In his speech last night titled "Genocide in Tibet," Dartmouth alumnus Blake Kerr '80, a general practitioner in Long Island, spoke on human rights violations in Tibet before a crowded 105 Dartmouth.
In 1987, fresh out of medical school, Kerr and a Dartmouth friend traveled to Hong Kong, and from there went on to Lhasa, planning to climb in the Himalayas. He showed slides of his visit to Tibet to accompany the speech.
Kerr said as China politically dominated Tibet, Tibetans were not officially allowed to leave their country, were forced to give up their Buddhist religion and had to change the language of instruction in schools to Chinese.
He said China is trying to crush Tibet not only because it "feels threatened by any society based on religion," but also because the country, one-third as large as mainland China, presents "an incredible area of resources that had never been tapped."
The Western world is mainly business-oriented in its dealings with China, Kerr said, and it does not confer the necessary importance to the human rights violations the Chinese are committing in Tibet.
"Tibet is really swept under the rug, as are many human rights abuses," he added.
Slide by slide, Kerr unfolded the story of what he termed a "horrendous experience" -- a riot in Lhasa that occurred when Tibetans attacked and set fire to a Chinese police station where Tibetan monks were being held captive.
The police opened fire, injuring and killing several of the protesters, and Kerr spoke of secretly sneaking out to treat wounds in the days after the demonstrations.
He said he was terrified and "had no idea we'd ever be in a situation like that." He described being sprayed with blood, feeling overwhelming rage and running at the policemen. Kerr was arrested and forced to hide from the police.
Although many such riots had previously occurred, this was the first one Westerners had witnessed. They were then able to document the police's brutality, he said, since journalists were not allowed into the city.
Kerr returned to Tibet several times to document the situation in refugee camps with hidden cameras or to speak to doctors about sterilization of Tibetan women, which often occurs under unsanitary conditions.
He also documented the existence of a missile base and gathered and spread information about the Chinese prison system. Tibetans in these prisons, which are now more numerous than monasteries, are stripped naked, beaten, tortured with electrical devices and forced to repeat the Chinese party line, he said.
Kerr illustrated his stories of torture with slides of Tibetan monasteries converted to dark, windowless torture chambers with nooses hanging from the ceiling, blood spattered on the walls and bullet holes.
China also offers incentives to mainland Chinese to move to Tibet. Kerr called this colonization and the fear of being outnumbered in their own country the Tibetans' single biggest concern.
He described the Tibetans' attitude as vivacious, hopeful and free from animosity toward their captors, but compared China's domination of Tibet to the Nazi occupation.
Chinese infiltration and supervision is leading to a breakdown of Tibetan society, Kerr said, as alcoholism and prostitution are becoming widespread problems.
Although Kerr said Tibetans seem calm and not resentful, he said conversations with individuals who are sure they are not being overheard reveal "misery that extends over 40 years."
Kerr said he wanted to bring about more awareness of Chinese human rights violations in Tibet, but is optimistic about the future.
"It can only get better, because it can't get any worse," he said.
