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Listen to the Dalai Lama - a great man

The Dalai Lama is the wisest, most admirable human being I know of: truly a great man. I have read several of his works for lay readers. He teaches of the futility of greed and aggression, and of how to attain happiness through kindness and compassion for all sentient creatures. In one book he remembers the Tibet of his youth, its forested mountains inhabited by almost tame creatures, because they were not hunted. Then the Chinese invaded, bringing with them their creed of Communist materialism - as if mastery of the whole of mainland China were not enough. In 1959 a brutal Chinese repression of the Tibetan people forced the Dalai Lama to flee his homeland. He has watched from exile his people's gentle culture being stamped upon, the forests destroyed and the wildlife killed. How ironic to hear a witness tell the BBC's The World This Weekend how the present leader of China, formerly governor of Chinese-occupied Tibet, admitted to feeling dislike of Tibet and contempt for Tibetan people. If that is so, why not just withdraw from Tibet and let the Tibetan people get on with their lives? The Chinese people have a great and ancient culture but the Communist leader Mao Tse-Tung who caused suffering and death to untold millions was a monster, and the current Chinese Government has no democratic, or any other, legitimacy in Tibet nor, for that matter, in mainland China. What right has the Chinese Government to profess superiority, to claim legitimacy, to kill over 80 Tibetan protesters? None. Its current actions are contemptible. It should withdraw its troops, call elections and let peaceful transition take place to democratic government.

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