China Reeducates Tibetan Monks To Denounce The Dalai

China to Beef Up ‘Patriotic’ Education

BEIJING (Map, News) – China vowed Saturday to ramp up a campaign requiring Tibetan Buddhist monks to denounce the Dalai Lama and declare their loyalty to Beijing.

But resentment over “patriotic education” has ignited protests that have left eight people dead in recent days in a southwestern province and could fuel future unrest despite a massive security presence aimed at quelling the demonstrations.

The Tibet Daily newspaper reported Saturday that the government pledged to “strengthen patriotic education” especially among young monks to help them “become patriotic, religion-loving and law-abiding.”

“We should strengthen patriotic education so as to guide the masses of monks to continuously display the patriotic tradition and uphold the banner of patriotism,” the paper quoted Hao Peng, Tibet’s deputy Communist Party chief, as saying.

After widespread protests swept the Tibetan plateau last month, Chinese leaders responded with a combination of arrests, interrogations and vigorous education campaigns. At least eight people were reportedly killed in a remote town in Sichuan province Thursday in a protest sparked by an attempt to force monks to participate in an education campaign.

Monasteries around the Tibetan capital of Lhasa remained closed for a fourth week, and a woman who answered the phone, but would not give her name, at Tibet’s religious affairs bureau said that was because the monks were “taking some lessons.”

For Tibetan Buddhists, the education campaigns undermine their core beliefs and are a hated humiliation. For the Chinese, the campaigns boil down to a simple loyalty oath.

“The government controls all the religions in China very tightly, such as Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity,” said Kang Xiaoguang, a professor of regional economics and politics at Beijing’s Renmin University. “The government doesn’t only aim at Tibetan Buddhism. On the contrary, it makes greater concessions on Tibetan Buddhism than on other religions.”

That perspective, along with the view that China has invested the equivalent of millions of dollars in Tibet’s economic development, is the backbone of China’s position that Tibet has been well-treated by Beijing. But monks say those who don’t accept China’s terms are stripped of their robes and permanently expelled from their monasteries. If they protest, monks say, they can be jailed and tortured.

This is sad. For a powerful country, like China, to feel the necessity to force anyone to denounce their religious leader. That is the epitome of insecurity. That demonstrates that China knows it’s system of government is not of this century and not viable without forcing loyalty through threat. Re-education of the masses is right out of George Orwell’s scary books. 1984 is a prophetic glimpse into China’s mind control system.

“We have a saying: ‘Close one eye, open one eye,’ ” Arjia said. “It was very difficult to denounce His Holiness before the other monks. If you can avoid saying his name, that’s considered being a hero.”

On Thursday, Zhang Qingli, party secretary for the Tibet Autonomous Region, ordered not just monks but students, government workers and business people throughout Tibet to participate in patriotic education sessions and sign denunciations of the Dalai Lama. The lessons assert that China liberated Tibet from oppressive feudalism in the 1950s and that, in Zhang’s words, an “international hostile conspiracy to Westernize and split our country has never changed.”

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s attendance of the Beijing Olympics depends on his schedule and not China’s human rights record, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.

China in a tight spot: Its classic tactics — restricting the press and blaming the Dalai Lama — sit poorly with the outside world and a more informed citizenry.

China issues arrest warrants: Elsewhere, Tibetan witnesses report the Chinese government’s so-called “patriotic education” campaign in Buddhist monasteries has prompted fresh protests in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Witnesses say officials force monks to prove their loyalty to the Chinese government by signing statements condemning the Dalai Lama. Beijing blames him for orchestrating unrest in Tibet in an attempt to split the region from China.

Wiki says: Reëducation may refer to:

• Brainwashing, efforts aimed at instilling certain beliefs in people against their will.
• Rehabilitation, therapy to remove or restore a habit or condition, usually medical or penal.
• Adult education, education for adults.

Wiki says: Brainwashing (also known as thought reform or as re-education) consists of any effort aimed at instilling certain attitudes and beliefs in a person — sometimes unwelcome beliefs in conflict with the person’s prior beliefs and knowledge.^[1]

Reeducation Through Labor in China

Washing a belief system from your thoughts reminds me of the inquisition. The Chinese Government is using the same tactics that the Roman Catholics did in the 12th century, to counter the spread of Catharism. Tibetan Buddhism must be a terrible threat to the whole Chinese Empire. China must decide what kind of face it wants to project to the world while its economy is having awful growing pains. China could be a poster child for success, but instead, it is trashing its environment while selling discount products to the world. It is trashing human rights while proudly displaying the 2008 Olympic Extravaganza.

A fresh coat of paint is only a temporary cover for a termite infested house.  It just makes it look nice before it collapses.