COME HOME (VIDEO)

I

mages — From the book "Our Tibet" © 2008 Flying Mystics Press, and from the Australia Tibet Council's "50 Years of Hope and Courage" photo Exhibition 2009.

Words — "Come Home" by Woeser, written on March 10, 2000. Translated by A. E. Clark in "Tibet's True Heart — Selected Poems" published by Ragged Banner Press.

Sound — "Om Mani Padme Hung" from Tibetan Wind. © 2004

Compiled by Rob Perry.

Labels: Tibet

- posted by Agam @ 11:13 PM 2 comments

 
CLASHES, DETENTIONS, RELIGIOUS PROHIBITIONS CONTINUE IN TIBET

Chinese security guards watch Tibetan pilgrims on the Barkhor, near Jokhang Temple. Photo: AP / Greg Baker

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hinese authorities imposed harsh restrictions on religious activities ahead of the Tibetan Saka Dawa observances which fell on the 15th day of the fourth Tibetan month, or June 7. The occasion marks the birth, enlightenment, and passing of Lord Buddha (a very important holy day for all Buddhists — in Thailand it is Wisakha Bucha Day, usually in May).

Sources said the concerned government offices in Lhasa had convened meetings of staff members and people under their jurisdictions and subsequently issued strict orders particularly to students and government officials not to visit temples during the festival.

The normal life of people has been affected as the government have sent reinforcement of security forces and deployed a large number of intelligence officials across the city.

The stepped up security featured increased scrutiny of foreign arrivals and continuing investigations of Tibetan families with members outside the country, who are asked to provide their details and contact information to the authorities.

On the holy day itself, more than 200 Tibetans gathered at around 11:00 am in Lhasa’s Tromsikhang Market. They collected donations and proceeded to the Jokhang Temple to offer butter lamps and perform rituals. These observances were reportedly led mainly by Lhasa merchants from the Kham region. It was the same day that Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe was due to confer his city's "Citizen of Honor" award to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The crowd then moved through the open Barkhor street and assembled at the compound in front of the Potala Palace, the official residence of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. Turning their back to a stone pillar placed by Chinese government and facing the Potala Palace the Tibetans wore ceremonial scarves around themselves and again shouted "Lha Gyalo" ["May the Deities Prevail" -ed.] in unison, sources explained.

A large number of Chinese security forces later stopped the group as they headed towards the monastery of Nechung (Tibet's State Oracle) and forced them to retreat.

At around 4 pm a larger group gathered again at Tromsikhang Market. The police seemed alarmed with so many people gathering and demanded an explanation from the faithful pilgrims. The Tibetans replied that they were exercising their "freedom of religious belief." A number of Tibetans were arrested and all but six were later released. The Tibetans demanded release of the remaining six, and the Chinese authorities promised the angry crowd they would be released after their inquiries were complete. But the six — Pedo, Phurba, Dolkyab(Dokyab), Dorjee Tsering and Pema Demay from Kham Derge and Thuppa from Kham Nangchen — were not released. This was not a protest (despite the previous headline) but was in fact a religious observance.

"It was not a protest but a sangsol," or a special offering to Buddhist deities, one Tibetan man, a resident of Lhasa, said in an interview. The man said he had been detained for three days, from June 7-10.

"Many of us were detained, and it is not easy to give details on the phone," he said.

It is unclear exactly how many were originally arrested, or later released like the man quoted above. But some Chinese officials are not shy about denying confirmed facts.

Municipal officials declined to comment.

But an official who answered the phone at the Lhasa Public Security Bureau said, "No one was detained. It was a religious event."

We continue to receive new details of March 14, 2008 — the night violence broke out in Lhasa following 5 days of violent suppression against peaceful processions of monks and nuns. They were beaten and they were arrested for five days straight, until some of the anti-government protesters themselves became violent and set fires in the city. After five days of seeing their monks and nuns dragged away from sit-down protests and trucked off to the detention cells, many people believed that some of these detainees had already been killed in custody.

Sometime after the riot broke out, the official crackdown came. The very few western witnesses present were all astounded at how long the anti-riot response took to show up. PAP photo/video-graphers were out capturing the scenes for later productions (which later played on state TV with high repetition for months). Having a platoon of armoured riot police marching into these scenes could certainly have spoiled the movie. The Chinese tactic was to take loads of pictures and video first, then send in the anti-riot violence later. When it came, it came with a vengeance.

That night Phuntsok, a 21 year old driver, was at home with his wife and one year old child in eastern Lhasa. He wasn't protesting or chanting in the streets, much less setting fires. His vehicle for livelihood was his "three-wheeler," which I think would mean one of the canopied motorcycle-rickshaws used in Lhasa for passengers and goods. In other words Phuntsok was a poor man providing for his family. Chinese security forces arrested Phuntsok and took him away from his home that night.

"After the arrest, the PAPs beat him fiercely and then locked him — along with other innocent Tibetan detainees — in the storeroom of the Lhasa railway station. He was released after having detained there for 20 days."

On returning home, the source further said, he was given the bests of medical treatment but his condition did not improve much. "At the moment, his physical condition is very poor; he has to rely on walking sticks and cannot stand straight due to back injury that he sustained from severe beatings at the hands of the PAPs."

The Tibetan farmers' boycott campaign, prevalent mainly in Kardze Prefecture, has reportedly taken root in Jomda County, Chamdo. At the end of May, boycott supporters were arrested, beaten and shot by security forces, and arrests were made at Vara and Jobhu Monasteries. All but three of those arrested at the monasteries were later released, but Sonam Palmo (alias Sopal), Lobsang Palden and Yeshe Dorjee are being held as suspected boycott leaders.

Tsering was hit by a bullet and Paga and Lhadher were taken away after being seriously beaten and injured by police with a baton. Samga was also beaten with the barrel of a gun. All these cases took place in Jomda County (Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region TAR) in the end of May.

It was also reported that Gyune Monastery was surrounded by armed security forces, and that eight residing retreat lamas were beaten during a night raid. Retreat lamas at Palchen Monastery were also beaten, the report said.

In Markham County, Chamdo, three Tibetans were sentenced for destroying equipment used to broadcast Chinese slurs and abuse against the Dalai Lama. The young men were arrested in October 2008 and sentenced on June 1. Ngawang Tenzin, 19, was sentenced to five years, Tenzin Rinchen, 17, was sentenced to two years, and Tenzin Norbu, 21, was sentenced to five years in prison.

A local source in Jomda County told Radio Free Asia that on June 13 authorities went to six Jomda monasteries to enforce the "patriotism re-education campaign". Three monks and an attendant from Nyedo Monastery were detained. Hundreds of Tibetans from nine nearby villages gathered at the detention centre demanding their release, and several hundred security officers dispersed them with tear gas and beatings.

"One Tibetan named Kalsang who was in the Chinese army and spoke Mandarin well tried to go toward the security forces and appeal to them to stop using poisonous gas. They beat him up," he said.

The monks were later released. Many monks in Jomda are reported to be leaving their monasteries to avoid the government's indoctrination, which requires them to denounce the Dalai Lama. Monasteries have been told they must accept the indoctrination or be closed down. All non-cooperating monks are threatened with detention.

Protests against a mining company's water diversion project in Meldro Gongkar County (in the eastern portion of Lhasa municipality) have sparked a violent suppression by security forces. The large scale project channels water from the upper reaches of the Gyama Shingchu River to the mining site via pipes laid over agricultural lands (which were seized by the government without compensation to farmers). The mining of the upper Gyama region began in 1990, but the loss of their water was the last straw for local Tibetans. Gyama Shen is the birthplace of the great Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (617-650 AD).

After authorities refused to hear the residents' appeals, clashes broke out between Chinese miners and angry Tibetans on June 20, followed by a police crackdown which left three Tibetans wounded. One seriously injured person was denied admission to a county hospital and was transported to Lhasa. It isn't known whether that person survived. After the incident, representatives from every family in the affected farming villages protested at the local government office.

Water for irrigation has been cut off in Gyama Township by the mine project, and last year toxic mining wastes were dumped into the river causing many livestock and wild animal deaths. The fifteen villages in the valley depend on the river for their water, but since the destruction of its source by the diversion project, the river has dried up as have many of the area's natural springs. Pastures are parched and drinking water is toxic.

