Tibet Telegraph

Has Hollywood Sold Out on Tibet?

2013-05-22T04:16:00.003-07:00

By Benjamin Carlson

If there's one lingering sore point between Hollywood and China, it's Tibet.

For years, celebrity activists have annoyed Beijing by organizing charity concerts for Tibetan independence, shouting "Free Tibet" at awards ceremonies, and palling around with the Dalai Lama, whom the People's Republic regards as a "jackal" and "a wolf in sheep's clothing."

Holly actor Richard Gere (left),
Lobsang Sangay
Tibetan Prime Minister (right).
Photo by Tendar Tsering

In 1997, studios released not one but two films about Tibet, both of which were promptly denounced by Chinese officials, who also banned Brad Pitt and Martin Scorsese from the country as punishment.

You would think, then, that the idea of a major studio collaborating with the Chinese government on a Tibet movie would not only be radioactive, but also absurd.

But such is the dependence of Hollywood on China now that the absurd has become real. Last month, DreamWorks Animation — makers of "Kung Fu Panda" — announced they were teaming up with the China Film Group, a state-owned company, to make "The Tibet Code."

The movie will be an adaptation of a best-selling series of potboiler books that feature a set of adventurers and Tibetan Mastiffs traipsing around the Himalayan landscape in search of hidden Buddhist treasures.

At the press conference, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg batted away suggestions that the film could be tainted by politics, saying that the studios would "find a course to tell a great story and not step on political issues." He stressed that it was simply a "blockbuster story" without any hidden motives.

The message from the Chinese side, which controls 55 percent of the deal, was a bit different. Han Sanping, chairman of the China Film Group, said that "The Tibet Code" would help broadcast Chinese culture, morals and values — a mission in line with Beijing's goal of burnishing its global image.

While Hollywood has increasingly bent over backward for access to China's growing box office, now the second largest in the world after the United States, the "Tibet Code" project marks a step into riskier territory.

Along with the Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibet is one of the most strictly controlled subjects in Chinese media. Coverage of the 100-plus Tibetan self-immolations is forbidden. The vision of Tibetan history presented in China is typically one of Han Chinese Communists liberating the region from brutality, feudalism and backwardness.

"China has its own made-up story when it comes to Tibetan history," says Michael Davis, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong. "They claim that Tibet was a big happy part of China for hundreds of years, and most scholarship in the world outside of China disputes that."

Much like in the West, Tibet has a growing attraction for many educated, urban Chinese. Even as tension between Han Chinese and Tibetans has increased, millions of tourists continue to flock to Tibet, with tourism growing 25 percent between 2011 and 2012. Young hippies called zang piao, or "Tibet drifters" flow to the region searching for spirituality.

A spate of recent movies and books portray Tibet as a land of exotic culture and mystical beauty — chief among them "The Tibet Code," which sold more than 3 million copies, and spawned a series of imitators.

Last November, Gao Yujie of the Tibet Daily criticized the fad for all-things-Tibet, saying:

"Looking over these books, you will find authors who understand Tibet to a limited degree, with most of their content based on rumor and conjecture."

While being advertised as a compendium of Tibetan culture and history, "The Tibet Code" avoids touching on the contemporary political reality in Tibet, where cities are under heavy surveillance and monks are arrested for subversion.

Tibet comes across not as a land of ethnic tension, but one of exotic culture and ancient wisdom.

"China has a tendency to try and present the story of its so-called 'national minorities' in a sort of classic colonial vision of these dancing natives and culture shows," Davis said.

"If [DreamWorks] gets this wrong, they'll be able to show this movie in China and nowhere else. … At the same time that we have all these self-immolations, a 'happy native' story isn't going to go over too well."

DreamWorks is hardly the only studio taking risks to gain access to the Chinese market. Already, American filmmakers have learned to comply with the fickle requirements of Chinese censors and film authorities.

Director Quentin Tarantino, who prides himself on being a provocateur, allowed censors to cut much of the sex and violence in "Django Unchained." "Iron Man 3" changed the ethnicity of its villain, "The Mandarin," and added scenes for the Chinese version that showed a Beijing surgeon saving Tony Stark's life. Even "World War Z," the newest film of Brad Pitt, deleted dialogue tracing the outbreak of a deadly virus to China.

While Tibet remains a passionate cause for many celebrities, their power over the studios may be waning.

As Professor Barry Sautman of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology notes:

"It's not to say that there aren't people in Hollywood still committed to the Tibetan exiles' cause, for example Richard Gere. But certain major studios have to take into account that they want to sell their movies in China. So they may not be so willing to immediately jump when they're criticized. It's more divorced from political conceptions."

NOTE—Benjamin Carlson is a senior correspondent at Global Post and former executive editor of The Atlantic Wire. To read the original version of the article click here and to contact the author, click here.

The Tibetan test

2013-05-20T04:06:00.002-07:00

By Edward Lucas

The West must unite to resist Chinese bullying against those who meet Tibet's leaders

The Tibet season has opened again, with a dire warning to the British government that Prime Minister David Cameron's temerity in meeting the Dalai Lama last year had blighted relations. Only an apology can mend matters. The communist authorities in Beijing like to think that they can boss other countries around on this score. When Nicolas Sarkozy, then French president, met the Tibetan leader in 2009, France was forced to

Edward Lucas

issue a humble joint statement implying that it would do no such thing again. In 2007, after Germany's Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama, Germany did the same.

These are tough times for Tibetans, not just because of their despair at occupation of their homeland, but because of Western pusillanimity. Under the last Labour government, Britain (for no good reason) dropped its position of recognising only Chinese “suzerainty” over Tibet, not de jure rule. Now Cameron is being asked to kow-tow if he wants to restore Chinese trade and investment. Estonia, where President Toomas Hendrick Ilves commendably met the Dalai Lama in 2011, has had the same icy treatment.

Chinese bullying is working. It is ever-harder for Tibetan leaders to get meetings when they travel in Europe and the United States (though the country's émigré political leader, Lobsang Sangay, did have a reasonably successful trip to Washington DC this month).

This is a test of European and transatlantic political will. If Europe and the US adopted a common position (something on the lines of ‘we will meet with anyone we choose to, regardless of diplomatic bluster'), then the Chinese protests would be fireworks not cannons. China can afford to pick off individual countries, punishing them with a ban on high-level meetings and visits, or even trade and investment sanctions. But it cannot do that to the entire West.

The burden of responsibility and solidarity lies particularly heavily on the countries that have living memories of communist rule and foreign occupation. The Tibetan flag is banned by the Chinese authorities, just as owning a flag in the colours of the pre-war republics guaranteed harsh punishment in the Soviet era. The Baltic states were wiped off the map by the Soviet Union, which criminalised any expression of national sentiment. Migration and russification countered Baltic “nationalist” tendencies; now Beijing is destroying Tibetan identity with huge Han Chinese settlement. The bogus rhetoric of communist ethnic harmony (be like us and we can all be happy) and modernisation are almost identical. The sense of near-hopelessness is similar too. Only 30 years ago the restoration of Baltic independence seemed an impossible dream.

A similar duty lies on Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians and other former captive nations. Indeed, anyone who cared about freedom in Europe during the Cold War should care about Tibet now, for the same reasons. Members of the European Parliament, of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, of national legislatures and governments, and everywhere else in public life (universities, think tanks, even media outlets) should make a point of arranging meetings with Tibetan representatives and doing so publicly and proudly. It does not require great moral courage to schedule a meeting and publish a photo. But once everyone is doing so, the ability of the Chinese embassies to feign outrage, and to impose punishments, is greatly limited. Instead of letting timidity ratchet down towards defeat, collective action ratchets resistance upwards towards victory.

The importance of this goes far beyond Tibet. If Europe cannot stick up for principle and defend itself against bullying when the stakes are relatively low, what chance is there that it can do so when the stakes are higher?

NOTE— Edward Lucas is the international Editor of The Economist and this article is reprinted from EuropeanVoice.com

TIBET: A FIGHT FOR FREEDOM AND EQUALITY

2013-05-07T19:02:00.003-07:00

By Rashi Jauhri

Since 2009, a staggering number of 117 people have set themselves ablaze, protesting the Chinese military regime in Tibet. Unfortunately, this number has been repeated so many times already that it has become a statistic. The problem is when we see number of deaths as numbers and not as people; like the 110th person who self immolated in Tibet was a thirty-year-old woman named Kal

Rashi Jauhri

Kyi, a mother of four and a loving wife; the 111th was Lhamo Kyab, a forty-three-old forest guard; the 25th self immolated person was a 22-year-old monk named Tenpa Darjey. These are people who had families and friends yet resolved to such drastic measures – why? Imagine, living in a country, your own country and not being able to speak in your language, or raise your national flag, or practice your religion and beliefs. In a free world, we fight for freedom of speech, imagine not having the basic right to live.

The human race is designed in a way that we take what’s rightfully ours – by fight, by peace, by love, by war, by hook or by crook – because it’s ours — it’s my damn birthright to be free. Not very far from India, where I live, is a country denied just that: Freedom, freedom for anything and for everything. I believe people don’t belong to a country, or a religion, they belong to a cause: a cause that is so deep ingrained in their blood that it becomes the sole purpose of their lives, the sole reason they wake up every morning.

Every Tibetan, that student in your class, that lady who lives right across the street, that Tibetan man you see every day, is a Freedom fighter who has been relentlessly fighting for what’s rightfully theirs for decades now. The second generation of Tibetans who were born and brought up in exile, face the ultimate identity crisis: ”I’m a Tibetan. No, I wasn’t born in Tibet. No, I’ve never even been there. No, I can’t just march back into Tibet whenever I want. I would love to but I can’t.” Educated, internet savvy, a generation of coffee and Facebook addicts, they dedicate their lives to the struggle. There’s always an alternate choice – you can join the regular world, churn out day after day’s worth of paperwork, and go home with a big fat pay cheque or you devote your life to that one reason – that itch to change the world for better.

We live in the 21st century, and communism, oppression, repression should be concepts of history, not the reality of a country. Tibet has since 1959, seen deaths and blood of their people, they have seen the charred bodies of 117 loved ones, all because of China and it’s sadistic need to control and oppress. My problem is that China is on its way to become a superpower, and the world doesn’t see it yet; but I believe that magnitude of power and control in the wrong hands will be the end of the world.

William Ernest Henley’s Invictus reads –

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The hope for me lies in this generation of Tibetans and their supporters who have chosen the alternate path, the struggle for freedom. It doesn’t come easy; they lose family and friends, live in constant fear of being discovered and their families in Tibet are killed or imprisoned because they protest here, the way back home seems lost to some but every time, with every protest, freedom seems just a bit closer. This fight for liberty, freedom and equality is the epoch of a better change, is the epoch of fearless people, it’s the beginning of a Brave New World!

NOTE— Rashi Jauhri is a freelance journalist and Human Rights’ activist based in India. She is an ardent supporter of the Tibetan freedom movement. This article has been initially published by the Brave New World.

Hong Kong people can't just wait around for democracy; they must act

2013-05-02T02:54:00.002-07:00

By Martin Lee

My story begins with the appearance of the pro-democracy legislators on the balcony of the former Legislative Council building at midnight on June 30, 1997. We said something very simple: "We shall return." We knew we would be thrown out of the Legislative Council by what was called the

Martin Lee

Provisional Legislative Council. As it was a provisional council, members did not have to be elected.

Articles 45 and 68 of the Basic Law say that the ultimate aim is the election of the chief executive and all members of Legco by universal suffrage. The Law's annex effectively said that, by the 10th year, Hong Kong could - unfortunately, not must - have genuine democracy.

I was very angry that night, but we did return. I asked why we had to wait 10 years; are we not ready? Doubters should look at any nation or territory with democratic institutions to compare their conditions when they started out with those of Hong Kong in 1997. Hong Kong was more ready, so why should we have to wait?

But, as I look towards the future, I can't even tell you when we will have democracy. I don't think anyone in Hong Kong knows. Maybe the leaders in Beijing know. I believe they may have a date in mind.

One person, one vote, according to international standards, will come when leaders in Beijing are assured that Hong Kong people will elect whomever Beijing wants to be the chief executive and Hong Kong people vote for the pro-Beijing parties to form the majority in Legco. When they are assured that Hong Kong people are ready to elect their "puppets", they will let Hong Kong people have "genuine democracy".

That day may never come because Hong Kong people treasure their core values and the pillars that keep our systems going. The core values are obstacles to Beijing, as it wants to control Hong Kong just as they control the mainland. It wants to see the core values - press freedom, for example - go. Without press freedom, the government will have better support. People won't know the "funny things" the government has been doing.

Getting rid of the core values will be a problem. I have always said that unless we can export our rule of law to mainland China, they will export their corruption to Hong Kong. This is happening. There are allegations that our last ICAC commissioner used government money to fund his own dinners with friends from Beijing or provincial governments of China. The legislator who reported it to the Independent Commission Against Corruption should have reported it to the police.

What are we going to do? In the past, Hong Kong people, including me, had been happy to wait. Ten years after 1997 came and went. Nothing happened because Beijing was worried about July 1, 2003, when half a million took to the streets to protest against Article 23. If the bill had been passed in its original form, it would have impinged on our freedom of religion, of the press and of association.

In June that year, I received a letter from Condoleezza Rice, then the US national security adviser, who thanked me for bringing to her attention the debate in Hong Kong. The letter said the US government was against the passage of the law and called on the SAR government to establish democracy as soon as possible. A few days later, a press release from the White House contained word for word what was said to me in the letter.

A number of foreign governments followed suit, calling on the SAR government to introduce democracy. But it was the US government and not the British government, the contractual party of the Joint Declaration, that made the first move. Why should other governments get involved? In 1984, many governments supported the Joint Declaration as they saw the possibility that Hong Kong could function under the principle of "one country, two systems", and Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy. If these governments still support the Joint Declaration, can they really sit quietly and watch Beijing break its promise towards Hong Kong?

Ten years after 1997 have gone by, and now the promise of 2017 is being postponed again. Promises were not just made to the people of Hong Kong, but to the international community as well. If a government were allowed to break an international obligation in relation to Britain, one would be encouraging the same country to break other treaties.

I say to all governments who supported and still support "one country, two systems", they owe Hong Kong people a moral obligation to support Hong Kong's fight for democracy.

We are not asking for anything that has not been promised. We are not asking for new things. We are asking for promises to be kept. If the free world were to allow the Chinese government to break those promises, the Joint Declaration would become a litany of broken promises. And then it may become a big lie.

The people of Hong Kong now realise that the days of waiting for democracy to descend upon us are over. They must do something about it, otherwise that day will never come. Will it come in my lifetime? Why must I see democracy before I close my eyes and go to heaven? I want to make sure democracy will arrive.

In the short term, I am pessimistic as democracy is being redefined. One person, one vote may be allowed, but the nomination process will be controlled through a committee that will only nominate two or three "puppets" selected by Beijing. More than half of the population, who have voted for pro-democracy candidates [in the past], will be shut out. That is equal to disenfranchising the majority of the people of Hong Kong.

In the longer term, I am optimistic as the whole world is marching towards democracy and the rule of law. Even if China were to be the last to get there, it will still get there. I also hope that the international community will at least honour their moral obligation to Hong Kong.

NOTE— Martin Lee is the founding chairman of the Democratic Party. This is an edited version of a speech he made at a luncheon organised by the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation on March 25

China Has Deployed Dogs, But The Barking Dogs Won’t Bite

2013-04-30T01:47:00.003-07:00

By Tendar Tsering

After deploying dozens of armies, now China has deployed molosser dogs at Raki Nullah in eatern Ladakh, but the barking dogs won’t bite because they are well trained and they know it is not 1962.

Indian government has not deployed any dogs at the border in response to the 70—Kilometer incursion into the Indian area by the Chinese troops, but Indian media including Times of India, NDTV and even the Hindu started barking continuously for last more than one week.

None of the Media have come up with well-proven information to say that Beijing is entering into the Indian border, but it is fair understanding that Chinese troops have already entered into the Indian area. But it is pretty sure that China’s intension entering into the Indian border is certainly not to conquer the area and waging a war with the Indian government is out of question.

Look at the incursions, they have come with dogs and put up banners reading ‘you are in China side’, and it is very clear that they are simply trying to increase the Indian blood pressure.

Why they are trying to increase the Indian blood pressure?

This is the question that Indian media have to debate, this is the question that Indian authorities should note down why China is simply trying to increase the Indian blood pressure.

Well, one thing is clear, China understands India well— It knows India has high blood pressure problem and by adding more blood pressure, India can be killed.

With the border incursion, India is getting boiled. Emotionally people in Ladakh and border areas are going far away from India day by day. They are feeling excluded, cast away— people of no-man’s land and a day can come when these people might feel like being under the Chinese government.

It is season for the Chinese government to bark and they do bark every year at this time— every time before high level dignitary meetings of the two countries. They simply bark, make border incursions and increase the Indian blood pressure, so they can cool down the Indian government during the meetings in order to demand something from the Indian government. Nothing less, nothing more. That is it. That is China’s strategy and by now, India should understand that.

When China deploys one dog, India should be decisive enough to deploy two dogs and when China makes a border incursion, India should be brave enough to kick out the Chinese armies from the Indian border. What ever happen, it should happen at the border only.

It is not 1962, it is 2013 and India is no more the India that it was back in 1960s.

China understands that. So, hyping news and sensitizing issues are unnecessary. Unless, peaceful Indian government can turn into an aggressive warrior, hyping news would help nothing but can put its own people at the border areas insecure and unwanted.

Tibet's Man on Fire

2013-04-27T04:55:00.001-07:00

By Jeffrey Bartholet

Tibetans continue to burn. This week, two monks from Taktsang Lhamo Kirti monastery, Lobsang Dawa and Konchok Woeser, set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule. A week earlier, a young mother by the single name Chugtso self-immolated, leaving behind her husband and a three-year-old child. Well over a

hundred Tibetans have sacrificed themselves in this way since 2009. Yet it's very difficult for journalists to cover the burnings, because Chinese authorities block access to the areas where they occur, and impose punishments on those who provide information to the outside world. The self-immolation a year ago of Jamphel Yeshi, however, took place in India, beyond the Chinese news blockade.

At the time he decided to set fire to himself, Jamphel Yeshi was living in the Tibetan refugee colony of Majnu ka Tilla, on the northern outskirts of Delhi. The colony was first settled in 1963, four years after the Dalai Lama escaped to India from advancing Chinese forces. The early residents built thatched huts and made a living brewing and selling chang, a traditional Tibetan barley-and-wheat alcohol. As refugees from the roof of the world, they were unaccustomed to the heat and humidity of the low-lying plain. They had no idea how long they'd be staying but imagined they'd return home soon.

Today, about 4,000 people live in the colony, which has been overtaken by the city: A busy thoroughfare runs alongside it, and Indian neighborhoods have grown up nearby. New construction in the colony is illegal, yet ragged workers continue to dig foundations, carrying rubble and dirt in handwoven baskets balanced on their heads and dumping their contents on the nearby banks of the Yamuna River. They navigate a warren of multistory buildings, a shambolic jumble of several hundred homes with colored prayer flags fluttering from the rooftops. The alleyways, many just wide enough for two pedestrians to pass, are populated by crimson-robed monks and nuns, mangy dogs and barefoot kids, activists and drifters, petty merchants, and beggars with missing or mangled limbs who offer a broad smile and warm thanks for receiving the equivalent of 20 cents. A Tibetan far from home can enjoy familiar scents and tastes here: salty butter tea, steamed dumplings, Tibetan bread and biscuits. (Learn about Tibetan traditions under Chinese Rule.)

Jamphel Yeshi—Jashi to his friends—lived with four other Tibetan men in a one-room, windowless apartment they rented for the equivalent of $90 a month. The entrance to the room is through a tiny kitchen area, which is separated from the sleeping quarters by a threadbare curtain in a Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck motif. Jashi's mattress still lies on the floor in a corner, below posters of the Dalai Lama and other senior lamas. His mattress and four others form a U-shape around the perimeter of the room, which is illuminated by three fluorescent tubes. A thin cabinet still holds many of Jashi's books, including several well-thumbed collections on Buddhism, Tibetan politics, and history. During the day, the men would store their personal belongings in two tiny alcoves. Jashi's small nylon suitcase remains where it was when he was alive, holding most of what he owned, including three ID cards, two plastic pens, two rosaries, four cotton sweaters, four pairs of pants, a vest, a scarf, a green and a red string, and a small Tibetan flag. (Related: "Buddha Rising, Buddhism in the West.")

On the night before he set himself on fire, Jashi was in a cheerful mood. Two friends were visiting from the town of Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama and seat of the Tibetan government in exile, about 300 miles from Majnu ka Tilla. It was Lobsang Jinpa's turn to cook that evening, but he had become distracted at a cybercafé. Jashi called Jinpa on his mobile phone and ribbed him: "Have you forgotten that you have to make dinner? You've become very popular in Dharamsala; maybe you're too big too cook for us now!" Jinpa rushed back; by the time he arrived Jashi had already washed and cut the vegetables. (Learn about the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.)

