The Tibet Post International Online Newspaper

His Holiness The Dalai Lama Wins $1.7 Million Spiritual Prize

Without Freedom, We Are Like A Butter Lamp In The Wind:

I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Jampal Yeshi's Message

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A Message For The Voiceless

Vol. 02, Issue 62, 30 March, 2012

Solidarity At Jampal Yeshi’s Funeral

B o d - K y i - Cha- Trin

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Another Tibetan Self-Immolates in Protest Against China, This Time in India Article Written by Rajeshwari K, The Tibetpost International

Thousands of Tibetans and supporters gathering at the main temple in Dharamshala, India, on March 30 2012. Photo: TPI

Dharamshala: - All roads to Mcleodganj were teeming with people on Friday as Tibetans poured in to pay homage to Jamphel Yeshi, who died after setting himself ablaze on March 26, protesting against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Yeshi’s body was brought from Delhi on Friday. He died on Wednesday.

His coffin was first placed at the Tsuglagkhang temple near the palace of the Dalai Lama, where more than 7,000 Tibetans gathered. A prayer session was also held at the temple.

There were emotional scenes at Tsuglagkhang courtyard as Tibetans wept inconsolably. “He was very close to me. He was the first to attend religious gatherings and prayer sessions,” said Pempa Dhundup, who shared his room with Yeshi at the hostel of Tibetan Transit School in Dharamsala for over a year.

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A Resolution On The Critical Situiation In Tibet

New Delhi, India: More than 31 case of Tibetans self-immolating in protest of the repressive Chinese regime inside Tibet, 27year-old Jamphel Yeshi set himself on fire at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi around 12.30pm IST. A resident of Majnu Ka Tilla in New Delhi, Yeshi escaped Tibet in 2006 and has been living in India since then.

Eyewitnesses state that he set himself on fire and ran for 100 meters before Tibetan protestors along with Indian police officials present at the site doused the fire and took him to a nearby hospital.

Sources stated that his flesh has been severely burnt and that the skin peeling off his torso was clearly visible from the back of the vehicle he was towed away in.

This incident took place when Tibetan activists from across India were protesting the scheduled visit of the Chinese President to New Delhi for the BRICS summit on 28th March.

Even as they held protests to urge the international community to intervene in the current crackdown in Tibet carried out by the Chinese government, Yeshi, engulfed in flames came running out from a nearby closed compound.

Sources state that Yeshi has suffered 98% burns and is currently in the emergency room of Ram Manohar Hospital in New Delhi.

Incidentally, today also marks the completion of a century since the declaration of war against the Manchu forces’ occupying of Tibet in 1912.

OVERVIEW 31 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 protesting the repressive Chinese policies and demanding the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

A Tibetan man screams as heanniversary runs engulfed in flames after self-immolating at a in protest in New Delhi, Chinese President Commemorate the 53rd of the Tibetan National Uprising Day Dharamsala, India, India, on 10 ahead Marchof2012.

Photo: TPI Hu Jintao's visit to the country Monday, March 26, 2012. Photo: AP

Beijing Is Responsible for the Tibet Self-Immolation Protests Third session of the 15th Tibetan Parliament photo: TPIE Dharamshala, India: After extensive deliberation during the third session of the 15th House, the Tibetan Parliamentin-exile unanimously passed a resolution to seek intervention from the international community on March 14, 2012.

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Erasing Tibetan Indentity?

Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the political leader of Tibet speaking to reporters at the Kashag Hall of the Tibetan Government in exile. Photo: TPI /file

By Colleen McKown, The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: - On March 26, the Central Tibetan Administration released a statement entitled "At Least Seven Reasons Why Beijing is Responsible for the SelfImmolations in Tibet." The statement rejects Beijing's claims that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is encouraging acts of self-immolation in Tibet.

The Chinese government seeks to portray the selfimmolations as a political plot used by those calling for Tibetan independence. A spokesman for the Chinese Australian academic , Mr. Gabriel Lafitte. Photo: TPI

Dharamshala: - Zhu Weiqun, of the CCP United Front, has boldly proposed abolishing all reference to nationality on the identity cards all Chinese citizens must carry, and frequently produce for inspection. This latest step towards erasing Tibetan identity as a category with legal meaning, did not come from See Page 10.... nowhere.