The government of the T-"A"-R sent a group of senior officials and security forces to the area on June 21 for a meeting with the residents. After the meeting, at which the locals demanded an end to the mining activity, security forces left the area along with a large number of the mine workers. The demonstration at the township government office continued until the next day, with people seen laying down and preventing passage to the mine site.

A previous mining dispute is reported to have been settled in Markham County, Chamdo. Radio Free Asia reports that the sacred Ser Ngul Lo site has been saved from becoming an open-pit mine, after four months of local protest.

Both sides agreed June 8 that the mine—which had operated in Markham [in Chinese, Mangkang] county, in the Tibet Autonomous Region’s (TAR) Chamdo prefecture—would cease operations, sources said.

"It was agreed in writing that there will be no mining in the area," said a local Tibetan man, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"All the Chinese security forces deployed in the area will be withdrawn. The Tibetans who are blocking the road will also return to their respective areas."

"Chinese authorities will build concrete barriers to block the poisonous residue of earlier mining in the area so that this will not filter down into the drinking water," he added.

There is still no word on the outcome of the strong local resistance in Tawu County, Kardze to the construction of a major hydro-electric project which will displace tens of thousands from their ancestral lands. Protests there have been suppressed with firearms, leaving six women seriously wounded last month.

A reminder of the dangers Tibetans face if they dare to provide information to the outside world was recently provided by the Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights advocacy organisation. Gonpo Tserang, a 32 year old tour expedition guide in the Dechen Tibetan "Autonomous" Prefecture (Ch: Yunnan province), was sentenced to three years imprisonment for "inciting separatism" by sending email and text messages during the unrest last year. At the trial in September 2008, Gonpo Tserang was found to have "used the internet to deliberately fabricate rumours, distort the true situation and incite separatism" in his communications with six named people outside Tibet. An appeal was rejected by a higher court in January.

The Foundation notes that this is the first known case of a Tibetan in Yunnan to be convicted on state security grounds since the latest Tibetan uprising began in March 2008. The content of his messages is never specified in either the original indictment or the appeal rejection (both are translated here). Gonpo Tserang was not represented by counsel. Phayul News adds that he has been well respected in his professional career, having trekked with "foreign celebrities" and participating in high profile mountain rescue efforts. This case demonstrates the extent to which Chinese surveillance is able to monitor Tibetans' communications with the outside world, for which the authorities have zero tolerance.

Satellite dishes confiscated and destroyed by authorities in Labrang, Amdo, May 20, 2009. Photo: Invisible Tibet (Woeser)

The Chinese government's goal is for no inside information getting out, and no outside information getting in. For years the PRC has been jamming broadcasts of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America (which both have Tibetan language services), and hundreds of jamming towers have been built in Tibetan regions according to the Tibetan writer-journalist Woeser. The latest campaign of seizure and destruction of satellite dishes began in April and was focused in Kanlho T-"A"-P (Ch: Gansu province).

A Gannan prefecture document obtained by RFA, citing State Council document #129, describes what it calls "unprecedented efforts to collect satellite dishes" to restrict access to long-distance broadcasts in Gansu province, a site of repeated Tibetan protests against Chinese rule during the past year.

Anyone failing to comply with government directives to remove the dishes would be "dealt with in accordance with law," the memo said.

The destroyed satellite receiving equipment is being replaced with cable which carries only government-produced programming.

Chinese state-media mouthpiece Xinhua made a rare admission early this month, attributing the recent suicide of a Tibetan Buddhist monk to "stress." Sheldrup, a 43 year old monk in Rebkong County (Ch: Qinghai province) had been detained following protests at his monastery on April 17, 2008, and was severely tortured in custody (a detail Xinhua inexplicably missed). He was later released.

Sheldrup's name then appeared on a PSB wanted poster and he left his monastery to go into hiding, during which time his health deteriorated badly. Earlier this year he returned to his monastery, and soon afterwards he hanged himself according to Xinhua, which specified the sources of his "stress" to "illness and deaths in his family." The monk had spent around 10 years studying at Gaden Monastery in India, returning to Tibet in 2006. A rash of suicides by monks and nuns in Tibet has been described in a report submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Religion.

Suicide is a grave sin in Buddhism, and certainly any monks or nuns who choose death by their own hand have been pushed beyond the limits of endurance. Yet another example of the extreme measures taken against them (especially if they have spent time in India as Sheldrup had) was given by a Tibetan woman who recently reached freedom in exile. Tenzin had previously attended a Tibetan school in India for three years, and then became a nun and studied at a monastery in Dharamsala. In 2005 her father became ill, and her family asked her to return to Tibet to see him. Authorities somehow learned that she had been in India, and they made her three-month home visit intolerable. She prepared to escape again, through the border area of Burang. Her group was intercepted by Chinese border police and taken to an army barracks in that region.

Tenzin was taken into a dark room and asked by a soldier whether she was a nun. She replied that she was. She was then beaten with batons and belts until she felt numb and went unconscious. After five days of interrogation and beatings, the group was taken to a detention centre. There, Tenzin was raped by her jailers.

"For many days they locked me up in a solitary confinement cell which was big enough for only one person. Both my arms and feet were handcuffed to a wooden bed. Then one night the light was switched off, and two prison guards came into the cell and told me that I had to take some medicine. I said I was not going to take any medicine. I thought that time that they were going to kill me by giving me that medicine. So I struggled to shake my head while they were forcing to put the medicine to my mouth but they forced me to swallow it down by pouring water into my mouth and blocking my nose by pressing it. [The type of medicine or drug given to Tenzin is not known.] After that, two guards went out and chatting with each other outside the cell. Then moments later they came in, and I sensed something bad was going to happen, I screamed as loud as I could in the hope that someone would come to stop them. But all was in vain, one of the guards covered my head with his coat and was trying to stop me from screaming while the other raped me. Later I fell unconscious. I dont know if that was because of the medicine they gave me or out of fear. I could not feel anything, especially the lower part of my body."

Tenzin was sent to a police department in Ngari (western T-"A"-R) and then on to a "re-education through labour" camp for a three year term of punishment. She was initially kept in solitary confinement. Continuing torture, poor living conditions and lack of sufficient food cause her health to deteriorate, and she was released after about one year because the authorities believed she would soon die. Her family spent nearly all their savings on her medical treatment, and after some months at various hospitals she returned home. Tenzin remained under heavy surveillance and her movements were curtailed. After the outbreak of protests in March 2008, officials visited her home every day pressing her to denounce the Dalai Lama. She re-entered hospital for several months and then resolved to try escaping again. She reached India earlier this year.

Tsundue Gyatso, a Labrang monk, has been arrested for the fourth time. Photo: TCHRD

Two Labrang monks were arrested last month for the fourth time since last year's protests. Tsundue Gyatso, 35, and Sonam Gyatso, 38, were taken during a sudden raid on Labrang Monastery by a large number of PSB officers on May 14, 2009. Both had been arrested and released on three earlier occasions. It is not known where they are being held.

Sonam Gyatso, a Labrang monk, has been arrested for the fourth time. Photo: TCHRD

Ngagchung, a monk from the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serthar County, Kardze was arrested on July 8, 2008 along with two other monks named Taphun and Gudrak. The latter two (who are brothers) were released after interrogation, but after more than one year Ngagchung's fate remains a mystery. His last known location was in the PSB Detention Centre in Chengdu, the Sichuan provincial capital. All requests by his family to see him have been refused.

The fate of Ngagchung, a monk at Larung Gar Buddhist Institute, remains unknown more than one year after his detention. Photo: TCHRD

Ngagchung is a nephew of the late (and highly respected) founder of Larung Gar, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. The Institute had come under repeated and severe government crackdowns beginning in 1999, after authorities decreed the expulsion of most of its resident monks and students. More than 7,000 residents, most of whom had come from China and other Asian countries for study, were forcibly evicted and their homes destroyed in 2001. Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok was himself detained by Chinese authorities, and he passed away in a hospital on January 7, 2004.