Jinpa cooked thenthuk, a traditional Tibetan dish of noodles, vegetables, and mutton. "No one said it was tasty, but everyone ate it," recalls Jinpa, a former political prisoner who escaped Tibet in 2011. "Jashi ate very well." The seven young men who gathered that evening talked about the upcoming visit by Chinese premier Hu Jintao and about a protest that was to take place the following day in downtown Delhi against Chinese rule. At one point, Jashi took off his shirt and flexed his muscles, showing off the dragon tattoos on his arms and joking about his physique.

As he often did, Jashi woke early the next morning, before any of his roommates. He first went to the Buddhist temple in Majnu ka Tilla to help serve tea to people attending prayers. Then he returned to the room, where he picked up a small backpack and a large Tibetan flag. He neatly folded his blanket and propped a book by the Dalai Lama and another on Tibetan history on top, so the arrangement resembled an altar. He roused his cousin, Tsering Lobgyal, to tell him he was leaving his mobile phone at home to recharge. If anyone called, Lobgyal should answer it. Then he went to board one of five buses taking protestors to the rally.

As Jashi passed again through the temple square, a friend asked why he was dressed in long sleeves and carrying a pack—it was too hot for that. Another joked about the large flag billowing off his back. "Superman!" the friend yelled as Jashi trotted past. Boarding the bus, Jashi met yet another friend and neighbor, Kelsang Dolma, who was going to the rally with her two-year-old son. Everyone had been talking about an unprecedented series of self-immolations in Tibet since March 2011 and wondering if Tibetans might set fire to themselves at the Delhi protest. Dolma patted the pack on Jashi's back and joked, "Is this your petrol? Don't set it on fire!"

Jashi smiled.

Looking back, Jashi's friends see signs of what was to come. In 2008, he had vowed to set himself on fire and had even purchased a bottle of fuel. His cousins and friends persuaded him to cancel his plan, insisting that he could do much more for the Tibetan cause if he continued to live.

Dolma now recalls signs from the day Jashi self-immolated. On the crowded bus, he was holding a nearly empty bottle of cola and gave it to Dolma's son to finish off. Then Dolma tried to fling the plastic bottle out the window—common practice in India—but Jashi stopped her. She thought he was being conscientious. That's the way he was: earnest, devoted to doing the right thing, always volunteering and counseling others on what should or shouldn't be done. In retrospect, she wonders if he needed the bottle to fill with gasoline. Jashi also realized on the bus that he didn't have his wallet and asked to borrow 200 rupees from Dolma, whom he affectionately called "sister." She didn't have change, so gave him 500 rupees, which he reluctantly accepted.

Did he use the money to buy gasoline to fill the bottle? At the time, Dolma had no suspicions: Jashi was upbeat, smiling, and playing with her young son. "At another point during the ride, I opened a bus window to get some air," Dolma recalls. "He said, 'Wow,' and he smiled and opened his arms to the coolness of the air ... I think now that he knew he was feeling that for the last time. But at that moment, I only thought it was a bit strange."

The bus stopped a couple of miles from the demonstration site so the protestors could draw attention to the Tibetan cause by marching through the city. Organizers handed out bottles of water to the marchers, many of whom wore yellow pinnies and badges with a bloody hand superimposed next to the face of Hu Jintao. Jashi told Dolma he needed to buy something for a friend, and they parted company. Video taken a little later contains a brief glimpse of Jashi, alone near the back of the procession, smiling and chanting slogans.

By the time the parade reached Jantar Mantar—a street where Indian protests take place daily—as many as 3,000 Tibetans had massed together. They were led by three horsemen dressed in traditional outfits from the three regions of Tibet. Indian demonstrations were taking place to the right and left—a clamor of noise and sweat, flapping flags, and waving banners. The heat was intense, over 90ºF. Dolma and others sought bits of shade under nearby neem trees.

Jashi slipped away through a gate and down a short driveway to an old sandstone building housing the All India Freedom Fighters' Organization and other offices. Under a sign reading "Mehta and Padamsey Surveyors Private Limited, International Loss Adjusters," he poured the gasoline over himself. It ran down his shoulders, over his clothes, and into his shoes. Then he put a flame to it.

Jashi ran about 20 strides, stumbled and fell under a giant Banyan tree. He was still inside the gated compound and wanted to get to the crowd of protestors outside. He pulled himself up and ran again, this time for 50 to 60 strides, through the gate and into the mass of people, who made way for the human fireball. He was baring his teeth in what could have been a broad smile—or an expression of excruciating pain.
Jinpa was among the many friends who were there that day. He saw the flaming man and then recognized Jashi's face. He yelled out his name.

Pandemonium: Wails, screams, people frantically shaking water from their plastic bottles onto the flames. An elderly policeman tried to beat out the fire with his hat. A friend of Jashi's, Sonam Tseten, began whipping at the fire with his backpack. But then Tseten realized that his mobile phone was in the pack and that the weight of it might be hurting his friend. So he tossed the pack aside and pulled off his shirt. "When I hit the upper side of his body with my shirt, the lower side burned more," Tseten recalls. "When I hit the lower side, the upper side burned more."

Above all of the cries and shouts, several witnesses later recalled most distinctly the roar of the fire: foh-foh-foh.

The first Tibetan to self-immolate in the modern era did so in the same location during a 1998 hunger strike. Just as Jashi would, Thupten Ngodup initially survived the inferno. The Dalai Lama paid him a visit at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital a day later. Ngodup tried to sit up to receive His Holiness but was gently encouraged not to. The Dalai Lama whispered through the gauze wrapped around Ngodup's head. According to an account the former gave to Columbia University scholar Robert Thurman, he said, "Do not pass over with hatred for the Chinese in your heart. You are brave and you made your statement, but let not your motive be hatred." The patient indicated that he understood.

"This is violence, even if it is self-inflicted," the Dalai Lama told Thurman. "The same energy that can cause someone to do this to himself is very close to the energy that enables someone to kill others in fury and outrage."

Ngodup's fiery protest was an isolated incident. More than a decade later, in February 2009, another Tibetan self-immolated, then another followed two years later in March 2011. Since then, the numbers have soared: More than 80 Tibetans have torched themselves, one of the biggest waves of self-immolation in modern history. The overwhelming majority of self-immolations, carried out by monks, nuns, and increasingly by lay people, have occurred inside Tibet.

During this wave of immolations, the Dalai Lama has remained mostly silent, except to say that he must remain "neutral" on the protests. "If I say something negative, then the family members of those people feel very sad," he told a reporter for The Hindu newspaper in July. "They sacrificed their own life. It is not easy. So I do not want to create some kind of impression that this is wrong."

The Dalai Lama is widely revered by Tibetans, who regard him as the reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion. But his "middle-way approach" to China—calling for autonomy for Tibet, not independence, and often opposing even the most benign protest actions against Chinese rule—hasn't produced results. China now refuses even to meet with Tibetan envoys. Two longtime Tibetan negotiators have quit in frustration, and the situation only seems to worsen. Han Chinese continue to migrate into traditional Tibetan areas, and repression of Tibetan religious institutions deepens. Security cameras are installed in monasteries. Portraits of the Dalai Lama are gouged out. Nomads are forcibly settled, and the Tibetan language is marginalized. (Related story:"Tibetans: Moving Forward, Holding On")

"Every other leader looks after his own country properly even if it means going to war," fumes a Tibetan scholar in Dharamsala who did not want to be quoted by name. "Here we talk about world peace, about taking care of the whole world. What about taking care of our own country? Our leaders are more concerned about how to present themselves to the rest of the world-peace-loving and kind. If you care about your own country, you have to do everything for it: kill, cheat, lie, steal."

That is a very extreme view among Tibetans. But it gives voice to a much wider frustration. Young Tibetans, in particular, want to act. Among the majority who still cherish non-violence but lack the otherworldly patience of His Holiness, options are limited. So a nun, standing stock still on a road in Tibet last November, becomes a human torch, flames leaping from her head toward the sky. "We need freedom," yells a passerby, recorded in an amateur video that also captures a woman gently tossing a khata—a silk white scarf, offered in blessing—toward the flames. In another herky-jerky video secreted out of Tibet, a monk named Tsewang Norbu burns in front of a shop on a busy road. Some people gather around the charred and smoking body even as frightened Chinese hurry by without stopping; bicycles and cars pass, honking to move on quickly, as if worried they might get caught up in a security scandal. (Photo: Nun Colony in North-East Tibet.)

Both the nun and the monk were from Jashi's home area, Tawu. He himself had escaped Tibet in 2006. He had taped a photo of the monk on the door of his little bookshelf. He had seen the videos. He had watched them most recently a few days before his own self-immolation. They were shown on a screen in the temple square of Majnu ka Tilla—to inspire local residents to attend the upcoming protest. Jashi's friend Sangye Dorji, the caretaker of a small monastery that overlooks the cramped square, was with him. "I was very emotional and depressed," Dorji recalls. "Jamphel Yashi said only that they were very patriotic people." He also had some advice for his friend: "If any Tibetan self-immolates, we should just let him burn," Jashi said. "That person has made a decision to die.'"

Dorji never made it to the protest, but other friends did. Each acted instinctively. Jinpa, the former political prisoner who served 26 months for filming and distributing video of anti-regime protests in China, tried to push the crowd back. Jinpa recalls that at one point, as everyone was throwing water at the burning man, Jashi yelled out "Agh!"—as if to complain about the effort to douse the flames. "Let the journalists take photos!" Jinpa shouted.

"I was not at all hoping he would be alive with the amount of fire that was engulfing him," Jinpa told me a few months later. "The police just wanted to take the body away quickly. Two police grabbed my waist to pull me back. I resisted and pulled back toward the burning body."

Other friends thought Jashi might survive. The smell of burning was intense—like roasted meat, one friend recalled—but Jashi's face was still recognizable. By the time the flames were out, however, his clothes had burned away, except for the shirt collar around his neck and the elastic bands of his pants and underwear. His skin was hard and crinkly, "like touching a basketball, but very hot," says Tseten. "There was no softness at all." Strangely, Jashi's dragon tattoos appeared more vibrant than ever.

Tseten and several other friends eventually lifted Jashi into the back of a white police jeep. They placed him on one bench, and four of the men sat in a row on the bench opposite, holding him in place so he wouldn't fall off as they sped around corners with the siren blaring. One of the men had painted his face in Tibetan colors, and now sweat, tears, and splashed water that had been thrown frantically toward the flames were all causing the paint to run down his cheeks.

Jashi arrived at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital at 12:45 p.m. and was officially admitted at 1:19. As his friends delivered him through the doorway, Jashi spoke the last sentence any of them would hear from him: "Why did you bring me to the hospital?"

Speaking those few words must have taken enormous effort. Doctors would soon discover that his insides were scorched, probably because he had inhaled toxic fumes and flames. Burns covered over 98 percent of his outer body. He was given antibiotics, painkillers, and oxygen, and doctors eventually performed a tracheotomy. At one point, the sister of one of Tibet's highest reincarnate lamas—the Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism—arrived to deliver a "precious pill," blessed by the high lama himself, to provide spiritual comfort and even healing for a man's soul. A monk whispered a prayer into Jashi's ear.

Jinpa wasn't thinking about spiritual matters. He had shed tears like everyone else, but he wasn't particularly sentimental. He knew that his friend had set himself on fire to make a statement—to awaken the world to Tibet's plight. He didn't want the sacrifice to be wasted.

He was also functioning on almost no sleep. While his friend had been preparing for his final act, Jinpa—who sports a gold earring and a goatee—had been at a party until dawn. Now his mind was racing. "Who has a key to the room?" he asked Lobgyal, Jashi's cousin. "Don't give the key to anyone. He might have left something." Then Jinpa's phone rang: Indian detectives were poking around the neighborhood, a friend told him, and wanted to get into the room. Minutes later, Jinpa got a call from an officer in the criminal investigation department who wanted to know who had a key to the room. Jinpa professed ignorance and switched off his phone.

As the sun was going down, Jinpa and others made their way back to the apartment from the hospital. The detectives had left. Two men served as lookouts in the alley while Jinpa and Lobgyal rifled through Jashi's meager belongings. Inside a red cloth sack that also held his IDs and other documents, they found a handwritten letter in Tibetan. It began with a call for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet then spoke about the need for loyalty, "the life-soul of a people," and about freedom: "Without freedom, six million Tibetans are like a butter lamp in the wind, without direction."

"At a time when we are making our final move toward our goal—if you have money, it is the time to spend it; if you are educated it is the time to produce results; if you have control over your life, I think the time has come to sacrifice your life."

The letter ended with a demand for the "people of the world" to "stand up for Tibet." Jashi had written two copies, both on lined white school paper.

When one of Jashi's former teachers in Dharamsala first read the letter—which by then had been typed and printed for wider distribution—he was skeptical that Jashi had written it. Jashi had arrived from Tibet as a young man with little education, and his written Tibetan was mediocre. His parents were rural middle class, and Jashi himself was classified as a "farmer/nomad" in the database of the exiled Tibetan government. He had lived in eastern Tibet, in a large house in the traditional Tibetan style, with a satellite dish on the roof and prayer flags flying from the chimney. Cows, yaks, and sheep were housed on the first floor, and the family occupied the upper level. They tended apple orchards and planted potatoes, barley, wheat, and other crops.

Jashi got his education informally, studying an hour or two a day with monks in a nearby monastery. They taught him how to read religious texts but not much more. He worked for an elderly monk in the village, etching Buddhist mantras on stones to be placed on hilltops. He was a good swimmer, and in the winter, he and his friends fashioned small ice sleds out of wood boards and metal rods. They would curl the rods around the wood so they would serve as blades, and then they'd push themselves across icy ponds until their knuckles turned raw.

As he became a young adult, Jashi became politically aware. He told friends that at least once he had ridden his bicycle late at night into the town of Tawu, roughly six miles away, to post political flyers on walls in the predawn darkness. In 2003, he was caught trying to escape Tibet, and later he apparently made some connections or got some tips about how to tap into the Tibetan underground while he served several months in multiple Chinese prisons.

In 2006, Jashi escaped successfully, taking a young neighbor along with him. They made their way first to a safe house in Lhasa, then hooked up with a guide who escorted them on the start of a monthlong trek. One guide handed off to another and then to another, through winds and snow, across plains and mountains, along the skirt of Mount Everest and into Nepal. They hid by day and hiked by night, surviving on a diet of dried yak meat and tsampa, a dough of roasted barley flour mixed with water. A few in the 15-person party suffered snow blindness, others horrific headaches; sometimes they had to pause for a day to allow someone to recover. Jashi had blisters that oozed puss. But they made it to Nepal and eventually to Dharamsala, where every newcomer gets an audience with the Dalai Lama, and everyone gets free schooling. Jashi cried when the Dalai Lama blessed him, touching his head. He couldn't get a word out.

He entered a special school in Dharamsala for Tibetan newcomers aged 18 to 34. Former teachers and staff describe him as responsible and caring—the kind of young man who stayed late in the cafeteria to help the cook clean up. He loved to read and was obsessed with Tibetan history and culture, but he was an unimaginative student. In his essays and even his diary entries, he would often echo boilerplate talking points he had read elsewhere. "I scolded him: You're not the Dalai Lama, full of wisdom and advice," recalls Chogo Dorjee, who taught Jashi the Tibetan language. He was also a poor speller.

That is why another teacher, who goes by the single name Dhondup, suspected that Jashi didn't write his last letter: The spelling in the typed version was correct. Later, however, Dhondup saw the original handwritten copy. It had six spelling mistakes and a missing word in the first four sentences. "I was reassured it was Jashi who wrote it."

Jashi also left behind—unpublicized until now—two other very short pieces of prose. One is a sentimental paean to his mother. He expresses his unwavering affection for her: "Even in my dreams, I see her often ... No one can separate our love."

The second piece is entitled, "A Boy Without Direction."

"The moment I was born from my beloved mother's womb, I was without basic human rights, freedom to think, and was born under foreign domination. Because of this, I had to part ways with my country and come into exile in India. The place that I live now is a small room in Delhi, where I spend my days and nights. When I get up in the morning and look towards the east, tears roll down, uncontrollable ... These are not empty words like water vapor."

Jashi died in Ram Manotar Lohia Hospital, 43 hours after he had been admitted. No one ever survives with 98 percent burns. Even his friends, who had been hopeful early on because his face was familiar, lost hope when his head swelled beyond all recognition.

In the months since his death—and a massive outpouring of support and grief at his memorial service in Dharamsala—a monk who had recently escaped from Jashi's home area relayed information on how the death was received there. The Voice of America and Radio Free Asia had broadcasted the news of Jashi's demise, he says, so it was known right away. That night, many neighbors paid their respects to Jashi's family. The monks of the monastery were forbidden to do so but conducted their own private prayer service the following evening. When Chinese authorities heard about the service, they called the abbot in for questioning.

A neighbor later told the monk that he was with Jashi's mother a few days after her son's immolation. She was cooking on a traditional stove, stoked with firewood, and accidentally touched the hot surface, burning her finger. She sobbed and through her tears muttered, "Imagine how much pain my son felt."

In the neighborhood of Majnu ka Tilla, there's still hope that Jashi's sacrifice will mean something and also dread that it won't. A fruit seller in Tunisia self-immolated in 2010, and that one event set off a cascade of change throughout the Middle East. Nothing like that has happened in Tibet. The world hardly notices when another young man or woman goes up in flames. Some young activists are talking darkly of another possible phase, of how thin the line is between killing yourself and killing your enemies. "The older generation is 90 percent religious and 10 percent nationalistic; they want to spread happiness and make the world a better place," says Tenzin Wangchuk, the 38-year-old president of the Delhi chapter of the Tibetan Youth Congress. "But the younger generation is not a bunch of Buddhas. We are Buddhists but not Buddhas. If you kill evil, we don't think that's bad. We need actions ... One day, who knows? We may raise our issue by bombing ourselves, and if you are going to die, maybe it's better to take some enemies along with you."

That is the fear of older Tibetans who have worked for decades to find a negotiated solution. "The only reason the Tibetans are so committed to nonviolence is purely because of the influence of the Dalai Lama," says Lodi Gyari, who served as chief negotiator with China until his resignation early this year because there was no hope for a return to talks anytime soon. "I have also told the Chinese this. It's a very thin line. One day, somebody may say, 'I've had enough, it's meaningless for me, but I'm not going to go alone ... I'm going to take a couple of Chinese guys with me.' That can happen any day."

Jashi's roommates in Majnu ka Tilla live much as they did before. Two small posters of their deceased friend, "the hero Jamphel Yeshi," are pasted to the white walls. But the adrenaline rush is over. The men try to pick up odd jobs when they can, but as Tibetan refugees they're not eligible for salaried employment. In the midday heat, several crash on their mattresses, waiting for the sun to go down.

On one occasion when Jinpa visited from Dharamsala, in the months after Jashi's passing, he made the same grim joke as he had in the past when his friend was still alive: "Here I am again with these guys who don't get any girls, don't have jobs—useless men just waiting around to die!" This time, one of his friends perked up. "Are you coming to encourage another one of us to self-immolate?" he said. "Now it's my turn ... But don't worry, I'll prepare everything properly before I go!" It was supposed to be funny but had a different effect. Among Tibetans, nobody really knows who might be the next to burn.

NOTE-- The above article is initially published by the National Geographic Daily News.

Nepal is the new Chinese colony

2013-04-23T03:27:00.001-07:00

By Claude Arpi

The Chinese are slowly invading Nepal. Last month, AFP reported that ‘China eyes India trade by boosting spending in Nepal’. The news agency stated that China’s ambassador to Kathmandu was recently seen in a traditional Nepali cap and silk scarf, digging with a spade to symbolise the laying of the foundations of a new land port on the Tibet border.

Claude Arpi

China had just completed a 22-kilometre road connecting central Nepal with Kyirong district in Tibet. The new road is said to be the shortest motorable overland route between China and India.

Purna Basnet, a Nepalese political commentator told AFP that this will help China to export to India: “It will be easier for China to supply goods to India via Nepal. There is even talk of connecting Kathmandu with the rail network in Tibet. The Shigatse-Lhasa railway will be completed in a couple of years. From Shigatse, they have plans to connect Kathmandu through railways.”

In an op-ed article in The Republica in January 2013, Chinese ambassador Yang Houlan had propounded the same theory — Kathmandu could be a trade gateway to New Delhi: “From an economic viewpoint, Nepal links China (with 1.3 billion people) with South Asia (with 1.5 billion). The huge common market provides great opportunities for both China and South Asia.”

This argument however does not make sense. If India was so keen to trade with Tibet (and vice-versa), why is the trade through Nathu-la pass between Sikkim and Tibet faring so poorly?

A more plausible theory is that China’s investment in Nepal is part of a vital factor for controlling unrest in Tibet. Lekhnath Paudel, a Kathmandu-based strategic affairs analyst told AFP: “In Tibet, unrest has significantly increased, so Chinese investment in Nepal should be understood in the context of China’s integrity, which is very important for the giant nation.”

One still remembers that in the 1960’s the CIA-supported guerillas, based in Mustang in northern Nepal, valiantly fought against Communist China. The camps were closed in the early 1970’s when Kissinger decided to befriend China and take his boss, President Nixon to Beijing.

