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01/07/2008
Four monks arrested from Tarmo monastery
Four monks arrested from Tarmo monastery
Chinese authorities have on June 18 arrested four monks of Tarmo monastery in Driru (Ch: Biru) county, Nagchu (Nagu) prefecture while they were on their way to Lhasa for some works related to the monastery, according to a confirmed report. The arrested are abbot or the President of the Democratic Management Committee of the monastery Ngawang Gyalten (42) and his administrative colleagues, Ngawang Jampa (around 40), Ngawang Sangye (38) and Kalsang Lochok (20).
In late March, the Chinese authorities in TAR launched an extensive campaign of patriotic reeducation in almost all Tibetan areas including Sok(Ch: Suo) county, Drachen (Ch: Baqeng) county and Driru (Ch: Biru) county that saw mobilization of armed forces to oversee the repressive measure. During this campaign, Tarmo monastery also received a contingent of work team asking the monks to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Abbot and the President of the Democratic Committee of the monastery, Ngawang Gyatlen had then resisted the campaign by insisting that, as a Buddhist it was ethically unjustifiable for the monks to condemn their root guru. He also demanded from the authorities to invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama back to Tibet. The abbot was then joined by all the monks of the monastery compelling the work team to return but with a stern warning that the fate of the monastery would be decided later in the month of July when another contingent of work team arrives. The arrest is most probably related to the above incident.
The authorities alleged that these monks had embarked on the journey [to Lhasa] in violation of the monastery's regulation without taking proper leave, but their arrest have already been planned due to the above incident and the reason cited by the authorities are just an excuse, sources have added. It is yet not known where these four monks are being held.
In view of the ongoing critical situation inside Tibet, we urge the United Nations and the International community and organizations to the following urgent needs:
- To immediately send an independent international fact-finding mission into Tibet
- To exert pressure on the PRC government to allow unfettered access to free press in whole of Tibet
- To pressure the PRC to end the brutal killings in the whole of Tibet
- To immediately release all the arrested and imprisoned Tibetans
- To extend immediate medical assistance to those injured Tibetans
- To allow free movement of people and provide access to daily needs
- Tibetan Solidarity Committee
20:25 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: Tibet
Who is Truly Politicising Sports?
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{The Tibet Post International - Friday, 27 June 2008}Ever since this year's Olympic Torch commenced its journey, human rights activists, media groups and Tibet supporters throughout the world protested to draw attention to China's brutal, unjust and repressive policies.
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) and the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), however, described these protests as inappropriate to the cause of Olympics on the explicit grounds that sports and politics being two different issues should not mix.
Contrary to these claims, it is actually the Chinese regime that has been mixing politics with sports to say the least. At the time of China's bidding for Olympic host, one of the primary conditions China agreed upon was to improve the human rights situation and freedom of press in the country. However, in spite of their promises, the situation of human rights and freedom of press in China and particularly in Tibet has deteriorated further. Much so, the situation in Tibet in the aftermath of the March protests is a living proof of continuing repression and rule of terror, which has left 209 peaceful Tibetan protesters killed, thousands injured and around six thousand thrown in prisons.
As it was not enough, Chinese authorities inebriated in their arrogance and seeing its political significance, took the Olympic torch to Mount Chomo-Langma (Ch: Qomolungma) and Lhasa city despite unstable and volatile conditions there. It can be only regarded as "rubbing salt on Tibetan people's injuries" and an act to showcase its military might on the subdued Tibetan people. The solid proof to this overbearing and repressive atmosphere in Lhasa were those journalists and reporters who were allowed on a state-controlled visit to the city to cover the Torch relay.
Notwithstanding His Holiness the Dalai Lama's repeated endorsement and support to the Beijing Olympics since the beginning of China's bid to host the event, and subsequent appeals to the Tibetans not to obstruct or protest during the torch's relay in Tibet, the Chinese authorities in TAR, particularly Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party boss have made a scathing statement during the Lhasa torch relay. Zhang Qingli said, "Tibet's sky will never change and the Red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it.... we will certainly be able to smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique".
He further said that they were confident to successfully hold the Beijing Olympics by bringing social stability in Tibet and safeguarding the unity and stability of the motherland. Same day, the Vice Governor of TAR and the Lhasa City Party Secretary, Qin Yizhi had made a similar statement at the opening of the torch relay emphasising to smash the scheming of the Dalai clique to foment social disturbances, sabotage of Beijing Olympics and splitting the motherland. No one denies the fact that the Chinese authorities used this sporting event to promote their political motives behind the Olympics.
