Shashi Kei/Dorje Shugden
The Dalai Lama is in Sweden on a visit that from the beginning has been marked by controversy. Even before he touched down in Malmo, a group of distressed people were already waiting to meet him, seeking restitution for the sexual violations inflicted upon them by Tibetan personages close to the Dalai Lama and have come under his protection. Before the dust had even settled on that issue, the Dalai Lama sparked another furore that may yet tip over an already delicate and highly volatile issue – the immigration crisis and rising xenophobia in Europe.
In addressing a conference in Malmo, Sweden, the Dalai Lama callously proclaimed that “…Europe belongs to Europeans” and that ultimately refugees should “develop their own country”. In other words, refugees should not be allowed to remain in European countries forever. What the Dalai Lama said needs to be put into context to expose the tremendous harm his words will surely create.
Malmo today is home to a large population of immigrants and refugees, and the Dalai Lama’s words come at a time when resentment against migrants and refugees are escalating in the European Union countries. The Dalai Lama’s statement directly targets an already disadvantaged and marginalized group of people facing increasing contempt by Europeans. It does not matter if the Dalai Lama seems to start off his message in a benevolent tone by asking Europe to receive, help and educate refugees seeking asylum when his ultimate message is to deny these refugees the opportunity to establish new homes and lives in Europe.
“The Dalai Lama is a hypocrite”
Most migrants and refugees in Europe today come from war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Kosovo. Syria, for one, is a country that has persisted in a ruinous civil war that has witnessed a full inventory of war-related abominations including chemical weapons unleashed on innocent people. Virtually all of these refugees have suffered devastated lives, lost loved ones and many suffer crippling mental states due to trauma and severe stress. For these people, Europe represents a fresh start so it is shocking that the Tibetan spiritual leader, himself a refugee who has benefited significantly from the kindness of India and the people of the world, would deny the same kindness to others. This is even more surprising when you consider how the Dalai Lama goes along with the Tibetan people’s portrayal of their leader as a Buddha and the divine embodiment of compassion.
When the Dalai Lama made the statement that refugees should develop a country of their own, he calls attention to the diaspora of Tibetan refugees, approximately 150,000 strong who have been in exile for the last 60 years.
The Dalai Lama is their head and he has set up an exile government, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala, North India. As refugees, the Tibetan people enjoy much more than others. To begin with, no other refugee group or displaced persons have been allowed to set up a “government” with its own political, legal and bureaucratic structures within the jurisdiction of another country.
And yet, the Dalai Lama’s CTA regards itself as a legitimate Tibetan State and functions like one, with its own Parliament, Cabinet and even Judiciary.
Most countries of the world extended diplomatic-level treatment to the CTA’s officials as well as the Dalai Lama. Across the globe, organizations and people of all races, creed, religion and nationality have donated countless millions of dollars to the ‘Tibetan cause’ over the past 60 years, again out of kindness. None of this however, has made any impact on how the Dalai Lama views others who have been similarly struck with the ravages of war and conflict.
Members of the Tibetan diaspora, both in India and those scattered around the world, are also known to be some of the wealthiest in the world, even if the financial disparity between ordinary Tibetan refugees and those of the Dalai Lama’s inner circle is significant. While most Tibetan refugees take on casual jobs as waiters and kitchen hands, subsist with seasonal work as laborers or sweater sellers or otherwise eke out an existence with meager earnings from various cottage industries, there is an upper strata of Tibetans who hail from the ruling families and monastic elite of old feudalistic Tibet.
These are the Dalai Lama’s people who have largely retained the old tradition. These Tibetan ‘refugees’ are rich beyond imagination and occupy high positions in the CTA, controlling the CTA’s shadowy network of fund-raising agencies. The Dalai Lama himself makes approximately $20-25 million a year from book royalties and speaking engagements channelled through a series of tax-free structures, eventually ending up in his personal control.