Recently, The New York Times affirmed: “These days, it is the Chinese who are showing up in this far tip of the Buddhist kingdom (Mustang)… Chinese officials are seeking to stem the flow of disaffected Tibetans fleeing to Nepal and to enlist the help of the Nepalese authorities in cracking down on the political activities of the 20,000 Tibetans already here.”

Beijing regularly sends military officials across the Tibetan border to ‘train’ the local Nepalese in ‘border security’.

The New York Times reported: “Their efforts across the country have borne fruit. The Nepalese police regularly detain Tibetans during anti-China protests in Katmandu, and they have even curbed celebrations of the birthday of the Dalai Lama”.

During the first eight months of 2012, the number of Tibetan refugees crossing from Tibet into Nepal was about 400, half as many as during the same period in 2011.

In August 2011, an unnoticed development took place in Nepal. Zhang Qingli, the then hardliner Party boss in Tibetm accompanied the Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang to Nepal. Zhou was the tough security czar of the Middle Kingdom at the time.

With a 60-member delegation, Zhou raised Beijing’s concern about Tibetans in Nepal and their supposed support for the Tibet autonomy movement. Strangely, an unexpected event poured some cold water over Zhou Yongkang’s visit: the Nepalese PM Jhala Nath Khanal suddenly resigned. During his stay, Zhou however stated, “China would like to see stability in Nepal.”

Though it was widely projected as the main agenda of the visit, Zhou did not mention a word regarding Tibet during the hour-long meeting with Khanal.

Zhou however implied that Nepal needed to improve its weak security arrangements along Nepal-China border; he said China wished to help Nepal in doing so.

Already in July 2010, a meeting termed ‘Nepal-China Border Security and Law Enforcement Talks’ was held in Kathmandu. Both sides had agreed to set up ‘focal points’ in the respective Home Ministries in Kathmandu and Beijing. A senior Nepali Government official told The Kathmandu Post: “The Chinese side assured full support to enhance capacity building, training of Nepali security personnel to be deployed across the northern border, seeking Nepal’s full commitment on information sharing on anti-China activities with effective law enforcement mechanism to contain the activities.”

A few months after Zhou Yongkang’s visit to the erstwhile Kingdom, Chen Zhimin, the Chinese Vice-Minister of Public Security led a delegation to Nepal. According to the official communique issued after the visit: “The two sides exchanged views on cooperation of police affairs and law enforcement and reached consensus on some issues.”

The Nepali Press reported: “The Chinese offered ‘logistic support’ worth $300,000 dollars in the form of laptops, searchlights or metal detectors.”

Chen Zhimin was very pleased with outcome of his stay in Nepal: “My visit is to find out ways to strengthen the bilateral relations between Nepal and China.”

It is in this context that one should look at President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Puspa Kamal Dahal Prachanda in Beijing this week. Xi told his visitor: “The China-Nepal friendship is not only in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, but also conducive to stability and development in the region”.

All these ‘achievements’ have been bad news for the Tibetan refugees, but also for India. Nepal has become a Chinese colony.

NOTE— Claude Arpi is a French author and freelance based in Pondicherry, India. He extensively writes about the tri-Himalayan politics Tibet-China-India. The above article is initially published on niticentral.com

China’s water war on India

2013-04-06T03:40:00.000-07:00

By Claude Arpi

As ‘emergent’ leaders returned from the BRICS meeting in South Africa, PTI reported that Manmohan Singh had ventured to ask the new Chinese President Xi Jinping to set up a joint mechanism for the dams being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet (known downstream as Siang and Brahmaputra).

According to PTI: “Notwithstanding pledges to take the bilateral relationship to a new level, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his first meeting with new Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought a joint mechanism to assess the construction work on dams on Brahmaputra river in Tibet.” That sounds good, but is it enough?

Talking to the journalists traveling with him in the plane, the Prime Minister explained, “I took the opportunity to raise the issue of trans-border river systems. I requested the Chinese Government to provide a joint mechanism to enable us to assess the type of construction activity that is going on in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.”

Apparently, President Xi assured Dr Singh that China was quite conscious of its responsibilities as well as of the interest of the lower riparian countries.

The report further added: “As regards the specific mechanism that he had asked, the Chinese President told him that they would further look into it.”

One could ask, why just a ‘joint mechanism’ and not a treaty on the lines of the Indus Waters Treaty signed with Pakistan in 1960?

The Prime Minister seemed to have been rather reticent to even bring the topic on the table: “As of now, [India’s] assessment is that whatever activity that is taking place on the Brahmaputra region in Tibet, it is essentially run-of-the-river projects and therefore there is no cause of worry on our part.”

But what about the Sutlej and the Indus?

On August 4, 2000, The Tribune reported a strange event in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh: flash floods washed away most of the bridges on the Sutlej, killing many in the process.

The Chandigarh daily explained: “Even three days after the disaster, the mystery of the flashfloods in the Sutlej which wrecked havoc along its 200 kilometres in length in the State, remains unresolved,” adding: “Experts are at a loss to understand where the huge mass of water came from.”

Imagine a 50 feet high wall of water descending into the gorges of Kinnaur!

In a few hours, more than 100 persons died, 120 kilometres of a strategic highway (Chini sector) was washed away and 98 bridges destroyed. While traveling to the Spiti valley a few days after the incident, I witnessed the extent of the damage.

Oddly, the details of the mishap were similar to others which had occurred in Arunachal Pradesh a week earlier.

A detailed study carried out a few months later by Indian remote sensing agencies confirmed that the release of excess water accumulated in the Sutlej and the Yarlung Tsangpo basins in Tibet had led to the flooding.

On June 25, 2001, nearly a year later, the weekly India Today published an article entitled ‘Made in China’: “While the satellite images remain classified, officials of the Ministry of Water Resources indicate that these pictures show the presence of huge water bodies or lakes upstream in Sutlej and Siang [Brahmaputra] river basins before the flash floods took place. However, these lakes disappeared soon after the disaster struck Indian territory. This probably means that the Chinese had breached these water bodies as a result of which lakhs of cusecs of water were released into the Sutlej and Siang river basins.”

It is not difficult to imagine what could ‘naturally’ (or less naturally) happen if a large structure is constructed north of the McMahon line during a time of conflict.

The only solution lies in bringing the matter to the negotiating table. India and China should reach a bilateral water agreement. If a river-water treaty has been signed between India and Pakistan, why can’t a similar accord be found between China and India (and why not Bangladesh), in order to assure a decent life to all in the region

Further there is a Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses adopted by the UN in 1997 (though not yet an international law, because it was not ratified by enough nations); it could serve as a model for bilateral or multilateral treaties/conventions with China and others.

Beijing does not usually like to be ‘constrained’ in the straitjacket of an international agreement, but the new leadership will have to decide if China wants to be a ‘normal’ State, fully assuming responsibility as a neighbour or a rogue State like North Korea.

According to Xinhua, the Indian Prime Minister would have said that India, which “adheres to an independent foreign policy, will not be used by the Tibetan (refugees) as a tool to contain China.” This is fine, but there should be some reciprocity.

The PM would have added that India is willing to make concerted efforts with China to show the world that they are cooperative partners instead of rivals. A water bilateral agreement would a first step.

In any case, the fruition of the projected mega projects such the diversion of the Brahmaputra will entirely depend on the new leadership in China. If he is wise (and let us hope for the best), Xi Jinping will take into account the negative environment and strategic impact of the mega-dams for the Indo-Chinese relations.

A formal agreement/treaty, whether in line with the 1997 UN Water Convention or any other formal agreement, is the only solution which can give some guarantees to the lower riparian States.

India should not be hesitant to demand what it is entitled to.

NOTE— Claude Arpi is a French author based in India who freelances for several Indian news papers and he mostly writes about tri-Himalayan politics: China, India, Tibet.

Tibet has brought good luck to more than one Chinese leader

2013-03-31T02:09:00.004-07:00

By Claude Arpi

Perhaps because a posting on the ‘roof of the world’ seems to bring Communist officials good luck in their career.

The latest senior cadre to experience this is the 47-year-old Qin Yizhi who served as a vice-chairman of

Tibet’s regional Government. He has just been appointed as the head of the Communist Youth League, “A training ground for future party and Government officials with nearly 80 million members” as the South China Morning Post put it.

The Hong Kong newspaper adds: “His appointment indicates he could play a bigger role in China’s leadership in the future, as most of his predecessors in the post have done so.”

Guangdong party secretary Hu Chunhua, often considered the future leader of China in 2022, had earlier followed the same trajectory: first Vice-Chairman of Tibet’s regional Government in 2003 and then Youth League boss in 2006. Hu (not a relative of former President Hu Jintao) is now a member of the all-powerful Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Qin had taken his job in Lhasa in 2005 as Lhasa Party Chief; he later became Vice Chairman of the Tibetan Government.

Blogger Tsering Woeser considers Qin a hardliner who, during his tenure, consistently pushed for ‘patriotic education’, in other words, ‘sinisation’ of education. Woeser, quoted by the SMCP, added: “His promotion could give a very bad indication to the current Tibetan officials that only hardliners can get promoted.”

Qin has an illustrious predecessor. In September 1987, Lhasa witnessed a series of large-scale riots. As the Chinese leadership felt they were losing face in the world’s eyes, Beijing became more and more nervous. The monks, the very same people who were supposed to have been ‘liberated’ from the clutches of the high clergy, were now revolting against the ‘motherland’. Beijing reasoned that if the situation were allowed to drift, China could follow the Soviet Union on the way to disintegration. Something had to be done.

The strong men in the Politburo, Li Peng and Qiao Shi, visited Tibet in July 1988. Soon after, it was decided to appoint the young cadre Hu Jintao as Tibet’s Party chief. It was to be the crucial turn in Hu’s career. He probably knew he had to show results in a very short time to repay the confidence placed in him by the senior leaders; he could not afford to fail. Hu took charge of the rebellious region on January 12, 1989.

Soon after, a Beijing newspaper Zhongguo Xinwen She published an interview with Hu in which he described his two main tasks in Tibet: “To safeguard the unification of the motherland, adopt a clear-cut stand to oppose separatism, and stabilise the situation in Tibet,” and then: “to continue to carry out economic construction.”

This would later be known as Hu’s strategy of ‘grasping with both hands.’

On January 23, Hu visited the Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse. He was accompanied by the Panchen Lama, the second highest ranking Tibetan Lama after the Dalai Lama. The official occasion was the consecration of a stupa containing the mortal remains of one of the previous Panchen Lamas. To everyone’s surprise, during the function, the Panchen Lama denounced the Communist Party’s role in Tibet. He said, “Although there had been developments in Tibet since its liberation, this development had cost more dearly than its achievements. This mistake must never be repeated.” Four days later, he passed away in mysterious circumstances. Though it has never been proven, many Tibetans believed that he was murdered.

When a demonstration erupted on March 5, the People’s Armed Police quickly took control of the situation; it was there that the future President of China showed his skills.

Some information which filtered out of Tibet affirmed that on March 6 alone, 387 Tibetans were massacred around the Central Cathedral in Lhasa.

Martial law was clamped on March 8. The tragic 1988 events in Lhasa seem to have been a rehearsal for an even more important episode: the student rebellion on Tiananmen Square three months later.

In Beijing’s eyes, Hu saved Chin, which could have plunged into the ‘chaos’ so feared by the Chinese emperors. Had Tibet been lost, no doubt other provinces such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia would have followed in quick succession.

Today at least 10 members of the 25-member Politburo are, or have been, connected with Tibet, in one way or another. Just to give a few examples.

President Xi Jinping is connected through his father Xi Zhongxun who was one of the senior officials ‘in charge’ of the Tibetan affairs the 1950s and later the 1980s.

One of the two lady-members, Liu Yandong has been associated with the United Front Work Department which looks after Tibet; she headed the organisation between 2002 and 2007.

Yu Zhengsheng, number 4 in the hierarchy, will soon be nominated Chairman of Central Working Coordination Small Group on Tibet, overlooking the restive region’s affairs.

I have already mentioned Hu Chunhua, the Party’s rising star.

Another PB member is Liu Qibao; he was Party Secretary of Sichuan province, responsible for large areas of Tibet (2008-2012), also a hardliner.

Guo Jinlong has been posted as Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee from 2000 to 2004. He was pivotal in the Lhasa Railway project. The list is long and though not in the top 25, Zhang Qingli, the Party boss in Lhasa till 2011, who called the Dalai Lama a ‘wolf in monk’s garb’, has now been promoted to the prestigious post of Secretary General of the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference. He will be the main advisor of Yu Zhengsheng for Tibet issues.

The ‘good luck’ of high Chinese officials is not that providential for the Tibetans. Most of these leaders took a harsh stance while posted on the ‘roof of the world’.

One can doubt that so many knowledgeable cooks, even if they are experts on steaming momos, can translate a ‘cool’ policy for Tibet.

NOTE— Claude Arpi is a India based French author and Tibet expert. He often writes feature stories for the Indian media.

To Tibet with love from Spain

2013-03-31T02:03:00.001-07:00

By Terry Reis Kennedy

It was a great experience for me to visit Spain for the first time. I found it a mysterious country, with such a welcoming attitude towards strangers, yet a deep sadness that permeates the atmosphere, a country only relatively recently freed from the tyranies of war and bloodshed. I admire the spirit of the people who do not seem to wilt despite the hardships that they are undergoing right now, with the “Crisis” as they refer to their financial depression.

Terry Reis Kennedy

While here, I was invited to read poems from my book, I Am Tibetan, which chronicles stories that have been narrated to me by Tibetans living in exile in India, my home. It was in the village of Puttaparthi, India, that I made my first Tibetan friends 23 years ago, and it was through them that I learned about His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism, and the tragedy of the destruction of Tibetan monasteries, the slaughtering of thousands, and the diaspora of the Tibetan peoples caused by Chinese invaders under Mao Tse Tung.

The groups of Spanish people that I shared the story with, and who heard the poetry, were very moved. They told me that they did not know about these events, that they were not in their history books and not in the media. They had sometimes seen images of monks on fire but did not really understand what was happening in the approximately 30-second clips.

From I Am Tibetan:

I am Tibetan because the blood of the martyrs of Tibet spilled
into my hard heart and made it soft.

I am Tibetan because in our tent in Bodh Gaya,
the prayers of the refugees
to Buddha, to the deities, to the mountains, to the sky,
and to the clouds reached my ears.

I am Tibetan because the tears they cry for their Mother Land
fall out of my eyes.

We might think most people know about Tibet, but in my travels I have not found this to be true. It is necessary, therefore, to continue to carry the message: FREE TIBET, wherever we find ourselves, and to keep it in the consciousness of those around us.

Heartfelt wishes were expressed by the audiences that Tibetans would be able to return to their homeland, that the imprisoned Tibetans would be set free, and that there would be no more blood shed on the holy land of Tibet, the rooftop of our world.

NOTE—Terry Reis Kennedy is a poet and writer who lives in Bangalore, India. You may contact her at treiskennedy(a)gmail.com, and read her blog at TerryReisKennedy.blogspot.in/

Tibetan Independence (Rangzen) Movement Spreads

2013-03-28T20:27:00.002-07:00

By B.Raman

The Tibetan independence (Rangzen) movement, started on November 23, 2001, by Thubten Jigme Norbu, former Abbot of the Kumbum monastery and Professor Emeritus at the Indiana University in the US, has been slowly spreading.

B. Raman

The movement, which was launched by a group of Tibetans who constituted themselves into what was called the Rangzen Alliance, describes its objectives as follows: “The Rangzen Alliance is a movement of committed Tibetans and friends, world-over, who have joined together to provide a common platform of action for the realization of three goals:

a. The restoration of Tibetan independence.

b. The return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet as the sovereign head-of-state of an independent nation.

c. The establishment of a fully democratic system of government in exile Tibetan society and in free Tibet – based on the rule of law and the primacy of individual freedom.”

The Rangzen movement enjoys the support of the Tibetan Youth League (TYC) and many members of the Tibetan diaspora spread across the world. While the movement has reservations about the middle road policy advocated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama envisaging autonomy for all the Tibetan areas of China in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan, it has been strongly backing the leadership of His Holiness.

The movement, which had lost some momentum after the brutal suppression of the Tibetans by the People’s Liberation Army after the anti-Chinese riots of March 2008, is again showing signs of gathering strength as resentment builds up among the Tibetans of China and the diaspora over the Chinese indifference to the continuing self-immolation of Tibetan monks and others in the Tibetan areas since March 2009. 108 Tibetans have so far committed self-immolation, the majority of them in the Sichuan province.

The total Chinese indifference to the self-immolations and their attempts to arrest and persecute relatives and friends of those committing self-immolation on charges of complicity have added to the resentment and injected fresh oxygen into the Rangzen movement. On February 13, 2013, the TYC organised a two-day Rangzen Conference, which was attended by around 35 independence activists.

The Rangzen Conference also marked 100 years of His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama’s Proclamation of Tibetan Independence. Speaking at the Conference, Dhondup Lhadar, vice-president of TYC, stressed that every Tibetan had the responsibility to “preserve the legacy of the 13th Dalai Lama and uphold the truth of an independent and sovereign Tibet.”

“More than a hundred Tibetans have given the ultimate non-violent sacrifice of setting themselves on fire protesting China’s occupation,” Lhadar said. “It is our sacred duty to repeat history a 100 years later and realise the return of our most beloved leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”

The same day, activists of the Tibetan diaspora in New York and Paris announced the formation of a Tibetan National Congress (TNC) to disseminate the views of independence-minded Tibetans in the Tibetan community and in Tibet’s democratic government in exile.

A spokesman of the TNC Jigme Ugen told Radio Free Asia in an interview as follows: “Naturally there will be different viewpoints about what is the best course to take, but I believe that Tibetan democracy is ready at this point for those viewpoints to be respectfully and openly debated through constructive political participation.”

“We expect more members to come out from other organizations and from the broader Tibetan society who really believe not just in Rangzen [independence] but in democracy. TNC will help form a common platform.”

The supporters of the TNC plan to hold a global conference in September next to work out their programme of action. The total silence of Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, who took over as the President of China on March 14, 2013, on the Tibetan issue has added to the determination of the independence activists to strengthen their movement even if its goals are at variance with the Middle Road policy of His Holiness.

His Holiness has not yet expressed his views on the emergence of the TNC, but he may not discourage any movement that uses non-violent means for asserting the rights of the Tibetans—whether the rights are for autonomy or independence. The Chinese calculations that somehow the Tibetan struggle will peter out as they forge ahead with their programme for economic development have been belied so far. The fact that the new generation of Tibetans is even more determined than the older generation to assert Tibetan rights indicates that the Chinese may not be able to suppress the Tibetans.

NOTE-- The writer, Mr B.Raman, is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. Twitter: @SORBONNE75

PROSECUTE HU JIN TAO

2013-03-19T03:49:00.001-07:00

By Khedroob Thondup

Outgoing Chinese president

Since annexation in 1959 every Chinese leader had suppressive policies in Tibet. In recent times Hu Jintao has been the worst. Beijing's policy has been to hold on to Tibet by any possible way whether its severe repression, shootings, imprisonment with absolutely disregard of the Tibetan people's basic rights and in the last fifty five years continue this policy with no real intention ever to settle the Tibetan issue. So for many Tibetans the only route out is independence as there is no other choice as the Tibetan people cannot live under the yoke of the Chinese communists. We have been involved in dialogue with Beijing in the past. Yes dialogue is important but with a purpose not Beijing's dialogue which is one sided only to serve their interests of no settlement and prolonging time.

During his tenure as Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Hu Jintao established his credentials as a tough administrator of Beijing's control mechanisms in Tibet, including the use of deadly force against unarmed protesters and the imposition of martial law in Lhasa. Hu Jintao was appointed Party Secretary of the TAR in December 1988, a position he held, mostly in absentia, through 1992.
It is clear that Beijing wanted someone solid who could be trusted to rigorously implement Party policies in the restive region. Hu Jintao's Tibet appointment was announced on December 9, 1988. The following day, perhaps in response to the announcement, a large demonstration rocked Lhasa, Tibet's capital city. People's Armed Police opened fire on the demonstrators at close range, killing several thousand Tibetans who carried Tibet's outlawed national flag.

Hu Jintao arrived in Lhasa in mid-January 1989 and one of his first meetings was with a Tibetan Buddhist leader, suggesting that he may have wanted to be seen as respectful of Tibetan religious sentiments. On January 23, Hu traveled to Shigatse, the seat of the Panchen Lama, to participate in a meeting convened for his behalf. He sat next to the Panchen Lama and announced that he "considered himself a member of the Tibetan people" and "would share a common fate with the Tibetan people and work wholeheartedly for their benefit." Incredibly, the Panchen Lama used the occasion to deliver a scathing report on China's administration of Tibet, declaring that Chinese rule had resulted in more harm than benefit to Tibetans. It was a daring speech that startled the Chinese and came to be seen as a defining critique of modern Tibet. A few days after the meeting, the Panchen Lama died at Tashi Lhunpo, his monastery in Shigatse. Hu Jintao had some hand in the unexpected death of the Panchen Lama.

The March 2008 riots all over Tibet saw thousands of Tibetans shot and imprisoned. The order to suppress the uprisings came directly from Hu Jintao.

