SFT’s Tendor and Yangchen interviewed in Al Jazeera’s special M10 report

SFT’s Tenzin Dorjee (from Dharamsala) and Yangchen Lhamo (in the Washington, DC studio) were interviewed for Al Jazeera’s special program on the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan National Uprising.

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Tibetans cancel New Year celebrations

Tibetans inside Tibet and around the world are refraining from Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebrations this year to mourn the more than 200 Tibetans killed by Chinese forces.

For first hand information about the situation inside Tibet from Tibetan bloggers, visit: www.highpeakspureearth.com

This announcement was released on January 27th:

TIBETANS CANCEL NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS TO MARK ‘BLACK YEAR’

Prayer vigils planned to mourn Tibetans killed by Chinese forces in 2008

Dharamshala, India – Tibetan exile groups announced today they will cancel Tibetan New Year celebrations to mourn the deaths of over two hundred Tibetans killed by Chinese forces following the uprising in Tibet last year, and to protest China’s ongoing crackdown. According to the Tibetan lunar calendar, February 25th will mark the first day of 2136, the year of the Earth Ox. Instead of the usual celebrations marked by singing, dancing and other festivities, silence will be observed and butter lamps will be lit in the temples and homes to pray for the deceased. Tibetan leaders also called on Tibetans worldwide to organize similar observances in their communities.

read the full press release here….

also from Reuters:

This year, some Tibetans, including exiles and intellectuals, are refraining from celebrating as a quiet protest gesture, and have urged others to do the same in heated exchanges on the Internet. Meanwhile, some communities that usually celebrate at the same time as Chinese have delayed their holiday to coincide with the Tibetan calendar.

read the full story at TibetCity.com…

China Earthquake Pushes Tibet to Sidelines

A headline in today’s New York Times sums up a worrisome phenomenon that has SFT leaders debating about how to maintain momentum in a political and media atmosphere that has suddenly changed from the last couple months: China Earthquake Pushes Tibet to the Sidelines.

Reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal writes that the “shift is, partly, tectonic. An earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province killed tens of thousands of Chinese, evoking an outpouring of global sympathy for China and turning it overnight from victimizer to victim.”

The article goes on:

“The protests this spring put Tibet at the forefront of human rights issue — they accomplished a lot — but I think the interest can’t go further right now,” said John Kamm, a leading human rights advocate whose San Francisco-based organization, Dui Hua Foundation, has helped free prominent Chinese political prisoners.

“Now the Chinese people are in a state of mourning,” he said. “I’m not suggesting that we stop putting pressure on China, but we should use judgment in where and when to direct the fire.”

Ms. Rosenthal goes on to write about the eternal difficulty of how underfunded grassroots movements maintain momentum and morale. She notes that since the historic events beginning with the latest March 10th popular uprising against China’s occupation, and followed by the Tibet solidarity protests that overshadowed China’s Olympic torch relay, Tibet groups have:

become more emboldened, forming new alliances and finding themselves deluged with volunteers and donations. About 200 new chapters of Students for a Free Tibet have been started in the past six months, in places like Estonia, the Czech Republic and the state of Montana.

But sustaining that momentum has been difficult. “It is a challenge to keep people engaged,” said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, which operates on a budget of about $400,000 a year from a ramshackle office above a dry cleaners in New York’s Alphabet City. “There’s no substitute for China bringing the Olympic torch into your neighborhood.”

More on SFT with a thoughtful quote from Tendor (nice job, man) that I think perfectly encapsulates the sentiment that many SFTers dedicated to rangzen – particularly young Tibetans – have towards the Dalai Lama and his leadership:

With its guerrilla style “actions,” Students for a Free Tibet has little in common with the far more established International Campaign for Tibet, which shares a staid Washington townhouse with the Dalai Lama’s representative to the United States.

The International Campaign for Tibet accepts the Dalai Lama’s limited goal of greater autonomy and religious freedom for the Tibetan people. But the students’ group wants more. “Yes, we want independence for Tibet — that is what the Tibetan people want,” said Tenzin Dorjee, vice director of Students for a Free Tibet, who tried to unfurl a banner on the Eiffel Tower during the Paris torch relay and last year achieved that goal at Everest Base Camp. “We have the utmost love for His Holiness and respect for his leadership, and we know where Tibet would be now without him.

“But we are inspired not just by his divinity, but also his humanity. So we can disagree with some of his ideas.”

And back to Dui Hua’s John Kamm, who has put his negotiations with China for the release of political prisoners before the Olympics on hold “during the relief efforts:”

…he hopes that the earthquake may provide a face-saving exit for China from a torch relay that has often been more embarrassment than celebration. Already, the relay has recently been scaled back in response to the disaster.