The Tibetan Machiavelli
The Dalai Lama’s Malmo statement does not make sense. What it does do however is expose his shrewdness as a politician. In recent years, there has been rising discontent towards existing immigration policies in various European Union (EU) countries. In Sweden, just like in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, there is a surge in popularity of political parties that are anti-immigration. In the meantime, there is growing pressure on the incumbent governments of Germany, France and the United Kingdom to adopt anti-immigration and anti-refugee policies. In 2016 while visiting Germany, the Dalai Lama said that Germany should not become an Arab state, alluding to the significant population of immigrants to the country from Muslim countries. And it is this ultranationalistic and Islamophobic tune the Dalai Lama is playing and beckoning the people of Europe to dance to.
The Dalai Lama’s racist statement against Muslims making Europe their home is extremely dangerous. For a man of peace and compassion who has made millions preaching the word of interfaith harmony, who has sold countless books based on that theme, and who has filled stadiums to preach peace to all brothers and sisters of the globe, it comes across as very strange that he is targeting Muslims. If the Dalai Lama’s logic is to be followed, it would not be remiss for anyone to say that America is for Americans, South America is for South Americans, Australia is for Australians, Asia is for Asians, and Africa is for Africans. According to the Dalai Lama’s logic and statement, Muslims should be the only religious group who are not allowed to migrate anywhere in the world, or to reside anywhere apart from their native lands and countries of origin. This is a very dangerous statement for the Dalai Lama to make because it seems as though he is targeting Muslims. If he is not, why does this shrewd diplomat not make any reference to any other refugees in Europe, for example his own Tibetan people who have been in Europe since the early 1960s and have been happily settled there for decades now?
The Dalai Lama’s objective is plain enough. In recent years, popularity and support for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan cause have waned. For instance, in 2017, Sweden announced that it would no longer recognize the CTA’s yellow book as a valid international travel document. This is tantamount to not recognizing the CTA as a legitimate body that can issue valid travel documents.
Sweden was not the only one as an increasing list of nations began to sway away from the Tibetan Cause, primarily due to China’s far-reaching economic might and the unravelling image of the Tibetan leadership as one scandal after another erupts.As the current European leadership realigns their priorities away from the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama’s chosen method to address this is to capitalize on the wave of ultranationalism sweeping across Europe, stoking resentment towards existing European governments who have backed away from openly supporting the Dalai Lama’s political agenda.
Doing so would again enamor the European people, eager for a shift in immigration policies, to the Dalai Lama. In addition, changes in European governments would provide the Dalai Lama with opportunities to build fresh alliances.
The attrition is of course the lives of the helpless refugees hoping to rebuild broken lives. It also does not matter that the spiritual leader’s words would create enmity towards refugees and immigrants who have already settled in Europe. Clearly when it comes down to a choice between humanity and compassion or political agenda, the latter wins hands down. This should not be a shock to anyone because the history of Tibet shows the Dalai Lamas to be feudal theocrats who wield religion as powerful instruments of control and influence.
The double standard
One angry reader accused the Dalai Lama of being a bigot while another referred to him as a ‘white supremacist’. Again, harsh words but one needs to explore if there is any truth behind such resentful words.
If Europe belongs to Europeans, would the same logic not apply to Asiatic and African countries? If so, then how come the Dalai Lama has not censured the European nations for its vicious and colonial past? Great Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands were amongst some of the most brutal colonial powers that conquered and annexed militarily-weaker nations.
The true character of the Tibetan leadership
The reality is, the Dalai Lama’s words betray the true character of the Tibetan leadership. Not so much the guardians of Shangri-La or some sort of utopic paradise, but more an oppressor of the people. Today the CTA proclaims that it is a democracy but its highest law, the Tibetan Constitution, exposes this deception.
Everything in the Tibetan Constitution reads like ultimate power is vested in the people and it appears to be so, if not for the few lines that says that every law promulgated by the Constitution is in fact subject to the will of the Dalai Lama, the god and king of the Tibetan people, the consummate politician and the autocrat who has held on to power longer than any living monarch, dictator, despot, Prime Minister and President of any government in the world.
What is more, the reign of the Dalai Lama is not limited by borders nor can any international law contain the Dalai Lama’s influence and reach.
So powerful is the Dalai Lama that his government can even proclaim citizens of other nations to be criminals and authorize what is effectively a campaign against the worshippers of a religion operating well within the laws of a country. It is therefore nothing for the Dalai Lama to influence the immigration policies of Europe.