The situation in present day Tibet is terrible. Over a hundred self-immolations have occurred and Tibetans are calling for the return of H.H.Dalai Lama and for freedom from China. Beijing's solution to the urgent issues in Tibet is more repression and arbitrary arrests. China's Current Policy in Tibet is a life-and-death struggle to crush an ancient civilization

We call for the setup of a Global Coalition to bring Hu Jin Tao to Justice: Any Democratic Country's Court's Decision Is a Benchmark for International Justice
I call upon all of you to assist in bringing the perpetrator of the persecution of the Tibetan People to justice. We the Tibetan People have the right to life; the right to liberty and security of the person, and to be free of arbitrary arrest and imprisonment; the freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to associate freely; violations of the above-cited rights and protections as embodied in customary international law; conspiracy to commit violations of civil rights. Other countries should assist in bringing the perpetrator to justice. The crimes of genocide and torture are regarded as the most heinous, and the most serious crimes against humanity in the international human rights conventions. If the defendant is charged for committing these crimes, he would basically not be given diplomatic immunity. All countries that have a law for punishing crimes of torture and genocide should punish the perpetrator for his involvement in the persecution of the Tibetan People. Those who have carried out and implemented the persecution will ultimately face historic trials

The Chinese leadership and people should see that the international community has recognized the persecution of the Tibetan people as being illegal. The people who have carried out and implemented the persecution order will receive just and historic trials for their involvement in the persecution." Most Communist officials who have participated in the persecution should understand that they will be punished by law and calling upon those who have been involved in the persecution to atone for their crimes. This will also create a precedent for future Chinese leaders.

China's legality and legitimacy on Tibet has been tested since the day Tibet was invaded in 1950.Till date China's hold on Tibet has been shaky and a true solution to the Tibet issue is a more measured" approach to Tibet, to include effective dialogue with the Dalai Lama, given that "only the Dalai Lama" can settle the current bleak situation and unify the majority of the Tibetan community both within China and abroad.

NOTE--The author is a former member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. This article was presented at the international conference: China's New Leadership Challenges for Human Rights, Democracy and Freedom in East Turkestan, Tibet and Southern Mongolia on March 12, 2013 in Geneva.

IN NORTH KOREA’S ACTS, SOMETHING MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE?

2013-03-14T04:49:00.001-07:00

By Bhaskar Roy, dated March 14, 2013

A booster rocket test last December expected to be a prototype of a long range missile, a third nuclear test in February with a veiled threat for a fourth test soon, threatening to attack the USA; cutting the hot line with South Korea; withdrawing from the 1953 Armistice that brought an end to the Korean war are acts that could destabilize North East Asia (NEA).

This is what North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong-un has rushed through in the last four months. Now known with the honorific “dear respected”, Marshal Kim Jong-un, grandson of ‘great leader’ Marshal Kim Il-sung and son of ‘dear leader’ Marshal Kim Jong-Il, is still an undeciphered element.

There were expectations that Kim Jong-un would be modernised but being young, could be used by senior military and political leaders. Whatever information that has come out of this closed nation is that he may either prove to be better than his famous father and grandfather and rejuvenate the nation, or preside on its destruction. In a very short while he has disposed of or sidelined many, including relatives who were supposed to be his supporters.

The third nuclear test may have provoked a paradigm shift in North Korea’s quest for nuclear weapons and long range nuclear capable missiles. It has declared that its nuclear arsenal would be able to strike the USA. Pyongyang’s threat to South Korea has elicited the strongest ever reaction from Seoul which has declared it was ready to take out North Korea’s Command Centre, but hastened to clarify this did not mean Kim Jong-un. Temperatures, however, are rising.

Till recently, North Korean threats which come often enough, were not taken too seriously. But strategic assessments began to change when a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean frigate in 2010, killing 47 sailors. Soon after, the North Korean army shelled a small South Korean island. According to military experts following military developments on the Korean peninsula 70 percent of North Korean missiles are aimed at South Korea. A foreigner visiting the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the border between the two Koreas, noted how vulnerable the South is to an attack from the North. On the other hand if such an attack did materialize, little would be left standing in the North. Seoul and the US, which has a military presence in the South, would ensure that. The US-South Korean military exercises are specifically meant to remind Pyongyang to beware of such an eventuality. Yet, there is a niggling fear about what an unpredictable regime could do.

This scenario is not only based on a North versus South plus US matrix, but also on a not so rare possibility of serious infighting between opposing camps in North Korea.

Pyongyang seems to have become more incensed after the US sponsored UN sanction following its third nuclear test. China had to support the sanctions along with Russia. In fact, China was allowed to fine print the sanctions, blocking Pyongyang’s access to material from abroad to boost its nuclear weapons and missile capabilities. At China’s instance, the sanctions do not prohibit North Korea’s normal trade. Now the onus is on China to ensure the core elements of the sanctions.

It must be admitted that China tried its best to dissuade Pyongyang from conducting its recent nuclear test, but failed. Following the test, the North Korean ambassador in Beijing was summoned by China’s foreign minister to communicate China’s displeasure.

A shift in public opinion in China against North Korea began to be visible from late 2010. This came from academic and strategic experts who are close to the Party and the government, suggesting there are powerful centres within the system who want to jettison North Korea in China’s interest. The writing and statements were very clear that the top level was making a mistake. The latest article in the Global Times, a Chinese official daily which espouses a hard line on foreign policy, said North Korea was an albatross around China’s neck.

It is, however, well known, that in the strategic calculations of the Party’s Politburo and its standing committee, North Korea is an evil necessity.
In a recent article in the East Asian Forum, Jia Qingquo, Professor and Associate Dean of the School of International Studies, Peking University, detailed some of China’s compulsions. Though mostly known, the fact that this was allowed to be published in a foreign media forum speaks volumes about the severe internal debate.
Prof. Jia said China desires a stable Korean peninsula because a stable North Korea is in its long term strategic interest; a conflict in the Korean peninsula would not only jeopardise China’s security, but also bring with it serious refugee problems.

He went on to note China’s reasons to work against a nuclear North Korea, mainly it would prompt South Korea and Japan to do the same; bring a nuclear war close to China’s borders; invite preventive strikes from the USA; lead to North Korean nuclear proliferation including to international terrorist groups.

Beyond what Prof. Jia said, there are other strategic interests for China. The longevity of North Korea’s Communist Party, the Korean Workers Party (KWP) is very important for the Communist Party of China. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Communist regimes started folding like a pack of cards. Only the KWP, the Vietnamese Communist Party and the Cuban regimes remained. The Chinese Party faced internal questions. Apart from the other two communist regimes, the KWP was of special relevance. They drew ideological strength from each other.

China cannot afford North Korea to establish direct relations with the US. In such an eventuality the ramifications for China will be many. US-North Korea diplomatic relations can bring the US on China’s shoulders. Next step could be reunification of the two Koreas. In that case a situation like the reunification of East and West Germany, might emerge, leading to the emergence of a non-communist Korea. It may lead to an US-led East Asian countries with Japan and Korea strong enough to stand up to Chinese hegemonism.

Yet, if North Korea is allowed to go berserk with its nuclear weapons development, it could invite a pre-emptive strike from the US on the country. China will lose its card, and the US will be on its borders. To counter these negative possibilities, China is following a path of trying to trim Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, but not kill it entirely, while bailing it out economically. China continues to urge restraint on the part of those concerned countries, and is pushing to revive the six-party (China, North Korea, South Korea, the US, Japan and Russia) North Korean nuclear talks.

During US President Bill Clinton’s second term, especially the later half, some attempts were made to redefine relations with the so-called “rogue” nations, Iran and North Korea. Secretary of State Madeline Albright was the moving force. The Bush administration changed all that.

While China is the country closest to North Korea and knows the most that is going on there, it can also be said with certainty that Beijing does not know every thing especially its strategic thoughts. How many even in the highest echelons in Pyongyang would know Kim Jong-un’s mind? Very few, though he favours some over others. Marshal Kim gives orders and they are followed.

An interesting side show which has not been given importance and reportage in the international media may not be brushed aside with disdain. A well known American basket ball team, the Harlem Globetrotters, was in Pyongyang towards the end of February at the invitation of North Korea. They displayed their expertise, and then played a game in which North Korean and American players were mixed to form two teams. The game, of course, ended in a draw, 110-110! A transparent political game. The Globetrotters had an ex-NBA player, Dennis Rodman. To note, the Globetrotters are an all-African American team. Kim Jong-un watched the game along with his wife Ri Sol Ju. He also invited Rodman and others of the team to come and sit with hm. Later, he attended a dinner hosted in honour of the Globetrotters. The North Korean reportage was full of praise and positives. There was no anti-American rhetorics.

That the Chinese official media like the Xinhua is yet to report on the development does not mean Beijing has not taken note of it. It would have reminded them of Mao Zedong’s Ping-Pong diplomacy in 1970, sowing the seeds for a breakthrough with the USA.

Have Washington and Pyongyang started playing footsie under the table? Difficult to say. It may be just another of Kim’s teasers.

For the immediate, Pyongyang has warned that its nuclear capable ballistic missiles were ready to set the “nest evil”, the US on fire. They, however, have no such capability. But do they have the capability to resort to terrorism, especially nuclear terrorism? There would be terrorist organizations like the Al Qaida hungry for the ‘dirty” bomb.

The threat to South Korea is more real. Seoul was attacked in 2010, but was restrained by China from retaliating. Another strike can provoke a strong response from the South. The US has issued a strong warning to the North. What will China do? Views in China advocating measures against North Korea are rising.

NOTE-- The writer, Mr. Bhaskar Roy, is an eminent China analyst based NewDelhi;Email:grouchohart@yahoo.com

THE LION FROM CHAMDO

2013-03-07T03:53:00.004-08:00

Remembering and Celebrating a True Son of Tibet

Jampa Kalden

Dipping mercury combined with occasional rain added a layer of physical discomfort to the numbness triggered by Pala’s abrupt death on Christmas Day. Amala, disconcertingly calm and collected, worried about the forecast for December 28th. Her worries proved unfounded as Clement Town woke up to a beautiful cremation day. The pyre logs had a touch of dampness, but they burned with such intensity as if conspiring to accelerate Pala’s passage through Bardo in less than 49 days. The flame and smoke hugged and danced skyward. At that instant, I was transported with the sky above morphing into a giant mosaic of tiny screens each channeling key events embracing the long arc of Pala’s herculean life.

The first screen to stutter to life has a grainy image of a precocious nine-year-old making a three-month pilgrimage on foot from his birthplace of Auka in Tsawa Dzogang (Eastern Tibet) to Lhasa in 1931. This trip would forever take him away from home and family. Upon reaching Lhasa the family pay their respects to Tsawa Jampa Dhaye, a relative and learned Sera monk. The monk sees something in the boy and asks the parents to enroll him into Sera Jey Tsawa Khangtsen. The monk takes the boy under his wings and the two develop a profound relationship that would immutably transform the boy’s life.

Images of the cavernous Great Assembly Hall of Sera Monastery appear on another channel. The boy stays at Sera for eight years juggling the schedule of a regular monk while also taking on a growing role of an attendant and assistant of his teacher. Towards the end of the 1930’s, the boy’s life takes another important turn. Tsawa Jampa Dhaye was developing a growing reputation for prodigious mastery of the scriptures and many even saw shades of Milarepa, one of Tibet’s greatest saint, in his life of absolute renunciation, hardship and uncompromising discipline. The Sera leadership wanted Jampa Dhaye to pursue the highest Geshe degree and position him to become the Ganden Tripa, the spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. However, Jampa Dhaye was not interested, as he had no interest in any title or position. He was finally able to persuade the Sera leadership to send him to Chamdo Monastery to set up a dialectics school. Jampa Dhaye withdrew his application for Lharampa degree, received a lesser Geshe degree, and departed for Chamdo in 1939.

Another screen comes on with a picture of a young man on foot escorting his teacher on a horse and making the long journey to Chamdo. A moment later, a large group of travelling monks appears at a distance. Upon closer look, it is the caravan taking the four-year-old Fourteenth Dalai Lama to Lhasa. It was in Chamdo that the young man became his own person and everyone now came to know him as Chamdo Jampa Kalden, the primary aide to Geshe Jampa Dhaye. For the next nine years, he immersed himself in the service of his master. He made the daily morning water offerings, mopped, washed, cooked, fetched water, screened all visitors and attended to every need of his master. He was also able to teach himself how to read, write and do basic math.

Geshe la, who was quite renowned by then, had many visitors from Chamdo and distant places. A major daily activity was inventorying the day’s donations. The offerings were split into food and valuables. Geshe la never touched money and other valuables, as he believed this was against his spiritual practice and status as an ordained monk. All cash and valuables were handed over to the Chamdo Gompa treasurer that same evening. A small portion of the food items, mainly tsampa and butter, were kept for personal use. The rest was distributed to needy monks. When he couldn’t give away certain items, he would pray and ask Buddha’s permission for holding on to items overnight. Geshe la led an austere life. He dressed in patched robes and was against accumulating possessions and titles. He died in November 1948 at a relatively young age of 57. The Gelug tradition lost a precious jewel as he discouraged the monastery from finding his reincarnation.

Geshe la clearly foresaw the dark days ahead and in a clarion call for Tibetan unity, he quoted the scripture. “Buddha in his teachings explained that the Buddha Dharma is like a lion. No one will attack and eat a lion. It will only be destroyed from within through old age, illness and eventual decay. Similarly, the Chinese will come, but they will not be able to destroy Tibetan Buddhism. That destruction can only be caused by Tibetans themselves.”

War, bloodshed, suffering and great courage dominate the images over the next ten years leading up to 1959. On the eve of the War of Chamdo in 1950, the Tibetan government replaced Lhalu Tsewang Dorjee with Ngabo Ngawang Jigme as the Governor of Kham. Lhalu, a student of Geshe Jampa Dhaye, was a friend. Pala safely escorted Lhalu to Lho Dzong, a twelve-day horse ride north of Chamdo. Tibetans raided the armory in Sipathang and looted firearms and ammunition before burning it. Pala managed to get his hands on a few as well, which he later passed on to Tibetan resistance fighters in Derge. Chinese soldiers entered Chamdo in October 1950 and found a city abandoned by Ngabo.

The Chinese used the period immediately following the invasion of Chamdo to lull the populace into believing that their intentions were peaceful and they were committed to preserving the Tibetan way of life. Various community-oriented projects were launched including a people’s cooperative store and road building. Pala worked at the store from 1951-1952 as a representative of Chamdo Gompa. He also represented the monastery on a Chinese road building body chaired by Ngabo. During this time he learned to speak Chinese and quickly developed a reputation for being a capable leader.

The loss of his teacher and growing wariness of Chinese intentions drove Pala to Lhasa in 1952. He spent the next three years reinventing himself as a businessman and visited India several times. In the meantime, China’s true intentions became obvious. Constructing road that would facilitate a full-scale invasion and occupation of Tibet was an obvious priority and this goal was accomplished by 1955 as the road now ran from Sichuan to Lhasa. Various reforms were imposed on Tibetans. Hostility against the Chinese grew and rebellion erupted first in Derge in 1954 and soon engulfed most of Eastern Tibet. Lhasa was filling up with fleeing Tibetan resistance fighters. Khampa and Amdo businessmen began raising funds to offer a jewel studded golden throne to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Kalachakra Initiation in April 1956. Using this as a cover, resistance leaders furtively began discussing and setting up Chushi Gangdruk, the organization that would initiate a widespread guerrilla resistance movement against the Chinese. Pala, representing Chamdo, was one of the leaders who was there in this formative stage of the organization.

The Chamdo he returned to 1956 was a far different town. Gone were the friendly Chinese policies. Fear and suspicion reigned. Pala worked for Chamdo Gompa and also set up a small business on the side. Trouble soon caught up with him when one day the Chinese authorities summoned him. They learned of his activities in Lhasa with Chushi Gangdruk, the business trips to India, and most damaging of all the trafficking of weapons to resistance fighters in Derge. They gave him a few days before he was to be taken to Chengdu. Realizing that a trip to Chengdu would lead to his arrest, he fled Chamdo with his two nephews in October 1958. The journey to Lhasa was dangerous as Chinese soldiers were everywhere looking for Tibetan resistance fighters. Near Lhari Go, they ran into Chinese soldiers who fired on them. Two Muslims from Siling that they were traveling with got killed. Another two were arrested. But, Pala and his nephews escaped and made it safely to Lhasa. They arrived in time to witness Monlam and His Holiness the Dalai Lama receiving his Geshe degree.

Lhasa reminded Pala of Chamdo on the eve of Chinese invasion. The city appeared deceptively festive with the Monlam Chenmo in session and the impending awarding of His Holiness’ Geshe degree. But, tell tale signs of trouble brewing cloaked the city like a thin layer of ice over a deep abyss. The Chinese were reinforcing and erecting barracks and fences all over the city. Heavily armed PLA soldiers were stationed on top of many prominent buildings. The city was on edge in the weeks leading to March 10 and all it needed was a trigger, which came in the form of word on the street of an evil Chinese plan to kidnap His Holiness.

Pala was not only a witness to this tumultuous phase in Tibet’s history, but also an active participant in the making of the history. The beleaguered Tibetan government invited representatives from different groups for briefings and meetings at Norbulingka. He went as a representative from Chamdo. A core group comprised of government officials and three representatives each from the three provinces, three Tibetan armies (Drapchi, Kusung and Gyangtse) and the three monasteries (Sera, Drepung and Ganden) was formed to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Lhasa. The group headed by Tsarong held regular planning meetings at the Lhasa Printing Office and also met with His Holiness. Surkhang and Lhalu attended some of the meetings as well. Pala participated in this group as one of the Khampa representatives. They distributed information, supported the work of various protest groups such as the women’s association, and reached out to foreign representatives and consulates.

Chinese cannon shells began landing on Norbulingka past midnight on the eastern and southern corner of the complex. His Holiness’ Palace and around 1000 Tibetan soldiers were both located in the southern corner. His Holiness had already left Lhasa by then. Pala and some of the Chamdo men left Norbulingka, took up position on the hill below Chokpori and waited for the Chinese soldiers. Realizing they were lightly armed, he took some of the men to the Norbulingka armory and retrieved two machine guns and boxes of bullets. He began firing the machine gun even though he had never used one before. The sky lit up as Chinese shells hit the Chokpori Medical College and the Potala. After two nights of firefight, Pala and those that survived fled as they were badly outnumbered and outgunned. They tried crossing the Tsangpo on horseback, but were gunned down by Chinese machine gun fire. Most in his group perished including Chamdo Yabtsang. Pala was shot thrice on his right leg, arrested, and taken back to Norbulingka.

He spent the next three months in Norbulingka prison working on a vegetable field. He was tortured, beaten and made to sit through extended confession sessions. “We know you participated in counterrevolutionary activities, you attended meetings at the printing press. We know that the group that met above the press was responsible for planning the flight of the Dalai Lama,” barked the Chinese interrogators. He steadfastly denied and explained they were mistaking him for someone else. It was a miracle that the Chinese could not confirm his real identity, as that would have meant certain death. After three months the inmates were moved to a new and larger labor camp on the eastern outskirts of Lhasa. They were forced into slave labor and worked on constructing the Nachen Thang hydroelectric plant. For the next nine months he had to dig and haul earth from the nearby mountain to the dam site. Each worker had to complete 200 trips a day. Failure to complete the required trips would subject the inmate to Thamzing (public humiliation) and other punishments. It was long hours of back breaking labor. Many became ill and died.

Pala had a black Omega wristwatch that drew the camp warden’s attention. He decided to give it to the warden as a gift. This move paid off as one day the authorities encouraged inmates below the age of forty to sign up for transfer to a Borax mine in the Changthang area of Tibet. They spoke positively about this place and how those enrolled would no longer be treated as prisoners, but viewed as workers and even be paid. Pala signed up. However, he withdrew his name when one day the warden pulled him aside and questioned why he had enrolled. Most Tibetans who went to work on the Borax mine never returned. According to one survivor, more than 54,000 inmates died of starvation, hard work, and the harsh environment. Those who tried to flee were shot and killed.

As the hydroelectric project neared completion, authorities began relaxing some of the harsh labor camp regulations and now inmates were even allowed visits by family members on Sundays. The loosening of control encouraged Pala to plan his escape. Though his plans had been to escape alone, responsibility was again thrust on him in form of a young monk he befriended in the camp. The monk turned out to be Panchen Otrul Rinpoche. In 1951 Rimpoche was taken to Lhasa as a possible 10th Panchen Lama. In fact he was the first choice of Ganden Phodrang. However, a candidate from Amdo was eventually selected. The Tibetan government gave Rinpoche the title of Panchen Otrul, which means ‘Panchen Candidate.’ Rinpoche’s family members requested Pala to take the young Rinpoche with him to India. The two with the help of Rinpoche’s family members managed to escape in 1960. They hid in caves during daytime, walked at night, and made the long and arduous journey to freedom on foot via Bhutan. Pala left Tibet with just his pouch of tsampa.

