Tibet is Burning
What Everyone Must Know. . . Right Now.
Friends and family back
home, even with our first world education, I know of so many who could not
point to Tibet on a map or find the location of Mt. Everest. I have friends who
couldn't remember if Tibet was in Asia or not. I am going to guess the most
Westerners know about Tibet goes no further than Brad Pitt and the Seven Years
in Tibet movie. After the recent immolations and protests, however, Tibet is being shown more and more on international news these days. I hope this coverage keeps growing to become as mainstream as the coverage going on in Syria and the Arab Spring in the Middle East.
Here is
where Tibet is located, and here is a summary of what is going on in
Tibet now, to best of my knowledge and research. After traveling here
about a year ago, the country and its people have never left my head or my heart.
(*When I use the word 'China' throughout this post, I am referring only to the Chinese Communist Party; 'China' as an actor of an oppressive regime, not individual Chinese people or other ethnic groups.)
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A Tibetan artists illustration of Tibet
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Tibet is the roof of the
world. It is a vast Himalayan country about one third the size of mainland
America. For hundreds of years it remained both an independent and isolated
country, without much contact from neighboring countries or trade
from the outside world. Foreigners were not allowed inside the
country or into the capital city of Lhasa until the late 1950's. That is, until
China forced their way in.
Tibet was
a theocratic system; centered around Tibetan Buddhism, with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader and ruler of
Tibet, at the head of all political and religious affairs.
The Chinese invaded during the 1950's, killing over 1 million Tibetans,
destroying more than 6,000 monasteries, that's about 98.8% of all the
monasteries that were once standing, and placed thousands more prisons and
labor camps. Tibetans across the country were subject to verbal condemnations
and beatings called thamzing used to display the Communist Party's Power and instill a climate of fear. (See website, The Tibet Oral
History Project, a collection of Elders recounting their experiences in Tibet.)
This is absolutely comparable to what the American government did to the Native Americans in the 19th century.
For decades, military
troops have patroled all major cities, monasteries, and other points of
interest. There are at least "500,000 Chinese troops in the country, and
up to one quarter of China's nuclear missile arsenal are stored inside the
country." (Article from the Central
Tibetan Administration.)
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| Military guard on roof top in Lhasa. Photo is my own. |
Tibetans live without
freedom of speech, freedom to practice their religion, freedom of assembly or hold protests, and
face major restrictions when communicating with the outside
world, especially through phone calls and internet usage.
Showing a Tibetan flag
will bring a 7 year prison sentence, possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama
lands an even longer one. Uttering the phrase "Free Tibet" or
"Long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama" labels the speaker as trying
to "split the motherland," or a "separatist" and a prison
sentence. Can you imagine? Here we are, posting facebook and twitter statuses
with political comics and cracking jokes on the street about the US government's failure
with big banks and Wall Street. Is there any fear about comments such as these
will land you in jail? There is not; post and joke at will. In a Communist-controlled police state, this is a very different story.
Why Chinese Occupation
in Tibet?
(The following paragraph is all my own opinion)
The Chinese Communist
Party (CCP), took Tibet for their own economic advancement. A few points to
toss around: One, the CCP wants control in Tibet because of
Tibet's strategic geographical location. Look at it, it is at the
exact center of Asia, (When I think of Asia, I exclude Russia, a subcontinent
in itself) bordering the oil-rich Middle eastern counties to the west, it
borders India, the world's second most populous country to the south, and is
home to the beginnings of nearly all the major rivers that flow through China,
including the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers. Two, Tibet is rich with many natural
resources including gold, copper, and most crucial, uranium. Uranium is the key
ingredient in explosives used in missiles and other weaponry, a billion
dollar trade for China. China, much to the dismay of the US, sells these
weapons to Pakistan, Libya and other Middle Eastern countries. There are
3,000 mine beds and mineral deposits in Tibet. (See Tibet
Post Article: China steals natural resources from Tibet).
Occupying the country, China can steal and pillage what they want to, when they
want to. Number three, Tibet is a buffer zone between China and India.
