Why the Dalai Lama is a Socialist

Terry Gibbs started her political life as an activist and popular educator working in solidarity with various social movements in Latin America. She has since lived, worked and conducted research around the world, landing in such places as a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, a Marxist guerrilla camp in Colombia, a biodiversity farm in India and a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. She also enjoys hanging out with her family, gardening and cooking. Terry currently teaches international politics at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and is co-author, with Garry Leech, of The Failure of Global Capitalism: From Cape Breton to Colombia and Beyond (2009).

• Introduction1. Much Ado About No-Thing2. Compassion is a Verb3. Living in an Alienated World4. Consumer Citizens in a Globalized Society5. Bodies in the Basement6. Capitalism and the Democratic Deficit7. In Search of the Global CitizenConclusion

The Dalai Lama has long voiced a need for Buddhists to be involved in societal and political change as well as inner transformation, in line with Gibbs’s hypothesis linking Buddha Dhamma and Socialism. Gibbs’s work advocates moving towards a more compassionate world, and starts to explore a vision for a future without suffering.