Racial Discrimination in Tibet (2000)
Discrimination in Public Representation
Nominal Autonomy and Communist Control
To see exactly how little power Tibetans are able to
exercise in Tibet, we need only to look at the astonishing
depths to which the Central Communist Party infiltrates all
levels of society. Every town in the "TAR" has an identical
set of four core political facilities - the Communist Party
of China (CCP), the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC), the National People's Congress (NPC)
and the Government. Each of these have their own particular
level of authority and inter-connecting responsibilities:
-
The Communist Party of China (CCP) advises deputies of
the NPC at all levels, guiding and monitoring their work.
-
NPC's of all levels participate in the creation of
legislation in accordance with the Constitution. All
ministries, the judiciary and procuracy are under the
jurisdiction of the NPC.
-
The Government implements legislation and is responsible
for administering, regulating, policing, taxing and
providing services according to the law.
-
The CPPCC provides a means by which the Party may formally
canvas people's opinions and direct its view back to the
people.
From this official outline, it would appear that the
CPPCC is the perfect vehicle for Tibetans to bring up the
complaints of discrimination, malpractice and abuse in
employment, health, education, housing, etc. Yet very few,
if any, actually do so, and on a closer examination it is
easy to see why.
Like the People's Congress, the CPPCC exists at national,
regional, prefectural and county levels. However, unlike
the People's Congresses, where members are supposed to be
elected by universal suffrage, appointment as a member of
the CPPCC is the sole responsibility of the Party. To be a
member, four specific principles must be accepted by the
candidate, namely the leadership of the Communist Party,
the guiding role of Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong thought,
the people's dictatorship, and the socialist road. For a
committee that acts in principle to chair assemblies airing
non-Party political views, this pre-requisite screening
is almost laughable. Like all other institutions set up
by the state to "elicit the people's opinion", the CPPCC
is an empty promise, and actually functions to do exactly
the reverse:
"While on paper the Party emphasizes that the CPPCC is
a means of soliciting the views of influential members
of society, in practice the system is designed to contain
voices of dissent. In reference to the powerlessness of the
CPPCC, people often mockingly refer to the three functions
of the CPPCC as: "three things you must do with your hands:
when you enter the meeting hall, you must shake hands,
when the speeches are read, you must clap your hands,
and finally when the vote is cast, you must raise your
hands."
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