Yes, a great historical note here to show the relationship of one system of government to another that should have been worse—at least under American principles— but was in fact better. China freed the slaves of Dali Llama and now we hold him and his cadre of slaveholding monks in reverence simply because he is seen as a wise old man who opposes our “enemy.” I didn’t know of this history of Tibetan slavery. It helps to show that political evolution comes in stages through the struggles of history, not all once by magical thinking. Russia was full of serfs under “Peter the Great” and into the 1800’s. It was only revolutionary activists that help end it in part. But when the tsar was overthrown, that was actually a big step forward in dissolving serfdom (the same type of slavery you describe in Tibet). The power was at least now seen to be in the hands of people, even if only in theory. Serfdom was endemic through Europe in the Middle Ages, which is really a type of slavery. In Russia there is still struggle for real democracy, and economic advancement may help it, not hinder it. Putin and the oligarchs simply would yield power so easily (Stalin was an abustle ruler and homicidal manic no better then Hitler in his blood lust to kill Jews, Ukrainians through famine and the “great purge” of around 1937).
Democracy is not given out and taken once. It must move continually fought for and pulled from the hands of owners and rulers. I still believe we in America are one of the most advanced democracies. That might sound naive until you lift the hood of other democracies labeled as such and see the ownership and repressive tactics are oligarchal in nature.