“When the ‘Pillars of National Unity’ Turned Into Totems” by Woeser
This article refers to the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st in Beijing, where 56 pillars representing ethnic unity were erected. In the western media, the pillars received scant blog attention, however, Xinhua news agency gave wide coverage to the pillars and published several photos.
"When the 'Pillars of National Unity' Turned Into Totems" by Woeser
In the history of China’s national celebrations since 1949, there has never been such a cutting edge festival manifested in 56 massive and brightly-coloured “pillars of national unity” as recently erected on Tiananmen Square. The reason for the creation of these 56 “pillars of national unity” symbolising the equality, unity and harmony amongst the 56 nationalities is directly related to the “Tibet Incident” of last year and the “Xinjiang Incident” of this year. Tibetans and Uyghurs have become the most unstable elements within the 56 nationalities; the eruption of gradually accumulated resentment and the deterioration of relations between ethnic groups have provoked those in power, from the central level to the local level, into a great flurry. On the one hand, they have adopted cruel and authoritarian methods in the minority regions where problems appeared, resulting in many places being under constant military control for a long period of time; on the other hand, they have been changing their behaviour as swiftly as “an actor who changes his faces constantly on stage”. When they perform for the outside world, they try their best to portray an image of “dazzling fireworks and lanterns lighting up the night sky with minority brothers and sisters flirtatiously dancing in harmony”.
These 56 dazzling “pillars of national unity” represent Mao Zedong’s lines about the great unity of all minorities. Xinhua News Agency especially released an article giving them a particular meaning, calling them “pristine totem symbols belonging to every single citizen of the People’s Republic”, “This kind of pillar transformed the innermost hopes of the minority people into a totem with sacred power. Our heart which has taken its root in our great undertaking of promoting national prosperity corresponds to the profound history and great mind given to us by the totem. Yet, it is believed that the original meaning of this so-called “totem” is related to the convictions and superstitions of ancient society and early human beings. Worshipping “totems” is thought to be some sort of ritual or religious phenomenon of primal tribes. But for the Chinese Communists, who pursue agnosticism and claim to be the representatives of a modern and progressive culture, this should be regarded as useless and swept onto the rubbish heap of history and not used to cultivate the superstitious beliefs of the masses. Of course, if we look at the core of the problem, we notice that although the Communists fly high the anti-religious flag, in actual fact, they precisely do this only to enable their own new religion to unify the world. Ever since the Mao era, they have slowly created a “spiritual atomic bomb” conquering people’s hearts and minds. Today’s “pillars of national unity” are nothing but such “spiritual atomic bombs”, whose aim it is, as Hannah Arendt puts it, “to emotionally lure people in and while in terms of depths and scope appearing to go beyond the limits of nationalism, they in fact generate a new kind of nationalist sentiment”.
However, no matter how gigantic or stunning these “pillars of national unity” are, which have been set up in light of the frequently occurring minority problems, they can by no means cover up the authorities’ wish to obstruct reality, instead they further highlight a real crisis. Going too far is always as bad as not going far enough; the more one tries to hide, the more one is always exposed; and if one tries to be clever, one only ends up with a blunder. What the large and small group incidences and ethnic conflicts, which happened last year and this year, in Tibet and in Xinjiang and even in other minority regions, exposed is not the plot by scheming people with ulterior motives. Unless those in power genuinely believe in and comply with the good intentions of “equality, unity and harmony” and reconsider, amend, and actually resolve problems, otherwise when we hear about those 56 reality-hampering “pillars of national unity” from government media propaganda or when we see them on Tiananmen Square looking like a theatre stage setting, what we received is the education which see through the intrinsic nature of this country.
For instance, an international Sinologist said that these 56 scarlet red pillars are in fact an imitation of the imposing bearings of the Roman Empire and through their shape are seeking to conquer everything, portraying nothing but imperialistic power. A rural Chinese person thought that those 56 bright red pillars looked like 56 golden cudgels (weapon used by the Monkey King in the novel Pilgrimage to the West) with every single one of those cudgels attacking one minority. A Chinese intellectual recalls the time when he went to the Great Hall of the People to watch a performance where he saw “a large group of people all dressed in minority garments festively singing and dancing and chanting the paean of praise in unison”. He criticises: “isn’t this a modern version of the central empire pompously displaying how all states ceremonially make obeisances? Nowadays, which country would still painstakingly select a group of performers to represent each minority and make them wear dresses and ornaments, which they would not normally wear, or which have long been made obsolete, and then also make them blissfully sing and dance in the capital city? The only country I can think of is the powerful and prosperous Empire of the Soviet Union, which in the past would make all minorities one by one appear on stage and eagerly pay their compliments and praise to the “father of all minorities”, Josef Stalin; yet the Empire of the Soviet Union has already collapsed.
Beijing, September 30, 2009
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Chinese Pressure Forces Bangladesh to Bar Tibet Exhibition
From Phayul:
Organisers determined to go on with the Tibet exhibition on the street
Dharamsala, November 2: Bangladeshi police in the country’s capital Dhaka on Sunday barred a prominent picture gallery from holding a photo exhibition on Tibet following complaints from Chinese diplomats, the government and organisers have said.
Police in riot gear arrived at the Drik Gallery at the capital’s posh Dhanmondi area and sealed the place ahead of the ahead of the opening of the exhibition on Sunday evening. However, defying orders from police and requests from Chinese embassy, the organisers staged the exhibition depicting the plight of Tibetans on the street outside the venue.
The exhibition “Into Exile | Tibet 1949 – 2009” featuring the journey of “Tibetans from their Homeland to Exile” was organized by the Students for a Free Tibet, Bangladesh (SFTBD)’ in partnership with Drik Gallery, and includes some very rare photos of the Dalai Lama’s journey into exile in 1959.
An hour before the launch, scheduled for 5pm on Sunday, police shut the gates of the Drik Gallery preventing public from entering the gallery, according to a spokesperson from SFTBD.
Drik managing director Dr Shahidul Alam reportedly said Bangladesh Police Special Branch spoke with him and asked him to stop the exhibition citing a “government order”. Police also demanded to know the names of the organizers and are said to be looking out for them.
Obama Should Meet Who/Hu First?
New York Times Profiles Dhondup Wangchen Ahead of Obama’s China Visit
Just weeks before U.S. President Obama makes his first presidential visit to China, Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times profiled detained Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen who is facing a secret trail for documenting the views of Tibetans in Tibet on the Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama and Chinese rule in Tibet.
Read the full article below:
China Is Trying a Tibetan Filmmaker for Subversion
By ANDREW JACOBSCHONGQING, China — A self-taught filmmaker who spent five months interviewing Tibetans about their hopes and frustrations living under Chinese rule is facing charges of state subversion after the footage was smuggled abroad and distributed on the Internet and at film festivals around the world.
The filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen, who has been detained since March 2008, just weeks after deadly rioting broke out in Tibet, managed to sneak a letter out of jail last month saying that his trial had begun.
“There is no good news I can share with you,” he wrote in the letter, which was provided by a cousin in Switzerland. “It is unclear what the sentence will be.”
As President Obama prepares for his first trip to China next month, rights advocates are clamoring for his attention in hopes that he will raise the plight of individuals like Mr. Wangchen or broach such thorny topics as free speech, democracy and greater religious freedom.
With hundreds of lawyers, dissidents and journalists serving time in Chinese prisons, human rights organizations are busy lobbying the White House, members of Congress and the news media. In some ways, the pressure has only intensified since Mr. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, raising expectations for him to carry the torch of human rights.
Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said Mr. Obama had an obligation to press Mr. Wangchen’s case and the cause of Tibetan autonomy in general, given his decision not to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this month.
That move, which some viewed as a concession to China, angered critics already displeased with what they say was Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s failure to press human rights during a visit to China in February.
“Beijing is emboldened by such moves,” Ms. Tethong said. “They see a weakness in the U.S. government, and they’re going to exploit it. This idea that you’ll gain more through some backroom secret strategy does not work.”
Until now, the case of Mr. Wangchen, 35, has received little attention abroad. Uneducated and plainspoken, he was an itinerant businessman until October 2007, when he bought a small video camera and began traveling the Tibetan plateau interviewing monks, yak herders and students about their lives.
Tsetring Gyaljong, a cousin who helped him make the documentary, said that Mr. Wangchen’s political awareness was sharpened nearly a decade ago, when he witnessed a demonstration in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, that was quickly broken up by public security officers.
“He saw how it was dissolved in two or three minutes and how everyone was taken away,” said Mr. Gyaljong, speaking from Switzerland, where he has lived in exile since escaping from Tibet. “There were no pictures, no testimonies, and he felt like the world should know that Tibetans, despite the Chinese portrayals, are not a happy people.”
Out of 40 hours of footage and 108 interviews came “Leaving Fear Behind,” a 25-minute documentary that is an unadorned indictment of the Chinese government. Although given the choice to conceal their identities, most of his subjects spoke uncloaked and freely expressed their disdain for the Han Chinese migrants who are flooding the region and their love for the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile since 1959.
In his own comments at the start of the film, Mr. Wangchen said the approach of the 2008 Olympics had compelled him to record the feelings of Tibetans, many of whom were less than enthusiastic about the decision to hold the Games in Beijing.
“We have no independence or freedom, so Tibetans have no reason to celebrate,” said one young woman standing by a road. “The Chinese have independence and freedom, so this is something they can celebrate.”
On March 10, 2008, Mr. Wangchen traveled to Xi’an in central China to hand over the tapes to Dechen Pemba, a British citizen who ferried them out of the country. That same day, a protest in Lhasa turned into a rampage that left at least 18 people dead, most of them Han Chinese.
On March 26, Mr. Wangchen and Golog Jigme, a Buddhist monk who helped him make the film, were arrested. Mr. Jigme was subsequently released.
“It really is a remarkable coincidence,” Ms. Pemba said.
Mr. Wangchen’s family hired a lawyer, but the authorities barred him from court last July, leaving Mr. Wangchen with a public defender.
Before he was forced to drop the case, the lawyer, Li Dunyong, said Mr. Wangchen had told him that he was tortured and that he had contracted hepatitis B while in custody. Since then, he has been held incommunicado. Officials at the Xining Intermediate Court in Qinghai Province, where Mr. Wangchen is being held, would not comment on his case.
Mr. Wangchen seemed acutely aware that his project could get him in trouble. Just before he began filming, he sent his wife and their four children to India, where they live along with his elderly parents.
In an interview from Dharamsala, where she works as a baker, Mr. Wangchen’s wife, Lhamo Tso, said she feared she might not see him again for many, many years.
“As a wife, I’m very sad to be without the person I love so much,” she said. “But if I can separate out that sadness, I feel proud because he made a courageous decision to give a voice to people who don’t have one.”
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Tibetans & Supporters in NY Protest the Executions
Braving the cold rain over 100 Tibetans and their supporters protested in front of the United Nations General Assembly building and the Chinese Consulate to condemn the Chinese government’s executions of two Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen, Loyak, and the reported deaths of two other Tibetans, a woman named Penkyi and an unidentified Tibetan.
Members of SFT and RTYC NY & NJ began the protest at 12:00am and concluded with a candlelight vigil at 7:00pm. The protesters passed out over 1000 fliers and displayed coffins for the dead Tibetans.
Responding to the executions, Namgyal Tendol of RTYC NY & NJ said, “These executions signal an alarming escalation in the Chinese government’s violent campaign to punish, intimidate, and silence Tibetans who dare to speak out against Chinese rule. “We urge President Obama to immediately condemn this travesty of justice and to help bring about an end to China’s violent occupation of Tibet when he visits China in November.”
Click here to see photos from the protest
Click here to see a video from the protest
SFT Canada Holds Vigil for the Fallen Four in Toronto
Urgent: Four Tibetans Executed in Tibet
It is with great sadness that we let you know Tibetan rights groups recently confirmed that three Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen, Loyak, and Penkyi were executed on October 20th, 2009 in Lhasa. There is a report that a fourth Tibetan may also have been executed. Read SFT's press statement.
This is the first known execution of a Tibetan since 2003, demonstrating the lengths to which the Chinese government is now prepared to go in order to intimidate Tibetans and crush all perceived opposition to its occupation of Tibet.
Please join people worldwide in voicing outrage at this travesty of justice. Please take action and send a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon to immediately condemn these executions in the strongest possible terms.
We urge you to also call your Members of Parliament and let them know how serious this matter is and that you expect the Canadian Government to take immediate action and condemn these killings.
If you are in the Toronto or Vancouver areas, please join us for a candle light vigil this Sunday, October 25th, in memory of the 4 Tibetans killed.
Toronto: 5-7pm at the Toronto Chinese Consulate (240 St. George Street). Contact: lobsang@studentsforafreetibet.org
Vancouver: 6pm at the Vancouver Chinese Consulate (3380 Granville Street). Contact: klaravrbova@yahoo.com
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