• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Religion as progressive: The staunch refusal of His Holiness the DalaiLama
Frank Kaufmann - Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Democracy in America was good for a while. People who complain aboutcontemporary politics in America, frequently are offered a salacious, anecdotalhistory of vitriol on the campaign trail. But that defense is a red herring. Thetrouble with contemporary political activity in the West, especially in America thatis called “democratic,” is not that politics is dirty, but rather that it is a rarefiedform of perpetual marketing. Marketing has replaced campaigning, andmarketing has replaced governing.For a very long time Western and especially American democracy represented agenuine political ideal for the emerging post-colonial societies that were shiftingaway from political systems that supported absolute monarchs.Raw, crude colonialism was replaced with the sneakier, but mildly lessexploitative, less riddled with rank racism, economic colonialism, which thoughstill abusive is nevertheless a step in the right direction. Monarchies, where theysurvived at all, tended to shift from absolute to constitutional, generally a
very 
healthy system, providing citizens with a less whimsical government, but still“somebody to love.”Extreme authoritarianism usually required adding dash of divinity to the monarch(except in the case of Marxist tyrannies, that used instead the zealous faith of atheism and plain old guns and secret police) to exercise absolute rule. Againstthese banes to human dignity, the beauty of American federalism built aroundinalienable rights endowed by a creator, was rightfully a beacon to a world inchange.Many places in the world embraced this vision of divinely endowed, individualrights, and participatory political structures. The violent and oppressive reach of “Communism” failed, wrecked on the shoals of its own failed philosophies andtheories but a great many Middle Eastern, and north African kingdoms or fake-modern forms of political tyranny (like that of Syria's Assad) did not. The sick self-interest of Western powers seeking Middle East resources and route access leftmany of these archaic, authoritarian governments
sans
reform.Despite all the media and liberal naivete involved, the so-called “Arab Spring,” isgenuinely a hopeful phenomenon. While it does not address the precariousinternational enmities in the region, nor the ideological extremism often wed tosocial and political organizations in the region, it
does
hack at the roots of tyranny, and this gives the whole world a lightness of heart.A great complication and challenge when analyzing and reflecting on the protestsand rebellions in North Africa and the Middle East is that the tyrannies involved
The staunch refusal of His Holiness the Dalai Lama by Frank Kaufmann page 1
 
are a hybrid of old Monarchical style tyrannies, and modern Marxist-Communiststyle tyrannies; a touch of the God-ruler (a shadow in some interpretations of Islam) and a touch of guns and the secret police at your door (or busilyassassinating your local, aspiring reporter). The Western powers as they continueto be twisted by the cloud of self-interest are not helping this revolution.While the flames rage, and innocent civilians throughout the Middle East andNorth Africa continue to be massacred by their governments, in another part of the world, yet another divinely commissioned, absolute theocrat who“dangerously” combines “Godhead” and unassailable, solitary political authority,also stands firmly against the will and desire of citizens under his rule. Thestubbornness of this autocrat is reported in the
Hindustan Times
:
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday once again refused tobudge from his stand of seeking retirement from political role as head of theexiled Tibetans. He turned down an appeal by the exiles to continue as the"ceremonial head of state". At the address of the grand session of exiled Tibetans in this Himachal Pradesh town where he is running hisgovernment-in-exile, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said the decision to shed  political authority and hand over powers to an elected political leadershipstemmed from his commitment to democracy.
Magically and significantly, with the very same lilting elegance that characterizeseach breath of this leader and seeker, His Holiness in a personal decision onceagain weaves himself into the history of liberation. Some ways off, oppressedsubjects risk and lose their lives to realize freedom and democracy, while forcitizens of the political entity Tibet in exile, the opposite takes place. His Holinesshimself grates against love, appreciation, and devotion, to insist upon theadvance of democracy, and liberate and purify from the opportunism of politicsthe clarity and fortitude of true spiritual leadership.
Confirming his decision, Chimme Choekyappa, private secretary to the DalaiLama, told IANS that that "His Holiness is sticking to his previous stand. Heturned down the plea of the exiles to be the ceremonial head of state". As many as 418 participants from 20 countries, including India, Nepal,Bhutan and the US, as also from Europe, have been taking part in the grand congregation for the past four days.They deliberate on draft constitutional amendments in the Tibetan Charter (constitution) for devolution of the spiritual leader's political and administrative powers to the democratically-elected leadership.
It is a time now in which two contributors to tyranny are clearly on the run, and indecline. The bad and errant fusing of pure spiritual authority with thecomplicated, compromising nature of political leadership, and the decline of 
The staunch refusal of His Holiness the Dalai Lama by Frank Kaufmann page 2
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...