Images of the flight to freedom recede replaced by another channel showing Dharamsala in the early sixties and the Tibetan government setting up its base. Pala was employee number four of the Department of Information. In 1961, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made an important statement in Dalhousie where he shared his vision of a more egalitarian and democratic Tibetan society. He said “in order to make Tibet a rich, strong and vigorous nation, the special privileges and the large estates enjoyed, whether by monasteries or aristocratic families will have to go and every one will have to learn and live with and help the common people.” The Department asked Pala and another colleague to tour all the Tibetan camps in Nepal, explain and distribute a booklet of His Holiness’s Dalhousie statement, and also to share his experience in Tibet.

The six-month Nepal tour coincided with a large number of Chushi Gangdruk volunteers heading to Mustang. Many were stranded at the border as the Nepalese police denied them entry. So, instead of finding a receptive audience, he had to deal with an angry mob of resistance fighters who had run out of food and money, felt abandoned and were increasingly irate. They refused to let him go unless he could help address their problems. He had to summon all his skills and barely managed to mollify the mob. The Nepalese government, concerned with Tibetans massing in Mustang, asked Pala and his delegation to encourage Tibetans to return to India or stay in Nepal without engaging in political activities. The delegation ended up visiting all Tibetan areas including the hard stretch from Pokhara to Mustang on foot.

The next assignment was to establish and operate a people’s cooperative store later known as United Association's Store in McLeod Ganj as the only store was the one run by Mr. Nowrojee. Pala traveled to different Indian cities to buy goods. The store provided a much-needed service to the community. It was also profitable and Pala was able to return the money they had received from His Holiness’s Private Office to buy the store within a few months of operation.

The relatively sedate work of managing a general store did not last long when responsibility of far greater import was again thrust on him and his life was abruptly steered on a different course. A discreet project of setting up a Tibetan paramilitary special force called Establishment 22 was initiated in 1962 shortly after the Indo-China War. The primary goal of this force was to conduct covert operations in Tibet. About 300 Tibetans, many members of Chushi Gangdruk, were the early recruits. The force was stationed in a cantonment town called Chakrata. The soldiers requested the Tibetan government to send two representatives as leaders. The other two officers were from Chushi Gangdruk. Dharamsala selected Pala, and Jampa Wangdue, an elderly Tibetan civil servant. New recruits soon started arriving – 300 to 500 a day. Early responsibilities included organizing the force and setting up things. Pala also underwent sky jump training and soon temporarily took on the role of a Jump Master where he trained Tibetans to jump from planes. He logged a total of thirty jumps during this instructor role. Mr. Wangdue returned to Dharamsala after two years. Pala assumed the most senior position (Dapon) commanding a force that now numbered 12,000. In the late sixties, Establishment 22 undertook numerous covert operations inside Tibet primarily to gather intelligence, track Chinese military movement and establish resistance cells.

The most significant event in the early years of Establishment 22 was Tibetan participation in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, which led to the independence of Bangladesh. When the participation of Tibetans was sought, Pala managed the process of building consensus within the Tibetan officers, explaining and securing the buy-in of rank and file, and informing Dharamsala. He and Major General S.S. Uban, the commanding Indian officer, went on a Recon Mission to the Indian-Bangladesh border prior to the war. They then met and discussed strategy and plans with the highest-ranking civilian leaders in the Indian cabinet including a meeting with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Pala was the General’s right hand person and oversaw troop movement, supply chain, and communications. He discussed and helped shape strategy and was the lone Tibetan decision maker at the military Headquarters. When not in the Headquarters, he was out on the battlefield encouraging the soldiers, giving them the support they needed, and rushing to see the wounded. The 3000 Tibetan soldiers who participated in the four-month war played an important role in securing independence for Bangladesh. 56 Tibetans were killed and over 200 were wounded.

Another memorable event was a peace mission in 1973. Things were not well in Mustang where Gyen Yeshi had set up a guerrilla enclave in 1960 with 3,000 men. An attempt to bring about a leadership change by having a younger man, Gyato Wangdu, become the leader was not accepted by Gyen. He broke away with about 250 followers and formed a splinter group. The two factions were at a standoff and factional war seemed imminent. The infighting was occurring at a time when the Nepalese government’s laissez-faire policy towards the Tibetan guerrillas was hardening as they came under increasing pressure from China. Dharamsala was concerned and asked its Secretary of the Security Department, Pala and another Khampa military officer to visit Mustang. They were sent to mediate and persuade Gyen Yeshe to a peaceful leadership transition of the Tibetan Mustang army. Gyen invited the delegation over to his base, which was located behind barely passable cliffs at elevations over 5000 meters. Pala drafted a detailed letter on behalf of the delegation and persuaded him to resolve the dispute peacefully. The wily old leader kept the group waiting for a few days, and eventually left his hideout without meeting them. The mission was unsuccessful. A month later the two factions fought and Gyen Yeshe ended up surrendering to the Nepalese government.

During his leadership, Establishment 22 enjoyed a stellar reputation and was held in high regard. They were able to host several senior Indian civilian and military leaders. Though he had to deal with the difficult issue of Tibetan participation in the 1971 war, Pala worked with his colleagues and framed the Tibetan involvement as a voluntary participation to support the oppressed people of Bangladesh. A delicate situation was skillfully handled and this combined with the bravery displayed by Tibetans on the battlefield earned the gratitude of the Indian government. Pala worked hard after the war to improve working conditions of the soldiers and was able to secure land, housing and small businesses as part of retirement package for the soldiers. After several requests to step down, he was finally allowed to leave the establishment in 1976.

The road after military service led back to Dharamsala. In his second stint there, he ran the Security Department as its General Secretary. He held this position until he voluntarily retired in 1987. During his ten-years of leadership, he redefined the work of the department by building a deep and mutually beneficial relationship with Indian security counterparts at the highest level. He was able to do this because of the relationships he developed while serving in the army. He expanded the scale of the department’s work, groomed young leaders, built a wide network of contacts and assets, and injected a muscular dimension to the department’s work.

Throughout the late sixties and seventies, a noxious combination of sectarianism and outsized personalities made for a tense relationship between the Tibetan government and some of the community members. Things came to a head when a community leader was killed in Clement Town in 1977. A large group of tough and angry out of town Tibetans descended on Gangchen Kyishong – the headquarters of the Tibetan Government and barged into the meeting hall where the Tibetan Ministers and staff had convened. According to many witnesses, there was total silence as no one dared to confront the meeting crashers. Pala rose and lectured the mob on respect, etiquette, and the right way to bring up grievances. This emboldened one or two others in the meeting to speak up as well. The mob backed off and a charged situation was diffused.

As he hit his mid-seventies, the knees that had logged thousand of miles covering the rugged terrain of Tibet and Nepal and which had been shot at by the Chinese soldiers began to hurt and slow him down. Still he kept an active schedule - doing his daily practice, religiously listening to the Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and Voice of Tibet news services, devouring all the Tibetan language newspapers, and graciously hosting a steady stream of people calling on him for guidance in matters big and small. In the weeks before he died, he was awestruck by the sacrifices of the self-immolators in Tibet and felt the freedom movement was entering a new phase – one that he was optimistic Tibetans will eventually prevail.

Pala was a fervent loyalist and at the same time an independent thinker. He was a person of impeccable integrity, character and discipline. While he was always thinking of expanding the boundaries of his work, he was ever mindful of his limitations since he had not received a proper education. Yet for all his lack of modern education, I viewed him as one of the most educated and progressive person I have ever met. Furthermore, he was a great husband, father and raised a successful family. As the family went through some of his belongings, we were struck by how little he had and needed. He had lived the teachings of his Master. He escaped Tibet with a pouch of tsampa and left unencumbered by wealth or material possessions.

The screens and images finally faded until all that was left was the lucid blue sky. I awoke from my reverie and realized my siblings and I were the lone holdouts at the crematorium. Everyone had left. The shrunken pyre had left behind an enlarged deposit of ash and other remains. As I walked home that day, I couldn’t help but marvel at the multiplicity of roles thrust on this man – student, monk, attendant, entrepreneur, freedom fighter, labor camp inmate, escapee, soldier, jump master, war veteran, security chief, community elder, husband and father. In seeing these myriad roles and events play out, I received a ringside view of my father’s life and got acquainted with a slice of Tibet’s recent history.

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Freedom burning

2013-02-13T07:37:00.001-08:00

By Soraya Beheshti

ON THE WEB, 9 February 2013

We live in a world that is supposedly strengthening the prominence of freedom, justice, compassion and equality. And yet — there is still a deafening cry from a nation that is screaming for liberty and choice. A nation that, even in this “free world”, embodies the cruelty and oppression of subjugation.

Soraya Beheshti

Tibet boasted its own language, traditions, history and lifestyle. When the Communist People’s Republic took over in 1951 all independence — as well as any source of identity that Tibet could claim — was quashed.

The occupation of Tibet for the last 60 years has deprived the country of its culture, history, civil rights and freedoms, and most importantly, the heart and spirit of Tibet: religion.

They left twelve monasteries. Twelve — of over 6000

Though destroying a place of worship is always an awful and unforgiving act, it is especially detrimental in Tibet, where religion forms the basis of existence and standards, and determines routine and values. Sacred and sanctified items were sold or disposed of (the proceeds of which went to China).

One of the most peaceful nations that the world has seen is now an outright and unconditional war zone. Since 1959, over 1.2 million Tibetans have died due to the occupation of their homeland. Sterilization and forced abortions have arisen in Tibet as a major issue. If nothing changes, it won’t be long before the Tibetan race is completely obliterated — all that will be left will be the ancient remnants, locked up in China, and the burning remorse deep inside reminding us that while we were shaking our heads and flipping through channels, there was a country giving their lives for the rights that we always possess and rarely appreciate.

We constantly wonder how the Nazis were so appeased in the 20th Century

The [Nazis of Germany] were able to commit mass murder of a whole race and get away with it for so long. Evidently, we are unable to understand that history is recurrent, and the very same thing is happening today.

Nuclear waste dumped by the Chinese is killing the land and poisoning the air with dangerous radiation. Furthermore, the fertilizer that is mandatory by law causes crops and animals to die. It is clear that the current occurrences in Tibet point to calculated and conscious genocide — and yet it is almost completely overlooked.

China, the offender in this inhumane and intolerable crime, still possesses the rank of “Most Favoured Nation” to the US

Economic policies in Tibet (enforced by the Chinese) are established around a political arrangement that neglects Tibetan practices, requirements and progression. Tibet is viewed by China in such a way that it serves only as a pawn, slaving to advance China’s own economy and markets. Tibetan resources and labour are both exhausted as properties of China, working to progress and develop Chinese prosperity.

China has been revising the history of Tibet long before they took power. It is for this reason that many people in Mainland [sic] China (sadly) believe that they posses a genuine right to claim Tibet. True history, however, clearly verifies that Tibet had always been independent, associating with China only as a neighbour.

Like many other small, surrounding countries, China has used their military dominance to assert authority over these peaceful nations to accommodate their own inflated population. Tibet is being taken advantage of because it is a non-violent country. Powers like China have the ability to exploit countries like Tibet because they know that they will face no hostile backlash in the combative sense, due to the karmic principles that the country is based upon. Therefore, the people that are essentially the least deserving of such treatment are the ones that are treated the most harshly.

The Dalai Lama teaches compassion

The Dalai Lama himself has no hatred towards the Chinese, but rather participates in a daily practice in which he “exchanges” emotion to evoke positive action by willing the transferral of his compassion and the acquisition of their hatred.

“That’s why I call love and compassion a universal religion. One’s own happiness and compassion depend on others.”

Therefore, one should have compassion for others, creating happiness among them, and thus amongst yourself.

If there is one thing that my research has taught me, it is this:

The soldiers are not to hate — they are products of indoctrination. The history is not to hate — it wasn’t what caused the soldiers to act this way. If there is anything to hate, it is hatred itself — which is, and always will be, the most negative force in the universe, of which no good can come.

The oppression of Tibet has entrenched, in a people so good and pure, a despair so deep and so profound that even self-immolation is a more viable option than existing in a life deprived of identity. The physical pain of the literal roasting of their own flesh is incomparable to the emotional and spiritual anguish and suffering that stems from the absence of free will.

A life in which castration, torture, scalding and rape are everyday occurrences is not the kind of life that should be ignored by those who are lucky enough to be without such hardships. Years later, we will reflect on the headlines which act as footprints of time. If this oppression continues in the future, we will wonder why we never acted earlier.

Why should we later regret not having done anything, when we can instead speak up now?

This article was published on Ms Beheshti's website on 11 January 2013.

About the author

Soraya Beheshti is 16 years old. She is from New Zealand. Ms Beheshti has a fascination with politics and world issues, unparalleled by almost any other interest in her life. She says: "I am young — and some would say therefore powerless — but I feel a relentless need to try my part in this grave human condition, including the Tibetan situation. Though young and inexpert, I am propelled by curiosity to try to write what I know and to discover what I do not." She hopes that she finds herself one day to be in a world where her voice — and that of every other inhabitant of this planet — can be heard.

The Continuing Tibetan Tragedy

2013-02-13T07:25:00.004-08:00

By B.Raman, C3S Paper No: 1099 dated February 11, 2013

B Raman

As in previous years, the Tibetans are not celebrating their New Year’s Day this year too which falls this month.

2.Tibetans in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR),Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan as well as the Tibetan diaspora abroad, including in India, are observing their New Year’s Day as a day of mourning and prayers in memory of 99 Tibetans who have so far committed self-immolation ( 80 of them fatal) in the Tibetan areas of China to demand their freedom and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Lhasa.

3.Their hopes that the advent of a new Chinese leadership headed by Mr.Xi Jinping could mark a relaxation of the suppression in the Tibetan areas and a willingness to address the grievances of the Tibetans have been belied so far.

4.Since Xi took over as the Party General Secretary from Mr.Hu Jintao in November last year, the Party has shown no inclination to re-consider its policies of suppression and forcible integration of the Tibetans which has driven many young Tibetan monks and others to take the desperate step of self-immolation to draw the attention of the international community to their plight.

4.Instead of recognizing the continuing self-immolations as an expression of desperation and anguish, the Chinese have been projecting them as part of a conspiracy against Beijing mounted by His Holiness and the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) and other external organizations such as the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.

5.Instead of sympathising with the relatives and friends of those who committed self-immolation, they have been rounding them up and prosecuting them on a charge of instigating the self-immolations. Eight of them have already been sentenced after sham trials to various terms of imprisonment, including one of suspended death sentence.

6. In the face of this wave of suppression to put down the self-immolations, the Tibetans in India observed five days of solidarity with the Tibetan struggle for freedom. They observed a day of prayers on February 1 at New Delhi that was attended by about 1000 people including many Indian opposition leaders.

7.Lobsang Sangay, Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, has said the convictions were unfortunate because “repression is the cause” of the self-immolations.

8.Sangay said it was unfortunate that the Chinese government had resorted to “sham” trials that had “no basis or legal process.”

9.He said he had asked Tibetans around the world not to celebrate the Lunar New Year this month out of respect for those who have died from the self-immolations.

10.“As a form of condolences and solidarity to all those Tibetans inside Tibet … I have asked Tibetans not to celebrate, not to organize any festivals, but to wear traditional dress and go to monasteries and pray for all those who have died and continue to suffer in Tibet,” he said.

11.It was gratifying to note the greater public interest in the Tibetan cause in New Delhi this year, but it has to spread to other parts of India, which are hardly aware of the continuing tragedy in Tibet.

(The writer, Mr B.Raman, is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. Twitter: @SORBONNE75)

Faux pas and mea culpa: chastising the Dalai Lama

2013-01-07T11:55:00.001-08:00

By Rebecca Orton

Rebecca Orton

Religious scholar, Stephen Prothero, made a bit of faux pas last summer with a piece he wrote for CNN’s Belief blog. In it he criticizes the Dalai Lama for not speaking out against the immolations. A follow-up to his first article, was published on Jan.2, 2013, and appears an attempt, to redeem his hasty, and not particularly well-informed earlier criticism.

Mr. Prothero, has somewhat redeemed himself with this latest post, if only slightly. However, the biggest problems with his critique, are two-fold. Firstly he lacks an understanding of Tibetan culture; and secondly Christian and western culture inform his world-view. Additionally, I believe he has misjudged the political conundrum faced by His Holiness. Essentially, the Dalai Lama is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. There is no appeasing China's government, where the Dalai Lama is concerned. As much as I would like to hear a much clearer indication of his position, as the Karmapa has given; I am not privy to HHDL's private consultations with Tibetans around the world. I am also not Tibetan and as such, I refrain from personal critique of the Dalai Lama.

In a recent article published on Phayul, Wang Lixiong, Chinese dissident writer and husband of well-known Tibetan writer/dissident Woeser, analyzes the last words of Tibetan immolators. The analysis is an effort to understand why the immolations are occurring. One of the interesting points of his article is that international attention is not what Tibetan immolators are striving for, as is mistakenly believed by many outside observers. Nor are they acts of desperation. In fact the majority of immolators are apparently saying that, because they've realized no one else is going to come to their aid, they have taken it upon themselves to act on behalf of their country.

He quotes Phutstok, who immolated in March of 2011 and began the current wave of immolations, as saying "I cannot live to wait in vain". While Christians and other non-Christians, may not approve of suicide, in this case, Tibetans, seem to view the sacrifice of one's self, for the greater good, as one of the highest acts of ones life. Phutsok and many others who have followed in his fiery wake, seem willing to sacrifice themselves for the well-being of all Tibetans.

However, this is difficult for a Christian, white, privileged male to understand. I think Mr. Prothero was completely out-of-bounds in his summertime critique, and now, after likely being criticized by readers, seems to have repositioned his critique rightfully toward China's leaders, where it belongs.

The real blame lies with the Chinese government and their continued and absolute failure to admit to any wrong doing during the last 62+ years, since they first stepped foot in Chamdo in 1950, and began the occupation of Tibet. The reality is that, China's government has done more to exacerbate the problem, than it has to find viable and sustainable solutions. Meeting immolations with a response of military violence, and oppression has proved unsuccessful, as the immolations have continued, spreading beyond the clergy and borders of Eastern Tibet. However, China's continued refusal to look in the mirror to discover the problem is the biggest contributor to the ongoing immolations.

Were China’s leaders to adopt a practice of self-inquiry as a governing body, they would eventually find the rabid dog in their midst, to in fact be themselves. That is unfortunately, an unlikely scenario, as China's leaders prefer passing the buck and blaming everyone except themselves when things go awry.

Editor's NOTE-- Rebecca Orton is a writer, photographer and scholar of modern Tibetan History, and long time supporter of Tibetan’s across the globe. When time permits she writes on the Tibet’s Truth blog, offering geopolitical analysis and insight into the Tibet/China issue. She holds a Masters degree in Communication, and is currently finishing a book chronicling her experiences, while living in McLeodganj. She lives on the shores of the Puget Sound in Seattle, WA.

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The Gemini Flyover and the flying Tibetan flags

2013-01-05T02:11:00.001-08:00

By Tenzin P. Pam

Tenzin P. Pam speaking to the Media

Gemini flyover over was built by East Coast Construction and Industries in 21 months at a cost of 6.6 million and was opened to traffic on 1 July 1973. It is dubbed one of the top-rated flyovers in the country, and is the first flyover in Chennai and third in India. In the years to come this flyover has been denominated with additional fame owing to its proximity to the United States Consulates and the number of people daily plying the road. There is even a Statue which adds to the beauty of the flyover. Never in the mind of the builder of this celebrated flyover had this thought that those Tibetan students would one day choose this place for the street protests to vent their anger against the Chinese government. The Tibetan students in Chennai under the banner, ‘Tibetan Students Association of Madras’ (TSAM), have organised numerous protest campaigns in order to propagate and spread awareness about Tibetan plight in Tibet under the oppressive Chinese rule. All of these had been undertaken with the police permission and under the given place which the government or the state police allotted to us. Over the years, despite following the same vein of protest against Chinese rule, new generation of TSAM members found a new way of snatching media and public attention, which the elder and early active students of the city failed or never thought to do, ‘The Street Protest’, the protest that sent shock waves to the Chennai police and intelligent officials not for the first but for the third time.

In 2008, few months ahead of Beijing Olympics, Tibetans all over the world especially in India were filled with the mania of protest. They thought that this would be the best chance for them to highlight the human rights condition in Tibet and to fight internationally for the freedom of Tibet. Not only did people, but the government in exile itself took the best initiative they had to ensure that the Beijing Olympic was countered with the flashing of any news about Tibet. All the four major Tibetan organisations in India, including, Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA), National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT) and Gu Chu Sum (Ex-Prisoner’s Association) took active part in the freedom struggle from Indian soil to address the Tibet issue. Everywhere, United States, England, Switzerland, France particularly where Beijing Olympic torch travelled were filled with anti-China movements. Jantar Manter and Chinese Embassy in New Delhi were wrapped with Tibetan protestors and flags.