“The Dalai Lama said he’s praying for the victims,” said Mr. Kamm, noting that many of the hard-hit areas had large ethnic Tibetan populations. “Maybe this will give the government the opportunity to cancel the relay in Tibet.”

Ah yes, the torch relay through Tibet. Chinese officials put the torch relay on hold for three days to mourn the earthquake’s victims but it seems there’s no intention to let such an important propaganda display as carrying the torch through recently riot-scarred Lhasa slip away. We of course agree with Mr. Kamm that the torch relay must be canceled. Before the IOC even authorized China’s Olympic Committee’s plans for its torch relay, our SFT troublemakers were up at Everest base camp saying “IOC: No Torch Through Tibet.” This remains a critical issue and we can’t let the sensitivity around criticizing China in the wake of the earthquake’s horrific human toll scare us away from pressing on with our campaign to demand the IOC do the right thing.

In concert with other Tibet support groups, SFT is ramping up our efforts to pressure IOC Executive Members before their last meeting in Athens (June 4th-6th) before the torch is scheduled to enter Tibet on June 9th. It goes to Gyalthang in far southeastern Tibet (an area now annexed into Gansu Province) and then comes back to central Tibet, including Lhasa, June 19th-24th.

To conclude with Tendor’s quote from yesterday’s SFT press release that I think sums it all up:

“In the wake of a natural disaster that has devastated many Tibetans as well as Chinese, the IOC is threatening to add a man-made disaster in the form of the torch relay through Tibet, a preventable tragedy which will compound the suffering of thousands of Tibetans who continue to face the Chinese authorities’ violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations for freedom.”

BBC: Clash that ‘Sparked’ Tibet’s Violent Protests

BBC obtained this footage from Chinese security forces, showing how a peaceful protest by Tibetan monks may have sparked the ensuing violence in Tibet. Click on the headline to see the video.

Truly a Tibet-Wide Uprising

Pro-independence demonstrations continue to spread across the whole of Tibet, not just in Lhasa or what the Chinese government calls the “Tibetan Autonomous Region.”  Chinese authorities must be freaking out that the whole of Tibet is ablaze with resistance.  This is an irrefutable sign of how widespread is the Tibetan desire for freedom and independence.

According to the Washington Post:

Violence in Tibet spilled over into neighboring provinces Sunday where Tibetan protesters defied a Chinese government crackdown… Protests against Chinese rule of Tibet were reported in neighboring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces and also in western Gansu province…

In Sichuan province, Tibetan monks and police clashed Sunday in Aba county after the monks staged a protest…  [O]ne policeman had been killed and three or four police vans had been set on fire…  [A]t least seven people have been shot dead in the county…

In Qinghai province, 100 monks defied a directive confining them to Rongwo Monastery in Tongren city by climbing a hill behind the monastery, where they set off fireworks and burned incense to protest the crackdown in Tibet. …

In western Gansu province, more than 100 students protested at a university in Lanzhou ….

A curfew was imposed in Xiahe city in Gansu province on Sunday, a day after police fired tear gas on a 1,000 protesters, including Buddhist monks and ordinary citizens, who had marched from the historic Labrang monastery.

Large communities of ethnic Tibetans live far outside modern Tibet in areas that were the Himalayan region’s eastern and northeastern provinces of Amdo and Kham until the communist takeover in 1951. Those areas were later split off by Beijing to become the Chinese province of Qinghai and part of Sichuan province

Eyewitness Reports from RFA

Radio Free Asia just posted these eyewitness reports from across Tibet:

Tibetans Report More Deaths, Spreading Protests As China Clamps Down

2008.03.15

Numerous sources interviewed by RFA’s Tibetan service have reported that anti-Chinese protests have spread further from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, into the Amdo and Kham regions in Qinghai and Sichuan provinces, respectively. Witnesses notably reported a crowd of thousands at the Labrang monastery in Amdo. In Xiahe, where Labrang is located, protesters were said to have smashed doors and windows at the county government offices and police station until they were dispersed by tear-gas. Following are excerpted interviews from Tibetan sources who spoke with RFA on Saturday, March 15, 2008:

