March 10th: I am Tibetan because
Tibetans in NYC on March 10th express their Tibetan pride. Since the “I am Tibetan” video from Amdo, Tibet uploaded to YouTube, Tibetans around the world have been responding with similar videos and messages. Watch SFT India’s video.
March 10 in India
Dharamshala, India
Organized by TYC, TWA, GuChuSum, NDPT and SFT India
Tsuglakhang (Main Temple), Dharamshala
Kacheri, Dharamshala where Padma Shree Awardee, Dr. Kshama Metre of CORD addressed the gathering.
A young Tibetan waves the Tibetan National flag on March 10 in Dharamshala
Kolkata, West Bengal
Tibetan Students and supporters at a candle light vigil in Kolkata (SFT Kolkata)
March 10 Vigil in Kolkata (SFT Kolkata)
Pune, Maharashtra
Tibetan Students in Pune organized an International Student’s solidarity meeting for Tibet (SFT Kolkata)
Press Release: Global Demonstrations Mark Tibetan Uprising Day; New Resistance Movement Takes Root In Tibet Despite Continued Repression
STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET
For Immediate Release:
March 10th, 2010
Contact: Tenzin Dorjee, +1 646-724-0748
Kate Woznow, +1 917-601-0069
GLOBAL DEMONSTRATIONS MARK TIBETAN UPRISING DAY; NEW RESISTANCE MOVEMENT TAKES ROOT IN TIBET DESPITE CONTINUED REPRESSION
New York – Thousands of Tibetans and Tibet supporters in dozens of countries will take to the streets today, March 10th, to commemorate the 51st anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day and to show solidarity with a new nonviolent resistance movement gaining momentum in Tibet. Today also marks two years since monks began protest marches in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, that sparked the largest uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet since 1959. Chinese security forces are now a permanent presence in Tibetan towns and villages and a new “Strike Hard” campaign was launched in Lhasa in advance of this sensitive anniversary with hundreds of Tibetans being interrogated and harassed in recent days.
Tibetans and Tibet supporters in at least 100 cities worldwide, including in the USA, Belgium, Poland, UK, France, Germany, India, Australia, and Taiwan are marking the historic day fifty-one years ago – when Tibetans rose against Chinese rule – with protests, marches, candle light vigils, and government lobbying initiatives. In response to a new “I am Tibetan” campaign originating from Tibet, Tibetans in exile will also be recording messages of support dedicated to Tibetans living inside Tibet as part of their Tibetan National Uprising Day activities (1).
“In spite of China’s repression, there is a powerful new movement being led by the young generation inside Tibet. They are using creative, non-violent tactics to empower themselves and their communities and to challenge Chinese rule,” said Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “March 10th is a day for Tibetans everywhere to be proud of being Tibetan – proud of our ancestors who died protecting our homeland, proud of our brothers and sisters inside Tibet who continue to resist Chinese oppression, and proud of the new generation of Tibetans who are raising the flag of Tibetan freedom around the world.”
China has heightened security in Tibet in advance of today’s anniversary with journalists and most foreigners effectively barred from the region. Tibet advocates have also noted increased efforts by the Chinese government to silence international support for Tibet in recent days. Tibetan refugees have been preemptively arrested in Nepal, and in the United States, Chinese officials have attempted without success to pressure municipal governments to revoke annual proclamations of support for Tibet.
“As the Chinese government continues its brutal repression inside Tibet, we call on leaders of free countries to take new, bold and coordinated approaches to help secure a just and fair resolution for the Tibetan people,” said Kate Woznow, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet.”
Note to editors
(1) Examples of the “I am Tibetan” movement include a homemade video from eastern Tibet posted to YouTube in late December, 2009 titled “I am Tibetan” as well as poems and a hip hop music video posted online by Tibetans that have been translated here: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/03/new-generation-hip-hop-music-video-from.html and here: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/02/i-am-tibetan-by-woeser.html
-30-
March 10th, 2010 Updates via Twitter
Please share your updates, mobile photos, breaking news, or inspiring moments from March 10th, 2010 (or the lead up to). Use the #m10tibet hashtag in your tweets and your updates will appear on the M10 twitter wall above.
