Customer Reviews

Tibet's War of Peace

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book comes out at a perfect time. If you want to understand why Tibetans are protesting against Chinese oppression, if you want to understand why China does not want the international community to know about its inhumane treatment of Tibetans and the determination of the Chinese government to wipe out Tibetan culture, you need to read this book. Cusack goes back to the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the subsequent escape of the Dalai Lama to India and details the ups and downs of Tibetan efforts for the world to recognize their plight. He also outlines the emergence of the Dalai Lama as a spokesman for nonviolent protest and as a spiritual leader, not only of Tibetans, but of people all over the world.

For nearly sixty years, China has pursued a policy of subduing Tibet by outlawing traditional Tibetan Buddhist practices, suppressing political freedom, overwhelming local populations with ethnic Chinese settlers, destroying historic buildings and institutions, and exploiting natural resources.

Yet the Tibetan identity and desire for independence have not been crushed. Cusack sees hope for freedom in united action, both within and outside of Tibet. Success will come with fostering a "new level of organization and leadership" in the government in exile, coordinating the efforts of Tibet support groups, and perhaps most important, reaching out to the hearts and minds of the Chinese people. Eloquently and systematically, Cusack builds his case that Tibetans and Chinese share the same needs and desires. Promoting common goals - freedom of speech, religion, and association; free elections, more transparent government, and comprehensive social services - is a crucial precursor for change.

Cusack's book recounts some twenty years of how Tibetans and Tibet Support Groups (TSGs) from around the world have worked to educate presidents, ministers, religious leaders and common citizens about the China's invasion and occupation of Tibet.

His story is compelling, inciting moral outrage in its narration of the Chinese government's half-century of occupation and their attempts to marginalize Tibetans in their own land. Using hundreds of interviews with the movement's devoted campaigners, Cusack chronicles how TSGs have worked in support of the courage and resilience of Tibetans as they seek to preserve and restore their culture and religion, and to shape their own destiny.

The book's substantive detail is matched by its spare writing style. In this regard, Cusack succeeds in writing a book for a global audience -- even if English is not your first language, you will be able to follow much of this book. In addition, the final chapter provides a compelling articulation of the challenges that the Dalai Lama, Tibetans in Tibet and in exile, and the TSGs face as they try to maintain a movement seeking "genuine autonomy" for a people who, even after more than fifty years, through courage and resilience, refuse to give up hope.

Given the recent and on-going events that have been brought to light about how the Chinese government and the Communist Party continue to subject Tibetans to their authoritarian regime, there is not book more timely in its substance and its broad audience as Cusack's "Tibet's War of Peace.