The Chinese government conducted another farcical show tour for selected foreign media last week. For the occasion, the large numbers of paramilitary police which patrol the Tibetan capital changed out of their usual military-style uniforms and into fashionably non-threatening black and yellow track suits. The reporters were taken on rushed visits to a primary school, a monastery, and one Tibetan family's home. The marching track suit-clad patrols of crew-cut young men told the journalists that they were "students" — and some even carried school books to prove it — but local residents confirmed that they were the same PAP squads which have become a dominating and constant presence in Lhasa's streets since last spring.

The reporters were taken to the Jokhang Temple on their official tour, and found it nearly deserted. They were permitted only to meet the "chief monk" who gave them the Chinese government's version of the situation. The next day, reporters saw around 100 monks being returned to the Jokhang in buses.

One monk was able to arrange a secret meeting with an Irish radio reporter. He outlined the political indoctrination classes he and his fellow monks are forced to attend, describing them as "painful." They are forced to criticize the Dalai Lama in these classes, he said, and more than half the monks at his monastery had left because "they found the pressure too much."

The landmark report on the Tibetan situation by the Beijing-based academic think-tank Gongmeng (Open Constitution Initiative), which conducted a survey of Tibetan areas last year, has now been translated into English by the International Campaign for Tibet. It is the first Chinese study to find that PRC policy failings are primarily responsible for the high level of discontent in Tibet.

But the Chinese public is as unlikely to see mention of this report as it is to find any coverage of the Iranian freedom movement in any Chinese media.
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Labels: China, Tibet

- posted by Agam @ 10:05 PM 0 comments

 
TIBET'S NATURAL WEALTH COVETED BY NEIGHBOUR; RIVERS OF MONEY CAN'T BUY LOVE

Tsewang Dhondup yesterday showed his wounds to reporters in India. The injuries are the result of Chinese troops opening fire on demonstrators in Kardze County on March 18, 2008. Photo: Abhishek Madhukar / Reuters

T

ibet's natural resources, and China's desire to have them, are becoming the latest flash-point of contention between the Tibetans and the colonial authorities. In early 2008 the government began coercing residents in Tawu County, Kardze Tibetan "Autonomous" Prefecture (Ch: Sichuan province) to sign documents approving of a major new hydro-electric project located between Tawu and Nyagchu counties. The dam will displace tens of thousands from their traditional ancestral lands, and is being strongly opposed by the local people.

At the town of Wara Mato, the Chinese government recently convened a meeting with residents to persuade them to relocate, and erected a stone pillar to drive the point home. An old woman named Lhamo, believed to be over 70 years of age, led the angry residents in refusing to move and declaring that they are the owners of the land. The residents destroyed the pillar. On May 5 a large number of armed police were dispatched into the affected area, where they destroyed a number of family homes.

Last Sunday morning, May 24, local Chinese authorities ordered residents to assemble at Tawu County headquarters for a public announcement. There the Tibetans were again informed of their forced resettlement. The meeting immediately broke up and turned into a major protest against the plan. The residents shouted at the local authorities, declaring that, "This place has been our ancestral dwelling place for countless generations and therefore we don’t want to leave our homes. We are not going to move away to any other places come what may."

Moments later, officers of the Public "Security" Bureau (PSB) and the "People's" Armed Police (PAP) fired tear gas and violently suppressed the protesters, reportedly opening fire upon the unarmed residents and leaving six women seriously wounded, identified as Tsering Lhamo, Rigzin Lhamo, Dolma, Kelsang, Dolkar and Khaying. These wounded, which included a 70 year old woman, were immediately taken away after the shooting and their conditions are not known.

Meanwhile in Markham County, Chamdo T-"A"-P (in the Tibetan "Autonomous" Region) local residents have been struggling to save their sacred mountain, Ser Ngul Lo, from becoming an open-pit gold mine at the hands (and equipment) of a Chinese mining company. The mountain has historically been a site where Tibetans worship and conduct religious rituals, and their resistance to the mine has continued for months. Hundreds of local residents have been blocking the road to the mine site, and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to the area.

"The Tibetan protesters are worried," said one local man, who said he was one of eight organizers of the protest.

"The police, the soldiers, and the miners are threatening to move ahead with the mine...They have said they will force their way through and go to the site."

Another local resident told Radio Free Asia that more than 300 soldiers are involved, while another said that telephone lines and cell-phone networks in the area are blocked.

"We can’t reach any of the protesters. Today another four vehicles with roughly 30 to 40 soldiers in them went to the protest site. But the Tibetans all put religious books on their heads and are vowing to resist even if it means sacrificing their lives," he said.

Neither the mining company, Zhongkai Co., nor the Markham Public "Security" Bureau would comment on the situation. The vice chairman of the T-"A"-R Communist Party, Pema Thinley was sent early last month to negotiate with the local population, but they continued the blockade and he was escorted back to Lhasa. On May 16 around 500 Tibetans blocked a contingent of security forces on the road leading to the mine site, a resident told RFA.

"The Tibetans slept on the road day and night and the Chinese group stayed in a school nearby. They were trying to convince us to stop protesting," he said, adding: "The Tibetans declared that they are ready to die to protect the sacred hill."

A local official from the Markham County Business Bureau later claimed the stand-off was close to a resolution, involving promises of no environmental damage and a "certain amount of compensation." However on May 26, several hundred Tibetan businessmen gathered in Lhasa to complain of the harassment and intimidation of the Markham demonstrators.

A local source in Markham County told RFA that the authorities have told the Tibetans that they have no hope of stopping the mine.

"On May 26, the governor of Markham county and Dorjee Nak Nak, head of the land protection division of Markham county, came to the area and appealed to the Tibetans. They tried to convince the Tibetans that the mining plan could not be stopped," the Markham county resident said.

"The Tibetans booed them and they were forced to leave the area immediately," he said.

Following that meeting, which sounds about as successful as the average patriotism re-education / denounce the Dalai Lama for the Motherland meeting, the PAP began to threaten those maintaining the roadblock, around 65 km from the Markham County seat.

"Police repeatedly threatened to run over those Tibetans lying down and blocking the road to the mining site in Takra village, Tsangshul subdistrict…When the Tibetans would not clear the road and begged them not to exploit their sacred hill, the security forces dared not run them over," he said.

The five recent escapees from Tibet, who recently arrived in India after dodging security forces around Labrang since April last year, had something to add about the mining issue. During their year as fugitives in the Amdo hills, they witnessed the explorations of Chinese search groups looking for prospective mining sites. These groups consist of around 15 people, and are sent into various townships every month to explore for new sites. Further testimony of the five monks, on the crackdown at Labrang and their dangerous year on the run, has been published here.

Two more Tibetan men involved in last year's protests, this time from Kardze, arrived recently to India en route to Dharamsala. Monk Tsering Jigme, 24, and layman Maday Gonpo, 41, escaped separately after participating in protests last March 18 and avoiding capture for over a year. Maday Gonpo was an organizer of the demonstration in Kardze town.

"We began our protest at Tachu Do in the center of Kardze town. After we had crossed two bridges, five police vehicles and two army vehicles arrived and attacked us. There were about 1,000 protesters, including about 15 who were leaders."

"Of these, five were detained, while I and others managed to escape. Two of my friends were wounded by gunfire," Gonpo said.

"There was no way I could go home, so I wandered from place to place, mainly in the hills of Nyagrong and other areas where nomads live. At times, I had nothing to eat for two to three days. I also fell ill with a fever," he said.

The nomads looked after him, giving him food and letting him use their horses to keep away from those hunting him. They even surveyed the situation in the town to determine when it was safe for him to return, but the crackdown there was ongoing and he never returned. Tsering Jigme resided at the Tsi Sung Monastery and also took part in the same protest, but he declined to speak to a reporter.

On May 7, 2008, local police issued a public notice calling for the arrest of the two men, as well as 34 others from Kardze, Drango and Serthar counties.

"A reward of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan was offered for anyone who could catch us," Gonpo said.

"We heard that this was announced on television and that authorities also promised the award would be increased this year," he added.

Four more Tibetans who also participated in the March 18 Kardze County protest have just arrived in India. Tsering Gyurmey, Gonpo, Tsewang Dhundup and Lobsang Thubten held a news conference in New Delhi yesterday. Tsewang Dhondup had gone to the aid of a monk, 20 year old Kunga, who was hit by a bullet on the fateful day (Kunga did not survive) when he himself was shot twice. Lacking medical care his wounds worsened (see top photo), causing him to endure extreme suffering in the year since. Tsewang said he believes around 20 people died that day.

