Tibet, a nation with more than two thousand years of recorded history, once a great empire in Central Asia, chose to remain independent and isolated from the rest of the world for most of its history. However, in the 20th century, an aggressive British India and a failing Manchu empire encroached on Tibet militarily and politically. Still, neither they nor two world wars succeeded in changing Tibet’s unique status.
In 1950, however, China invaded Tibet. And, in 1959, after a failed Tibetan resistance to the occupation and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s repeated attempt to seek a solution through peaceful dialogue, he finally had to seek asylum in India. What followed in Tibet was an unprecedented dark period of suppression of the Tibetan people and the destruction of Tibet’s cultural heritage. While there was a brief respite in the early 1980s, continuing Chinese rule has irreparably degraded Tibetan language and culture. It now explicitly seeks the total absorption of what little is left of Tibetan identity into the rest of China.
In exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the Tibetan refugees took up the challenge of Tibet’s future by establishing a government in exile and began the difficult task of preserving our monastic and cultural traditions and educating the younger generation with a modern curriculum. Now decades later, the fruits of our labor are obvious. Scholars hail the Tibetan exile experience as one of the miracles of the 20th century; the Buddhist heritage, preserved by Tibetans for more than a thousand years, increasingly recognized for its universal and practical values, and Tibet is still an important issue on the global stage.
We are now entering a critical phase in Tibet’s history. The advancing age of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, coupled with China’s global political and economic influence, and the accelerating Sinicization of Tibetan identity pose significant challenges for all of us. At this juncture, every Tibetan must ask ourselves a few questions: What is our future? What is the future of the Tibetan people, and what is the future of the nation of Tibet? And, how best can we tackle these challenges?
We invite every Tibetan to join us in this exploration. We invite you to write to us, send a video message, or send us written pieces. We will share these among ourselves and the public, in print and online, and make it possible to reach those in Tibet.
We also want to meet in person, to strengthen our ties and our commitment to the just struggle of the Tibetan people. We hope to organize the first of these meetings in Washington, D.C. on April 9-10, 2022, and later in India, Europe, and wherever feasible.