Such actions on the part of these Chinese officials are in clear violation of the Olympic charter. Therefore, as rightly raised by the Reporters without Borders with International Olympics Committee (IOC) to look into this matter seriously, the Tibetan Solidarity Committee would also like to appeal to this apex body of the world's sporting event (IOC) to reflect on these behaviours of the Chinese government with concrete actions and should not merely say dry words like "IOC regrets" and "We hope such things won't happen in future". We hope these behaviours of Chinese government will never be repeated and IOC needs to hold accountable.
Report:-Tibetan Solidarity Committee
19:42 Posted in Freedom of expression | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Tibet
"Tibet's independence", "long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama"
{The Tibet Post International - Monday, 30 June 2008}According to a reliable source, June 19 2008 (2:00 PM Local Time), a monk called Ghayou from Sertha Koetsa Village has staged a peaceful demonstration in Sertha District calling for "Tibet's independence", "long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama" and "His Holiness should be invited back to Tibet" while hoisting the Tibetan national flag.
A comparatively large number of Tibetans have gathered at the scene and were about to join the demonstration when the huge number of Chinese police reached the scene, blocked the Tibetans and arrested the monk.
On June 18 2008, in Kardze District in Kham Province (Ch:Ganzi) TAP, several similar peaceful demonstrations took place but no details are available yet. Additionally we have found the names of two nuns who staged a demonstration on that day (see yesterday's press release). Their names are Dhungtso and Drashi Tso. Both those nuns were from Geyma Drak Nunnery School and they were severely beaten during their arrest.
In another incident, recently a monk called Wanglo was arrested and severely beaten after he was found taking photographs while the Chinese authorities were launching the so-called patriotic education campaign at Choktsang Toema Village in Sertha Area, Kham Province. When his relatives appealed the Chinese authorities to release him, they were told he would be released only if they pay a huge sum of 20,000 Chinese Yuan.
While Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, is under strict surveillance after heavy deployment of Chinese troops and armies in plain clothes, the Tibetans living in villages near Lhasa were not absolutely allowed to move to Lhasa. Moreover, the movements of the monks and nuns residing in monasteries in Lhasa and close-by areas are closely checked that they were not allowed to move outside their centres. Similarly since the Beijing Olympic torch will be reaching in Lhasa tomorrow, only the torchbearers and well-wishers after closely examined, were permitted to attended the function. The general public will not be allowed to attend the event.
Due to previous repeated and subsequent demonstrations in Shetoe Phugu Shang, Sertha District in Kham Province, the area is still under immense tense following the Chinese authorities heavily deployed Chinese armies in that area. Notwithstanding the above fact, some Tibetans have carved the huge hills with the inscription "Tibet's Independence". In order to make the inscription more visible, they filled the letters with white stones and pebbles. Few Tibetans namely Rigdhak, Menkyab and Goeso who were arrested in the previous demonstrations in that same area were presently imprisoned and severely tortured in Sertha District Prison. Moreover, none of their relatives were absolutely allowed to meet them.
In view of the ongoing critical situation inside Tibet, we urge the United Nations and the International community and organizations to the following urgent needs:
To immediately send an independent international fact-finding mission into Tibet
To exert pressure on the PRC government to allow unfettered access to free press in whole of Tibet
To pressure the PRC to end the brutal killings in the whole of Tibet
To immediately release all the arrested and imprisoned Tibetans
To extend immediate medical assistance to those injured Tibetans
To allow free movement of people and provide access to daily needs
Report: - Tibetan Solidarity Committee
19:41 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Tibet
China Orders arrest of 36 Tibetans
{The Tibet Post International - Saturday, 28 June 2008} www.tibetpost.net
An order issued by the prefectural Public Security Bureau of Karze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) dated May 7, 2008 pronounced the arrest of 36 Tibetans listed by their names, sex, residential address, residential registration card no., physical description and photographs.
