not rely on anyone but ourselves to fight for the freedom of our country. It is our bounden duty. The support from others is most welcome, but we must be the ones who are leading the fight. This is our fight, not anybody else’s. We should have people who are dedicated to our cause, who do research, write books, write to international papers if possible. If not, create blogs and talk to people when you travel on the plane, bus, taxi, or rickshaw. When they ask, where you are from? Start the story of Tibet. This is how we have to inform people about the theft of our country by Communist China.
If you are interested, this is my blog: creekytibet.wordpress.com
Ugyen is certainly a Republican or Right-wing in his outlook. His love of white-supremacist politicians like George W Bush and Donald J Trump, despite being an immigrant and a refugee and probably staying in socialist Alexendra Ocasion Cortex’s New York borough, defies comprehension.
The very politicians he supports are the ones who want to reduce immigration and the refugee population in the US. The arrival of Donald Trump has made getting refugee status much harder for Tibetan asylum seekers in the US.
I don’t understand how some Tibetans think. If I were him, I would be very ashamed. There is a Republican politician in the US called D’Souza who is a militant anti-immigrant and anti-human rights and shamed Obama as a traitor, and hailed Trump as a demi-god despite being an Indian immigrant who got a scholarship in the US.
In sum, immigrants adopting right-wing views is a very strange phenomenon. These people turn their backs on their own community and have no problem with supremacy of white people.
What is wrong with being a Republican or having so-called right-wing views? When i first arrived here it was a Republican government in power, and i felt quite welcomed. I did not face any more discrimination or my rights curbed as an immigrant while under Republican government, nor enjoy more rights under the Democratic government.
Its the tactic of the opposition and the leftists who hate their own country to bandy about words like “white supremacists” to shut down their opponents. If people love socialism so much, well China is a socialist country or maybe they would like to follow Venezuela’s socialist policy? The leftists cry for a utopian socialist state while living and enjoying the full benefits of a thriving democratic and free market economy. If you cared so much for illegal immigration then you should have gone after Obama. He holds the record for the highest number of immigrants deported: three million.
If you’re talking about Dinesh D’Souza, he is not a politician. He is a conservative, an author, and a filmmaker. He was unfairly targeted by the Obama administration for making a film about Obama’s policies, and selectively prosecuted for something not deserving of the treatment meted out to him. I haven’t heard him say anything negative about immigrants except being against illegal immigrants, which the Obama administration has proudly claimed to have deported the most.
Trump, despite all his flaws, is the only one who stands up for America against the haters, the ones who exploit and take advantage of America and try to undermine it.
If you really want to dismantle China’s great wall of lies then vote for Trump next elections. He is the only one who can stand up to China. Joe Biden is a China apologist just like any other Democrat or even most Republican candidates. They will not go beyond making the usual statements as they fear CCP repercussions. They also always want to be politically correct so as to not be labeled as fascists or racist or Islamophobe – words that have been so shamelessly overused that they have lost their meaning. Heck, I would be called a racist, a fascist for supporting Trump.
“Dismantle their Great wall of lies one brick at a time.” This reminds us of the saying “Truth is slow of pace while lies have wings.”
You can never have true democracy without partisan politics. India is a great example. There is the Congress and BJP where the nation is roughly divided 50/50. In USA, there is Democrats and Republicans; in the UK there is Labour and Conservative. These two parties, right-wing and left-wing, generally rule 10 years alternatively like the two pedals of a bicycle. This is how democracy works.
In our own exile society, we have right-wing and left-wing where we are roughly congregated on either Penpa Tsering side or Lobsang Sangay side. No matter how many speeches on unity are given, how many songs are sung, how many essays are written, there will always be two groups in our own exile society, just like the great democracies of the world. Call it right-wing/left-wing, or Republicans/Democrats, Labour/Tory, Congress/BJP, this division will stay.
Ugyen can call this ‘partisan politics’, and he is entitled to his own opinion. But partisan politics is the pillar of true democracy.
Between unity and equality, democracies choose equality. Autocracies choose unity over equality. The author appears to emphasize unity over equality, which I find odd, given that he apparently is quite a well-read gentleman.
Perhaps the author can read John Stuart Mill, Thomas Paine, Noam Chomsky, where free exchange of ideas and disagreements are argued to be hallmarks of a true democratic polity.