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.)
There is a difference, the jews were enormously enterprising and economically successful before and even through persecution in Europe before WW2, this is not true in the case case Tibetians and other refugees (Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal etc).
Yes, but America was the only place where almost all the Jews moved out of poverty and into the middle class if not the upper class. Compare to Eastern Europe where anti-Jewish laws forced them into ghettos.
I’m not saying Tibetan refugee colonies are ghettos, but it’ll be interesting to see how much entrepreneurial capital there is within the Tibetans that just couldn’t find any expression until now (and the next few years).