Relations between China and India have been tense for centuries and that isn't
likely to change any time soon. Border disputes between the two
countries continue to this day. Final point: the Chinese regime is a
communist one, and it thinks and acts the same way 1940's Nazi Germany and
1960's Soviet Union thinks: over take nations and expand the empire. Tibet is
one of these countries. Guess what, there are two others: East Turkistan and
Inner Mongolia. But that is another blog post for another day.
Why Tibet is 'Burning'
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| A poster of the Tibetans who have self-immolated since 2009. There have been two others since Febuary 9th, not shown on the poster. Photo courtesy of Gurbum Tibet Gyalo. |
A monk from Kirti Monastery named Tapey first set himself on fire on Febuary of 2009. Three years later, a wave of them have occurred when another monk from Kirti named Phuntsog immolated in March of 2011. Twenty other immolations have occured since then until the posting of this blog story.
16 of them were monks, 2 were nuns
(PaldenChoetso and Tenzin Wangmo)
and the other 3 most recent immolations were herders.
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| Map showing the locations of the immolations since 2009. Map from International Campaign for Tibet. |
Many of the
monks were members or former members of a Monastery located in Ngaba, called
Kirti Monastery in the prefecture of Sichuan, the eastern part of
Tibet. The monastery has suffered an immense crackdown since
the immolations, blockading all monks inside the monastery,
cut off all contact from the outside world and subjected them to what China
calls "Patriotic Re-Education." Or, forced denouncement of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and indoctrination on the Chinese Communist System.
Following the most recent immolations that happened on February 3rd, the town
of Serthar, Kardze, Draggo, and surrounding areas became blocked
from virtually all communications, phones lines
shut off, no internet connection, faxes, or other media. A CNN crew attempting to cover these happening were detained and questioned. So was the BBC a week after that. Keep trying, CNN and BBC, I applaud you! It speaks volumes when mainstream international new castors such as them want to cover the events in Tibet. The reporters have been followed, questioned, and even detained. The fact that China is trying to keep these newscasters from covering the events is only adding fuel to the fire. I believe that newscasters will only become more interested in covering the events in Tibet because the CCP is trying so hard to silence them.
Tibet under a state of Martial Law
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| Chinese
troops marching in Sertha after a series of immolations in the region. Photo from Radio Free Asia, taken around February 4th. |
The capital city of
Lhasa, always with high military presence which I saw when I there, has been
increased tenfold, with military personnel deployed all over city, "on
every corner". According to Radio Free Asia
(RFA), one Tibetan house hold reported that it had been searched by
armed military personnel for no apparent reason. I quote from RFA-Tibet; "Security
forces demanded to know the names and whereabouts of all their family members.
They made it clear that they knew that the family had relatives living abroad
and that they knew that the family made calls to these relatives." To me,
this an intimidation technique used by the CCP to enforce an
atmosphere of fear and terror to any Tibetan on speaking out against what is
really going on there. Tibetans talking to anyone outside the
country, especially those with family in neighboring countries,
or those talking to foreigners must be extremely careful. I believe that
China instills this fear to keep the truth from getting out. To keep the truth
from undermining China's propaganda of state controlled newspapers and new
castings. Well there is proof right here, China: We still hear the truth
anyway.
While I was in Tibet. . .
What I saw over my 9 days in
Tibet in September of 2010, was what China
wanted me to see: the illusion that there is religious freedom, that
monks and nuns are free to practice, that Tibetan architecture lives
on with 'posh' new hotels designed in a Tibetan style. Barkhor Street, Lhasa's
famous street bazaar that lines the outside of Jokhang Temple, featured many
Tibetans buying and selling goods. The Monasteries still have Monks
still in them; Tibetan pilgrims are inside temples praying and making
offerings. One can see Tibetan devotional practice everywhere, and to an
outsider, that can look like Tibetan Buddhism is thriving. It is far from
the truth. Tourists become victims of the "largest and best-funded propaganda machines the world has ever seen
(International Campaign for Tibet document)."
Those posh hotels are all
Chinese owned, those trinkets and religious items I browsed through on Barkhor
were mostly Chinese owned. Many of the goods are made in India anyway. How is a
tourist supposed to pick out the Chinese owned shops
and restaurants from Tibetan owned places? I had a difficult time
trying to pick out the Tibetan-owned shops and buying only from them.