Among the enlisted Tibetans, the youngest one is 22 years old Chodak from Trehor township under Drakgo (Ch: Luhuo) county while the oldest is a 62 years old Tashi from Gyashoe village under Serta (Ch: Seda) county. Six among the listed 36 Tibetans are women. No additional information is yet known about how many of them have been arrested. Following are the names of all the 36 Tibetans ordered to be arrested by the Public Security Bureau (PSB):
1) Tsering Nemay, 25 yrs. Lhopa township, Karze county, 2) Shao Men Men, 43 yrs. female, No. 8 section, Karze town. 3) Gonpo Wangchuk, around 40 yrs. Nyagzam township, Karze town. 4) Tsetan Phuntsok (monk) 38 yrs, Rongpatsa township, Karze county, 5) Rigzin Karma, 22 yrs, Tsogo township, Drakgo county, 6) Chodak, 22 yrs., Trehor township, Drakgo county, 7) Rigzin, Trehor township, Drakgo county, 8) Tseyang alias Yangtso, female, 36 yrs., Tsogo township, Drakgo county, 9) Tenthup, 53 yrs., Nyitoe township, Serta county, 10) Sherten, 30 yrs., Ragtsong township, Serta county, 11) Adron, female, 36 yrs., Taktse township, Serta county, 12) Choeden Kyab, 35 yrs., Choktsang township, Serta county, 13) Soepa, 52 yrs., Yalung township, Serta county, 14) Kyare, female, 30 yrs., Wuda township, Serta county, 15) Woepe, 42 yrs, Serta county, 16) Nyipo, Serkhog township, Serta county, 17) Solo, 40 yrs., Taktse township, Serta county, 18) Tsultim Wangpo, 38 yrs, Taktse township, Serta county, 19) Konchok, 48 yrs, Taktse township, Serta county, 20) Tsekyi, 40 yrs, Choktsang township, Serta county, 21) Sonam Dorje, 25, Yango township, Serta county 22) Lobsang Jamyang alias Lojam, 26 yrs., Serkhog township, Serta county, 23) Sherdrak, 39 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 24) Thupga, 30 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 25) Lodoe alias Ngozum Takdong, 36 yrs, Ragtsong township, Serta county, 26) Tade, female, 55 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 27) Topdo, 38 yrs, Ragtsong township, Serta county, 28) Nyisher, 27 yrs, Samshulthang village, Serta county, 29) Dade, 43 yrs, Nyitoe township, Serta county, 30) Phundo, 51 yrs, Kheokor township, Serta county, 31) Nyima, 40 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 32) Jamyang, 42, Nyitoe township, Serta county, 33) Woetso, 28 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 34) Choetso, female, 53 yrs, Serta county, 35) Tashi, 62, Gyashoe village, Serta county, and 36) Kelsang (butter seller), 31 yrs, Serta county.
Report:-Tibetan Solidarity Committee
19:39 Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Tibet
Tibet as talking point
| The Statesman, India[Monday, May 19, 2008 08:08] |
| By Claude Arpi A Tibetan friend mischievously told me: "The Chinese are lucky, Buddha is more compassionate than Allah". This was not meant as judgment on a particular religion, but rather to illustrate that the way Buddhists react to a situation is quite different from the adepts of other credos. This difference is particularly true when one looks at the so-called 'negotiations', between Dharamsala and Beijing. When Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy returned from Shenzhen after informal talks with some Chinese officials last week, he declared "It was a good first step… We had very candid discussions." While Tibet watchers wondered what he meant with a 'first step' (Gyari has been meeting the Chinese officials for 6 years now), The People's Daily saw the things differently: "The meeting, arranged at the repeated requests made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, was held between central government officials Zhu Weiqun and Sitar and the Dalai Lama's two private representatives." Stream of insults The Chinese communiqué was extremely condescending: "Zhu and Sitar answered patiently the questions raised by the two representatives." It continued: "Zhu and Sitar pointed out that the riot in Lhasa on March 14 had given rise to new obstacles for resuming contacts… however, the central government still arranged this meeting with great patience and sincerity." The Tibetans always seem to be in the position of a beggar holding out his bowl for meagre alms which are refused without fail. What is more shocking is the constant stream of insults against the 'Dalai and his clique' poured out by Beijing before, during and after the talks. It should nevertheless be noted that for the first time, Beijing admitted that Lodi and his colleague were the Dalai Lama's private representatives. During earlier rounds of talks, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs had denied the presence of 'any special envoy' in China. To add insult to injury, he had once added that he had heard that "people with tight [sic] connections to the Dalai were visiting China to learn about Chinese policies, see friends and personally observe changes in Tibet under Chinese rule." The unrest in Tibet and the forthcoming Olympic Games have brought small mercies! If one goes deeper in history, whether it is a Buddhist way of being or not, one can see that the Tibetans have always been reticent to call a spade a spade. Tibet was invaded on October 7, 1950. For days, Lhasa refused to tell the