Example: 500 Tibetans and supporters just arrived at City Hall to commemorate 51 years of resistance to China’s occupation of Tibet. #m10tibet
You can also tweet photos to the M10 twitter wall using Twitpic, Yfrog, and Tweetphoto.
To view tweets older than 24 hrs click here
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.
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 2008Dharamshala, 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.
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.
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
Finding the good in the horrible
If there is anything good to be found in the Chinese government’s murderous crackdown on the pro-independence demonstrations spreading like wildfire across Tibet, it is that the Tibetan people are now more unified than ever in their common identity and common demand for freedom and independence.
Throughout history, foreign occupation or colonialism has strengthened a subjugated nation’s unity, and this has always been an ominous sign for the oppressor.
Reports the Washington Post:
The groundswell of activity suggests that anger over the Chinese government’s role in Tibet extends far beyond the remote mountainous region, particularly to outlying provinces that are home to an estimated 3 million ethnic Tibetans. Many resent Beijing’s criticism of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the economic development that has mainly benefited the region’s Han Chinese, China’s dominant ethnic group.
“What we’ve seen is a revitalization of a sense of shared Tibetan identity and cultural and religious pride in the last few days,” said Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.
Historically, Tibet has grappled with regionalism between Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of U-Tsang (itself two distinct regions, U and Tsang), Kham, and Amdo. With the threat of Chinese invasion in the late 1940s, we saw Tibetans band together, but then after the invasion China chopped Tibet up among the “Tibetan Autonomous Region” and areas incorporated into the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu. China has purposely been trying to “divide and conquer” Tibetans ever since.
What we are seeing now, though, is a beautiful, inspiring, powerful sense of unity and togetherness among Tibetans across the Tibetan plateau (and even those studying in Beijing!). As a Tibetan, it is enough to bring tears to my eyes.
So to my people in Tibet (forget you, China), I say: Tibetans are united, and Tibet will be free.
Tibet protests “foretell doom for the Chinese empire”
Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post has a brilliant article in Slate. It is a must-read that explains how what’s happening in Tibet could lead to doom for the modern Chinese empire:
LIVE FROM LHASA: Shaky cell-phone videos from Tibet foretell doom for the Chinese empire
By Anne Applebaum
Cell-phone photographs and videos from Tibet, blurry and amateur, are circulating on the Internet. Some show clouds of tear gas; others burning buildings and shops; still others purple-robed monks, riot police, and confusion. Watching them, it is impossible not to remember the cell-phone videos and photographs sent out from burning Rangoon only six months ago. Last year Burma, this year Tibet. Next year, will YouTube feature shops burning in Xinjiang, home of China’s Uighur minority? Or riot police rounding up refugees along the Chinese-North Korean border?
That covert cell phones have become the most important means of transmitting news from certain parts of East Asia is no accident. Lhasa, Rangoon, Xinjiang, and North Korea: All of these places are, directly or indirectly, dominated by the same media-shy, publicity-sensitive Chinese regime. Though we don’t usually think of it this way, China is, in fact, a vast, anachronistic, territorial empire, within which one dominant ethnic group, the Han Chinese, rules over a host of reluctant “captive nations.” To keep the peace, the Chinese use methods not so different from those once used by Austro-Hungary or czarist Russia: political manipulation, secret police repression, and military force.
But, then, modern China bears many surprising resemblances to the empires of the past in other ways, too. Like its Soviet imperial predecessor, for example, China encompasses both an “inner” empire, of which Tibet and Xinjiang are the most prominent components, and an “outer” empire, consisting most notably of its Burmese and North Korean clients. Like its French and British predecessors, the Chinese empire must wrestle constantly with nations whose languages, religions, and customs differ sharply from its own and whose behavior is, therefore, unpredictable. And like all its predecessors, the Chinese imperial class cares deeply about the pacification of the imperial periphery, more so than one might think.
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