Madam, - Kevin Lynch (April 16th) displays an ignorance about Tibet that is quite stunning, while David Rolfe claims that "far more human misery is caused by China's appalling environmental practices than by its neo-colonial adventures in Tibet."
China's environmental practices, in both China and Tibet, are certainly appalling and are creating great human misery there and, potentially, worldwide; but whether this is "far more" than the human misery caused by the Chinese Communist Party in Tibet is open to debate.
More than 1.2 million Tibetans (one fifth of the population) have died as a direct result of the CCP's colonial occupation since 1949/50, including Tibet's first two major famines caused by the CCP's farming policy. Many thousands have been imprisoned without trial, beaten and tortured. Countless Tibetan women have been subject to rape, enforced abortion and/or sterilisation - or in more recent years taken to Lhasa or Beijing and forced to work as prostitutes. All but 15 of the 6,500 monasteries and nunneries - which also provided the educational, social welfare and orphanage systems in Tibet - were destroyed (over half before the Red Guard's "Cultural Revolution" commenced); and there has been continuous and systematic abuse of Tibetans' human rights, culture, language and religion.
Over the past four weeks, what Tibetans are now calling "a second Cultural Revolution" has been imposed by the CCP's armed forces.
Several hundred Tibetans have been killed, house-to-house searches are taking place and many thousands have been arrested (the CCP itself admits to more than 4,000) and are being beaten and killed in prisons. Food and water have been cut off from countless homes and monasteries, and all international media and foreigners have been expelled from Tibet so that there are no "external" witnesses.
As for Kevin Lynch's misinformed comments, I hardly know where to begin. Suffice to say that Tibetans are not "living peacefully" in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures (ie the eastern areas of Tibet that, following partition of the country by the CCP in 1965 were incorporated into four neighbouring Chinese provinces, including Sichuan). There is no better proof of this than the fact that, of more than 60 locations in which demonstrations against CCP rule have taken place in recent weeks, about 80 per cent are in these areas.
Mr Lynch expresses concern that the Chinese ambassador (who knew of Mr John Gormley's criticism in advance and attended the Green party conference merely to stage a walk-out protest) was "insulted". He labels Minister Gormley's remarks "a disgrace". On the contrary, it is those worldwide - and particularly in Ireland, given our history - who choose to turn a blind eye, deaf ear and dumb mouth to what the Chinese Communist Party is doing in Tibet who are a disgrace. If the Chinese ambassador, or Kevin Lynch, feel "insulted", then: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn". - Yours, etc,
NEIL STEEDMAN, (Tibet Support Group - Ireland), Arklow, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - An Irish Government minister condemns human rights abuses in Tibet and some of your more narrow-minded readers indulge in what John Hume once called "whataboutery". What about Palestine, Guantámano, etc, etc? Yes, of course, these are also important issues.
But surely they should not detract from the fact that Mr Gormley had the courage to speak out firmly yet politely on Tibet. I for one commend him for his stance.
Raymond Deane (April 15th) describes those of us who are concerned about human rights in Tibet as "armchair pundits". He uses discussion of this issue to highlight the plight of Palestine, as though that of Tibet were somehow morally inferior.
Could he not acknowledge on this occasion that Mr Gormley's comments, described by Mr Deane as "anodyne", are welcome and have stimulated a long-overdue debate on Tibet? - Yours, etc,
Cllr MARK DEAREY (Green Party), Ship Street, Dundalk, Co Louth.