What really happened in Tibet?
In episode 85 of Global Majority for Peace, Dylan Koba from the Marxist-Leninist organisation, the Red Anti-Imperialist Collective joins Ileana to unpack the enduring propaganda around Tibet. From Hollywood tropes like Seven Years in Tibet and Richard Gere’s Buddhism, to CIA‑backed separatist movements, we trace how “Free Tibet” became a slogan for imperial interests.
We explore the historical reality: Tibet’s feudal serfdom (over 95% of the population), the 1950 Battle of Chamdo, the 17‑Point Agreement signed by the Dalai Lama, Mao’s gradualist policies, and the role of Tibetan communists in shaping liberation. Dylan debunks myths and highlights why Tibet’s incorporation into China is, in reality, an act of anti‑imperialism rather than colonization.
Dylan is a Marxist-Leninist and a member of the ML organisation, the Red Anti-Imperialist Collective. Dylan has written on a number of issues and topics relating to actually existing socialist projects and the broader anti-imperialist struggle. Recently, he has focused on the political economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and its interrelation with the global political economy. His aim is to use this work to strengthen his and his Red Ant comrades’ capacity to agitate effectively for this prominent socialist project in our current conjuncture, as the contradictions of capitalism and its increasingly barbaric expressions of imperialism grow ever sharper.
For more from Dylan: https://actuallyexistingstalinist.substack.com/
To learn more about the Red Anti-Imperialist Collective: https://redantcollective.org/
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