“Burning the animal skin revolution sparked in Tibet”
Under this awkward title, a recent Phayul.com article gives new insight into the recent phenomenon of masses of Tibetans in Amdo burning animal skins in response to a recent appeal from the Dalai Lama. At the Kalachakra intitiation in southern India in January, the Dalai Lama spoke pointedly, saying he was “ashamed” to see images of Tibetans decorating themselves with skins and furs. It has been estimated that nearly 10,000 Tibetans from Tibet journeyed to India for the Kalachakra. On the last day of the religious ceremony, the Dalai Lama spoke directly to Tibetans, saying “When you go back to your respective places, remember what I had said earlier and never use, sell, or buy wild animals, their products or derivatives.”
According to the Phayul “animal skin revolution” article, the public burnings began in north-eastern Amdo in a small town called Tsodruk where more than 250 fox skins were set ablaze. On February 9th, the 14th day of the Amdo New Year, more than ten thousand Tibetans gathered at the Kirti Monastery in Amdo for a mass burning of giant piles of animal pelts and skins, and garments made from them. Besides the recent exhortation from the Dalai Lama, the timing of the mass burnings is no coincidence. It’s Losar in Amdo, a time of the year when Tibetans gather with their families and communities, attend teachings at the monasteries, and say prayers and make resolutions in order to enter into the New Year with auspiciousness.
An Associated Press story filed from Dharamsala was picked up by many mainstream media outlets starting on Thursday. The article is by AP reporter Ashwini Bhatia, who also filed last week’s story about the Google protests that ran in so many news outlets.
The article begins:
Thousands of Tibetans have burned rare animal pelts and skins in response to a call by the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader, to give up products made from endangered animals, Tibetan exiles said Friday.
The wearing of coats trimmed with fur from tigers, leopards, otters and other rare animals recently became stylish in Tibet, prompting warnings from environmental groups of the damage to wild populations.
Unfortunately, the 375-word story doesn’t begin to give the necessary background to understand this recent fascinating and important turn of events in Tibet. In fact, the second paragraph — about the rare animal fur becoming “stylish in Tibet” — grossly simplifies the issue. It isn’t really Ms. Bhatia’s fault, as 375 words is considered a long AP article and she does conclude it with:
“These events are significant for us as they show the world and especially to China that Tibetans all over listen to the Dalai Lama and are willing to make sacrifices if he wishes so,” said Choephal, the monk who smuggled out the videos of the burning.
This begins to explain the significance of the animal skin burnings, but Choephal (sic?) talks about the acts as sacrifices. Far be it for me to question this Tibetan’s analysis – after all he helped to smuggle video footage of the bonfires out of Tibet. But knowing how media works, I wonder if this quote truly encompasses his views on the matter or if he would agree with Tibetan exile youth leader Tenzin Tsundue. Phayul’s “awkward english” title comes from his quote in the article:
The trend seem to have caught up like a connecting act as in a revolution. What started like a religious sermon by the His Holiness the Dalai Lama in January, has now sparked a movement, giving Tibetans to come openly in the Gandhi style of Swadeshi movement where they made bon fire out of British clothes.� I am so moved to see these images of defiance and courage by our people in Tibet. I have heard reports of such acts from Kanza and Lhasa also.
Seeing the video of enormous crowds gathering to take part in the animal skin burnings, I am inclined to agree with Tsundue’s view. [Editor's update: click here to view a good 5-minute-long TV news report on the UK's Channel 4]
In Tibet, opposition to China’s occupation has never gone away. In fact, it’s hardly dissipated. Unfortunately, Tibetans have learned the hard way that open defiance of Chinese rule usually leads to jail time, beatings, torture. For many Tibetans, speaking out simply isn’t worth the inevitable clampdown. Still, while they wait for the time to come when they can re-assert their sovereignty, they find myriad ways to express their identity and assert their unity. I believe the “burning the animal skin revolution” is but the latest example.
Apparently, I agree with the Chinese government on this matter (but I’m not worried they’re reading this – they couldn’t even figure out who I was when they had me in custody in Beijing in 2004). Chinese authorities have banned the bonfires and arrested a number of people involved.
The Telegraph Newspaper (UK) reports:
According to the Wildlife Trust of India, which was shown a smuggled tape of the burnings, nine people were arrested as the police moved in to put an end to the bonfires. The group said “they were charged for public unrest and colluding with the Dalai Lama”.
International Campaign for Tibet’s Kate Saunders is quoted in the article reporting that burnings have happened in Lhasa as well. Unfortunately, the article concludes, “She added that neither the Dalai Lama nor the Tibetans had political motives.” Hmm. I don’t know how Kate or ICT came up with that assertion. I imagine they are most concerned about the fate of Tibetans being caught in the Chinese government crackdown on the burnings but it seems presumptious to make such a cut-and-dried statement on so complex a phenomenon.
I say complex because there is an entire other facet to the story we haven’t yet touched upon. A random person reading the mainstream reporting on this issue would probably think “Tibetans have suddenly decided to abandon their cultural tradition of wearing exotic animal skins after a plea from their beloved leader.”
Beloved leader, yes. Cultural tradition… NO. What do I mean? Well, stay with me here.
