Special Report: Serfs Emancipation Day

    LONDON, March 11 (Xinhua) -- A UK journal has published an article in its March issue to mark the 50th anniversary of the democratic reform in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, hailing it as "Tibet's liberation."

    Lalkar (meaning "challenge"), a bi-monthly anti-imperialism journal published in Britain, runs an article titled "Celebrate the anniversary of Tibet's liberation!"

    It reads: "March 2009 sees the fiftieth anniversary of the triumph of the socialist revolution in China's Tibet province. The decisive rout of the serf-owners revolt in March 1959 drew a line under centuries of feudal backwardness and decades of imperialist manipulation, most notably by Britain."

    "By giving their support to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and their battle to unify all the peoples of China under the common banner of socialism, the Tibetan masses broke with a whole epoch of subservience to slavery and serfdom," it adds.

    The article then writes in length about why Tibet's liberation was delayed nearly ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, analyzing "the oppression suffered by the Tibetan masses and the strenuous efforts made by foreign powers to preserve this feudal backwardness and turn it to their own advantage."

    With quotes from Israel Epstein, the Warsaw-born journalist and author, as well as Robert Ford, a British radio operator turned UK diplomat who worked in Tibet in the 1950s, the article highlights the meddling of "British imperialism" in the region from early 20th century, particularly its military involvement, which it says was later replaced by the "U.S. imperialism" embodied in CIA operative in training "saboteurs."

    "The disgraceful role played by imperialism last year in Lhasa, inciting deadly mob violence against Han, Muslim and Tibetan citizens alike, is sufficient reminder of the secessionist games some would still like to play in the name of 'free Tibet' unwittingly assisted by those in the West who fall for the propaganda," says the article.

    "Yet Tibet is indeed free right now -- free from the scourge of poverty, warlordism and imperialist diktat and plans to stay that way. The vigorous rebuff last year's provocation received reminds the world yet again that 'imperialism lifts up a rock only to drop it on its own feet.'"

    The article concludes that "We are proud to congratulate the Chinese people and the Chinese Communist Party on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of free Tibet!"

    Fifty years ago, the Chinese central government foiled an armed rebellion started on March 10 by the Dalai Lama and his supporters to block the reform of the feudal serfdom in Tibet and split the region from China.

    On March 28, 1959, a new local Tibetan government was formed, freeing millions of Tibetan serfs and slaves, who accounted for more than 90 percent of the then population in the region.

    The Dalai Lama and his followers, who fled the country after the failed rebellion, have since made continuous attempts to separate Tibet from China and restore feudal serfdom in the region. In one of the latest incidents, followers of the Dalai Lama staged violent riots in Lhasa, the regional capital, on March 14 last year, causing 18 civilian deaths and huge property losses.