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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 January 2000 Issue No. 464 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 January 2000 Issue No. 464
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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A week in the world
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Special Books Profile Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Pawns
By Gamal Nkrumah
Two boys hit the headlines in the past week. Both boys, one Chinese (actually, Tibetan) and the other Cuban, suffered a traumatic tragedy. In both cases, politicians have capitalised on the boys' personal plight. It is no coincidence that these two boys hail from Communist-run states -- whatever that means at the moment. It is not difficult to discern which of the two Washington would regard, in Lenin's excoriating phrase, as the "useful idiot".
The predicament of the Tibetan boy, a teenage monk and the 17th Karmapa Lama, is that he is the only Tibetan lama to have won the approval and official recognition of both the country's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the authorities in Beijing. Reincarnations determined by the Dalai Lama have all been summarily rejected by Beijing, but Beijing approved the Karmapa's enthronement in 1992, considering him a showpiece of China's toleration of Tibetan Buddhism. The Karmapa, many suspect, was being groomed as an alternative to the Dalai Lama.
The practice of lamaism in Tibet has drawn much international attention in recent years, and especially among three nuclear powers -- the United States, China and India. The dramatic flight of the 14-year-old Karmapa Lama across the treacherous Himalayan wasteland captured the world's imagination. The Karmapa Lama fled Tsurphu monastery, 50 km northwest of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, under mysterious circumstances and surfaced two weeks later in Dharmasala, northern India, where the Dalai Lama now officially resides. An elaborate diplomatic row between New Delhi, Beijing, Washington and Hollywood ensued.
China, pre-Communist China not excluded, has claimed Tibet for the past three centuries. Communist Chinese authorities have merely reaffirmed what Beijing has long considered its historic right. Be that as it may, the 16th Karmapa Lama used the Chinese Communist invasion as a pretext to flee the country in 1959 and remained in the US until his death in Chicago in 1981. In fact, the Karmapa Lama cult has become particularly popular in California.
Officially, the Chinese claim that the Karmapa Lama left the country to purchase musical instruments deemed essential in the performance of the Buddhist mass and retrieve black hats donned by previous reincarnations of living Buddhas -- with the Dalai Lama's help, of course. However, the Karmapa's alleged defection means that all four leaders of the orders of Tibetan Buddhism are now in exile in India. Julia Taft, US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, is currently visiting India: quite a coincidence.
But Taft should be at home dealing with such delicate matters after sorting out the problems of Cuban and Haitian refugees in Florida. The story of a 6-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, is even more heart-rendering. Elian was found on Thanksgiving Day clinging to an inner tube in the Caribbean off the Florida coast. The boy's mother, stepfather and eight other Cubans drowned after their boat capsized while fleeing the Communist-run island, leaving Elian one of three survivors of the shipwreck. The boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, is in Cuba and quite understandably wants his son to return home to Cuba. A diplomatic row erupted over Elian, or more precisely over who should have him: the US or Cuba.
The US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is currently studying a Congressional subpoena issued in order to determine whether Congress can intervene in the INS ruling that the boy be returned to his father in Cuba by 14 January. The subpoena -- filed by Republican Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana -- seeks to have the boy testify before Congress on 10 February. Many suspect that Elian was subpoenaed to testify before Congress as a ploy for him to remain in the US beyond the INS deadline.
The US Justice Department, which oversees INS, thought it unwise to let the boy testify before Congress. White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart explained that the INS decision "should be considered on the facts" and "not in the political arena". He affirmed that the decision to return Elian to Cuba "was based on the facts of the law".
Meanwhile, US politicians are embroiled in the fight over Elian. Congressman Burton has a long history of badgering Cuba and its leader, Fidel Castro: He is the co-author of the 1996 Helms-Burton Law, which fastened the screws of the 38-year-old US economic embargo on Cuba, even penalizing other countries that trade with the Caribbean island. Republican senator Bob Smith, of New Hampshire, claims that the INS did not consider the circumstances under which Elian's mother left Cuba when it made it's ruling because it did not have all of the facts about the case.
After meeting with Elian's Miami relatives on Saturday, Smith argued that there is evidence that Elian's father wanted him to leave Cuba for the US. "There is more than circumstantial evidence that this may have been a family decision, including the father, that this child be here in America," Smith claimed. Smith added that the boy approached him and asked in Spanish that Smith help him stay in the US. Smith said he would do everything in his power to see to it that Elian stays in the US. He challenged US Attorney General Janet Reno, "the enforcer of the law," to help Elian stay in the US. "Do not send him back to Cuba," Smith pleaded.
Elian's misfortune comes at a time when celebrations are being held marking the 41st anniversary of Castro's triumphant entry into Havana in 1959. National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon addressed protesters in Cardenas, Elian's hometown, on behalf of Castro.
Cuban Americans, including Elian's Miami relatives, are not impressed with Elian's father, who is currently his guardian. They want Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, to be named his guardian. "The US Congress is affording Elian Gonzalez what INS and this administration has not, which is his legal right and his right to due process," said Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation. "[Burton is] the co-author of that annexationist law, which inflicts tremendous hardships on our children," Alarcon said.
Burton wants to get visas for Elian's father and step-mother and their children so that they can move to the US and make their case "without any fear of reprisals" -- an allusion to his belief that Castro and the Cuban authorities are pressuring Gonzalez and threatening reprisals if he caves in to Burton's will. Apparently, Gonzalez has no intention of leaving his homeland. "What right does that man have?" an anguished Gonzalez sobbed at Friday's rally in Cardenas. "I am the father of Elian," he said.
