Tibetan Independence Movement (1949-)

The Tibetan independence movement is a movement for the independence of Tibet and the political separation of Tibet from the People's Republic of China. It is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora in countries like India and the United States, and by celebrities and Tibetan Buddhists in the United States and Europe. The movement is not supported by the 14th Dalai Lama, who although having advocated it from 1961 to the late 1970s, proposed a sort of high-level autonomy in a speech in Strasbourg in 1988, and has since then restricted his position to either autonomy for the Tibetan people in the Tibet Autonomous Region within China, or for the autonomy to extend also to areas of neighboring Chinese provinces inhabited by Tibetans.

Among other reasons for independence, campaigners assert that Tibet has been historically independent. However, some dispute this claim by using different definitions of "Tibet" and "independence." The campaigners also argue that Tibetans are currently mistreated and denied certain human rights, although the Chinese government disputes this and claims progress in human rights. Various organizations with overlapping campaigns for independence and human rights have sought to pressure various governments to support Tibetan independence or to take punitive action against China for opposing it.

Chinese Authorities Arrest Tibetan Protester Monks; Ngaba, Sichaun, China, Apr 2008

Taken on: 2008-04-05
Source: SFT HQ/Flickr

Pro-Chinese March; Calgary, Canada, March 2008

Taken on: 2008-03-29
Source: Flickr

Ethnic Tibetans Protesting Chinese Occupation of Tibet; Pokhara, Nepal, Mar 2015

Taken on: 2008-03-17
Source: Tom Booth/Flickr

Free Tibet Rally Outside Chinese Consulate; San Francisco, USA, Mar 2008

Taken on: 2008-03-17
Source: Peter M/Flickr

Two Tibetan Dob-Dob Warrior Monks in Lhasa, 1938

Taken on: 1938-06-30
Source: Bundesarchiv Bild 135-KB-09-048