world that the People's Liberation Army had marched into their country. It is only on October 26, that Xinhua News Agency issued a communiqué stating that the 'liberation' of Tibet had started. Robert Ford, the British radio operator posted in Eastern Tibet at that time wrote: "I could only think it was a matter of habit. The Lhasa government was so used to the policy of saying nothing that might offend or provoke the Chinese that it kept it on after provocation had become irrelevant. It was still trying to avert a war that had already broken out." Nine months later, a 17-Point Agreement On Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet was signed between some Tibetan delegates and Chinese officials. The Dalai Lama explained: "The [delegates] were insulted and abused and threatened with personal violence, and with further military action against the people of Tibet, and they were not allowed to refer to me or my government for further instructions. This draft agreement was based on the assumption that Tibet was part of China. That was simply untrue, and it could not possibly have been accepted by our delegation without reference to me and my government, except under duress." This agreement was however not denounced before April 1959, when the Dalai Lama reached Tezpur in Assam. Apart from Tibetan shyness (or Buddhist compassion, whatever one calls it), the level of the talks is rather disturbing. In 1954-55, when the Dalai Lama first visited Beijing, he used to have regular formal and informal meetings with Mao Zedong and others senior Communist leaders. When he arrived in the Chinese capital, he was received with great pomp at the railway station by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and other senior dignitaries. Later in 1957, when the Tibetan leader came to India for the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha Jayanti, he met the Chinese Premier several times and had in-depth discussions about Tibet and the welfare of his people. At the end of the 70's and the 80's, Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's elder brother used to meet Deng Xiaoping, then China's Leader Maximo, to discuss Tibetan affairs. It is during one of these encounters in 1979 that Deng told Thondup that Beijing was ready to discuss everything except Tibet's independence. Today even after six (and half) rounds of 'negotiations', the talks remain stuck. One of the reasons is that Lodi Gyari's interlocutors are non-entities in the party (Zhu Weiqun is a Vice-Minister which is equivalent to a Secretary-rank official) with no power of decision (but do they want to take any decision?). There are basic unbridgeable differences between Dharamsala and Beijing. The Dalai Lama asks for a 'meaningful autonomy' for Tibet within a democratic set-up, while the leaders in China do not understand the concept of autonomy and can speak of 'intra-party democracy' only. During the last National Congress, the 2,217 Congress delegates got some leeway to choose the 200 new Central Committee members. The delegates were allowed a higher "margin of elimination" (the Central Committee candidates nominated by the Standing Committee outnumbered the available seats by some 9%). This is democracy à la chinoise. Ways of the party The question is, therefore, can a democratically elected Tibetan government-in-exile accept today the ways of the Chinese Communist Party? The other hurdle in the 'negotiations' is that both parties hold a diametrically different geographical definition of Tibet. While the Dalai Lama speaks of 'historical Tibet' including all areas where ethnic Tibetans live, an article published on October 3, 2007 by China Today states, "there is no historical basis for an administrative division such as 'Greater Tibet' area... such an idea is totally absurd." It is a fact that many Tibetans living in exile are from Tibetan areas outside the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The Dalai Lama himself is from Amdo Province, Gyari and Samdhong Rinpoche are from Kham, all regions outside the TAR. The Chinese have argued that the Dalai Lama is stuck to his demand because "he needs to buy these people's support". China Today said that this "claim was designed by their foreign bosses and they, as their flunkies, dare not disobey it." It concluded: "The Chinese government will not be fooled!" Flunkies or not, there is an insurmountable abyss between the two parties, particularly after the riots of March which demonstrated that the Tibetans of 'Greater Tibet' were united in their resentment against the Chinese. The only solution to come out of the impasse would be that Premier Wen Jiabao and the Dalai Lama meet and try to sort out some of these thorny issues. But do the Chinese leaders agree amongst themselves on the Tibet issue? It is not sure. |
19:36 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Tibet
Sarkozy to decide attending Olympics after Sino-Tibetan talks
Sarkozy to decide attending Olympics after Sino-Tibetan talks
| Phayul[Tuesday, July 01, 2008 12:05] |