Two other men who participated in the same protest, and who also survived in the hills for more than a year avoiding arrest by the Chinese police, were not as fortunate as these escapees. Tenpa, 30, and his brother Jamdo, 25, were farmers in Zakhog Township, Kardze County before the March 18 protest was crushed with deadly violence. The brothers were arrested early this month in Jyekundo T-"A"-P (Ch: Qinghai province). Their condition and place of detention is not known.

But the type of treatment dished out to those caught by the Chinese authorities for protesting, like Tenpa and Jamdo, can be assumed from past practices. Beatings and other forms of real torture are virtually guaranteed, and if the prisoner happens to get too close to death for the authorities' comfort, he or she is sometimes allowed to die outside of detention. Too many such cases have been documented over the past year, and over the years of occupation. A study of two particular murder cases provides extensive details of two completely innocent people who were detained last year, suffered extreme physical abuse, and died as a result — one in custody and the other outside of custody.

The case of Tendar, a 28 year old Lhasa office worker, came to light in a smuggled video a few months ago (and I note that YouTube is pulling down its versions of the footage released by the exile government). On his way to work on March 14, 2008, Tendar saw a monk being beaten by police. He tried to intervene, asking the police for mercy. He was shot (the wound was said to be not life-threatening) and arrested. The physical mutilation he then suffered in Chinese custody was life-threatening (the video is still available here). Please read the above linked report for the full story. After three weeks in hospital, nothing more could be done for him and he finally died at home.

Paltsal Kyab was a 45 year old man who lived in Ngaba Prefecture, and was arrested following a protest on March 17, 2008. Around 100 people peacefully demonstrated in the main street of Charo town that day, but there was some talk among the youths about burning a building. Paltsal Kyab told them not to take such actions, saying (according to his brother), "We Tibetans must follow His Holiness the Dalai Lama's non-violent path. Our only weapon is our truth. The building belongs to the government, but several Tibetan and Chinese families are living in there." Other witnesses also confirmed that Paltsal Kyab had persuaded the protesters not to become violent.

Despite his actual stand on truth and non-violence, Paltsal Kyab's name was put on the government's wanted list. He talked to friends about going to the police to clear his name, but the stories of ongoing detainee beatings worried him. So he left town to stay with a relative. A few weeks later, his home was raided by police and his 14 year old son was detained and beaten up in the police station. The father heard about the incident and, understandably worried for his wife and five children, returned home and voluntarily surrendered himself (Chinese authorities had promised leniency for those who surrendered) in mid-April.

His family had no idea of his whereabouts or condition until officials told them on May 26 that he was dead. Dead of "natural causes" — which included black and blue from head to toe, covered in blisters and burns. Police attempted to bribe his family to keep quiet, prohibited photographs of the body, and barred them from taking his remains to Kirti Monastery for religious services. He was given a sky burial as police officers watched, the preparation of which revealed further serious damage to his internal organs. Please read the above linked report for the full story.

That is what can lay behind those innocuous words, "The detainee's whereabouts and condition are not known."

Tsultrim Gyatso, a 37 year old monk at Labrang Monastery was sentenced to life in prison on May 21 by the Intermediate People's Court in Kanlho Prefecture (Ch: Gansu province), having been found guilty of "endangering state security." He had participated in a peaceful protest on March 15, 2008 in Sangchu County and left the area to avoid arrest. Public "Security" Bureau officials tracked him down and arrested him on May 22, 2008.

In the same trial, 34 year old Labrang monk Thabkhay Gyatso was sentenced to 15 years for "endangering state security" in the same peaceful protest. Both monks have been denied visits from family members for more than a year (since their arrests), and their families were not informed of the trial.

The abbot of Dhen Choekor Monastery in Chamdo, Tenzin Gyaltsen, sentenced to 15 years in prison. Photo: TCHRD

Six Buddhist monks from the Dhen Choekor Monastery have been sentenced to various prison terms in Chamdo Prefecture, in connection with an explosion which occurred in Jomda County, Chamdo on January 5, 2009. They were convicted of various offenses including taking part in protests, committing political crimes, and refusing to denounce the Dalai Lama. In the one day trial on May 22, abbot Tenzin Gyaltsen, 37, Nyi-chig, 50, ex-treasurer Ngawang Tashi, 51, Tashi Dorjee, 30, received 15 years of "rigorous imprisonment". Chant Master Jamyang Sherab, 42, got 13 years and Tsering Palden, 36, received 12 years. Nothing is known of the evidence presented in court, nor whether they had proper legal representation.

A number of Tibetans have recently been sentenced to death in Chinese courts, and even their whereabouts remain unknown to their families. By Chinese law, capital punishment sentences must be referred to the Supreme Court within six weeks of pronouncement. That period expired on May 21 for four Tibetans facing execution (one is granted a two year reprieve), yet their families still have no idea where they are. Chinese state media contended that these were "open trials" yet the families were not informed of the proceedings and the defendants had no rights to proper legal representation. Two more death sentences were handed down on April 21. By the way, the previous Dalai Lama banned capital punishment in Tibet in 1913, as well as all forms of "cruel and unusual punishments."

Loyak, 25, from Lhasa area, sentenced to death. Photo: Capture from Chinese tv

All this is so very discouraging, but I can finish with a glimmer of hope. A Chinese think tank founded in 2003 by prominent lawyers and professors, Gongmeng (Open Constitution Initiative), conducted some social research in Tibet in the wake of protests last year. The resulting report, written by academic scholars in Beijing, concludes that the uprising was directly caused by failed government policies, and the emergence of a "new aristocracy" of corrupt officials in Tibet with no local support. This new elite, loyal only to and funded by Beijing and the Communist Party, concoct propaganda to reinforce their power and hide their mistakes, relying as much as possible on the "separatism card."

Senior Communist Party figures, such as Feng Lanrui, a former State Council strategist, are part of the think tank's circle of advisors.

It also highlighted the tensions caused by a drive to industrialise the region and move Tibetans from farms into the cities.

Beijing's efforts to buy Tibetans' loyalty with "rivers of money" since 1989 have been spectacularly counter-productive, the report says. Private sector jobs go to Han Chinese who migrate from other provinces hoping to get rich and glorious, as Deng Xiao Ping used to say. A founder of the Communist Party in Tibet, Phun Tshogs Dbang Rjyal, is quoted elaborating on the reasons corrupt officials consistently seize upon outside scapegoats for their failures.

"And they will try hard to apportion responsibility on 'overseas hostile forces' because this is the way to consolidate their interests and status and eventually bring them more power and resources."

This is a rare occasion, to have a credible study by scholars within China looking into the hidden side of ideologically self-serving propaganda, and the destructive effects when corrupt elites rely on it to everyone else's detriment. The Party will ignore it, like the Zhao Zhiyang tapes, but at least the truth is out there.
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Labels: China, Tibet

- posted by Agam @ 8:29 PM 2 comments

 
DEADLY MOLECULES

Following three days of large scale demonstrations outside the Supreme Court, civil rights protesters gathered near the railway station in Beijing on Monday, May 25, 2009, to greet Speaker Pelosi with their high expectations. The banner reads, "Welcome Pelosi. Pay close attention to China's human rights. SOS." Photo: Boxun News

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t seems like I may have to reassess the scientific evidence that those dastardly, yet deceptively tiny carbon dioxide molecules can kill. Just the other day, a gorebal warmening activist tried to convince me with the ultra-scientific approach, saying, "If you don't believe that CO₂ is deadly, just put a plastic bag over your head. You're breathing it!"

But after writing off that experimental proof as something a fourth-grader could rebut (it's not the presence of CO₂ but the absence of oxygen, eh?), today I'm having second thoughts through a completely different observable phenomenon. Carbon dioxide molecules are the enemies of human rights — or perhaps more accurately, the irrational fear of carbon dioxide molecules is killing human rights defenders.

The great one-time critic of China's massive human rights violations, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is in China at the moment. I praised her highly when she led a congressional delegation to Dharamsala during the peak of the Tibet uprising last year, and I put the raw video of it on YouTube. She has supported good pro-Tibet legislation in the US, and eighteen years ago she unfurled a pro-human rights banner in Tienanmen Square. But when gorebal warmening is on the table, human rights are off it, apparently. Which will directly lead to more of these deaths.

