Tibetan is the New Jew?

November 14, 2007

Haven’t thought this through, really, but here’s the funda:

For two thousand years, the Jews were refugees from the promised land. They were persecuted all across Europe, repeatedly expelled by various monarchs, segregated, and ultimately faced genocide (through the Russian pogroms or the German Holocaust).

Then they made it to America, where the American Constitution protected them from state persecution, and a capitalist economy helped them become enormously rich and successful.

In the twentieth century, the Tibetans were expelled from their land and became refugees in India. They’ve lived on the margins ever since. Are economic growth and freer markets going to empower them as much as they did the Jews in America?

Pertinently: if it does, could this finance something equivalent to a Zionist movement for Tibetans? (The difficulty being faced here is that America and the Holy Land never shared a border, while India, Tibet and China most definitely do.)