| By Tenzin Sangmo New Delhi, Jul 1 - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will depend on what the seventh round of talks between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Chinese officials will yield. "I think that if it were to progress further and that both the Dalai Lama and the Chinese president recognized the progress then the obstacle to my participation (in the opening ceremony) would disappear," he said on an interview to French state television yesterday. "I am expecting a lot from it," he further added. His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen arrived in China Monday for two days' discussion with representatives of the Chinese leadership. They are accompanied by Senior Assistants Sonam N. Dagpo and Bhuchung K. Tsering both members of the Tibetan Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations and Jigmey Pasang from the Secretariat of the Tibetan Task Force, the office of the Dalai Lama said Monday in as press statement. Sarkozy had earlier hinted he might stay away from the opening ceremony of the Olympics following China's frightful crackdown on Tibet after the March unrest. France has today taken over the rotating EU presidency from Slovenia for the next six months. Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel presented his French equal with a relay baton and an EU flag at a ceremony in Slovenia. Sarkozy has been pressured by pro-Tibet activists to boycott the opening ceremony of the Summer Games with EU members urging he should represent Europe there and amend ties with China following the disruption at the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay and the apparent fall out where Chinese nationalists boycotted French giant Carrefour protesting against the supermarket chain across Chinese cities. The French President has said that he will announce his decision next week. |
19:34 Posted in Freedom of expression | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Tibet
IT’S NOT THE ECONOMY, STUPID! – Jamyang Norbu
IT’S NOT THE ECONOMY, STUPID! – Jamyang Norbu
| Phayul[Monday, June 23, 2008 21:20] |
| By Jamyang Norbu There is considerable disagreement about what exactly happened in Lhasa on March 14th – and why, but I think everyone is agreed on this one fact that the only accredited foreign journalist in Lhasa when the uprising began was James Miles, of the Economist. In an interview with CNN, Miles described the very deliberate manner in which the protesters went about doing what they did. “They marked those businesses that they knew to be Tibetan owned with white traditional scarves. Those businesses were left intact. Almost every single other across a wide swathe of the city, not only in the old Tibetan quarter, but also beyond it in areas dominated by the ethnic Han Chinese. Almost every other business was either burned, looted, destroyed, smashed into, the property therein hauled out into the streets, piled up, burned." Note the last line …"the property therein hauled out into the streets, piled up, burned.” What is really interesting is the fact that there was, on the whole, no looting or pilfering. The protesters did not steal from the Chinese stores. They just piled the stuff in the streets and burned them. There were a few exceptions, of course. Someone told me that after a toy store was smashed up, children could be seen running away with toys in their arms. In an earlier piece, “Was It Violence” on this website, I mentioned, in passing, this intriguing feature of the insurrection – “the piling up on the street and burning” of Chinese products. I received a comment from Dan on April 21st. “I wonder if you see close correspondences between the happenings in March ‘08 and the earlier events of 1987 & ‘89. It seems to me that the idea to destroy Chinese commercial goods (and "not" loot them), burning them in big piles in the streets happened then, too. As I remember, it was said that if people saw other people carrying something away from a shop they would make them throw it on the bonfire… otherwise, they said, ‘Chinese would say it was just about stealing.’" Dan’s remarks jogged my memory of those past events. I telephoned a couple of Lhasa friends (now in exile) who had participated in the earlier demonstrations. They confirmed the “piling up and burning” of Chinese products. In such cases of major public insurrection in the US, as in the Watts riots of 1965 or more recently the LA Riots of 1992 (The Rodney King Riots) there was large-scale looting of shops and commercial fronts by rioters. Warren Christopher who headed the commission that investigated the cause of the LA riot reported that there were definite social and economic causes for the uprising, in addition to the immediate trigger cause of the beating of Rodney King by the LA police and the acquittal of the four police officers by a LA court. The report specifically cited such causes as poverty, extremely high unemployment among residents of South Central Los Angeles, which had been hit very hard by the nation-wide recession, a long-standing perception that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) engaged in racial profiling and used excessive force. If the Tibetan protesters were only venting economic grievances or their resentment of the conduct of Chinese security