Prior to her almost-top-secret departure, Nancy was asked point-blank about the issue. The reporter asks, "Will you make a case for human rights while you're there? Coming up to the 20^th anniversary of Tienanmen Square..." She first shows her annoyance that the Chinese government disclosed the trip, and that the US embassy had confirmed it. The Speaker's travel plans are supposed to be top-secret and highly classified, you see. No one is supposed to mention it — why, it's almost as dangerous as when former President Bush needed to travel unannounced into Baghdad!

Then she dances all around the question without even saying the words "human" or "rights" in a rambling non-answer:



(Sorry for the video player here, C-SPAN now uses streaming flash format. Finicky, but I couldn't find this bit on YouTube, what with everyone focusing on a completely different non-answer about her accusation that the intelligence services regularly lie to her.)

But for those "leaks" from the Chinese and US governments, she could have made it all the way to China in complete secrecy without nagging questions. As President and First Lady Bush did when travelling to China, she made a stopover in Anchorage. The Bushes also gave no interviews, but said "take all the photos you want." Photos of the Speaker were however strictly prohibited, as were any acknowledgements of her presence.

By contrast, everyone denied any knowledge of a Pelosi visit, even when security flanked the center and asked each other if "the speaker" had arrived yet, according to one earwig who was there.

Why all the secrecy? Chinese civil rights proponents knew she was coming, and gathered in Beijing on Monday to welcome her at the railway station from Shanghai.



The peaceful protesters were roughed up by police and non-uniformed thugs, and around a dozen were arrested, including a foreign reporter. Slogans such as "Bring down corrupt officials," "Restore human rights," and "Long live democracy," were shouted.

Also joining in the protest was Ms. Zhao Chunhong, a long-term protester from Hebei Province, who says she has desperately appealed for her rights for over two-years. With the help of another protester, Ms. Li Suzhen, Zhao unfurled a banner that says: "Welcome Pelosi: SOS – please pay attention to China’s human rights" and shouted slogans.

The Chinese police tried to take the banner from Zhao. Zhao, who is eight months pregnant, was dragged to the ground, and her legs were injured and her arms twisted. Several elderly women were knocked to the ground also.

The Chinese police manhandled the protesters and injured many people. Elderly people in their 70’s were pushed to the ground by hired thugs.

According to Mr. Zhou Guangfu from Chongqing, there were more than 2,000 protesters.

Large scale civil rights demonstrations had been going on outside the Supreme Court in Beijing over the previous three days (wai Gateway Pundit, who has more video).

And in a remarkable development, Scott Ott (editor-in-chief of the world-renowned satirical news agency ScrappleFace News Network [News Fairly Unbalanced. We Report. You Decipher.] acquired a top-secret draft of Speaker Pelosi's ultra-secret planned speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. Some notable passages, "leaked" via the Washington Examiner:

"History will judge how the Peoples' Republic of China, and the United States of America confronted the greatest threat the earth has ever seen. I speak of global climate change, of course, and nothing more."

"There is still time to reverse this deadly trend. China, free to bet on a better future, can cut its filthy byproducts by dismantling the obsolete machine, and unleashing the clean energy of her as-yet-untapped resources -- the power of sunlight and the wild sweeping wind of change. I speak of alternative energy, of course, and nothing more."

Didja see that? I bolded it so y'all couldn't miss it. The Speaker can almost bring herself to say it! Now we just need to work on changing that vowel in the middle...

(I repeat: that was satire.)
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Labels: China, Tibet, USA

- posted by Agam @ 5:04 PM 0 comments

 
LABRANG TRUTH-TELLERS ESCAPE TO FREEDOM

(Left to Right) Gedhun Gyatso, Lobsang Gyatso, Kelsang Jinpa, Jamyang Jinpa, Jigme Gyatso Photo: Tibet Post International

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ive Buddhist monks from the Labrang Tashi Kyil Monastery in Tibet's eastern Amdo province (Ch: Gansu) have reached safety in India, after more than a year spent dodging Chinese security forces in their occupied country. The men were on the run from Chinese authorities due to having engaged in free speech activities — a peaceful protest demonstration in Labrang town on March 14, 2008, and an unapproved press briefing at their monastery on April 9, 2008.

Gedhun Gyatso and Kelsang Jinpa, both aged 39, reportedly helped to organise a procession through downtown Labrang (Ch: Xiahe), four days after the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959. In their national capital city Lhasa, many similar processions had been violently suppressed beginning on March 10, with non-violent chanting monks beaten up and detained by Chinese security forces. After five days of this violent response to non-violent demonstrators, a riot broke out in Lhasa late on March 14 in which both Chinese and Tibetans were killed.

Lobsang Gyatso, 24, Jamyang Jinpa, 24, and Jigme Gyatso, 23, participated in an appeal for the world's help during a Chinese stage-managed "international media tour" which visited their monastery on April 9, 2008. Several dozen of Labrang's monks suddenly appeared before the startled journalists and camera crews, bearing their banned Tibetan national flag and banners reading such things as, "We do not have freedom of speech". The unapproved press briefing was extremely embarrassing to the Chinese colonial authorities, who had hoped to prove that all was perfectly well in Tibet by having a compliant foreign press listen to scripted recitations of the PRC talking points. These three men were among the courageous ones who foiled that plan.

Let's have a little reminder of what that looked like. Remember, these men knew they were risking everything when they did this — potentially including their lives. That is the emotion one can hear in the voices. Chinese officials and security are watching it all take place, unable to intervene because the cameras are rolling. From the testimony of Lama Jigme (see previous article) we know that severe retribution was dealt to some of these men after the cameras were gone.



This escape was first reported by Radio Free Asia, which interviewed them on arrival in New Delhi. Those who had participated in these two events learned that they were targets for arrest, and an unknown number took to the mountains around Labrang and tried to avoid capture in small groups.

"We lived like animals, moving from place to place. But this was better than prison," [Gedhun] Gyatso, one of the protest organizers, said in an interview.

Gedhun, Kelsang and another companion were surrounded by Chinese police in the mountains after two months of hiding. The two of them escaped but the other companion was captured and remains in prison.

Buddhist monks prepare banners and national flags as they ready for a procession through Labrang town, March 14, 2008. Photo: Mark Ralston / AFP

Jamyang Jinpa told RFA that they had learned of the foreign reporters' visit to Labrang via the RFA's Amdo language broadcast. They didn't know the date of the planned visit, but they prepared themselves for the "good opportunity" to reach out to the world.

"We called for freedom for Tibet and for the release of Tibetan political prisoners, including the Panchen Lama," [Jamyang] Jinpa said.

Jamyang added that a lama had advised them to escape after Chinese troops surrounded the monastery when the journalists were gone. They dressed themselves in laymen's clothing and headed for the hills.

The monks reached Dharamsala on Sunday, to a heroes' welcome as they stepped off the early morning bus from Delhi. A press conference was held on Monday — a real press conference this time, without fear of Communist Party reprisal. Phayul reports:

"We couldn’t remain silent when peaceful Tibetan protests in Lhasa and other places were being brutally crushed down, and our fellow Tibetans were being killed for holding peaceful demonstrations," [Gedhun] Gyatso added.

Jamyang Jinpa directly addressed the Chinese government's claim that Tibetans are happy and content under their rule, and that the protests which swept Tibetan regions last year (and continue in smaller scale) were the work of foreign-based "splittist instigators".

"What has been happening in Tibet from last year is a spontaneous outcome of deep rooted resentment Tibetan people have had against the Chinese government. No one was there to tell us to protest. Situation alone compelled us to come out on the street," Jinpa said.

The men say their newfound freedom has not given them a sense of relief. They did what they did on behalf of their people, and their people remain under the Communist Party's boot.

"Thinking of Tibet makes us feel worried. Our greatest concern is for those who are still suffering in Tibet. Many Tibetans are undergoing torture in Chinese custody," Gyatso said.

The Tibet Post also covered the no fear press conference (although it seems to get both incident dates incorrect), and offers additional statements by the new arrivals. Jamyang Jinpa described the Chinese policy in his country this way:

"Population transfer has made us a minority in our own country, we have been colonized by the Chinese, and Tibetans are forced to acknowledge a fake Panchen Lama. [T]here is no religious freedom in Tibet, we are forced to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama who is at the core of our heart, from who we seek refuge and salvation."

