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Agam's Gecko
Friday, April 04, 2008
 
NEW VIOLENCE IN KARDZE
A

nother example of how the "ideological work" now being pushed on Tibetans is creating deeper problems, rather than solving them. The Free Tibet Campaign received the report (and Xinhua partially covered the incident) of paramilitary police opening fire on a demonstration originating from Tonkhor monastery in Kardze.
Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet Campaign, said the incident originated at the Tonkhor monastery in Garze with government attempts to enforce a new "patriotic education campaign" — a program of ideological indoctrination blamed for stirring deep resentment among monks. The campaign demands that monks denounce the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism who fled to India amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Whitticase said the chief monk, Lobsang Jamyang, refused to allow a government team to enter on Wednesday, but they returned Thursday with a force of about 3,000 paramilitary troops. The two monks, Geshi Sonam Tenzing and Tsultrim Phuntsog, were detained after photos of the Dalai Lama were found among their belongings.

Soon afterward, the monastery's 370 monks marched on local government headquarters to demand their release, joined by about 400 lay people, Whitticase said. The group left after being told the two monks would be freed at 8 p.m., but returned after officials reneged. Along the way, they were confronted by troops at a road block, who opened fire on the crowd, Whitticase said.

Whitticase provided the names of six of the eight people reportedly killed, who included at least three women and one monk. He said information on the incident had been relayed by a monk at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in southern India, who received it from anonymous contacts in Garze.

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- posted by Agam @ 11:27 PM 3 comments

3 Comments:

April 4 is a day many Americans remember as the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago.

Who would even begin to believe that outrageous PRC story that the Dalai Lama instigated the violence that occurred yesterday or on the 14th of March? Going back to 1987, the Beijing guys ought to be made to understand that when there is an outbreak of lay violence, it's because laypeople hear about monks getting arrested or bullied by the police and tell their friends, who take to the streets. Same story here.

Since the PRC machine seems to like these kinds of comparisons, I'd say what they are claiming is a lot like blaming Martin Luther King for the actions of Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, the Black Panthers and the Watts ghetto rioters, using what was done by those others in an attempt to invalidate the entire civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King, with his insistence on non-violence.

I remember one Chinese commenting to one of those zillion blogs I've read in recent weeks that "Demonstrations in China *always* turn violent." Perhaps it's the thought of what awaits them in prison that makes them say to themselves, what the hell, why not do maximum damage? As one Tibetan wrote, "Tibetans are not all Buddhas. They are human beings, capable of feeling frustration."

The Olympics won't be saved this way, by accusing His Holiness of things he could never be made to do even if his life depended on it. But the idea that they could invite the Dalai Lama to attend the games? That's interesting and innovative thinking, and therefore something worth pursuing, I think. The Beijing guys aren't brave enough to try a thing like that. They should be.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 06 April, 2008 00:08  

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Dava,

There have been reports that a major factor in setting off that unrestrained violence on the 14th, was the belief of Lhasans (truth or rumour? if rumour, started by whom?) that monks had not only been abused while taken into custody since the 10th, but that some had already been killed.

The Chinese leaders need only cast their minds back a few months, to see what devout Buddhists (in Burma) felt about the state abusing the sangha. An abuse incident occurred during a small monks' protest upcountry, an apology was requested and ignored, the deadline passed and the world saw the rest.

I'll never forget the scenes of people tearing open their shirts, shouting at the soldiers to shoot them.

I liked the way you put it here: Dalai Lama couldn't be made to do what the Chinese accuse him of, even if his life depended on it. Somebody in the leadership must understand that.

I may be daydreaming that there are serious divisions behind the closed doors.

By Blogger Agam, at 06 April, 2008 10:32  

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Serious divisions? I'd say so. At the moment the hardliners are gaining thanks to their promotion of populist anger against the rest of the world. Oh yeah, there's some real anger. But, oh yeah, it's planned and promoted. And they are *very* busy making *our* opposition to this or that aspect of China's governance look like *our* xenophobia! Like Falun Gong organ harvesting. If you think it's true it's because you have anti-Chinese prejudice. It sells to a home crowd ready to believe all the world is against them. All totally planned stupidity. All totally planned. Just like the olympics. Planned games. Game plans. Tibet isn't really a big part of it. Just comes in handy. I fear my effort to make sense of it makes me semi-unintelligible. Sorry.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 07 April, 2008 02:23  

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