The causes of the uprising

What’s causing the massive uprising (there’s really no other word for it) that’s spreading across Tibet? (Click here for a map of the many protests.)  What happens when a people living under foreign occupation for five decades finally snap? 

The simmering resentment is, at its heart, a frustration at being Tibetan, living in Tibet, yet being a second-class citizen.  It is a fury at being robbed of dignity by an occupying people (both Chinese officials and civillians) who act as if they own the place.  It is a common theme in many colonized lands, tragically widespread in history but now largely abolished with post-World War II decolonization (except in anacronistic colonizations like China’s rule over Tibet). 

The resentment can take many forms, from many sparks.  The common theme, however, is a Tibetan rage at being occupied by a foreign force, unable to control their lives, their societies, and their religion.  In short, a lack of freedom that can only be solved through independence.

Canada’s Globe and Mail has an interesting analysis of the vast range of immediate causes for specific protests, the little sparks that come from the daily nightmare of foreign occupation: 

While the global spotlight was focused on the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, perhaps the most significant and historic development this week was the rapid spread of the protests to the far-flung Tibetan communities of Western China, including the provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan.

The Chinese authorities admitted yesterday, for the first time, that the protests had swept across a wide swath of ethnically Tibetan districts, far beyond the borders of the official Tibetan region where Lhasa is located.

“One of the most striking things is that we’re now hearing of protests in places where we never heard of monks protesting before,” said Robert Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University in New York.

The scale of the uprising, and the violence on both sides, has shocked the world. But for those who were paying attention, the signs of revolt had been visible for months, if not years.

While there is little doubt that the Tibetans are aware of the Beijing Olympics, and the potential impact of their demonstrations in an Olympic year, a closer look at their uprising shows that most of their protests were spontaneous, often in reaction to repressive Chinese measures, and usually had their roots in a vast array of local issues, including environmental, economic and demographic grievances.

“With or without the Olympics, the situation in Tibet is very grave,” said Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile.