CINEMA ‘59

The Russian Revolution of 1917 sparked off a revolution in the way the function of entertainment and art, especially cinema, changed to become a powerful tool of social and political transformation.

The Fear in Lhasa (A poem by Woeser)

A hurried farewell to Lhasa, Where the fear is in your breathing, in the beating of your heart, In the silence when you want to speak but don’t, In the catch in your throat.

Game’s Over, Free Tibet!

The Beijing 2008 Olympics closed the way it opened - with SFT protestors making sure that the Tibet issue was very kept very much alive midst of this “celebration”. During the closing ceremony itself, one could not help notice the disconnect between the CCP officials and the Chinese people. These officials, with stern looks on [...]

Woeser Detained in Lhasa for Taking Pictures

The Times Online in the UK reports that famed Tibetan writer and blogger Woeser was detained in Lhasa for taking pictures. She has since been released. Here’s the report from the Times:

Tibet’s most famous woman writer and blogger has been questioned by police for eight hours, accused of taking photographs on the street, after she returned home briefly to the capital, Lhasa.

The detention of Woeser, who like many Tibetans goes by a single name, underscores the nervousness of the authorities in the Himalayan city, where Tibetans restive under Beijing rule rioted in the streets in March, killing 22 people and setting fire to hundreds of offices and businesses.

Eight police arrived at the home of Woeser’s mother on Thursday and presented her with a summons to accompany them for questioning. Her husband, the author Wang Lixiong, said: “They had used the wrong name on the document so I insisted that they correct the name before they could take her away. I reminded them that they had to bring her home within the stipulated 12 hours.”

She was held for questioning by several officers who said that they were acting on a tip-off from a member of the public, who had seen her taking photographs of army and police positions in Lhasa from inside a taxi.

Mr Wang, who spoke on behalf of his wife because he was worried for her safety, told The Times: “She told them that it was not illegal to take photographs in a public place and she had not visited any secret areas or military installations. They had no legal basis for holding her.” The police searched her mother’s home and removed several documents as well as Mr Wang’s computer.

They hacked his password, checked all documents on the laptop and required Woeser to erase every photograph that showed a policeman or army officer on the streets of Lhasa or in Tibetan areas they had visited.

Mr Wang said: “I can’t say whether their intention was to intimidate. But if they can do this to an influential writer who has done nothing more than take photographs, then one can only imagine the kind of threat that ordinary people in Tibet must feel every day.”

The couple decided to return home to Beijing as soon as they could get flights, but first organised a reunion party with Woeser’s many family and friends in the city. However, many did not attend, apparently afraid of possible consequences after her encounter with the police. The couple flew back to Beijing on Saturday, less than 48 hours after her summons and six days into a planned month-long visit to Lhasa.

Bad News For Everyone?

Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve been on the war path about New York Times columnist Nick Kristof’s writings on Tibet and China for quite a long time. In my view, Kristof has taken a remarkable arrogant stance on Sino-Tibetan relations that reveal a startling lack of moral fortitude. He consistently tends towards anti-independence positions while apologizing for the worst Chinese abuses of human rights with off-handed speculation of intangible improvements. I think Kristof’s writings on Tibet and China are some of the most offensive on any foreign relations issue by quasi-liberal American pundits since Tom Friedman’s cheerleading in the lead-up to the Iraq war. Indeed, I believe Nick Kristof is complicit in the abuses by the Chinese government of local petitioners and Tibetans alike in the lead-up and duration of the Olympic Games.

Unfortunately while Kristof is outraging Tibetans and their supporters, he apparently is also pissing off Chinese nationalists, too. A few days ago the China Daily, the English language state-organ, printed a seering attack on Kristof’s columns, which they viewed as overly pro-Tibet.

This is bad news because Kristof will likely view pissing off both sides as a great achievement indicative of his excellent standing as a Serious Person. It also means we’re almost certainly guaranteed to get more awful, arrogant columns on Tibet and China by Nick Kristof.

Damn.