The Free Tibet movement in the West has always had more to do with counterculture than the US government.<p>I suspect most Tibetans were rather worse off during the Cultural Revolution than in the quasi-feudal system that existed before. I&#x27;m not entirely convinced they&#x27;re necessarily worse off today, but the Tibetan refugees risking their lives walking across the Himalayas into an exile where they get to &quot;meet the Lama&quot; couldn&#x27;t really be any less focused on geopolitics...<p>I&#x27;m not aware of any parallel Cherokee diaspora.<p>I don&#x27;t think the Uighurs&#x27; preferences for their own cultural practices is anything to do with them paying any attention to the US either.