“I am in the Lhasa area. There was shooting today. Many Tibetans who were dead and barely alive were collected at the TAR [Tibet Autonomous Region] Security Office area, and I heard from a reliable source that there were 67 bodies. Some were alive and most were dead when they were brought in… This included male and female, and I don’t have the details… But it’s confirmed that there were in total about 67 bodies collected at this place. I cannot tell you the source of my information, but 67 bodies were seen by my source. It was officially announced by TAR officials that martial law was imposed. Right now I can hear shootings. We saw many tanks. Sometimes they fire in the air to threaten the Tibetans. At some places, like the Karma Kunsel area [near Lhasa], they are firing right now. Every Tibetan is stopped and their IDs are checked. Even Tibetan government workers are checked, but the Chinese are free to move around. Many Tibetans who were arrested were taken toward the Toelung area and several other jails in different parts of Lhasa. Even in Penpo, six monks were arrested last night and today there were demonstrations and Chinese shops were burnt. I think they might impose these restrictions for at least another seven to eight days. If they are not allowed to move around, the Tibetans won’t get food supplies, and the Tibetans are already suffering shortages of food. Right now the Chinese authorities are cracking down, but there are indications that this could spread further in rural areas. …There is no indication of any organization planning these demonstrations. It was a spontaneous response of Tibetans, and they jumped into the rally. They were shouting ‘Long live the Dalai Lama’ and ‘Independence for Tibet,’ and burning Chinese flags. Right now I was told that Tibetan monks in Samye monastery in Lokha are protesting too.”—Source in Lhasa

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UN Fact-Finding Mission and Olympic Boycott

Imagine for a moment that the carnage and chaos we are seeing in Tibet occurred in another country.

Wouldn’t there be frantic calls for a UN fact finding mission, especially when the numbers and causes of deaths remain disputed? Even a regime as isolated and odious as Burma accepted a UN mission.

So it is completely right that there are calls for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to send a UN fact finding mission to Tibet. If China really feels it has nothing to hide, it should prove it.

Now back to our hypothetical: imagine that the other country were being occupied by a third country, who happened to be hosting the Olympics in five months… Would there be an Olympic boycott?

Almost certainly! The Moscow Olympics were boycotted because the USSR invaded Afghanistan, so what about China’s brutal Tiananmen-style carnage in Tibet? That’s the logic of Richard Gere, and he has a point:

he said it was his personal opinion that it would be “unconscionable” to attend the Beijing Games if China failed to deal peacefully with unrest in the Himalayan region — protests that have turned to riots and already claimed several lives.

Informants, Threats and Ultimatums

Chinese authorities in Tibet have resorted to trying to use threats, issue ultimatums, and bribe informants to regain control.  This is a completely typical reaction: subterfuge, intimidation, and false promises of leniency to lure people to turn themselves in.

The Washington Post reports on the crackdown in the monasteries and nunneries:

Official statements suggested the government reaction in coming days would be tough, with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries — traditional focal point of opposition to Beijing’s rule — and nunneries being brought under tighter control.

The regional communist-controlled government said those who harbored protesters would be punished and it offered rewards and protection to informers.

UK’s The Telegraph similarly reports on China’s efforts to bribe informants and trick Tibetans with promises of leniency:

The Chinese authorities set a surrender deadline of Monday midnight for protestors to turn themselves in. Rewards and protection were being offered to potential informants.

Should we believe China’s promises of leniency?  Can pigs fly?  The following is a historical lesson from TCHRD:

The tactic is a clear ‘ploy’ by the Chinese authorities to trap the Tibetan demonstrators by inciting fear and intimidating the demonstrators to give in. The Chinese authorities will not live up to their promise of offering leniency to those who surrender, as it was the case in 1987- 1989 demonstrations in Lhasa.

Senator Obama “Condemns” China’s Use of Force in Tibet

Senator Barack Obama is the first U.S. presidential candidate to issue a statement on China’s crackdown in Tibet (issued March 14):

I am deeply disturbed by reports of a crackdown and arrests ordered by Chinese authorities in the wake of peaceful protests by Tibetan Buddhist monks. I condemn the use of violence to put down peaceful protests, and call on the Chinese government to respect the basic human rights of the people of Tibet, and to account for the whereabouts of detained Buddhist monks.

These events come on the 49th anniversary of the exile of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama. They demonstrate the continuing frustration of the Tibetan people at the way in which Beijing has ruled Tibet. [...]

Tibet should enjoy genuine and meaningful autonomy. [...] Now is the time to respect the human rights and religious freedom of the people of Tibet.

On the whole, this was a strong statement, definitely more powerful than the the tepid official U.S. reaction. Thank you, Senator Obama.

However, Senator Obama does miss something major. Tibetans aren’t just frustrated at “the way in which Beijing has ruled Tibet.” Tibetans are fundamentally opposed to Chinese rule in the first place. They are calling for independence, not “better” rule by Beijing.

Also, Senator Obama misses the significance of March 10, 1959; in addition to being when His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled into exile, it was when Tibetans across Tibet rose up against the Chinese occupation of their country. So while we appreciate Senator Obama’s support for Tibetan autonomy, we would be much happier if he recognized and supported what Tibetans are literally dying for in the streets: independence.

(As and when other presidential candidates make statements on Tibet, we will post them here.)

New York Times video on “worldwide Tibetan protests”

Jim Yardley of the New York Times narrates a short video about “worldwide Tibetan protests.” Click here to watch.