If the Tibetans can’t have their country back, let’s make the world Tibetan.
I propose that the Tibetan Government in exile sell symbolic Tibetan passports to anybody who wants one. $500 donation gets you a passport with your photo, and stamps and words you can’t read, and a picture of the Dalai Lama… and you become a symbolic Tibetan. Maybe you can get a symbolic Tibetan ID card for $200 etc…
Maybe a number of shops and restaurants around the globe could start giving discounts to shoppers who have a Tibetan passport… A web site could list all establishments that offer such a discount…
1,000 Tibetan passports would bring in half a million dollars. In a few years there might be hundreds of thousands of new Tibetans roaming the globe. Tibet as a state of mind rather than a country. 10,000 passports would bring in 5 million dollars…
And maybe these new Tibetan people, even if it is only symbolic, will be more passionate about their country and petition the UN, the US and China to save what is left of their country…
Don’t bring your Tibetan passport on your vacation to Shanghai, though…
Jon said something beautiful about this idea today: China can’t eradicate the essence of a people. They can invade the land, they can raze all of the buildings, they cut down the trees, but they cannot destroy the spirit of Tibet.
Indeed! J.F.K. said Ich bin ein Berliner – let’s all say I’m a Tibetan.
I actually really like that idea–it’s a pretty tough protect to quelch! It’s a state of mind, you’re right, and there aren’t many better ways to show it.
Brilliant!!!
Brilliant. I wonder why this has not already taken off.
Norrbu: I told Bob Thurman and the Tibet House in New York about the idea and they promised to pass it on.