China annexed Tibet in 1949 and since then political forces in that region have been attempting to return the previous order of the Dalai Lama. What these people don’t know, or what they choose to ignore is that pre-1949 Tibet was a theocratic society that had two classes. The monks were the government and everyone else was obligated to support and venerate them. More than 90% of people in Dalai Lama’s Tibet were serfs, peasants, or indebted generationally for many lifetimes. Many would even be mutilated if they could not pay debts. The peasantry were not allowed to be educated and only the monks were able to receive any education. The average lifespan was 35 and infant mortality was 43%

After the communist takeover and liberation of the peasantry the CIA and Indian government worked with the people who supported the previous government. They burned records of slavery in Tibet, and they moved the Dalai Lama out of China so he could continue to be used as a political tool by the west in attempts to destabilize China. Most people who supported Tibetan independence were the sons of Lamas or the theocratic class.

To this day there are people who are either dangerously misled on the Tibet situation or who descend from the theocratic class that continue to advocate for “Free Tibet” even if this would come at the cost of Tibetan people who enjoy freedom and education. The current Dalai Lama has changed his stance to say that he does not want independence from China and rather wants more development for the region, but apparently this stems from the CIA Tibetan Program ending in 1972, where the US spent resources on intelligence, propaganda and paramilitary to keep the idea of independent Tibet alive in several foreign countries.