In the same year in Chennai, TSAM students which first maintained quiet for sometime suddenly burst out in the open to the surprise of Chennai city police. For the first time Gemini Flyover known for its proximity to United States’ Consulates is invaded with peaceful protesters clad in just an underwear and body fully coated with anti-China slogans. Banners were for the first time unfurled from the flyover. For the first time protest was undertaken without permission from the city police. The media well covered the protest at the Gemini site while protest undertaken at the police permitted area almost went blind to the media people. This first protest marked in the mind of Chennai Tibetan Students that doing something at such place where media covered every move and protest we took appeared in every paper cemented our resolve on such move in the years to come. It was on August 8, 2008, where two protests were undertaken one with permission and other without. Gemini Flyover, interestingly was first tested for the protest site not by the TSAM students, but by volunteers students from Bylakuppe Tibetan School with the help of TSAM. The author of this article don’t know who exactly gave that idea of Gemini-Flyover-Protest, however, it was said that one of the early Chennai college students working as a teacher in their school provided the idea. Gemini protest was successful so far as our goal of expressing anger against China and spread of message and awareness among the Indian people and media were concerned. The students were arrested at Thousand Light police station on the same day and were released around late 10 o’clock in the night. They were released with stern warning. We had hard time releasing them however, we did our job and police did theirs.

Again, the second besieging of Gemini Flyover took place in March this year (2012). There were again continued self-immolations taking place inside Tibet and photos of charred Tibetan brothers and sisters filled the news papers and other media. This really was a message from Tibet that they are suffering under the oppressive rule of China in Tibet. Tibetans again all over India and elsewhere partook in protest against China’s indifference towards Tibetan issue and self-immolations. TSAM in Chennai under those circumstances, hold emergency meeting (it’s very famous and popularly known as brainstorming meeting) to discuss what immediately needs to be done in view of such disturbances. Meeting was continuously held often as to chalk out various plans in order to successfully execute the protest in Chennai. Students in city worked hard to prepare for the same while Tambaram students were busy readying for the protest. Again, to the shock of Chennai police, Gemini flyover was besieged, flags were waved and large-sized banners were hung from the flyover denouncing Chinese president and leaders alike. The protest was undertaken in objection to the visiting Chinese president Hu Jintao. Below the flyover, screams and cries of another group of Tibetan students ruled the road. Press missed no time in getting the best pictures of the movement as the cops in large number came to stop the protest and started arresting one by one. More than half of the protest members were arrested at different locations in the city; some were arrested while they were on their way to home. It created huge flutter on the main road. However, all of us were released in the evening.

Tibetan diasporas never imagined that the self-immolations would continue in such an unprecedented manner. However, in contrary to Chinese claims of peace, stability and economic development in Tibet, Tibetans still continue to vent their anger against the Chinese government and their repressive and biased policies on them. They took to the streets of different parts of Tibet to arrest the attention of international community. As this didn’t heal wound of Chinese rule, Tibetans undertook the extreme but least non-violent method of expressing their dissatisfactions over the dragon’s rule and absence of their virtual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. November alone saw more than 29 people self-immolating.

Students in Chennai were teeming with sentiments of unexpected things happening inside Tibet. The charred bodies of young and old alike Tibetans looms their picture. They were and are burning from inside finding to see how to express in Chennai. Asking for police permission takes both time and uncertainty. Even if permitted, won’t get a sort of awareness and message we would like to spread. On top of that semester exams were going on. However, something had be to be done one day before it is too late to express our solidarity and concerns over the continuing self-immolations taking place inside Tibet. That too we can’t decide a day suddenly and start with. Therefore, a cabinet meeting was held as required to chalk out date and confirm the plan in order to ensure our work doesn’t go vain. The cabinet members decided to undertake a protest to highlight Tibet issue in general and self-immolations in Tibet in particular. Outside discussions were also on as to what, how and when to do a protest that would be able to arrest the attention of the Indian public to the Tibet issue and ongoing self-immolations inside Tibet. An emergency meeting of TSAM students was decided to be called on 18th November to discuss with the member students to retrieve some good ideas and also to gauge the members’ sentiment and decision. Meeting was held for more than four hours to decide the date, place, and manner of protest (with permission or without). Each individual sentimentally spoke about the on-going self-immolations inside Tibet and immediate necessity of having a protest at a place where we can best arrest the attention of the public.

Every member both juniors and seniors spoke sternly and strongly about having a protest. Even though they differ on date, place or manner of protest one common thing they unanimously agree is to have a demonstration or protest. After group discussion each group representative spoke and finally landed on a common decision of going on a protest on 21st November at Gemini Flyover Road near United States Consulate at 3:00 pm. Each of us divided the work as it involves two way and grouping of protest one at flyover and other on the ground. Media concentration is most important as it is best and only means through which we can propagate our news and protest. I took charge of calling and contacting the media which may involve police intelligence getting information about us before we start our protest in case I use my presidential cell phone. In order to avoid any police receiving information I cleverly manoeuvred calls to the media including both English and Tamil from another number without using the presidential cell phone. Dalha, Phuntsok Palden and one more new student took charge of taking photos for the flyover and ground protestors. Taking pictures of flyover is most important as the banner must be shown to any papers or public. We then had a separate group who would be going to the flyover to put up the banners so that the whole public travelling around the road will see why we were protesting and against whom.

Finally as decided unanimously in the emergency meeting, all of us left at different times from different places but to be at 3pm at Gemini Road to start protest. As we converged from different sides at a site near the statue, our protest started. Students came in dark T-shirt with national flags flying in the air. Big pictures of new Chinese leaders were dragged on the road and put down at our feet. Two big banners were successfully put up in the flyover that read “Tibet is not part of China”

Unlike before, it took almost half an hour for the police to reach the spot of protest. We had enough time to vent our anger on the streets. Some were shouting slogans, some speaking to media and many are kneeling down for worldly attention. Around 3:35 pm, police started pouring in and large number of traffic had also been blocked. Protest was still on both sides. A small contingent on the flyover successfully performed their job of unfurling the banners that read “Seven New Terrorist Leaders of China on Tibet” and another “Tibet is not part of China”. Later that group had been sent to the ground protest site. A police officer of higher rank warned me as he searches for the leader of the protest.

He told me “stop this, why you are protesting here?”. I replied “we are protesting against china and seeking India and World attention to support us and stop self-immolations in Tibet”. He retorted to me saying “this is not the right place for the same and you are doing it without permission.” I replied in the midst of freedom clamour “ Yes, I know sir we are doing it without permission, but we have no option sir.” And I added “however, we are going back to home now.” The vexed police officer retorted again in Hindi “larthi-charge karna parega”. I said “Sir, go ahead”. He was shocked to hear that because he didn’t expect this sort of answer from my mouth.

A big police van was arranged and we were all arrested in no time and taken to a marriage hall. I know that they would release us all. I told them we were going through exam and must be released to ensure that we appear for exam. For the first time an additional police commissioner, second in command of Chennai city police personally visited us and spoke to us. He questioned us for 20 minutes including myself as I attempted to answer his question on our students’ behalf. As senior police officer of the Indian government he wouldn’t agree to Tibet position. However, he honestly confessed that as a person he knew that Tibet was an independent country and he is still at heart with us. The revelation came when I asked him in the middle of quizzing me. I interrupted me in the midst asking “ Sir, do you support us?”. He said “Yes, of course I do support you and we are with you.” Then I continued “Is Tibet part of China?” For which he replied with stern look “Of course not, Tibet is not part of China.” I followed “Then why Indian government position is “Tibet being part of China”. He replied “As a government official I can’t do anything, but I know Tibet is not part of China”. He added “I know more about Tibet than you do. You are just a child to me. I am an international studies student in JNU and know about all these.” Facing his junior colleague he said “tomorrow it will definitely come in newspaper, police intelligence failure. I want all the reports and I will speak to the commissioner”. And he left accept numerous salutes from these juniors. We were released an hour later around 8:20 pm after a stern warning. The Gemini Flyover surely will again experience another protest whatsoever. I wish there is Chinese Consulate in Chennai so that Gemini Flyover and its friend U.S Consulates don’t have to see our protest.

Editor's NOTE-- Tenzin P. Pam is a senior student majoring in political science at Madras Christain College, Chennai and he is also the president of the local Tibetan Students' Association in Chennai.

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A Letter from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama

2013-01-02T01:29:00.000-08:00

By Bhuchung D. Sonam

H.H. the 13th Dalai Lama

Dear Brethrens,

2013, the Water-Snake year, marks a century since I made the proclamation of Tibet’s independence on the eighth day of the first month of the Water-Ox year. In the declaration I wrote, ‘Now the Chinese intention of colonizing Tibet under the patron-priest relationship has faded like a rainbow in the sky…’ and ‘[t]he Tibetan government’s civil and military officials, when collecting taxes or dealing with their subject citizens, should carry out their duties with fair and honest judgment so as to benefit the government without hurting the interests of the subject citizens.’ Twenty years later, in my last testament, I stated that ‘the future holds darkness and misery,’ and, to quote the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, ‘the time of the flute has changed to the whistle of an arrow.’
Now my country is under foreign occupation. This colonial subjugation has been going on for more than half a century and Communist China’s systematic propaganda and re-writing of our history has produced a generation of Tibetans who have no concept of their past glories and cultural heritage. It is hence imperative for you today to reclaim, reassert and reaffirm our history because the power of our past determines our future; the reality of our past gives us the strength, fortitude and vision to achieve a free Tibet where we can rule ourselves in tune with our culture and values. This reclamation of history is a battle of truth against falsehood, memory against censorship, and legitimacy against occupation.

In 1933 I stated that we must ‘[m]aintain friendly relations with the two great powers, China and India, conscript able soldiers to guard the borders and make them sufficiently strong to ward off those countries with whom we have had border disputes. The armed forces should be drilled and disciplined so as to be effective and strong to overcome those who threaten us.’ Much water has flowed under time’s bridge since I said these words and the world that I knew has long since disappeared. Old boundaries have been erased and new ones drawn. Consequently, we need to not only obsessively invest in education and accumulate knowledge but also develop tactical wisdom to translate our vast global goodwill into concrete political support. China is no longer the weak and strife-torn country of a century ago: it has metamorphosed into an economically strong nation that thuggishly flexes its muscles at anyone and any country that dares to speak or openly support us Tibetans. This harsh reality calls for fresh ideas, better strategies and long-term vision. We must build new forces such as concerted multi-lateral actions and strategic non-violent campaigns. We must cease to beg with folded hands at the earless walls of the United Nations and start to take our struggle to the next level with self-assuredness and inner strength. The People’s Republic of China may have the largest cash reserve in the world but it is a giant balloon with millions of needles piercing from within. Its leaders are blinkered, its system corrupt and its future uncertain.

Nevertheless, the Communist Party’s stranglehold over Tibet continues. Our beloved country is passing through a long and dark night and my people are immersed in immense suffering. The socialist hell imposed by Mao Zedong and his successors has brought a life-and-death struggle to Tibet and its people, driving many of them to set themselves on fire as a last, non-violent, resort to express their dissent. There is no pain deeper and no sacrifice greater than a seventeen-year-old nun dousing herself in petrol and turning into a fiery ball of protest while calling for Tibet’s independence. Without bitterness, animosity and hatred towards her oppressors, this teenage nun’s motivation is the highest level of bodhicitta. Looking at the sheer selflessness, loyalty and courage of such young people, there is great hope for the future.

But the task at hand is not easy and the road ahead will be long. The sacrifice and dedication of our brothers and sisters in the Land of Snow have set a new standard in our struggle. Now it is the responsibility of those living in relative freedom in exile to match and surpass this level of commitment and devotion to our fight for independence. I know that with your linguistic skills and creativity, access to the global leaders, information and the news media, you are uniquely positioned to fulfil this historic duty.

However, over the past few years I have noticed that some of you, who are highly educated and articulate, have been using your precious time and intelligence to point fingers at each other. Moreover, sadly, some of our rangzen warriors, who may not even have seen the corridors of our government-in-exile, are loudly shouting against it. Democracy can be frenzied and complicated, especially our tsen-jol bod-shung, which functions under the auspices and goodwill of its host country. Our government may not be operating as efficiently as you would wish and you may not agree with some of its policies. But just as you have one biological mother and father, you have only one legitimate government that represents our people living on both sides of the Himalayas. No other institution can replace this. If you took the trouble to find out, there are democratic channels through which you can air and register your disagreements – rationally, maturely and transparently. There is no need to hide behind a veil of social networks to motormouth your personal frustrations. A couple of rangzen advocates may have strong extremist leanings. Fanaticism, we all know, is the last refuge of cowards. Others, while criticising bod-shung, have gone to the extreme of comparing our democratic government with despotic one-party-ruled China. Please be extremely careful with your click-happy fingers and acidic comments. Rot comes in small doses and sometimes without clear intent.

Our struggle for freedom is not a long-distance shouting match. It is nothing less than a revolution against tyranny. Revolution is a strategic vision backed up by a systematic campaign. Revolution is the might of a pen matched by the strength of action. Revolution is a mission leading to independence. It is the willingness to sacrifice everything and to march forward with hope grounded in reality. Revolution rejects submission to suppression. Our revolution is an act of resistance which fundamentally challenges China’s occupation of our homeland and, in the process, kindles our collective consciousness to coalesce ourselves into a single fabric called ‘Tibet’.

This revolution is not about who can point a finger at whom the fastest. Nor it is a contest to see who can use more invectives against our people by calling them ‘spineless’, ‘incompetent’ and branding our exile government as ‘self-serving’. If rangzen is to have any resonance with our people and if our struggle is to succeed, hurling tirades is not the right approach. You should not bombard others with your own inadequacies and failures. ‘It is those who know how to rebel, at the appropriate moment, against history who really advance its interests,’ wrote Albert Camus. And yet some of our fervent rangzenpas don’t even seem to know who to rebel against.

Knowledge without understanding of wider historical and geopolitical perspectives has very little value. Information without practical application has no meaning. Passion without a purpose is pointless. This is why sometimes I feel that some of you have mouths that cover the entirety of your heads, and your heads are bigger than your bodies. A few of you have this habit to hang around only with your tiny circle of ‘like-minded’ people. The battle to make rangzen a national policy must involve all of our people, more so those who have differing political orientations. More importantly, it involves lobbying our parliamentarians to reflect people’s aspirations. Independence for the Snowland cannot be achieved only with tiny exclusive meets in far-away places over coffees and wafers. Revolution must begin with awakening the masses.

‘Involve me and I will understand’ goes an ancient proverb. More than any time in our long history, and more than any other moment in our recent past, there is an urgent need now to bring all tsampa-eaters together to push for a singular collective goal of a free Tibet. This requires charisma, leadership and vision. Where is our new Songtsen Gampo? Where is our new Milarepa? Where is Gesar? Where is Yonripon? My brethrens, search the deepest recesses of your minds, explore the tiniest corners of your hearts and hunt the most tortuous labyrinths of your memories, because the seed that can grow into a tree of leadership is within each of you. Keep in mind that you live to witness the ray of freedom rise and not to observe the shadow of repression swell.

Remember, I experienced exile too, and I know how desolate it feels to return to your cold rented houses each night. I also know how our people live in our homeland under occupation each day like sheep tethered in a slaughterhouse. In a letter dated 26 August 2012, one of our brothers in the Land of Snow wrote, ‘Tibetans in exile must have the courage to aim all your strength at a single goal. This is our expectation. The life of our nation and its freedom are directly and deeply intertwined with, and depending, on you all.’ The way forward is thus to unite and rise up.

I am writing these words from the depth of my heart because I care too much for our struggle to adopt a convenient and easy way to please you. Now each of you must find the right path, fortified by foresight. After all, as a popular adage goes, we are limited not by our abilities but by our vision.

Editor's NOTE-- Bhuchung D. Sonam is a Tibetan writer and poet in English, and the above article is originally published by the Tibetan News portal phayul.com

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Developed or displaced? --The historical roots of current development policies in Tibet

2012-12-30T05:48:00.002-08:00

By Jennifer Yakamovich

Jennifer Yakamovich

The assimilation of an ethnic minority into a controlling majority is not a new practice. History has repeatedly shown a tendency for groups in power to enforce collective social reform through political conquest (Davidson, 2012, p. 90). This is often in the name of “development,” yet at the cost of the deterioration of a more marginal group– as is currently the issue for Tibetans in the Himalayan region of China. Since the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in 1951, there have been many political reforms imposed by the Chinese government on the Tibetan population, especially Tibetan nomads. (Davis, 2012, p.429).

These oppressive modernization and development policies have led to a cultural genocide- the murder of the Tibetan culture (Dhir; 1999, pp. 73-74; Davidson, 2012, p. 1). The transformations that Tibetans are currently experiencing have been the result of a long history of conflict between China and Tibet, namely the dispute over Tibet’s independence, the rise of China as a communist country, and the reforms that have followed as it gained power (Schaik, 2011). Thus, it is important to acknowledge that the historical political tensions between China and Tibet have contributed to the implementation of development policies which have resulted in the oppression of Tibetan culture. (Isom, 2009, p. 7; Schaik, 2011; Davis, 2012, p. 436)

Tibet’s independence has long been debated (Dreyer & Sautman, 2006, p. 3; Schaik, 2011, p. xv). Tibet as a “place” differs from Tibet as a “culture” (Clarke, 1987, p. 67). Tibet, or the “Tibetan Autonomous Region” (TAR) as it is politically and geographically represented today, did not officially exist until 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was established (Goldstein, 2012, p. 258). In order to understand what led to the Chinese “liberation” of Tibet, one must look at the historical background and political dynamics of the Tibet-China conflict, which began more than a thousand years ago.

Historians accept Tibet as a region having experienced some on-and-off indirect imperial rule, while having remained largely separate as a self-governing territory (Davis, 2012, p. 437). Indigenous Tibetans, using the land and animals as their subsistence economy, have generally been portrayed as having lived for centuries in a system of co-existence and interdependency between the ecosystem, the nomadic clans, and the religious institutions (Isom, 2009, p.7). That being said, Tibet has seen some of its own violent battles. In the 7^th century, Tibet as its own empire even managed to conquer China’s Tang empire capital Chang’an, primarily for the purpose of maintaining its own self-autonomy (Davis, 2012, p. 437; Schaik, 2011, p. 3). Around the same time, Tibet was introduced to Buddhism. While under the rule of the Mongols and later on the Qing dynasty during the Middle Ages, Tibet continued to mainly exist as separate and distinct from the rest of East Asia. The semi-nomadic and semi-peasant societies functioned for centuries on a level of hierarchy and aristocracy under the rule of Tibetan emperors or tsenpos (Davis, 2012, p 438). This was followed by the establishment of the Buddhist Dalai Lamas, the spiritual and political leaders of Tibet, in the 1500s. It was here that Tibetan Buddhism flourished, defining the now well-known religious society (Isom, 2009, p.7). For the most part, the pastoral clans and tribes in the high-altitude regions lived isolated from the rest of the world up until the 21^st century (Gelek, 2002, p. 42). The main institutions were monasteries, for lamas and monastic orders, with elaborate systems of meditation, writing, and an alphabet. Tibet had developed its own language, practices, social order, and economy (New Statesman, 2012).

While distinct in culture and tradition, Tibet has a relatively low and rural population. It has always been outnumbered in people by its Chinese neighbour, with its large ethnic majority of Han Chinese. Tibet historically had what was described by the Dalai Lama as a “patron-priest” relationship with China, meaning China existed as a protector for Tibet (Schaik, 2011, p. 200). However, the Chinese, with a history of rising and falling dynasties, expanding and contracting territories, and emperors and militaries experienced in warfare, began to truly colonize Tibet. They rejected the Dalai Lama’s position as a political leader in the early 1900’s when they wanted to create a nation state with established borders. Britain took an interest in Tibet during the late colonial period, and China began to feel threatened, feeling the need to officially claim the Tibetan territory as its own. The idea of boundaries was a new political and geographical concept to Tibet (Dreyer & Sautman, 2006, p. 278; Schaik, 2011, p. 191).

The more the Chinese government wanted to assert Tibet as an inseparable part of China, the more Tibet wanted to assert its independence (Dreyer & Sautman, 2006, p. 86). Political differences and tensions became apparent. Tibet was then considered de facto independent throughout the first and second World Wars, and during China’s civil war. This meant in practice the country was independent, but by law Tibet was ruled indirectly by China (Davis, 2012, p. 438). China was also described to be a suzerain of Tibet, meaning it had ‘some’ control of Tibet but that Tibet also maintained ‘some’ control (Davis, 2012, p. 438). These imprecise definitions of governance and vaguely-defined boundaries led to the initial violent conflict that underlined the opposing ideals of Tibet and China. Furthermore, Tibet experienced some internal conflict as the British were increasingly influencing Tibet’s politics as well as the formation of an army, something that had not previously characterized the Buddhist society (Schaik, 2011, p. 197). Tibetans, mostly those in monasteries in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, were beginning to feel angry and insecure with these changes (New Statesman, 2012).