The monks' procession through Labrang town, March 14, 2008. Photo: Mark Ralston / AFP

The press conference was also reported on the Tibetan exile government's website, which curiously refers to the men as "youths" rather than monks. The two older men participated in the monks' procession through Labrang town (39 is a bit old for a "youth") while the three younger men were appealing to journalists at the monastery (the monks you see in the video above — Jigme Gyatso can be recognised at the end of the clip).

The coverage of this great escape has so far been seen on ... the Tibetan exile media only. Up to posting time, this has not been reported on any mainstream international news service, many of whom were present when these monks and others risked everything simply to talk to them last year. This is also very curious, since there are plenty of extra international journalists in India now for the election, and most of those are surely in New Delhi (where these notable escapees first arrived five days ago).

The farming boycott in eastern Tibet is continuing through the last part of the planting season, according to Geshe Monlam Tharchin, a member of the Tibetan parliament in exile. In a report gathered from local sources in the Derge region of Kardze Prefecture, Chinese are reportedly taking land from Tibetans who refuse to cultivate in some areas, and buying up Tibetan farms in other areas for use as a military base, in an increased military presence in the region.

It's now too late in the season for planting wheat, but authorities continue to pressure Tibetans to plant potatoes, peas, and similar crops. Local authorities reportedly issued announcements that, "If you will not to plant the farms, our military will use those farms for our purpose." Many people, mainly men, are escaping their towns and villages on the pretext of gathering medicinal plants. Pressures applied to the population through officially-organized public meetings are meeting resistance, and when asked why they won't plant their farms, the responses are along the lines of, "We Tibetans in the areas are united in our efforts to show our strong solidarity to our brothers and sisters those who lost their lives and those who have faced and are facing brutality, suffering and genocide under the Chinese rule."

A woman works in her family's vineyard in Turfan, May 9, 1997. Photo: AFP

In the former East Turkestan (Ch: Xinjiang) similar policies apply to those who do cultivate their land, but in those cases the beneficiaries will be Chinese businessmen. This is a fine glimpse into China's policies in her colonial holdings, where contracts and leases mean little when a governmental authority happens to run short of cash.

In 1983 the government leased wasteland in northern Xinjiang Uyghur "Autonomous" Region to local peasants, on the condition that they grow fruit orchards. By now the orchards are well established and productive, and the government intends to break the 50 year lease, expropriate the land paying a fraction of its value, and sell it to Chinese businessmen.

Township government chief Abdusamet said the orchards would be better managed if they were bought back.

"The farmers are unable to manage their orchards well," he said. "That is why the township government will take it back — we will manage it better."

"We will auction the orchards to Chinese businessmen from the rest of China," Abdusamet said.

"The Uyghur farmers are unable to benefit from these orchards, and our township government needs income," he said.

So the 25 years of work which created the orchards and made them profitable, is translated as, "unable to manage their orchards well," and the government will "manage it better." (This sounds familiar.) It will do that by tearing up the contracts, buying the land at 20% of its value, and selling it to Chinese businesses. The real reason is almost an afterthought — local government needs the money.

A court in Dzoge County, Ngaba T-"A"-P (Ch: Sichuan province) sentenced three Tibetans to prison on unknown charges, according to a report received by Voice of Tibet radio. Jampel, 29, and Lama, 23, both of the Chashang Taringtsang family were sentenced to four years, while Namkho, 27, of Chashang Kyajigtsang family got three years. The source said that arbitrary charges, arbitrary sentences and no choice in legal representation are the common standards of justice in Ngaba.

Former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel has called for basic standards to be upheld in the election for members of the UN Human Rights Council. Terming the election process a "farce" — and he should know farce as well as he knows totalitarianism, as the playwright himself composed a number of farces — he called for adherence to the Council's founding resolution to "uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights" during member selection.

Yesterday, China received 167 votes from the 191 member states present in the General Assembly. It wasn't much of a contest, with 20 candidates for 18 open seats. China hailed its own electoral success, citing its "remarkable achievements in the field of human rights." If that's the "highest standard" the UN can come up with, we're all in trouble.
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Labels: China, Tibet

- posted by Agam @ 8:29 PM 0 comments

 
LAMA JIGME RELEASED; NEW STUDENT PROTEST PHOTOS ESCAPE

New photos surface of a protest in Labrang led by middle school students, April 24, 2009. Photo: Kunleng (VOA Tibetan service)

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Tibetan lama who had recorded a video testimony last year after being detained and physically abused by Chinese security forces has been released from his second stint of incarceration in the past year. Meanwhile a monk in Ngaba Prefecture, who may have admitted to sending information to the outside world about Tabey's attempted self-immolation in February, remains missing and is feared dead. Some information has escaped the plateau through China's steel curtain, in the form of accounts and photos of the students' march in Labrang last month.

Lama Jigme Guri was seized off the street on March 22, 2008 as he returned to Labrang Monastery from the town market. He was held for several months during which time he was severely tortured, and nearly died of his injuries. At that point he was released to his family, as some other Tibetans have been after suffering abuse which nearly killed them. The expectation seems to be that they will die in their family's custody, and the Chinese will thus not be blamed for killing them. Jigme survived after spending three weeks in hospital, and later returned to his monastery.

Lama Jigme Guri of Labrang Tashi Kyil Monastery, Sangchu County, Kanlho T-"A"-P, was released this week by the Chinese authorities after six months detention without trial. Photo: Woeser

Sometime in August Lama Jigme recorded a video testimony of his ordeal (faithful readers will recall that the Tibetan name "Jigme" translates as "Fearless"). The video was acquired by VOA's Tibetan language program Kunleng, and broadcast last September 3. Jigme went into hiding, living in the mountains and visiting safe houses until the approaching winter made that impossible. He returned again to Labrang around the beginning of November (after police had assured his family that he was safe from arrest), and on November 4 around 70 officers of the People's Armed Police and Public Security Bureau seized him from his monk's quarters and took him to an unknown location.

The 42 year old monk, who had been ordained at Labrang at the age of 13, mastered religious thangka painting and butter sculpture arts, and later headed the monastery's vocational training centre, was also the vice-chairman of its Democratic Management Committee (the Communist Party's oversight and disciplinary body within every Tibetan religious institution) at the time of his first arrest. Upon his latest release on May 3, after six months in his second abusive stretch of Chinese prison treatment, local accounts say that he is looking very frail and weak.

Once again, the heroes in this case are the same two Chinese civil rights lawyers who took on Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche's case, leading to its indefinite postponement last month. One of the two, Li Fangping, told the London Times that Jigme had been released "on bail", and that the mere prospect of legal assistance seemed to be enough to do the trick.

"When the police told him that lawyers had come forward to help him, he said he wanted legal representation. Before we even had time to see him, he had been released."

Mr. Li and his partner, Mr. Jiang Tianyong said that Jigme had been warned by police not to give interviews and to see "as few people as possible."

The International Campaign for Tibet clarifies the bail issue from accounts by Tibetan sources. The release falls under something called "qubao houshen" which are restrictions on one's movements, associations, communications and other conditions. Violations of any of the conditions may result in further detention without trial.

Jigme's August 2008 testimonial has now been captioned with English subtitles:



The Tibetan author / poet / citizen journalist Woeser was the first to announce Jigme's release at her blog on May 5. High Peaks Pure Earth has a translation. A number of good photos of Lama Jigme in his home surroundings (as well as his hospitalization) can be viewed at Woeser's original article.

Coincidentally, I received an alert this morning to a new translation of a piece Woeser wrote for Radio Free Asia last month. In this one she does a very insightful media analysis and points out a fundamental misunderstanding by the Chinese state-controlled media organs on using and increasing their "discourse power". In a delightful anecdote, she recounts an occasion when a Xinhua official approached a senior foreign journalist for advice on achieving "discourse power" in the west. The journalist told her that in his response to the official, he emphasized "positioning":

"You people are positioned as mouthpieces, so you can’t think about whether the news you report is true or not; and so you are incapable of establishing any power of discourse. We, on the other hand, are positioned to make money. In order to make money we’ve got to provide truthful reporting, and that’s a necessary condition for establishing authority in discourse." When he heard this, the Xinhua official was very uncomfortable.