personnel, I am sure they would not have hesitated to loot the Chinese owned stores. There is a fairly rowdy underclass, what Marxists might call a lumpen element, in Lhasa city whose members have no qualms about such things. Though monks and nuns have usually been the initiators of anti-Chinese demonstrations, Lhasa street people have always managed to run a close second, and furthermore never hesitated about throwing stones or livening up the proceedings in other ways. I had a friend from Lhasa, a rough diamond, who had seen the inside of most Lhasa jails long before the ‘87 demonstrations. Though he was near illiterate, he was much more astute politically than better educated or privileged Tibetans. His savvy and strength came from the fact that he had no illusions about the Chinese. He was one of the main street protesters in ‘87 and later in jail provided inspiration and amusement to many. He managed to visit India after his release and gave me a thorough education on the nuances of street protests. I introduced him to Orville Schell and David Breashears for the Frontline documentary Red Flag Over Tibet, where, with his face partially wrapped in a towel, my friend spoke about his experiences. There can be no doubt that the Lhasa protesters were sending a political message through their actions. By not looting but instead burning Chinese products they were simply saying, “we don’t want Chinese products and we don't want the Chinese in Tibet.” One could perhaps view their action as a variation (albeit an angrier and less Gandhian one) of the burning of English clothes and products by Indian nationalists during the Swadeshi movement. In spite of the unmistakable political message from Lhasa there were attempts in the western media to interpret the protests largely in economic terms – Tibetan dissatisfaction growing from the absence of economic opportunities because of the large-scale migration of Chinese to Tibet, exacerbated by the new railway. Abraham Lustgarten in his flippantly titled “It’s the Tibetan Economy, Stupid” in the Washington Post (March 20) went so far as to assert that "more than violations of human rights and religious freedom, lack of economic opportunity fueled the riots in Tibet last week". Of course no consideration of Tibetan nationalism was remotely entertained as a motive for the uprising. Were there economic motives? I have no doubt there were. And I have no doubt that the motives were broadly as Lustgarten and the others have spelled out. There were in addition motives of human rights violations, denial of religious freedom, suppression of the language, destruction of the culture and on and on. But if, as Lustgarten and some others claim, economic motives were paramount, then why didn’t the protesters just come out and say so? Why didn’t they just shout, “We want better economic opportunities” or just loot the Chinese shops and demonstrate what they wanted in clear materialistic terms. India's struggle for independence and many of Gandhi’s programs as the Swadeshi movement, Khadi, the spinning wheel, and even such mass action as the Salt March were expressions of Indian opposition to British economic exploitation of the Indian masses. But none of those, in any way, detracted from the larger message of Indian independence. Was the American Revolution solely or largely a matter of the resentment of American colonists at what they perceived to be unjust taxes imposed by the British crown? It may have started out so, but by the time of the second Continental Congress and the Declaration of Independence, Americans had come to realize that without political independence there was no way to ensure economic justice for America. Tibetans inside Tibet appear to have come around to that realization since 1987, and indeed aspiring Tibetan Jeffersons and Paines had expressed their ideas in a number of documents (See Elliot Sperling's “The Rhetoric of Dissent: Tibetan Pamphleteers” 1994). The most important political document of that period, sometimes referred to as The Drepung Manifesto, was authored by a group of Drepung monks and printed in the traditional manner with wooden blocks, as a eleven-page pamphlet. It is as clear a declaration of independence as you can get. It has always appeared to me condescending, even somewhat racist, in the way western journalists and experts have insisted on interpreting events in Tibet in the most simplistic and one-dimensional of terms, ignoring the way Tibetans have been discussing, developing and defining their own distinct political and national identity through all these years. We must bear in mind that these ideas were being discussed and expressed in Tibet when the economic situation in Tibet had improved considerably from the period before, in the seventies and early eighties, when people barely had enough to eat. Yet there is a clear understanding that such economic improvements in the lives of the Tibetan people were meaningless without political independence. An excerpt from one pamphlet of that period is unmistakable in its contention: "[If, under China] Tibet were built up, the livelihood of the Tibetan people improved [so that] their lives surpassed those of human beings as lives of happiness that made the deities of the Divine Realm of the Thirty-Three embarrassed; if we truly had this given to us, even then we Tibetans wouldn't want it. We absolutely wouldn't want it." (Bod-ljongs 'dzugs-bskrun dang Bod-mi'i tsho-ba yar-rgyas btang-nas 'gro-ba mi'i rigs-kyi tsho-ba-las 'gal-ba'i lha-gnas sum-cu-rtsa-gsum-gyi lha-rnams-kyang kha-bskyeng dgos-pa'i bde-skyid-kyi tsho-ba zhig kha-yod-lag-yod-kyi nga-tshor sprad-kyang nga-tsho Bod-mir mi-dgos rtsa-ba-nas mi-dgos.) The views expressed in this piece are that of the author and the publication of the piece on this website does not necessarily reflect their endorsement by the website. |
