Violence in Tibet unlikely to hurt Shangri-La image

BEIJING (Reuters) - Tibet is seen in the West as a Shangri-La of purity and spirituality, so when its residents erupted in an anti-government riot last month, some wondered whether the spasm of violence would hurt its cause.

But the coalition of activists, Hollywood stars, and politicians who support independence or greater autonomy for the remote Himalayan region from Chinese Communist rule are unlikely to be fazed by the sight of young Tibetans on a rampage.

"Actually, there was always a kind of fantasy element to the way a lot of outsiders have viewed the Tibetan movement," said Robbie Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University.

"In a terrible and tragic way, this actually does say, hey, we're not dealing with monks who can't meditate, this is a really serious social and historical issue that has to be dealt with politically," he said.

China says at least 19 people died in the Tibet unrest, which started in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and spurred protests throughout ethnic Tibetan parts of the country.

It pins the blame on the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism who fled Tibet for India in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama denies the charge. His representatives say up to 140 Tibetans might have died in the series of protests, many at the hands of China's security forces.

But the 1959 uprising is also a reminder of the clash between the image of peaceful resistance in the Tibetan movement and the history of violent rebellion that has marked the region.

Although the Dalai Lama has been a vocal advocate of non-violence, there is a history of warrior monks in the Tibetan tradition and a belief that it is acceptable to fight if the purpose is to defend Buddhism.

Thousands of monks joined the rebel fighters in the 1958-59 uprising, and, before Communist troops entered the region in 1950, monks from Sera, Drepung and Ganden, the monasteries at the heart of the Dalai Lama's Yellow Hat sect of Buddhism, volunteered to support the Tibetan forces.

STRUGGLE AT WHAT COST?

Still, analysts believe that Tibetans are seen in the West as victims and the cause primarily as one of human rights, meaning that sympathy is unlikely to wane unless they turn to a more organized, militant strategy of bombings or suicide attacks.

"The Dalai Lama has been calling for non-violence and as long as he is the representative of the Tibetan people, I don't really see too much danger of losing support for the cause," said Donald Lopez Jr, a specialist in Tibetan Buddhism at the University of Michigan.

Aside from the Dalai Lama, 72, whose death could leave a leadership vacuum in the exile community, there are more hardline voices coming from Dharamsala, who are frustrated with his "middle way" policy that seeks real autonomy, rather than independence.

Tibet's government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala in the hills of north India.

Most notable among these voices is the Tibetan Youth Congress, which lists "To struggle for the total independence of Tibet even at the cost of one's life" as among its objectives and which does not rule out the use of violence.

"These are groups that exist in a democratic setting," said Susette Cooke, of the China Research Centre and the University of Technology Sydney, adding their statements did not necessarily reflect the position of the government-in-exile.

"There is a distinction there that the Chinese are not making," she said. "I wouldn't want to excuse the violence, but I certainly wouldn't want to overrate it."

China has made much of the violent aspects of the protests, announcing seizures of guns and explosives from some monasteries and replaying images almost nightly on state television of Lhasa shops being looted and set on fire.

Beijing also accuses Tibet independence forces of planning suicide squads, an allegation the Dalai Lama's representatives and the United States have rejected.

Judging from the groundswell of Tibet activism that has accompanied Beijing's Olympic torch on its relay around the world, supporters remain nonplussed.

THE CAUSE IS KEY

Others say it is the conviction in the cause that counts, not the means.

"It is a protest. It's not a popularity contest," said Tsering Shakya, a Tibet scholar at the University of British Columbia.

Nelson Mandela's African National Congress was not opposed to armed resistance, he points out, but because global opinion believed the cause against apartheid was right, the militant aspects of the movement have been largely forgotten.

"It's what the people are fighting for that's the most important thing," said Shakya. "It's not like we're having a Miss World contest or something."

(Editing by Valerie Lee)