At a September 2005 press conference in New Delhi, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) unveiled photos of Tibetans wearing near-full tiger skins and other garments made of wild animal skins. There, they told the media that the Tibetan market posed a significant threat to the survival of the Indian tiger and other endangered animals. This help turn critical media attention to the important issue but simplified the root cause of the demand for the skins. According to the independent Tibet information service TibetInfoNet:
The international media’s response to WPSI and EIA’s findings have focused on “dramatic new findings�, and directly link the danger of extinction of the Indian tiger to an allegedly rapidly growing “new Tibetan trend for skins� in the “bustling bazaars of Tibet�. The growth of the market is attributed to the “newly monied classes� in “a richer Tibet and China�, as well as to “affluent Tibetans� and a “newfound prosperity� in Tibet.
Regardless of the controversy surrounding its relation with, and responsibilities to the now-defunct Tibet Information Network, TibetInfoNet has an excellent report challenging the myths around the entire matter and I will end by quoting at length from it. It’s worth reading the entire report but if you’ve made it this far in this post, please at least read this excerpt:
What deserves more consideration however, is that in recent years [rural Tibetan] festivals have evolved from popular fairs to events patronised and orchestrated by state authorities, featuring a sanitized and sexed up version of Tibetan culture, with the primary aim of showcasing a wealthy and ‘modern’, but also markedly ‘exotic’, Tibet. On the one hand, dance presentations that were once improvised, make way for choreographed shows by state-sponsored and ‘developed’ government dance troupes. On the other hand, ceremonial displays of ‘traditional’ garments, or, more accurately, kitsch versions of them, have lately become an essential element of such festivals. Rural Tibetans that participate in such displays are encouraged to compete for the title of the most (at times, grotesquely) impressive among them and receive awards presented by party representatives. Researchers in Tibet observe that people lavishly dress up for such shows in a way that is unheard of for more traditional occasions, such as new year festivals (Losar), which are celebrated in more intimate surrounding, far from public attention. Precisely because of their traditional scarcity, garments adorned with real tiger skins are in high demand among organisers. Debbie Banks from EIA mentions that officials exhort festival participants to wear tiger and other skins. Another source from Tibet witnessed officials scolding Tibetan dancers who had turned up without enough tiger furs with the admonishment: “Do you want our county to look poorer than its neighbours?�
It is in this process of state sponsored re-invention of Tibetan culture that the use of tiger and other skins at festivals is rapidly spreading across the whole Tibetan plateau. In reaction to this tendency and referring directly to the images circulated by WPSI and EIA, the Dalai Lama, during the Kalachakra ceremony recently held in southern India, expressed concerns about the superficiality of “wearing expensive jewels and cloths brocaded by animal skins�.
Apart from these rural festivals, official state functions also provide a platform for similar displays of ‘reformed’ traditions. An Indian high official who attended the official ceremonies for the 40th anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region held in Lhasa on 01 September 2005 is quoted as remarking: “All this is very impressive, but I wonder why dead Indian tigers have to dance to the glory of the People’s Republic of China�.
Following official efforts to display an image of an increasingly wealthy Tibet where traditional culture, or rather its most visible and ‘exotic’ aspects, are not only respected but even actively promoted, freely available publications and websites disseminate the most impressive scenes from such festivals in China and abroad. VCDs, common in Tibet and among Tibetans in India and Nepal, present an even more vivid picture, apparently contradicting conventional images of dull poverty. Apart from the obvious political propaganda effect, this policy is aimed at attracting tourists to Tibet, particularly Chinese tourists for whom such depictions of baroque Tibetans, living close to nature and wearing the skins of the most dangerous ‘beasts’, respond to popular expectations of the thrilling archaic and ‘exotic other’.
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Thanks for the analysis, Han. I share your sentiment that this phenomenon deserves more attention and credit. The question that comes to mind is: how will this play out in the long run? And how can we ensure the speedy release of the 9 Tibetans arrested by the Chinese authorities in relation to this incident?
There was also a great report on this on the Channel 4 news in the UK. You can check out the report at http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=1773
There’s a Tibean saying, “kyakpa ngok na drima mashi khaya yo marey.” (Digging of shit only causes stench) Tibteans are better off applying this principle here. If we look deeper into this campaign, it is more and more political — and interestingly, the orchestrated exile politics that manesfested in the form of “environmental education campaigns at Amravati” (most of these guys were political groups and had political motivations) did not envision this bonfire campaign, certainly not at that level, but were responding to Maneka Gandhi’s scathing racist remarks against Tibetans on Indian national TV.
The best political message coming out of the second phase of this campaign — bonfire responses from Tibet — is the power of HHDalai Lama’s words and the solidarity of the Tibetan people. We should blow on this latter point and leave the rest to rot.
More broadly, what is happening now on both sides of the Himalaya has a potential to cause some real ruckus in the Movement, especially among Tibetans. Nothing like this happened before.
Thanks RR – a good lesson indeed. The thing I didn’t write about is the challenge to the exile movement about how to respond and support those in Tibet. It’s clearly taking on a political spirit (asserting their unity and devotion to the Dalai Lama is enough to scare the hell out of the Chinese authorities) and as you say, “nothing like this happened before.” So it’s tempting to want to broadcast to the world, “Hey! Tibetans in Tibet are rising up! It’s a secret sort of unspoken uprising but an uprising nonetheless!” But then, we run the risk of drawing attention that may not be wanted – at least yet, at least now. We run the risk of interpreting these brave and defiant acts for the world… as well as the Chinese government and make it impossible for Tibetans to claim to Chinese authorities, “no, we’re just following our Buddhist values and defending wildlife.” I want to see some “ruckus in the movement” for sure. But as the supporters and exiles, I think we need to do our best to follow the lead of those on the ground in Tibet where this new campaign is catching fire.
Hi, I’m Susan. I’m 17 years old and i think yours articles is interesting. Great work.
Thanks for great work.
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