Huffington Post: To Die With Dignity in Your Own Land: Tibet, China, and the Politics of Disaster

Please read & share the Huffington Post article To Die With Dignity in Your Own Land: Tibet, China, and the Politics of Disaster by Josh Schrei, former SFT board chair and lifelong Tibet support.

Josh gets to the heart of the issue of the international media’s ongoing misrepresentation of where the quake hit. Article after article refers to the earthquake zone as “western China” or “Qinghai province bordering Tibet.” In reality, Kyegundo is located in the historical Tibetan province of Kham:

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, control over Kham and the wide, sparsely populated region of Amdo vacillated between Chinese and Muslim warlords and the Tibetan government in Lhasa. Finally, after a period of Tibetan independence the area was invaded and occupied by the People’s Liberation Army along with the rest of eastern Tibet in 1950. The entire region was divided by the government of the People’s Republic of China into its current provinces in 1965, but years of occupation and the migration of Han Chinese west into Tibetan provinces have not diminished this region’s Tibetan identity. Even China refers to the area as a “Tibetan area,” and the particular province — Yushu — is 97% Tibetan.

Background information on the region: This area  has a long history of resistance to Chinese rule. In 2008, as protests raged across Tibet, Tibetans in Kyegundo and the surrounding areas also took to the streets to demand their independence and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

From Woeser’s 2008 Protest Updates:

March 20, 2008

A great number of students in Yushul County in Kham (Yushul [Ch. Yushu] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province) held a protest, but at present we do not know what actions the authorities are going to take.

Three days ago (April 6, 2008), outside of one of the monasteries in Yushul (Ch. Yushu) County in Kham (Yushul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province), over 100 Tibetans shouted such slogans as “Free Tibet” and “Let the Dalai Lama Come Home.” At that time the monastery was holding Buddhist ceremonies. The protesters were immediately suppressed by a large number of the armed police, and many people were arrested. An insider said that protests have erupted frequently in the county after the Lhasa Incident, each one suppressed by the armed police. Authorities have not announced the number of protesters who were arrested or whether there were any deaths or injuries.



One Responseto “Huffington Post: To Die With Dignity in Your Own Land: Tibet, China, and the Politics of Disaster”

1. Mary Jane Bennett says:

   April 17, 2010 at 9:22 am

   Thanks for this. It would be nice to think that more harmony can come between the Chinese and the Tibetans of that area due to this disaster. The Dalai Lama hopes for a more harmonious resolution which can never be won by stubborn armed resistance….in my opinion, finding a way to work together is essential. The Chinese government will not leave Tibet. We can only hope for more autonomy.