Kentucky Kernel
April 30, 2009

Currently, China is ruling the world. Most
recently, South Africa refused the Dalai Lama a
visa to attend a peace conference to be held in
Johannesburg. The country is hosting the 2010
World Cup, and their reasoning behind the denial
was that they felt the presence of the Dalai Lama
would distract from the intent of the conference,
“to discuss football’s role in fighting racism and xenophobia.”

South African government spokesman Thabo Masebe
also stated that the Dalai Lama’s presence "would
not be in the best interests of South Africa at
this time.” I, as well as most scholars, believe
this is only because the South African government
is bowing to the Chinese government, which thinks
that the Dalai Lama is the premier player behind
Tibet’s push for independence. How do you hold a
world peace conference without the Dalai Lama,
and with Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu,
prominent Nobel Peace laureate, protesting?

Unfortunately, we are also under China’s thumb,
as they own most of our nation’s debt. As
Americans recognizing an individual’s right to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we
should be playing a bigger part in assuring that
all citizens of the world are able to exercise
these rights. You can help end this
discrimination against the Dalai Lama and the
Tibetan people by visiting www.freetibet.org and
taking action on their campaigns. This is fast
and easy for you to do and could potentially save
many innocent lives. Wouldn’t you want someone to
click a button to save your life?

Morgan Culver
Social Work Sophomore