19:32 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Tibet
The Jackpot Olympics: the Torch in Tibet
| By Email[Sunday, June 22, 2008 16:30] |
| By Maura Moynihan On June 21st, the Blood Torch appeared in Lhasa. It was a predictably grim propaganda exercise, with dancing maidens, grinning nomads and unctuous PRC officials waving for the cameras. The select international reporters on hand witnessed a perverse celebration China's Tibet, a stubborn relic of the Cultural Revolution where party bosses flaunt their military muscle as they spit hateful denunciations of the Dalai Lama. Flanked by banners heralding "Great ethnic unity" and "Bless the motherland, joyfully greet the Olympics", Tibet's Communist Chief Zhang Qingli stood before pre-selected civilians and tens of thousands of PLA shock troops, proclaiming "Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it" and "We will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique." The foreign correspondents were impressed, with the psychotic language, the massive militarization and the total absence of authentic Tibetan culture or street life. Video dispatches from the torch ceremony depict a chilling display of mobilization, fleets of armored vehicles rumbling past shuttered shops and deserted streets, with sardonic commentary about the extreme security measures for reporters, to "ensure the safety of guests". As Beijing labors to suppress and control all information about the harsh reality of life in occupied Tibet, it is useful to have a few reporters witness the blunt force of China's police state, as the Summer Olympics draw near. The Games were to be the baptism of China's global ascendancy, as host to the supreme idyll of the free world. But the torrent of outrage that drowned the Blood Torch tossed an arrow into the heart of the Politboro - the Tibet crisis -inducing a xenophobic frenzy. China is bracing for a fight with the twin turbines of the global sports economy; tourism and media. For good reason; it was travelers bearing cameras who exposed China's cruel treatment of the Tibetan people when Tibet was pried open in the 1980's. Beijing has clamped down on visas, travel permits and contracts. Journalists who tried to cover Tibet received death threats and hate mail, prompting editors to warn field staff to steer clear of Lhasa. On June 1st, 08, the Beijing Olympic Committee abruptly revoked its 2007 agreements to allow "complete freedom" to all media, infuriating the 12 international television networks who paid millions to cover the Olympic Games. No live coverage from Tiananmen Square, no man-in-the-street interviews without a security official hovering near. An English phrasebook for the domestic security personnel contains a chapter entitled "How to Stop Illegal News Coverage" with sample dialogue of a policeman confiscating a camera and escorting a reporter to the police station for questioning. It does not post guidelines, at least, not in English, for silencing a local reporter or source with a beating or jail sentence. The strategic planning team at Hill & Knowlton, the New York PR firm assigned to clean up Beijing's Olympic image, got an easy pass when the earthquake struck Sichuan on May 12th,.; The IOC and their corporate sponsors lauded China's the swift mobilization into the quake zone, fostering a virtual blackout of all reporting and discussion of Tibet. One hears of classified memos floating around Hill & Knowlton, offering suggestions on how to spin the next Tibet blow-up, with talking points about sports and world peace. The corporate sponsor spin is straightforward, if crass; Herbert Hainer of Adidas, an Olympic sponsor, said in a recent press conference; "The Chinese market is a very big one for us and it will shortly be the second-biggest market in the world for us, after the US market. But once again, this is not the reason why we didn't speak up on the Tibet conflict." The strenuous passage of the Blood Torch through Tibet offered a glimpse of the extreme militarism that China is preparing for the Olympic Games. Should the Tibet crisis explodes in August, tens of thousands of reporters and tourists and athletes will bear witness. But it's too late for China to cancel the match, the world has already paid for a front row seat. The views expressed in this piece are that of the author and the publication of the piece on this website does not necessarily reflect their endorsement by the website. |
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