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| His Holiness the Dalai Lama giving a talk on Religious Tolerance in Chicago in July of 2011. Photo from Reuters. |
Tour guides are both Chinese
and Tibetan. They are trained to handle questions that foreign tourists have
about anything that is considered 'sensitive' in Tibet.
What
is sensitive? Anything that has to do with his Holiness the Dalai Lama,
the Pachen Lama, the true history of how Tibet became a nation, prisons, labor
camps, self-immolations, the list keeps going. Most foreigners, me
included, have a very difficult time figuring out what would be
considered sensitive and what is not. When answering questions, tour
guides must say what the authorities have forced them to say,
whether they agree with it or not. See an excellent document of what
travelers to Tibet should know before they go: A Political
Guide to Traveling in Tibet. (From International Campaign for
Tibet.) I quote from this document: "Tibetans live in a climate of fear.
Sophisticated and comprehensive security policies ensure control over
every aspect of their everyday lives. Even with the best of intentions,
tourists can sometimes put Tibetans into situations of danger and
vulnerability." Foreign tourists, even those with the best of
considerations, may put Tibetans at great risk and not even know it. It takes
only a little bit of research online to find the truth before and after
travels.
News Years Celebrations and
Losar
Over the coming of the Chinese
New Year, the CCP made it a requirement for Tibetans to observe the Chinese
holiday; being told that businesses had to be closed among other rules. Tibetans celebrate their
own New Year called Losar in accordance with the Tibetan calender. The holiday
tends to be celebrated over three days, with families gathering together and
praying at temples, making offerings and prostrating, or bowing. Drinking
chang, Tibetan beer made from roasted barley and eating gu-thuk, a think soup
with balls of dough are consumed. Hey, like turkey and stuffing are consumed
for American Thanksgiving.
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| Lobsang Sangay, Photo from BBC |
Tibetans observe another custom
that goes along with holidays, and this is the custom of not celebrating a
holiday that will occur around the time of a recently deceased loved one. Tibet
this year alone has lost 21 loved ones, so Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet
are choosing to observe Losar in a different way. Instead, as advised by Lobsang Sangay, the
newly elected Prime Minister by the Tibetan Government in Exile, Tibetans
are encouraged to still go to temples and pray, light incense, and
make offerings, but not celebrate. What did the CCP do in reaction to this?
Bribe Tibetans with cash to celebrate Losar. (See
article; Tibetans bribed to celebrate Losar, from Phayul.com.)
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| Demonstration in Washington DC, Union Square on February 8th. Demonstrators are both Tibetans and Americans |
Our very own former Presidential hopeful John McCain, spoke in Munich at
an audience of top defense and diplomacy officials from around the
world. China's Vice Foreign Minister, Zhang was present, and McCain said to him: "It is a matter of concern when Tibetans are burning
themselves to death because of the continued repression of the Tibetan people
in your country." (see: McCain
Canes China on Tibet Immolations) "I have said on
many occasion and I will say again, the Arab Spring is coming to China as well." Coming from a
former prisoner of war in Vietnam, I feel confient in his judgements.
When nations in the Middle East under similar oppressive regimes similar to the regime imposed in Tibet have been able to topple their current dictators and call for justice
in mass protests, the events were widely viewed for months. It seemed as though everyone was tuned into the radical changes going on the Middle East. Tibet needs the same attention. The world deserves to know the truth, not the 'truth' that China wants everyone to believe.
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| Namgyal Dolkar, daughter of late Lha Gyari Namgyal Gyatso, a descendant
of Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo, speaks at a candle light vigil held in Dharamshala in solidarity with the victims of the recent killings in Tibet. Photo from Phayul. |
There is a new piece of American legislation being decided on out there, its called Resolution 356. Introduced by the California Senator, Dianna Feinstein, it has gained support from the likes of John McCain, Richard Liebermann and Illinois' own Richard Durbin. The resolution calls on China to suspend the control on religious freedom, to allow unrestricted access for media sources, foreign diplomats, and international organizations inside the country, and the opening of a US Embassy inside Lhasa. Americans reading this now, please click here and send a request to your congressmen and women now.
Let this resolution be passed.
