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Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA and Memories of a Forgotten War
Reviewed by Parshotam Mehra
IN the face of a massive Chinese onslaught and aerial bombing of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in 1956, a resistance army took birth, calling itself "Chushi Gangdrug" (CG). Literally "four rives and six ranges", CG is an ancient name for the eastern Tibetan province of Kham. In 1959, the outfit was to provide a safe escort to the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan ruler fled Lhasa. Once in exile, the CG was persuaded to lay down its arms and soon melted away among an amorphous Tibetan refugee community, losing its separate identity. Arrested Histories is about this grassroots Tibetan militia and the war it waged, both now well-nigh forgotten. For the record, both the army and its war were covertly supported by four countries: India, Nepal, Tibet and the US. Much of this remains secret — and not just forgotten — largely because resistance historians challenge Tibet’s social and political status quo, its mores. Initially, a rough estimate put CG’s strength at 10,000 in exile; and "tens of thousands more" inside Tibet. As its veterans entrust the leadership of their now refugee social and political welfare organisation to the next generation, they fear their history slipping away. What riles them no end is that the Dalai Lama’s own acknowledgment of CG’s political contribution and religious service in a time of war is still lacking.
The study heavily underwrites the fact that its focus is Tibet, not China, the CIA or the US. Resting broadly on the help and cooperation she received from the veterans themselves, the author views it as an integral part of Tibetan history, its narrative the narrative of resistance veterans who, by definition, are not a united or homogeneous group. It examines the social politics of the refugee community, of the Tibetan government in exile and the Dalai Lama. As indicated, the book draws heavily on the help of Tibetan veterans, scholars and others who understand that "to critique is not to invalidate history or politics but to make them interpretable and bearable" in the present. Apart from a relatively 37-page-long introduction, the book comprises nine short and crisp chapters averaging 15-20 pages. The conclusion, "Truth, Fear and Lies", is followed by a short epilogue, while the appendix, "Who’s Who", furnishes biographical sketches of almost everyone who appears in the narrative. To mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the CG, June 16, 2008, was celebrated in "a small ceremony" at Dharamsala and "a large function" in New York. The Dharamsala Central Committee issued two public statements on the occasion: the first presenting a history of the founding of the CG, while the second praised the Dalai Lama and retailed the offerings made to him in commemoration of the anniversary. The committee availed of the opportunity to recall the 13th Dalai Lama’s "Last Testament" (1933) that in the dark and dangerous decades ahead, Tibet’s survival may not be easy. It would require the efforts of all its people. The Dalai Lama had inter alia advised Tibetans "to overcome what needs to be overcome and to accomplish what needs" to be accomplished. "Do not", he had heavily underlined, "confuse the two". For the record, the resistance veterans as well as other refugee Tibetans accept the "all-for-one" motto, both in the forging of community and the telling of history, so that life in exile is defined as much by a politics of hope as by a politics of fear. The values these Tibetans fought for, quietly and patiently, were not unimportant: their country, communities, religion, families. Hoping all will be codified as official history. Arrested Histories
breathes an air of dedicated scholarship, thoroughness, of meticulous
research. There are maps, including one on the "Tibetan areas"
of China, almost two scores of illustrations, an excellent bibliography,
a note on transliteration and photographs. Above all, it illumines a
subject that has sadly been long neglected, if now half forgotten.The
author, Associate Professor of Anthropology, teaches at the University
of Colorado, Boulder.
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The
author has employed a rich variety of research methods, including
ethnographic participant observation, oral history interviews, formal
and informal archival research and a multi-sited approach. In Kathmandu,
she lived with a Khampa-Tibetan family near the Boudhanath stupa, around
which hundreds of Tibetans and other Buddhists circumambulate. Her
research also embraced five other Tibetan centres—Pokhra in Nepal and
Darjeeling, Delhi, Dharamsala and Kalimpong in India. She interacted
extensively with Tibetan veterans and retired CIA officers in the US.
Nor was that all. For in the course of her primary research, in 1997-99,
she spent extended periods of time with these communities.