The 3rd Annual Toronto Tibet Film Festival April 9-10th!

Buy your tickets now! To see the Toronto Tibet Film Festival program, please click here. Please join us for: A free screening of Leaving Fear Behind, the film produced by imprisoned Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen will kickstart the festival Friday night.

Torture Without Trace: Five Songs by Detained Tibetan Singer Tashi Dhondup

High Peaks Pure Earth presents five music videos by Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup (also sometimes spelled Tashi Dondrup) from Amdo. According to this report by Radio Free Asia from March 5, 2010, Tashi Dhondup, 30, was sentenced to 15 months of re-education through labour for "separatist activities" related to his music on January 5, 2010.

News of Tashi Dhondup's detention on December 3, 2009, had been reported by media, including this short article in The Times and here at High Peaks Pure Earth we had also been monitoring news of his arrest.

On December 8, 2009, the International Campaign for Tibet released a report and gave the following details about his arrest:

Tashi Dhondup was detained last week at gun-point while his wife wept and grabbed one of the police officer’s legs in an attempt to hold him back.

A popular singer in Amdo, Tashi Dhondup became well known for his song "1958 - 2008" that compares two "terrifying" periods for Tibetans. This song spread amongst Tibetans via the internet and mobile phones and was written about by Tibetan writer and singer Jamyang Kyi on her blog as far back as February 12, 2009. Jamyang Kyi wrote:

I arrived in Ziling (Xining) yesterday and I learned that a young boy name Tashi Dondrup of Mongol origin has produced a CD named "Songs of 2008" but he was arrested before distributing it into the market in December 2008. I was told that his song has been posted on the internet and widely downloaded on to cell phones and is now distributed amongst the Tibetans.

Tashi Dhondup had been detained in September 2008 because of that song and the ICT report tells us "He was detained and beaten for over seven days by police in Xining".

Here is the High Peaks Pure Earth translation of the song "1958 - 2008", for slower internet connections listen to the mp3 below the video:




The Radio Free Asia report tells us that Tashi Dhondup was detained again in Xining after thousands of copies of his CD "Torture Without Trace" started to be sold in Amdo. Court documents obtained by Radio Free Asia say that Tashi Dhondup and "some other associates copied about 3,000 CDS and distributed them in 11 counties in Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu”.

This is the CD cover of "Torture Without Trace":


The full track listing reads:

Four tracks from "Torture Without Trace" with full English translation are below, including the title track, in video and downloadable mp3 form. For High Peaks Pure Earth readers who wish to see more of Tashi Dhondup's music videos, all thirteen music videos from "Torture Without Trace" have been uploaded on YouTube and can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/sonam0tenzin

Chinese translations of Tashi Dhondup's songs "Waiting With Hope" and "Torture Without Trace" are available on Woeser's blog: http://woeser.middle-way.net/2009/12/blog-post_07.html Woeser also wrote an excellent essay titled "What Kinds of Songs Are Reactionary Songs?" in early 2009 which is worth another read as background to Tashi Dhondup's situation.

Finally, High Peaks Pure Earth is very grateful to Bhuchung D. Sonam of Tibet Writes for his translations of the songs "Torture Without Trace", "No Regrets", "Unable To Meet" and "For That I Shed My Tears" and for allowing us to use and publish them. A big thank you also goes to the translator of "1958 - 2008"!

Another Successful Year for Hull HRA

(HRA Crew at the Chinese Embassy)
On March 18^th Hull University Human Rights Action held their annual AGM and elected a new committee after another brilliantly successful year.  This was the third year of HRA’s affiliation to SFTUK and once again the group led vibrant Tibet activism in Hull and further afield.

Shortly after the new university term began the tragic and shocking news broke of two Tibetans being executed for their part in the 2008 uprising.  Within 24 hours HRA had taken to Hull Student’s Union building with posters of the executed Tibetans to launch their first letter writing campaign of the year.  Over the next week David Miliband was bombarded with letters from over 200 Hull Students demanding that the UK took a tough response.

The next month five HRA members set off to join other young activists from around the country at the SFT conference in London.  New and old members learnt and shared skills ranging from political lobbying to fundraising and direct action.  Over the last 3 years HRA has always made an impact at the conference and this was no exception, with members jumping head first into the workshops and activities and earning the praise of Tendor, SFT’s new international director.

Returning after the Christmas holidays HRA were quick off the mark when it was announced that pro-CCP academic Barry Sautman was to give a lecture at Hull University.  On the morning of his visit members held a demonstration and distributed literature on Tibet before heading into the lecture to challenge his lies.  The question and answer session was a fiery affair with HRA activists pointing out Sautman’s deliberate mis-representations of the situation in Tibet and catching him off guard with some tough questions.  The common consensus amongst lectures and students in attendance was that HRA won the day- with Sautman showing himself up by conceding that he supported October’s executions and angrily declaring that HRA members were “separatists”.

This success was followed up by a film screening of Dhondup Wangchen’s Leaving Fear Behind, attended by almost 50 students and raising funds for SFTUK.   Excitingly the screening was attended by a lot of students previously unaware of the situation in Tibet, all of whom went away committed to find out more and getting involved in the movement.

The highlight of HRA’s year is always their annual fundraising gig Chance for Change: Free Tibet and Burma, which raises hundreds of pounds for SFTUK and Burma Campaign UK.  This year saw the biggest Chance for Change yet with over a hundred people cramming in to one of Hull’s top student venues.  They were treated to a brilliant night of music, dancing, comedy and raffle prizes – raising a whopping £360 for SFTUK’s work.

Despite weeks putting in weeks of preparation for the gig, HRA’s members didn’t take a break once it was done.  Instead they made the 450 mile round-trip to London just a week later, to take part in the protests and mass-lobby on March 10^th.  At the Chinese embassy and outside Parliament HRA activists were at the forefront of the demonstrations and five managed to secure meetings with their MPs.

Overall it’s been another amazing year for HRA and once again they’ve been a key part of SFTUK.  Tom Prosser, Graham Riley and Mary Cooskey- the new committee, have shown themselves to be brilliant and dedicated activists to we can be sure the group’s tireless work for human rights in Tibet is set to continue!

Photos Submitted by: Liam

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BBC World Interviews Tenzin Sonam & Ritu about The Sun Behind the Clouds

Watch this fantastic interview with Tenzin Sonam & Ritu on BBC World about the making of The Sun Behind the Clouds and the future of the Tibet movement. The interview also includes a clip from the film of Lhadon speaking.

The film premieres in the N.Y. tomorrow, Wednesday, March 31st. Tix are still available but going fast – buy yours now!