In 1949, the People’s Republic of China came to rise after the leader Mao Zedong founded the Chinese Communist Party. Mao’s vision was of a “unified China” that would promote modernization in a majorly peasant and working population (MAO, 1999; Schaik, 2011, p. 208). By 1950 the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, had risen as the political leader of Tibet. In 1951 the Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet, propagating reforms to Tibet described as “democratic” (Gruschke, 2008). The Chinese community party had called the reform the “liberation” of the Tibetans, however many Tibetans themselves simply call it an invasion, implying their belief in a previously independent country (BBC, 2012). The Dalai Lama believed the Chinese communist invasion was breaking international law (Dreyer & Sautman, 2006, p. 75). However he agreed to sign a treaty, which essentially gave Tibet over to China. It seemed at first to be on the condition that China would preserve Tibet’s religion and identity, but improve living conditions. Tibet became the “Tibet Autonomous Region”. However, Tibetans quickly realized that the “autonomy” suggested in the name was deceiving, as there was (and continues to be) virtually no authority given to indigenous Tibetans (Dhir, 1999, p. 73). By 1959, many Tibetans were finding they had less freedom and more frustration. Some participated in a resistant movement against Chinese communists, calling for independence. What began as peaceful demonstrations turned into a violent uprising between ordinary Tibetans and the Chinese military, which ultimately forced the Dalai Lama to leave Tibet and go into exile.

Tibet in the 1960’s saw China’s Cultural Revolution and Mao’s “Great Leap Forward,” a communist movement producing Mao-devotees in China known as the Red Guards (Schaik, 2011, p. 232). Tibetan customs, habits, and ideas were deemed “old” by Mao and this resulted in the systematic destruction of monasteries and the Tibetan identity. This included the banning of everything religious or cultural, like Tibet’s flag, books, festivals, and pictures of the Dalai Lama (Schaik, 2011, pp. 241-244). As an attempt to indoctrinate the Tibetan people with Mao’s new ideas, schools of “modern,” Chinese thought replaced monasteries, Mandarin replaced the Tibetan language, and images of Mao replaced Buddhist shrines and imagery (Davidson, 2012, p. 127). The Panchen Lama, the second lama in the government and intermediary between Tibet and China, wrote a letter to Mao and his highest government with his concerns about the Chinese military victimizing Tibetans and destroying their culture. After making this statement the Panchen Lama was tortured and imprisoned for a number of years, following other Tibetans who were involved in the resistance movement or who simply opposed Chinese authority (Schaik, 2011, pp. 243).

It is suggested that China’s firm and repressive grip on Tibet is the legacy of a traditional view of maintaining pride and thus the unity of the nation- a view that developed from its shaky history of rising and falling empires. (Schaik, 2011, p. 266; Davis, 2012, p. 446). The tension between Tibetans and Chinese continues to be based largely on this question of independence and autonomy. After the Cultural Revolution, both Tibetans and Han Chinese began to feel a strong sense of Nationalism to their homeland- Tibet declaring its distinctness from China, and China affirming the “unity” of China. The “Han chauvinism” continues to clash with Tibet’s “local nationalism” (Schaik, 2011, p. 231).

The current Dalai Lama, who has lived in the exiled Tibetan community in India since he fled Tibet in 1959, now sees the vision of an entirely separate and independent Tibet as unrealistic (Dhir, 1999, p. 73). He has proposed a Peace Treaty between Tibet and China as an alternative to Tibet’s improbable independence, calling for self-determination in Tibet (Dreyer & Sautman, 2006, p. 73). Self-determination is described as “the right of a people to freely determine by and for themselves their political, international, economic, social and cultural status” (United Nations, 1981, p.8). He suggests more local and indigenous leadership, similar to the UN’s declaration on a right to self-determination for indigenous peoples (Davis, 2012, p. 446). This right has yet to be honoured by the Chinese government, as the laws in place for autonomy are not actually being practiced (Clarke, 1988, p. 119; Davis, 2012, p. 440).

The Dalai Lama also stresses the importance of non-violence, a Buddhist principle, as the means to achieving this political freedom. Most Tibetans respect and revere the current Dalai Lama as a living Buddha, but some Tibetans disagree with his non-violent tactics. Some argue that the only means to religious and cultural freedom is an “independent Tibet” (Dhir, 1999, p. 73). This political stance allows the Chinese government to tend to dismiss the Dalai Lama and all Tibetans as threatening separatists (Beech, 2012). They also perceive the peasant majority as “damaged” and “primitive” from what they consider to be a previously feudal society (Davidson, 2012, p.90). Thus, the Chinese continue to assert control over the Tibetan population living in the Tibet Autonomous Region (Davis, 2012).

Whether or not Tibet was indeed an independent nation pre-1950s and whether the Chinese occupation in Tibet is to be considered the “liberation” or “invasion” of the Tibetan population, there is no questioning the radical effect on the common Tibetan (Gruschke, 2008, pp. 5-6). Currently, the Chinese government firmly holds the belief that Tibet has “always belonged to China,” using this statement to justify their actions to assimilate the culture (Davis, 2012, p. 436). They say that before their intervention, Tibet was a “backward” society, referring to the often misinterpreted religious traditions and seemingly-primitive pastoral practices (Ptackova, 2011, p. 218). This negative view continues to validate the policies imposed on Tibetan nomads without their consultation (Goldstein, 2012, p. 257). A number of reform phases have been put in place since the Chinese Revolution, aligning with the changes China has experienced as it has shifted to a capitalist market economy (Dreyer & Sautman, 2006, p. 80). The effects of these reforms and development plans have especially been the felt by Tibetan nomads, who have traditionally lived as pastoralists and mountain farmers, moving by the season in the high regions of the Tibetan plateau (Goldstein, 2012, pp. 257-258). For centuries nomads lived in a system of pastoral estates where households would rotate and people had rights to owning grazing animals. These were first replaced by Mao’s “collectivization” agricultural policy of a commune system, where all activities and animals began to be controlled by a single leader of the commune (Goldstein, 2012, p. 263). In the last twenty years China has focused on production in the Tibetan plateau, developing infrastructure, and encouraging Han migration to Tibetan areas (Gruschke, 2008, p. 14; Isom, 2009, p. 9). China’s pursuit of rapid development in Tibet continues to be disguised as the chance for increased comfort and economic livelihoods for the indigenous population (Ptackova, 2008, p. 212).

2008 was the year of Beijing’s Olympics as well as the 50^th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising. Protests, self-immolations and demonstrations both in Tibet and within the Tibetan refugee diaspora gained international attention, and have since been constant (Schaik, 2011, p. 265-266; Beech, 2012). Based on past events, it is easy to dismiss these protests merely as separatist riots calling for independence, rather than protests demanding for basic human rights in Tibet (Fisher, 2012). There is little doubt that the Chinese crackdown and tightening of control was a response to these riots, as well as to more easily enable development plans. The following year, the Chinese government officially implemented a Nomadic settlement project in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, which aims to permanently resettle traditionally pastoral people through “sedentarization” (Ptackova, 2008, p. 212). Reforms now force nomads to live in fixed settlements constructed by the Chinese (Gruschke, 2008, p. 6). This permanent relocation has repeatedly been described as suppressive and unfulfilling for Tibetan nomads, who now experience poverty and a stagnant, lesser quality of life as opposed to a previously self-determined and social lifestyle (Ptackova, 2008, p. 231; New Statesman, 2012).

The displacement, resettlement, and oppression of an indigenous minority is all too familiar. History has seen a process similar to the displacement of the Tibetan people in which European colonizers physically and spiritually displaced Native Americans. European settlers, in the pursuit of expansion, tried to “civilize” “barbaric” groups of indigenous peoples in America such as Cherokee Indians, forcing them to live on reserves, sending them to reform conversion schools, and imposing their own “superior” beliefs (Davidson, 2012, p. 33). These processes of assimilation are deemed by some scholars as cultural genocide (Dhir, 1999, p. 73; Davidson, 2012, p.1). Cultural genocide tends to be the option a controlling group will take as a replacement for physical, violent genocide in order to more easily pursue a goal (Davidson, 2012). It is clear that in the case of Tibet and China the intentions of the Chinese have been to establish their modern ideals in the Tibetan region so as to develop China and assert its role as a powerful, unified nation (Davis, 2012, p. 446).
Although Tibetan Buddhism is strictly delimited by the Chinese, most Tibetans today continue to live by the religion’s basic principles. They believe in karma, the “law of cause and effect,” and the concept of “interdependent origination,” a law prescribing that complex effects and experiences are the result of complex causes and conditions (Gyatso, 2008, p.3). This means they believe that the present is linked to the past. In one account, Tashi Passang, a Tibetan refugee in exile, monk from a nomadic upbringing, and participant in the 1959 resistance movement, said: “an action has consequences; we are the consequences of our acts. Perhaps because there was a time in the seventh century when we Tibetans invaded China… we are suffering this torture now. It is our turn to suffer for what we did…” (Dalrymple, 2009, p. 163). It is clear Tibetan people are currently suffering, and it is clear the culture is being destroyed. While Tashi’s understanding is a religious, simplified and quite self-deprecating explanation for the cultural genocide of his people, it is also clear that on some level he recognizes that the issue of Tibetan oppression stems from a vast and complex history of political conflict between China and Tibet.

This paper reveals that the Chinese policies designed to develop the Tibetan region and displace the Tibetan culture have been the result of historical political tensions between local and national autonomy, independence and assimilation, and tradition and modernization.

Editor's NOTE-- Jennifer Yakamovich is a Canada based university student who has a keen interest in Tibetan Buddhism and meditation. She has even once visited Dharamshala and had spent plenty of time talking with the ex Tibetan political prisoners. She plans to visit the Indian hilly town once again in the offing.

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What Else If Not Self-immolation?

2012-12-28T09:10:00.003-08:00

By Wang Lixiong

The statistical analysis of the self-immolators’ last-words reveals that “self-immolation as an action” has the highest weightage; the highest frequency of self-immolation cases around the 18th Party Congress of CCP too shows that the self-immolators expected their actions would persuade for a resolution to the Tibet Issue. We should also see from this that for Tibetans, self-immolation itself was not their objective, it was related to not knowing what else could be done except self-immolations by those who wanted to act. So, had there been a course of action that involves the participation of each and every ordinary Tibetans and that would bring concrete results, no more Tibetans would see the need to continue self-immolating.

Change to the ethnic policy, realizing Middle Way, struggle for independence, etc, these lofty goals can hardly have the participation from the ordinary people on daily basis. Popular people’s movements require large-scale social coordination networks, an authoritarian country wouldn’t allow to establish such networks. To realize such lofty goals, there has to be equally large coordination networks, otherwise, the scattered actions of the people would be easily crushed by the regime. Therefore, in the absence of such a coordination, people have to either wait passively for the elites to command, or to “intensify their own acts” – such as self-immolations – to let their individual actions to come out to the fore.

The Dalai Lama’s Middle Way hasn’t gained any progress for so many years, the consequent frustration among Tibetans made independence to increasingly gain significant grounds – if compromise doesn’t work, then do the opposite to fight, thus at least there would be dignity. There is no nation in this world that doesn’t want to be independent, but the question is how to succeed? The only obstacle to the Middle Way is the government, but to independence, obstacle expands to more than a billion Han Chinese. The government as an obstacle will be eliminated with Chinese democratization, but the Chinese people as an obstacle will become even stronger with democratic system under which majority rules. Therefore, I don’t object the rights to national independence, but from the point of view of avoiding the massive expense and sacrifice, I don’t think that’s the most suitable solution to the Tibet Issue. Slogans will not lead to independence, even after paying a heavy price of sacrifice, with the huge disparity in power between the Tibetans and Chinese, Tibetans may still fail to realize independence. Dying for independence is worth respecting, but getting freedom and not dying is better – this is exactly what the Dalai Lama has opted for.

Struggle for independence of Tibet is a long journey, but fight for freedom can begin right from here and now. The Dalai Lama’s goal of genuine autonomy for Tibet, when seen as a lofty goal looks distant, but when this goal is decomposed into smaller goals like pursuing for the autonomy for each village, it is not that distant. As per current Chinese law, village autonomy is legal. Although an authoritarian regime wouldn’t enforce law, but when village autonomy is set as a goal, the requisite coordination networks and the network of the social lives of the villagers overlap and thus no need to build anew, the authoritarian power cannot block it either, all villagers can participate and be drawn into action. When all the villagers reach a consensus through the internal coordination network within a village and rise up to common action and institutionalize it, village autonomy can be realized.

Since the smaller goals are composed by decomposing a bigger goal, realizing the smaller ones means doing the same to the bigger ones. In the process of realizing the smaller goals, everyone can take part in them and can always see the efforts bringing results, realization of every small goal is a step towards the bigger goal, when all the realized small goals are put together, it is a big step towards the big goal.

The Dalai Lama’s goal is to realize genuine autonomy for Tibet. If this autonomy for the entire Tibet is sought outright from the start, it is only upto the government’s consent which is already proven an illusion with so many years of effort. However, the coordination network village autonomy relies on is naturally formed and the authorities cannot control or block it, village autonomy determined by the villagers doesn’t require consent from the government as long as the villagers themselves can persist with their own decisions. Power, after all, is a question of being agreed on. The power of a village is vested with what the villagers agree. When the villagers don’t agree with power of the government, don’t obey the authorities dispatched and appointed by the government, and only agree with their own autonomy, obey their own elected leaders, power of the village would eventually be vested in their own hands.

Of course, this will not be a process without problem. Government suppression is known; especially the initial phases will be full of obstacles and difficulties. However, village autonomy conforms to the Chinese law, so legitimacy will be on the villagers’ side, it will be suppression that’s illegitimate. The only way the authorities can respond that we can guess would be arresting the village head and the village committee members. But that lacks legal basis and so how will they be convicted? How severe will their crimes be? Thus, comparatively speaking there is less risk in fighting for village autonomy and so can withstand with certain amount of courage. After arresting, the coordination networks would enable the villagers to quickly convene and elect new leaders to keep the village autonomy undisturbed. Authorities may arrest again, and the villagers will elect again – this is the actual practice of “fill the prisons” of the non-cooperation tactic of non-violence. The effect of such games is to see which side can hold longer. Unless the authorities have enough prisons for the entire villagers to be locked up, otherwise, as long as the villagers can persist, village autonomy can survive.

If multiple villages do this simultaneously, it has to be first the authorities that cannot hold. How many prisons are required to accommodate all the villagers? How shameless they have to be to withstand the consequent scandalous reports by the global media? At such times, as long as the villagers can adhere to their own resolve, never give up, never back down, it has to be the authorities that have to concede in the end like what happened in Wukan Village in Canton.

Indeed, courage is a key. People would say that it’s risky, what Chinese can do cannot be done by Tibetans, who would be charged with “separatism”. But the question is – is that the reason not to do anything at all? Unless not doing anything, there would be suppression otherwise. Even in the case of self-immolations, haven’t the authorities already started arresting and sentencing? However, having said that, the Tibetans also have certain advantages over the Chinese, they have more courage – not even afraid to self-immolate, how come afraid of the suppression resulting from fight for village autonomy?

Currently, the Tibetan government-in-exile expressing solidarity, holding prayer ceremonies and engaging in different activities, are good but not exactly the need of the time. Those do not constitute an overall impact on the Tibetans in Tibet, who actually want the exile Tibetans to thoroughly research and prove theories by carefully experimenting and deducing mature tactics; by organizing and training volunteers to promote and propagate these tactics. It is not possible for Tibetans in Tibet to do these preparations under repression but the exile Tibetans have organization, base, resources, freedom, knowledge, associations and media, and also international support, the foundation that the Dalai Lama has established all his life should now be built upon. This is the most effective start-up and implementation of the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way Policy.

In the past, the exile Tibetan government used to hesitate to participate in activities inside Tibet, fearing that the Chinese government would blame them for instigating hostility between the Tibetans in Tibet and the Chinese government. For promoting village autonomy, they can get out of this kind of blames, as whatever they do regarding village autonomy – research programs, experimentation, training, promoting inside Tibet – all are helping China to implement its own laws, cooperating with the Chinese government and not opposing it. Certainly, we cannot expect the government to be grateful of this, but at least it cannot find excuses; meanwhile, Tibetans will gain sympathy and support from the Chinese people, because they are also fighting for the same autonomy.

Starting with promoting village autonomy inside Tibet has another benefit – as the decomposed smaller goals are not directly related to the big question of nationality, each village will deal with specific local issues and thus can also bypass the nationalist differences which can easily be manipulated and become hostile to each other. Common pursuit of village autonomy and joint safeguarding of rights and interests will enable the Chinese and Tibetans to unite and blend into a democracy movement or human rights movement, thus will get the support from the general Chinese public and also draw Chinese people into the struggle for Tibet’s freedom. This will not only help realizing village autonomy for Tibetans and expanding their freedom, but also paving way for resolving the Tibet issue, understanding and reconciliation among nationalities after Chinese democratization.

Real autonomy should start from the grassroots level. From village autonomy to regional autonomy and then to national regional autonomy, are combinations with different scales and upgrading the levels – When majority of villages in a township attain village autonomy, the elected village heads can come together and form township committee to involve in decision-making and elect a chief for the township to realize township autonomy; when majority townships in a district achieve autonomy, the township heads to form Township Committee to make decisions and elect district head to achieve district autonomy …… till national regional autonomy is realized. Of course, completion of this entire process depends on historic opportunities and also the process of China’s democratization, but, village autonomy is exactly the foundation and starting of this process and besides, it can be started outright from now.

Editor's NOTE-- Wang Lixiong is a popular Chinese writer and scholar. The above article is translated by Ogyen Kyab, an independent Tibetan translator currently working with one of the international companies in India. Click here to read the original version in Chinese

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Russian, Mongolian and Tibetan Buddhists — Learning from each other

2012-12-25T03:35:00.001-08:00

By Vijay Kranti

Vijay Kranti

History has its own way of uniting parted siblings — time and a charismatic visionary are the main two factors which act as catalysts in luckier cases. Buddhists from Russia, Mongolia and Tibet are going through this exciting process in recent years. And the uniting force is HH Tenzin Gyatso (77), the 14th Dalai Lama, who happens to be the supreme spiritual leader of Mahayana Buddhism across the world.

In the past 30 years the revival of Buddhism in Mongolia and Russia is fast taking shape, after going through near-total destruction (as in Tibet) because of seven decades of communist persecution and suppression in the two countries. The initial reprieve from persecution came out of the fading love affair between Beijing and the Kremlin, and the final steps to freedom came with the collapse of the USSR and communism in the early 1990s. And now it is the charismatic personality of the Dalai Lama which has put the revival of Buddhism into overdrive in Mongolia and in the three traditionally Buddhist republics of Russia — Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva.

It is interesting to note that hundreds of monks from these Buddhist areas today study in high-ranking Buddhist monasteries in India which have been established by the Tibetan refugee community over the past 50 years under the leadership of the Dalai Lama. Thanks to the Tibetan refugee community’s concerted efforts towards successfully reviving its culture and national identity in exile, India has once again emerged as the central nerve centre of Mahayana Buddhism in the world.

This week has seen over 800 Buddhist practitioners from the three republics of Russia and Mongolia coming to New Delhi to seek teachings and blessings from their supreme Guru, the Dalai Lama. The only reason for these devotees to come to India was that the Dalai Lama has been denied visa to visit Russia for nearly one decade. Last week a similar teaching session was organised for the benefit of a large group of Buddhists from Thailand for the very same reason — their respective governments lacking political courage to resist pressure from Beijing against issuing visa to the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama has been to Russia five times since 1979. In 1992 he went to all three Buddhist republics. But in 1991 he could go only to Buryatia. In 1996 he could visit Kalmykia only on a transit visit while flying to Mongolia. In 2004 he could visit Kalmykia only for a day and half. On one occasion all Russian flights were cancelled just to ensure that Dalai Lama could not stop in Russia on his way to Mongolia. The changed status of Russia vis-a-vis China in the post-USSR period has obliged the Kremlin to keep Chinese sensitivities regarding Tibet and Dalai Lama at top priority.

In the current political scenario when economic depression in Europe has taken its toll on European governments, along with pressure from the US, Russia has lost a huge business in supplying oil to Western Europe. China’s emergence as a major buyer of Russian oil, gas, and military equipment has pushed the Kremlin further at the mercy of Beijing. With Syria and Iran being on hot pursuit of the US and its western allies, Russia finds itself badly squeezed with China in a tight corner. All this has left hardly any elbow room for Russia to take any independent step which China does not approve of. That explains Putin’s predicament with the three Buddhist republics.

The keenness of the Russian Buddhists to receive blessings and teachings from the Dalai Lama can be fathomed from the fact that following the persistent denial of visa to him by their government, they have, of late, started an annual pilgrimage to India. In 2009 about 800 Russian Buddhist devotees came to India to seek blessings and teachings from Dalai Lama. This number increased to 1300 in 2010, and to 1600 in 2011. Erdne Ombadykow (39), the energetic Head of Buddhism in the Republic of Kalmyikia, has played an important role in this new movement of reviving Buddhism in Kalmykia. In Mahayana Buddhist parlance he is popularly known as “Telo Rinpoche”, as he was recognized as the reincarnation of Telopa, a great Indian Buddhist scholar of the 11th century.

Telo Rinpoche had plans to meet President Putin during Putin’s Delhi visit, and to present to him a jointly-signed petition from the Russian Buddhists. This petition calls upon the President to review his government’s decision on the issue of visa to the Dalai Lama. President Putin had recently indicated in a youth camp at Lake Seliger in the Tver region of Russia, that his government intended to do something in this direction.

