The Free Tibet movement has grown rapidly throughout the world in the past decade with the huge Free Tibet concert in San Francisco, celebrity endorsement, and international fund-raisers. But while people abroad demand Tibet’s independence, Chinese authorities and some international media groups have indicated that the Tibetan people themselves may have given up the fight against their Chinese governors.

Before China conquered the country in 1949, Tibet was a Himalayan nation ruled by the Dalai Lama, the highest ranking religious official in Tibetan Buddhism. Since Chinese occupation, many reports of human rights violations and brutality have leaked out of Tibet. Knowledge of these events have been spread en masse by the exiled government of Tibet which prints publications in Hindi, French, Tibetan, and English. The Dalai Lama has traveled from the Czech Republic to Taiwan, and even to the White House, and hundreds of grassroots organizations and Web pages have sprung up around the world protesting Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Charlie Hudson, a San Francisco representative for Students for a Free Tibet, attributes the Free Tibet movement partly to alleged Chinese oppression. "According to credible reports, Chinese government authorities... commit widespread human rights abuses in Tibet, including instances of death in detention, torture, arbitrary arrest, and intensified controls on religion and on freedom of speech and the press, particularly for ethnic Tibetans. This cannot continue to happen," he said.

But an August 1997 article in the Wall Street Journal brought up the question of what the Tibetan people want, not just the exiled government. China has increased investment in Tibet by over 200% in the last seven years, bringing railways, mining companies, employment, and most importantly, modern entertainment. Movie theaters, dance clubs, and restaurants seem to be doing what the Chinese military has tried to do for over 45 years: to integrate Tibet into China. Chinese-owned companies in Tibet have reported high attendance ratings at media centers and respectable profit margins.

The exiled government of Tibet acknowledges this trend but strongly opposes it. "The present Chinese policy, a combination of demographic and economic manipulation, aims to suppress the Tibetan issue by changing the very identity of Tibet and its people," the exiled government said on its Web page.

But this "demographic and economic manipulation" has not changed the goal of the exiled government to peacefully liberate Tibet. Tibetan activists were very excited about the release of Brad Pitt’s movie, Seven Years in Tibet, which gives insight into Tibetan life before Chinese occupation. "We want this film to do for Tibet what Beyond Rangoon did for Burma," Bhurchung Tsering said, Washington-based spokesman for the International Campaign for Tibet.

The Chinese government has also used the film-making industry to promote its views on the Tibet issue. A documentary released in China stated that Tibetans used to live as slaves to a corrupt religious elite-a system the documentary said the Dalai Lama headed and approved, an idea considered by many historians. A Chinese summer box office hit called Red River Valley tells how Chinese and Tibetans fought together against British intruders at the turn of the century.

Some political enthusiasts dismiss the recent theories about the Tibetan people’s wishes as Chinese propaganda. "The Chinese are liars, that’s all there is to it. When they tell the UN that they’re not committing human rights [violations] and it’s obvious they are, why should we believe China about Tibet?" an anonymous 17 year old said.

Sixteen year old Matt Messana believes in letting the Tibetan people decide their future. "If they’re happy with the way the country is then [the world] should not get involved in their affairs."