I just bet he was! I really hope that conversation gets passed around at the Xinhua water cooler.

Monk Tabey, of Ngaba Kirti Monastery, lays in the street after he set himself on fire and was reportedly felled by gunshots from the security forces on February 27, 2009. Photo: anonymous

Tibetans in Ngaba Prefecture (Ch: Sichuan province) remain very concerned for the well-being of Jamyang Phuntsok, a 35 year old monk believed to be suspected by Chinese authorities of sending information about fellow monk Tabey's protest on February 27, 2009. A few days after Tabey's action, in which he attempted to immolate himself and, according to witnesses, was felled at the precise time three gunshots were heard fired by security forces, Jamyang Phuntsok was arrested from his quarters at Kirti Monastery. His whereabouts remain unknown and officials have not provided any information, leading many local people to suspect he may already be dead. Chinese state-run party mouthpiece Xinhua reported on March 5 than the monk had accepted the allegations of sending information to the outside world, but this has not been confirmed by any reliable sources.

Tabey remains in detention at an undisclosed hospital in Sichuan, and is not allowed visitors. A press release by the Kirti Monastery in exile said that his condition has improved sufficiently for him to leave the hospital, but authorities will not permit him to leave. The monk's mother had been allowed to see him in March, and she said that the Chinese authorities were pressuring him to have both his legs amputated. Tabey refused the surgery, which is almost surely for the purpose of destroying the evidence that he had been shot by security forces before being extinguished.

Images and accounts of the protest led by students of the Sangchu Tibetan Middle School on April 24 at Labrang, Amdo have escaped into freedom. Several of the photos were shown on Wednesday's broadcast of Kunleng, the Voice of America Tibetan language program. The students had gathered early on that Friday morning and began marching toward Labrang town, but were immediately surrounded by soldiers and police. A Tibetan eyewitness told the International Campaign for Tibet:

"Around 300 soldiers and police arrived immediately at the scene. Older Tibetans were begging the soldiers not to harm the students and to let them go back into the schoolyard. The school was then surrounded by armed soldiers."

The students had called for freedom and democracy, return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, and a solution to the problem of Chinese students taking college placements under the Tibetan quota. They were also objecting to a Chinese provocation in the form of an article published in the Kanlho News on April 15, which was then posted on the school bulletin board. The article was a denunciation of the Dalai Lama — a commonplace phenomenon in the Tibetan "Autonomous" Region but relatively new in Amdo. The Chinese "patriotism re-education campaign" is being implemented in the area, according to a Tibetan source in contact with local people.

"The main reason for the students' protest is that the local authorities are implementing a campaign of patriotic education and 'anti-separatism' in schools, which is strongly focused on denouncing the Dalai Lama. At the same time, many articles vilifying the Dalai Lama have been published in newspapers in the Tibetan language."

An interesting term is introduced in this report, cited from an unidentified Chinese language blog. The Tibetan students are referring to the Chinese quota-jumpers as "University Entrance Exam Refugees" (a literal translation of the Chinese term used). These students wish to sit for the Tibetan exams which are designed to be slightly easier due to Tibetans' perceived lesser abilities in Chinese language. Some Chinese students will produce faked ID which shows them as Tibetan, thereby making them a sort of reverse refugee.

Another ironic aspect to this story is given by a Tibetan source. Apparently some local officials missed out on their political "awards" that day:

"What was interesting was that at the time, relevant officials from Kanlho prefecture were on their to Lanzhou to pick up an award they'd won for outstanding [political] 'stability' work, but this incident happened while they were on the road there and so cursing their luck, they had to head back!"

The Kunleng broadcast (Tibetan language) can be viewed on this page by selecting the May 6 news program.

The images have been reduced to ensure no one's face could be recognized, although the video captures are blurry to begin with. I've left out two shots of younger children which were a bit too close for comfort. It's a shame we have to have such concerns — of retaliation on these kids from the Chinese Communist Party colonial administration of their country — but there you go.

[caution: wide format below - narrow windows may push the images below the menu-bar]






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Labels: China, Tibet

- posted by Agam @ 7:16 PM 0 comments

 
TIBETAN STUDENTS STAND UP; CHINESE POLICE GET DIRTY; UNLIKELY HEROES FOUND

Buddhist pilgrims at the Labrang Monastery, 2008. Photo: Mark Ralston / AFP

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undreds of Tibetan students protested Chinese school policies in Amdo Labrang last Friday morning, according to many sources. The students of the Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) Tibetan Middle School gathered early on April 24 at their school, located near the Labrang Monastery in Sangchu County, Kanlho Tibetan "Autonomous" Prefecture (Ch: Gansu province). The young demonstrators then marched from the school and headed toward the main market of Labrang town, until they were stopped and forced back to the school by Public Security Bureau forces and People's Armed Police. Local sources say that the security forces immediately surrounded the school, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

The students' grievances are said to have been against the authorities' reported practice of diverting higher education placements which are supposedly reserved for Tibetan students, to Chinese students. The Voice of Tibet radio service reports the students' disappointment over the rising number of Chinese students taking placements at college level institutes which are supposed to benefit Tibetans. No arrests of students were reported and it remains difficult to contact the area, which has been under tight security for many months. A separate source told Phayul News that over one thousand students study at the school.

Additional accounts received by the exile Tibetan government say that the students carried banners reading "Peace and Freedom", and began the protest during their morning exercise period around 7 a.m. An additional complaint was also cited, saying the students were expressing resistance to the required study of articles by one "Yidor", which were denunciations of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Heavier restrictions were placed on the surrounding areas following the protest. AFP confirmed the incident with a local hotel proprietor, who said there had been no violence. Phone calls placed to the local public security bureau, and to the school itself, went unanswered.

Monks of Labrang Monastery give an unapproved media briefing to foreign reporters on April 9, 2008. The banner reads, "We do not have freedom of speech". Photo: Reinhard Krause / Reuters

Also in Labrang, another Buddhist monk at the Labrang Tashikyil Monastery was arrested by police on April 13. Kelsang Gyatso, 36, was part of the group of monks who bravely held an unapproved press conference during a PRC stage-managed international journalists' tour on April 9, 2008. Kelsang had been travelling from Labrang to Martsoed City when a group of police waiting in a vehicle nabbed him and took him to an unknown location. Two other monks from among the impromptu media-briefers a year ago, Thabkhey and Tsundue, disappeared soon after that widely reported incident. They remain unaccounted for to this day, and many local people believe them to be dead.

Khensur Thupten Thapkhey, former abbot of Shapten Monastery. Photo: TCHRD

Chinese authorities in Nagchu County (Nagchu T-"A"-P in the Tibetan "Autonomous" Region, north of Lhasa) have secretly arrested three Buddhist monks from the Shapten Monastery. Using their well-documented skills of deception, officers of the local Public Security Bureau took away Khensur Thupten Thapkhey, a 47 year old former abbot of the monastery, and Geshe Tsultrim Gyaltsen, a 34 year old scripture master, on April 11. The "security" officials explained to the monastic community that the two would be travelling to Lhasa to receive their Geshe certificates (Doctorate of Philosophy) from the religious bureau.

Tsultrim Gyaltsen, scripture master at Shapten Monastery. Photo: TCHRD

The whole thing was a ruse. The two senior monks were actually taken straight to the Nagchu PSB detention centre, where they remain incarcerated. The 30 year old head of the monastery's "Democratic Management Committee" (the Communist Party's oversight body within every Tibetan religious institution), Tsundue, was informed by authorities that his attendance was required at a "meeting" — which also turned out to be in a cell at the Nagchu PSB detention centre. The reasons for the arrests are not known. Parents and relatives of the detained monks are attempting to make contact with them through the Nagchu PSB.

Tsundue, head of the Democratic Management Commitee at Shapten Monastery. Photo: TCHRD

The duplicitous manner of these arrests is telling. The Chinese know from recent experience that barging into a monastery with massive force, ransacking the place while beating up monks, and then dragging away as many as they choose for detention, can often lead to problems. The authorities risk a mass uprising of monks or nuns, especially if those dragged away are highly respected people to begin with.