Answering a question from a Kalmykian youth during his question-answer session with the participants of the camp on 31st July this year, President Putin made it clear that it was Chinese pressure which was stopping the Kremlin government from letting Dalai Lama visit Russia. “For those who are not familiar with the details of this issue, I can say that this problem is related to the fact that the Dalai Lama is viewed more as a political leader than a religious one,” Putin said.

Outgoing and pro-active in his approach, Telo Rinpoche is at the forefront of reviving and rehabilitating Buddhism to its past glory days, before Communists destroyed Buddhism and the Kalmykian identity. He presents an interesting mix of traits which reflect his multi-coloured background. He was born to a Kalmykian refugee couple in Philadelphia, who had settled in USA after being uprooted from the erstwhile USSR in post-second World War months. In 1979 when the Dalai Lama visited Philadelphia, he came across this 7-year-old baby, who walked into his lap during a public audience. Later the Dalai Lama recognized him as the reincarnation of Telopa.

The previous incarnation of Telopa was a Mongolian who played an important political role in resisting the Bolsheviks who destroyed over 2000 Buddhist temples and killed about 30,000 Buddhist monks in Mongolia in 1939. Following the failed Mongolian resistance, he migrated to the US, and later established a Buddhist temple in Philadelphia, where he died in 1965.

Following his recognition as an incarnate Tulku, Telo Rinpoche was sent to the Tibetan monastery Drepung in Mundgod town of Karnataka in Southern India where he studied Buddhism. Later, following the fall of communism and the disintegration of the USSR, he decided, on the advice of the Dalai Lama, to work in Mongolia and Kalmykia to revive Buddhism.

“Before the communists occupied Kalmykia, there were over 100 monasteries and about 7000 monks. They destroyed everything and we lost most of it during 70 years of communist rule. Buddhism met the same fate in Buryatia and Tuva. In the past 20 years we have rebuild 27 monasteries and revived Buddhism to a good extent in Kalmykia. The same process has been going on in the other two Buddhist republics,” says Telo Rinpoche.

Buddhism arrived in these three republics of Russia 400 years ago from Tibet via Mongolia. Most of these followers are of Mongolian origin. Today there are about 1.5 million Buddhists in the three republics. New opportunities to travel abroad and international exposure has attracted millions of Russians towards many new spiritual ideas and philosophies. The number of neo-Buddhists among Russians today is estimated around half a million. Buddhism is a constitutionally-recognized religion along with the Orthodox Christian church, Islam, and Judaism.

“We have all freedoms and liberties in practicing Buddhism, provided we don’t mix religion and politics,” says Telo Rinpoche. Other Buddhist communities in Buryatia and Tuva also have common motivations with the Kalmykians. A new surge of Buddhist temples, learning centres, and visits of Tibetan Buddhist scholars from India reflects this enthusiasm.

Kalmykian experience during the communist days in USSR, especially under Joseph Stalin, has many parallels to the Nazi holocaust, which now works as a motivator. Nazis invaded USSR from the Caspian Sea direction, and Kalmykia was the first region to fall. Nazis enrolled the Kalmykians and Chechens to fight the Russian communists. There was no shortage of enthusiasts among the two races who took it as a chance to get rid of communist occupation and slavery. But following the fall of Germany, Stalin branded the Kalmykians as “traitors” and ordered the entire Kalmykian population to be deported to distant labour camps of Siberia. Over a million Kalmykians were pushed into railway cattle wagons to be further tortured in Siberian labour camps.

“About half of our population died in the process. All this happened within thirteen years. Following the death of Stalin, Khrushchev ordered repatriation of Kalmykians to their homeland. But all good lands, houses and jobs had since been occupied by the Russian communists in our homeland. Ban on our language and religious practices almost finished our identity until the USSR collapsed in early 1990s,” says Telo Rinpoche.

In the changed phase of present-day history, new links between Tibetan, Russian and Mongolian Buddhists promise new hopes for all of them. “Kalmykians and Tibetans have a lot to learn from each other. We lost our language but Tibetan refugees still read and speak their language even fifty years after their exile to India. We have to learn in this field from them. But we saved our determination to revive our identity despite 70 years of ruthless communist rule. I am sure Tibetans can learn from us,” says Telo Rinpoche. Recent developments indicate that the learning process has taken deep roots already.

Editor's NOTE-- Vijay Kranti is a senior Indian photo-journalist and a well known contemporary Tibet-expert. To read more articles by the same author, click here

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The road to Tibet

2012-12-24T00:35:00.005-08:00

By Christopher Dewolf

Pilgrims proceed at a snail's pace performing the Chak Tsal, the Tibetan name for ritual prostration.

Their journey from Qinghai will take six months, along the northern branch of the Tea Horse Road to the sacred

city of Lhasa. Photograph: Michael Yamashita. Click on the magnifying glass to enlarge the image

It takes a lot of work to capture a good photo. Last month, Michael Yamashita was sitting in a Hong Kong bookstore, clicking through slides of pictures from his new book, Shangri-La: Along the Tea Road to Lhasa, a five-year project that documents the incomparable beauty and changing face of Tibet.

He arrived at a photo of several young men dressed in leather aprons and heavy mittens, with plastic covers on their shoes, making their way down an empty road high on the Tibetan plateau. One of them was lying prostrate on the ground, another rising to his feet, others walking forward. They were pilgrims making an arduous month-long journey to Lhasa.

"To get this frame that's perfect, with one guy on the ground, another rising, other standing, I must have had to walk half a mile backwards," said Yamashita. "And it was raining."

Later, I asked him how far he has gone to get a single shot. "I wouldn't risk my life, but it's all about getting the picture," he said. "You'll do what you have to do."

Yamashita is no stranger to legwork. In 30 years of taking photos for National Geographic, the American-born photographer has retraced the footsteps of Marco Polo, Ming Dynasty explorer Zheng He and the Japanese poet Basho. His travels have taken him to nearly every corner of Asia; his photos have spanned the gulf from film to digital.

Now he is one of the last remaining photojournalists from an era when photographers commanded big budgets for ambitious assignments. "I'm the last of a breed," he says.

Festival commemorating the unification of Tibetan tribes. Photograph: Michael Yamashita

Shangri-La is one of those projects. Yamashita has been travelling to Tibet for 15 years and the photos in the book were taken over a period of five years, a length of time that was increased by travel restrictions imposed on Tibet after the 2008 riots. Now Tibet is closed once again to most outsiders. Given the rapid economic change and the government's encouragement of Han Chinese migration to the province, these may, says Yamashita, "be the last photos you'll see of a Tibet that still looks like Tibet".

Like all of his projects, this one began with research. "I've read just about every book that was ever published on Tibet," says Yamashita. "We don't have time to mess around. There's nothing left to chance – we go at the right time to get the right people in the right pictures."

Yamashita travelled with a Chinese fixer and a driver, starting his journey in Sichuan's Jiuzhaigou Valley, a "photographer's paradise" where Yamashita worried the mesmerising landscape of waterfalls and craggy hills might lead some viewers to think he was altering his photos.

More than landscapes, though, it's the human geography that fascinates Yamashita. In Jiuzhaigou, for example, tea is grown, harvested, dried and hand-processed into bricks. "This is why I'm drawn back to Chinaagain and again – the fashion may have changed – the cities certainly have – but certain practices are exactly the same as they've been for centuries."

He is also fascinated by the way certain traditions flourish against all odds. In one village, he encountered a group of Yi minority women dressed in colourful, elaborately embroidered dresses and hats. "I followed them back to their village and I couldn't believe it," says Yamashita. "I thought, this has got to be fake – who can wear that kind of clothing all the time? Their art is what they wear. They live on dirt floors and they get up every morning and put on these amazing clothes."

Pressing on, the journey into Tibet was difficult. Mud roads are often washed out, and patrolled by work crews who, instead of fixing the roads, charge a fee to dig out cars and trucks. (Yamashita had to pay 900 yuan, around £90, to get his three cars liberated.) Once, while making their way through a mountain pass, Yamashita's fixer was stricken by altitude sickness and had to be hospitalised.

And then there was the tea. Every day, Tibetans drink 30 to 40 cups of yak butter tea. "When your cup is empty, they'll refill it right away," says Yamashita. He tried to drink as little as possible. "They always seem to use rancid milk. It's like blue cheese with a bit of tea flavour."

View over Lhasa to the Potala Palace. Photograph: Michael Yamashita

The stomach-churning tea was well worth it. As his journey took him higher into the Tibetan plateau, Yamashita ventured deeper into a society unlike any other. Sacred lakes are left untouched for the benefit of the gods; hills are festooned with elaborate prayer flags. One day, he encountered a festival to mark the unification of Tibet's tribes. Tourists had yet to discover it: aside from a military patrol, he was the only non-Tibetan there.

And there was more evidence of a Tibet besieged by change, but not necessarily for the better. Tibetan architecture is fast being replaced by Chinese-style structures, some of them paid for by various provincial governments. Even traditional nomadic tents are giving way to standardised tents issued by the government. "The architecture shows who's in charge there," says Yamashita.

Many of the changes are economic. Over the past few years, a boom in demand for yartsa gunbu – fungus-infected worm larvae sometimes called "Tibetan viagra" – has brought modern amenities to a number of Tibetan towns. But it has also erased much of their distinctiveness – "and most of the profits still go to Han Chinese," says Yamashita.

Still, Yamashita himself is no stranger to change. "I always thought I'd be the last guy to shoot on film," he says, but an aerial photographyassignment forced him to switch to digital after he used his film budget to rent a helicopter. "Now I wish I had switched earlier. It's so much easier."

What is harder to grapple with is the decline of professional photography. Many photographers used to make a living by selling stock images, but the market has been destroyed by the glut of amateur digital photos, many of which are licenced for pennies. Photography budgets have shrunk, too.

"The future is cloudy for up-and-coming young photographers," says Yamashita. "It's almost impossible to make a living now. It's always been a 1% of 1% job – you can't learn this in school – but there's no training route now."

At least Yamashita's place in the pantheon of photography is secure. He is currently wrapping up a project on China's Grand Canal, and his next stop after Hong Kong is Brunei. "I'll do some shooting there," he says, adding, with a slightly mischievous tone, "I know the sultan's son."

Editor's NOTE-- This article is initially published on a blog titled Urban Photo

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Interpreting Hu Jintao's Speech at the 18th Party Congress

2012-12-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

By TPR

Outgoing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Hu Jintao delivered a long speech to the 18th Party Congress that was published on Xinhua on November 17, 2012. A review of the text of his speech makes no specific mention of Tibet, but it does contain statements concerning ethnic regional autonomy and ethnic minority relations.

In the section entitled “Keeping to the Socialist Path of Making Political Advance with Chinese Characteristics and Promoting Reform of the Political Structure,” Hu Jintao said the following:

We should fully and faithfully implement the Party's policies concerning ethnic groups and uphold and improve the system of regional ethnic autonomy. We should, keeping to the goal of all ethnic groups working together for common prosperity and development, conduct intensive education about ethnic unity and progress, speed up development of ethnic minority areas, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minorities. We should consolidate and develop socialist ethnic relations of equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony so that all ethnic groups in China will live and develop together in harmony. We should comprehensively implement the Party's basic policy on religion and fully leverage the positive role of religious figures and believers in promoting economic and social development.”

Hu Jintao’s speech is full of impressive language about democratic values, rule of law, the supremacy of the Constitution, religious freedom, and human rights. (The full speech is available in English athttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english/special/18cpcnc/2012-11/17/c_131981259.htm). In practice the CCP implements none of these laudable principles. Likewise, we cannot take Hu’s words about regional ethnic autonomy and the rights of ethnic minorities at face value but must read between the lines.

Breaking down Hu’s statement sentence-by-sentence, here is our interpretation of what he said:

We should fully and faithfully implement the Party's policies concerning ethnic groups and uphold and improve the system of regional ethnic autonomy.

This statement shows that China intends to continue its current policies of “regional ethnic autonomy” in areas like Tibet and Xinjiang/East Turkestan. Influenced by Leninism, China previously called this system “national regional autonomy”. After witnessing the break-up of the Soviet Union, the CCP realized that calling groups like Tibetans “nationalities” implied they had a right to self-determination, so they quietly switched to an “ethnicity” framework to make clear that there was no right to secession and that the CCP would always remain in charge.

As we know from the uprising in Tibet in 2008, the protests in Xinjiang in 2009, the almost 100 self-immolations in Tibet since 2009, and the police-state imposed on Tibetan and Uighur areas, China’s ethnic regional autonomy policies have been an abysmal failure. This statement is interesting, however, in that it shows adherence to the present system of regional ethnic autonomy and a rejection of Zhu Weiqun’s (Vice-Director of the United Front Department) statements about abolishing the regional ethnic autonomy system and assimilating ethnic minorities into Chinese culture (see http://chinese-leaders.org/zhu-weiqun/).

We should, keeping to the goal of all ethnic groups working together for common prosperity and development, conduct intensive education about ethnic unity and progress, speed up development of ethnic minority areas, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minorities. We should consolidate and develop socialist ethnic relations of equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony so that all ethnic groups in China will live and develop together in harmony.

These two sentences are a signal that all ethnic minorities must be united behind the CCP and the Chinese Motherland and are prohibited in engaging any activities deemed to be separatist or against the “unity” of China. Calls for Tibetan independence, Tibetan freedom, and support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama are all considered “separatist” activity by the CCP and illegal under Chinese law.

In addition, this statement only specifies protection for “legitimate rights and interests” of ethnic minorities. What “legitimate rights and interests” means, however, is determined by the CCP and not by Tibetans and Uighurs. Historically, the CCP has never considered genuine religious freedom or freedom of speech to be among the legitimate rights and interests of Tibetans and Uighurs, and certainly not rights like political freedom. The CCP views religion and speech as subservient to the interests of the CCP and the State.

Moreover, when Hu says he wants all ethnic groups in China to live in “harmony,” he means he wants them all marching to the same beat and obedient to the Party. Hu Jintao’s version of harmony envisions no one stirring up trouble by demanding things like human rights and dignity.

We should comprehensively implement the Party's basic policy on religion and fully leverage the positive role of religious figures and believers in promoting economic and social development.

The CCP’s basic policy on religion is that religion is backward and nothing but superstition. While there is a belief among some Chinese officials that religion can be used to manage social tensions (ironically, this would see religion being used as an “opiate of the people”), even under this utilitarian view, religion is subservient to the needs of the State. The CCP views the religious beliefs of Tibetans to be a hindrance to their policies and plans for Tibet, in particular given the link between Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan nationalism. The CCP sometimes gives the appearance that it respects religious freedom but in reality, the CCP policy aims to ensure that religion and religious believers are managed by the State, not something that should be allowed to flourish and develop on its own.

In Tibet, the CCP has passed regulations and rules to control the recognition of tulkus, to manage the monasteries and nunneries, to limit the number of monks and nuns, to ban worship of His Holiness, to force monks and nuns to take “patriotic” tests on their political views, to control the movement of monks, and to prevent Tibetans in government service and schools from participating in religious activities. This shows the fundamental policy of CCP on religion is to limit and deny ethnic minorities genuine freedom of religion.

The last part of Hu’s sentence (“fully leverage the positive role of religious figures and believers in promoting economic and social development”) shows China will continue its practice of trying to control Tibetans by controlling Tibetan religious leaders, including the Panchen Lama and other highly respected tulkus. The CCP knows that Tibetans are strongly influenced by their religious leaders, including the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, and many other tulkus in Tibetan Buddhism. By controlling Tibetan Buddhist leaders, China hopes to control the Tibetan people and make them more compliant. To that effect, China has installed its own Panchen Lama in the hopes he will be able to influence the opinions and actions of Tibetans. However, the overwhelming majorities of Tibetans do not recognize the Chinese candidate as the genuine Panchen Lama and he has little influence or respect among Tibetans.

As mentioned above, China has passed regulations to control the recognition of tulkus. The CCP knows Tibetans respect the advice of their lamas on both spiritual and worldly affairs. By controlling Tibetan tulkus and lamas, China seeks to control and manage the Tibetan people.

The few sentences in Hu Jintao’s speech to the 18th Party Congress regarding ethnic minorities demonstrate a “business as usual” approach regarding Tibetans and Uighurs. Although he is stepping down as Party chief, Hu Jintao would not have been allowed to publicly make this speech without pre-approval from all Politburo Standing Committee members, including Xi Jinping. Therefore, we do not expect any positive changes or genuine reforms regarding ethnic minorities by the new Xi Xinping administration.

An additional key factor leading to a “business as usual” approach regarding Tibetans and Uyghurs is that Hu’s close ally, Ling Jihua, was recently installed as the new head of the United Front Work Group. In a stranger-than-fiction twist, Ling was demoted to this office after a botched cover-up following Ling’s son’s death in a Ferrari crash that also killed one Tibetan woman passenger and seriously injured another. Given Ling’s loyalty to Hu, it is expected that Ling will work to ensure that his patron’s “ethnicities” policy will remain in place at the United Front office.

To the Chinese Government, unity, stability and the supremacy of the CCP trumps minority rights, human rights, and ethnic regional autonomy. China’s policies concerning ethnic minorities, especially towards Tibetans and Uighurs, have utterly failed. Rather than attempt to correct these mistakes, the Chinese Government seems determined to continue the status quo and increase repression of Tibetans and Uighurs who do not accept Chinese rule or refuse to comply with the CCP’s version of regional ethnic autonomy.

Editor's NOTE-- The above article is initially written and published by Tibetan Political Review.

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Rethink the Status of Tibet

2012-12-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

By Ellen Bork

Tibetans were forced to act
grateful for the 1959 invasion.
The lies must end.

Nearly 100 Tibetans have committed suicide over the past three years in protest of conditions under Chinese rule. At first, the self-immolators were mostly monks and nuns. Now more lay people, women and parents of young children are joining them.

In response, Beijing has intensified the policies that have already caused so much despair. It continues to denigrate the Dalai Lama and Tibetan religion and language. It has increased already harsh security measures, and imposed criminal penalties on relatives of the suicide protestors.

What is to be done in the face of such repression? For starters, the world must re-examine how it acquiesced to China's Tibet policies.

When the People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1950, Washington, along with London and Delhi, stood aside. This despite the fact that all three countries then believed Tibet to be de facto independent. The U.S. even considered making this case at the United Nations.

As Tsering Shakya recounts in his 2000 book "The Dragon in the Land of Snows," the U.S. went so far as draft a diplomatic memorandum for Great Britain. It argued that "the Tibetan people has the [same] inherent right as any other to have the determining voice in its political destiny…. [S]hould developments warrant, consideration could be given to recognition of Tibet as an independent State."

That never came to pass. Britain was sounding its colonial retreat, leaving its prerogatives in Tibet to newly independent India. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru dreamed of cooperation on world affairs with China's communists, and believed he could deal effectively with Beijing on Tibet.

As for Washington, it soon became preoccupied with the war in Korea and once again subordinated Tibet to perceived larger interests. In the 19th century, Tibet was ignored in favor of commercial prospects in China and the Open Door Policy. Over the last century, the priority was setting up China as a counterweight to Japan and then the Soviet Union.

What if Tibet's claim to independence had been preserved rather than conceded? The U.S. and other countries would be in a much better position today to resist China's increasingly assertive claims of Tibet as a "core interest" and rebut Beijing's insistence on sovereignty as a complete bar to pressure on human rights. This claim has an impact on international affairs well beyond Tibet, permeating diplomacy and gutting the effectiveness of the United Nations on other crises like Syria.

The first step toward a new approach to Tibet is simple, although not easy. The U.S., its European allies, Japan and India should coordinate to reverse the dynamic of pressure and concession that China itself uses so effectively. This means backing those leaders who, like Estonian President Toomas Ilves, dared to meet the Dalai Lama. The religious leader's access in other capitals must be expanded.

Democracies must also respond to the Dalai Lama's plans for the future. After his death, Beijing will appoint a bogus successor through "guidelines on reincarnation" issued by the communist government's religious affairs department. It is not too soon for world governments to respond to Beijing's plan to destroy the most important institution in Tibetan Buddhism, a figure of inestimable importance to Tibetans both inside Tibet and in exile.

This should include endorsing the Dalai Lama's plan for his succession, a matter which might normally be outside the purview of governments. But under the circumstances is vital to the mission of preserving Tibetan religion and identity.

The U.S., Europe, India and Japan should also work together to establish regular contacts with the elected leader of the Tibetan exile government, Lobsang Sangay. This would help Tibetans to press for an easing of conditions inside Tibet and to engage with Beijing on solutions for the future.

All of these steps could reverse what now seems to be a never ending cycle of repression. Historically, the U.S. has subordinated its policy on Tibet to what it considered a larger strategic interest. It is time for a review of these policies and their effectiveness as well as new thinking to address the escalating suffering in Tibet.

Such a review need not endorse Tibetan independence, a goal which the Dalai Lama himself renounced in the 1970s and which many Tibetans also do not see as a priority. But understanding how the world acquiesced in communist China's subjugation of Tibet and the ineffective policies that flowed from that decision should enable the U.S. and other democracies to recover the principle American diplomats expressed in the 1950s, the right of Tibetans to determine the future of their homeland.

Editor's NOTE-- Ellen Bork is the director of democracy and human rights at the Foreign Policy Initiative, and the above article is initially published by The Wall Street Journal Asia on Dec. 18, 2012

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