On Thursday, May 17, 2000, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima will have spent five years imprisoned
somewhere in China. Nobody knows precisely where. There have even been rumours that he
has died in custody, which the Chinese government deny. Only they know for certain; no
outsiders have been allowed to see him since he disappeared in 1995... when he was six years
old. This Tibetan boy has spent half of his life behind bars in various Chinese high security
prisons, because he is believed to be the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, a religious figure
second only in importance to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the people of Tibet.

Tibet is a vast country roughly the size of Western Europe (or Alaska and Texas combined) on
a plateau high in the Himalayan mountains. The people of Tibet lived in peace and relative
isolation until their country was invaded by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China in
1950, ostensibly to liberate Tibet from 'foreign oppressors'; even though there were only six
foreigners known to have been in Tibet at the time of the invasion. The Chinese army and the
political cadres of the communist government in Beijing tightened their grip on the country like a
python squeezing the life out of its prey. Every aspect of Tibetan life, from centuries old religious
practices to the most intimate of family activities, was ridiculed and debased by the Chinese.
Those who were reluctant or unable to adjust to the new life (the elderly, the sick, and the
pious) were humiliated, beaten, and even killed in public trials known as Thamzing. It is
estimated that 1.2 million Tibetans, one fifth of the entire population, died as a direct result of
this barbarous mistreatment. New agricultural policies, designed to provide wheat for the
motherland, brought famine to a land that had never known hunger. The 1959 Tibetan Uprising
was an act of desperation that did not stand a chance of succeeding against one of the most
powerful military giants in the world. Since 1959, the Chinese have governed Tibet with an iron
fist. The ancient Tibetan culture, uniquely based on compassion and love for all living things, in
accordance with the Tibetan commitment to buddhist principles, has been systemically
destroyed: temples and shrines have been reduced to rubble, and their irreplaceable contents
stolen; monks and nuns have been imprisoned tortured, and murdered; Tibetan children continue
to be taken from their homes to be "re-educated" far from their families in China, often returning
years later unable to speak their own language; and huge numbers of Chinese settlers are being
shipped into Tibet; where, in some areas, the Han Chinese now outnumber Tibetans.

The comparison between the 50 year nightmare of the Tibetan people to that which our own
culture inflicted upon the native peoples of North America is inescapable. The Chinese
government itself points to our own shameful history of oppression to deflect criticism of the
current genocide (The term 'genocide' is not one to be used lightly; but it has been used to
describe the Tibetan catastrophe by such august institutions as The International Commission of
Jurists). The brutality of the Chinese invaders and the cool cynicism of their plan to destroy all
traces of Tibetan culture, such as the institutional theft of Tibetan children, are outrages that our
own native people will understand all too well. That they have so far endured, preserving the
best of their respective cultures, is a credit to both.

That the Chinese destruction of Tibet and its people has been allowed to continue unimpeded by
the rest of the world is shameful. There is growing pressure, in Canada and the United States, to
increase trade relations with the People's Republic of China, which will further erode the political
will to look this hideous crime squarely in the face. President Clinton has recruited an impressive
team of celebrities and former Presidents to act as the mouthpiece of corporate lobbyists in the
United States; and our own government has shown signs that it is ready, willing, and more than
able to do ethical somersaults to avoid the human rights issue in China. Normalized trade
relations with China, unfettered by public debate over China's deplorable human rights record,
will hasten the destruction of Tibet. International corporations and giant investors have shown
time and again that human rights (or indeed human existence) come a very distant second to the
profitability of their ventures. For example, the long-running civil war in Sudan is, at least in part,
financed and perpetuated by companies from around the world, including China National
Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and Canadian companies Denim Pipeline Construction Ltd
and Roll'n Oil Field Industries. It is vitally important, therefore, that we understand what an
enormous tragedy is taking place. We are almost at a point where the last generation of Tibetans
to have lived in freedom in their homeland will have passed away; and, despite the heroic efforts
of the Tibetan exiles, including those in Canada, to preserve their way of life, the world's only
theocratic country, where culture is based on love and compassion will have been swept away.

We are only just waking up to the fact that we very nearly destroyed the native people of this
continent and the unique outlook on life that they represent. Let's not stand idly by while the
same thing happens again... for the sake of a little boy who is locked away in a secret prison.