Which brings us around again to the case of Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche.

Phurbu Rinpoche (also called Bu Rong Na Rinpoche — Rinpoche meaning an "incarnate lama" but translated by the Chinese as "Living Buddha") was arrested at his home in Drango County, Kardze on May 18 last year. As the spiritual preceptor for two convents in the Drango area, as well as the founder of a home for the aged and medical services clinics in his community, Phurbu Rinpoche is deeply loved and respected by Tibetans. The charges against him were only recently revealed at his trial in Dartsedo (Ch: Kangding) — illegal possession of weapons and government land.

Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche in an undated photo. Photo: Bu Rong Na Temple

The 52 year old lama is the highest ranking Tibetan teacher among the hundreds of people put through the Chinese trial system since the latest wave of Tibetan protests began last year. He is also the first of these to have been allowed to choose his own lawyers. His trial was reported widely in the international media (at least in comparison with other continuing incidents in Tibet), and a development this week shows just how important such attention can be. Judgement and sentencing has been postponed indefinitely.

Legal experts said that such a move was rare for a Chinese court and could indicate that the unusually spirited defence presented in court and the international publicity the case has attracted could have prompted unexpected debate among judicial officials over the sentence.

Rinpoche had selected his defence lawyers well, and his ability to speak Chinese undoubtedly also helped him. One of his legal defenders, Jian Tianyong, was already on his way to the airport when his partner, Li Fangping, received the postponement call from a deputy judge in Dartsedo. Both men are prominent civil rights attorneys, and Mr. Jian was one of a group of lawyers who had volunteered to defend the Tibetans charged after the protests began last year. Chinese authorities then warned the lawyers' group to stay out of it, threatening them with loss of their rights to practice law (some of those threats were carried out). Lawyers are frequently derided in western countries, but these two Beijing-based defenders can well be considered heroes.

The Tibetan author, poet, and citizen journalist Woeser had a translated account of Phurbu Tsering's arrest and trial published in the Asian Wall Street Journal this week. I link to Phayul for this one mainly for the wonderful photograph, which I've cropped here. Take a good look at the full size version over there.

Imagine the scene in a small Tibetan mountain town in the center of the Kham region last May 18. All forms of communication with the town are cut off before dawn, and all roads are blocked. As more than 4,000 PLA troops, PAP forces and special units divide up to surround and control two nearby convents, over 1,000 security forces take up positions and prepare their assault on one small house. Their target is that dangerous looking fellow grinning under the big sky.

It's very clear that Phurbu Tsering was being framed, and they may still pull it off. He was forced to sign a confession after four days of real torture and threats against his family, and he recanted that confession in court. The firearms and bullets "found" in his living room (a virtual public place, with visitors coming and going constantly due to his high status in the community) were never investigated as to their origin, and were not even checked for fingerprints. On the illegal land use charge (involving his home for the elderly), documents reviewed in court actually proved that the land use permits were all above-board. Read Woeser's piece for an excellent account of all this (and by the way, she had a very fine profile published in the NY Times last weekend). For a more in-depth look into the trial proceedings, including translated court documents, ICT is the place to go.

Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche's Chinese devotees have maintained a website to support his work, with information on the charities he established, the Rest House for Elders, the new travellers' hostel for visitors to Bu Rong Na Temple, his adoption of orphans (including ethnic Chinese children) and more. Background and history of the Bu Rong Na Temple is here.

International attention to specific cases can have a positive effect on the treatment of political prisoners, as in the case of the recently released monk / filmmaker Golog Jigme Gyatso, who first became aware of the international pressure on his Chinese interrogators by the relatively better treatment he received as compared with other prisoners. Perhaps Phurbu Rinpoche may have a chance for justice.

International pressure has been insufficient to produce any movement at all on the part of the PRC however, in the case of the abducted 11th Panchen Lama. Chinese authorities disappeared the young incarnate lama at the age of six (along with his family), and there has been no evidence of his existence during the past fourteen years despite enquiries from many governments and international organisations. Chinese authorities insist that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima merely wants his privacy, and refuse to provide so much as a photograph. The Panchen Lama turned 20 years old on April 25. The former abbot of Panchen Lama's Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Chadrel Rinpoche, was also the chairman of the government-approved search committee in 1995. He was tried and sentenced for "splittism" and "leaking state secrets", and his sentence ended in 2001. There has also been no credible evidence of his existence or wellbeing since that time.

In an open letter to President Hu Jintao dated April 27, the Speaker of the democratically-elected Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Penpa Tsering, expressed deep concern for the well-being of the Panchen Lama — revealing something which I have not seen reported elsewhere.

"According to media reports, a Japanese journalist Yoichi Shimatsu had at a conference at Qinghua University in Beijing stated that His Eminence Panchen Rinpoche Gedhun Choekyi Nyima had died of cancer some years ago, which is in total contradiction to your government’s stated position that all is well with H.E. Panchen Rinpoche."

It's time for China to come clean once and for all on the fate of a young man who, for most of his life, has been the world's youngest political prisoner.

If one has a cause that one wishes to express in the most peaceful, non-threatening manner possible, what do you do? One method used in countless countries around the world is the old, tried and true, candle-light vigil. For example, there have been innumerable such vigils on behalf of the aforementioned Panchen Lama over the years (in cities and towns on every continent but Antarctica). But if there's one thing China's communist authority simply will not tolerate, apparently, it's the candle-light vigil. Monks of Lutsang Monastery in Mangra County, Amdo (Ch: Qinghai) held a peaceful candle procession and vigil on February 25 this year, the first day of Losar, the Tibetan new year. The candle-bearing monks were later arrested (109 of them) and subjected to "severe patriotism re-education" for nearly a month, when all but six were released. The remaining six were said to be released from custody around April 10.

Four monks from Lutsang Monastery have been sentenced. Photo: Phayul News

Now comes news via the Voice of Tibet radio service that six Lutsang monks were arrested on April 10, and four of them have already been tried and sentenced to two year prison terms (the other two were released). The specific charges against the monks are unknown. Those convicted are Kalsang Gyatso, 21, Soepa Gyatso, 24, Lungtok Gyatso, 22, and Soepa Gyatso, 19. The strange thing is that Lungtok (the far left photo) is one of the six reportedly released around April 10. The other names and photos do not match the previously released names and photos, but the VOT report says that two more Lutsang monks, Thabkhay Gyatso and Kunchok Gyatso, were also arrested late last week. Thabkhay Gyatso is also the name of one of the six originally said to have been released on April 10.

The Chinese colonial authorities are experts in preventing information from escaping Tibet, through selective cell network closure, internet gateway controls, restrictions on travel, and of course prosecutions of those who attempt to communicate with Tibetans outside the country. But they're also quite keen on preventing information from entering Tibet, as evidenced this month in a crackdown on satellite receivers.

Radio Free Asia's Mandarin language service reports that since March of this year, some Tibetans in Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces, and in the T-"A"-R have been installing their own satellite receivers. Chinese authorities claim that this is a plot by "secret agents from the Tibet independence movement" and have been seizing the offending equipment and installing "official" receivers in their place. In Machu County alone, 170 sets of equipment were replaced between April 10 - 23, depriving the people of viewing news from India and other neighbouring countries, overseas broadcasts including Tibetan language programming from VOA and RFA, as well as internet access. The new receivers are only able to tune in China Central Television signals.

On the day he was to receive the honour of one of the world's most prestigious literary awards, Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo had one of his essays published in the London Times in which he declares the internet as God's gift to China. "It is the best tool for the Chinese people in their project to cast off slavery and strive for freedom," he wrote. Mr. Liu received the 2009 PEN / Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award on Tuesday — in absentia. He presently resides in a windowless cell at an undisclosed location in China. He has been in detention since December 8, the day his Charter 08 appeal for democratic reforms, signed by over 300 Chinese intellectuals, was published.

Didn't the Olympics hold some sort of promise of progress toward human rights in China? Oh yes, right — never ever trust the CCP's promises. Another signatory to Charter 08, law professor He Weifang, has been sent into internal exile in Xinjiang. Professor He tells the Daily Telegraph that freedom of speech in China is now worse than it was before the Olympics.
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Labels: China, Tibet

- posted by Agam @ 3:14 AM 0 comments