Academic Dialogue on Tibet

TWA organizes a crucial Panel Discussion on the eve of Hu Jintao’s India visit. Photo: TPI

New Delhi, March 27, 2012: In the wake of heightening Tibetan resistance and desperation, intensifying Chinese military response, and Asia’s looming water crisis threatening the future of regional stability, there is no doubt that the global eye has shifted east.

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government told the Associated Press recently that the Dalai Lama and his associates have single-handedly planned the self-immolations of Tibetans.

CTA states that, on the contrary, His Holiness discourages drastic actions, and that the Kashag has called repeatedly for Tibetans to refrain from extreme measures in official statements on January 26 and March 10. The selfimmolations, according to the CTA, keep occurring against the wishes of His Holiness and the Kashag because of the Chinese government's occupation and harsh actions against the Tibetans.

Since 2009, 30 self-immolations have occurred in Tibet.

The Tibetans who have committed such acts were protesting Beijing's repressive policies and calling for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet. In response, the Chinese government has stregnthened their repressive measures and deployed more military forces.

CTA claims, "responsibility for the present tense situation lies entirely with Beijing and so does the solution."

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has advocated only for peace, says CTA: "He has repeatedly stated that the Tibetan struggle is not against the Chinese people or China as a nation. Furthermore, he has openly expressed his admiration for Chinese civilization and praised Chinese work ethics."

29 Members of SFT Released

New Delhi – Twenty nine Tibetan activists, who were arrested at the actions organized by Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) India in the last two days during Hu Jintao’s presence in India for the BRICS summit, have been released.

"Hu Jintao is responsible for over two decades of violence and suffering in Tibet. His brutal and violent occupation of Tibet, coupled with abuses committed against his own people, clearly show the truth that China today remains an unchanged, repressive and authoritarian state,” said Dorjee Tsetan, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India.

“Tibetans in Tibet – and in exile – have been galvanized by the events of the past several months, and are doing everything possible to build political momentum for an international diplomatic intervention to save Tibetan lives.

We call on all people of conscience in India and around the world to stand with Tibetans at this time of crisis. To stand with Tibet is to stand for freedom, justice, and peace."

TIBETAN ACTIVISTS PROTEST HU JINTAO

Another Tibetan Dies In Self-immolation Protest Against Chinese Rule By: YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: - On March 28, a young Tibetan monk has become the latest to set himself on fire in protest against the China's Authoritarian Regime, according to a sources inside Tibet. He died in the main street of his hometown Chashang Raruwa.

Lobsang Sherab, a 20 years old Buddhist monk died after setting himself on fire Wednesday evening in Ngaba county, Amdho, north-eastern Tibet. Sources said armed Chinese troop and police arrived and took his body away, ignoring repeated pleas to hand it over to his family members.

More than 30 people have self-immolated, or attempted to, over the past year in eastern and north-eastern Tibet to protest Beijing's heavy-handed rule. Tibetans say China's crackdown is harshly oppressive, Tibetans have no other way to voice their protests.

Sherab who studied at the Kirti monastery in Ngaba county, North-Eastern Tibet (Chinese: Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ) set himself ablaze on Wednesday, exiled Tibetan monks Kanyag Tsering and Losang Yeshe said in a statement.

Source said armed Chinese police removed Sherab's body to prevent local residents from taking it to hold a funeral.

Sherab shouted slogans as he burned on the main street in his hometown of Jialuo, then died at the site.

Sherab became a monk at the local Ganden Tenpeling monastery in Raruwa when he was 9 years old. He joined

Kirti monastery for higher studies in October 2012.

"Immediately after the incident took place, armed police imposed a security clampdown on the township, the statement further added. "These days 300 Chinese government officials "of undisclosed position / rank" are stationed at Kirti monastery, and throughout Ngaba, upper,middle and lower, armed police and special police forces are maintaining a security clampdown."

A Tibetan in exile named Jampal Yeshi who set himself on fire in India earlier this week to protest a visit by China's president died on Wednesday. Yeshi became the second Tibetan to die in India after setting himself on fire during protests. Thupten Ngodup, a 60-year-old set himself on fire in Delhi and died on April 27th, 1998 for the Tibet cause.

Overview Thirty one Tibetans have been confirmed to have selfimmolated since February 27, 2009, twenty six men, five women. twenty three of the thirty one are known to have died following their protest, according to an US based ICT report.

Twenty of the thirty one are from Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, One is from Chamdo prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, five are from Tibetan Autonomous areas in Qinghai province, Seven of the 31 were monks at Kirti monastery in Ngaba.

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Leader of SFT India among those arrested in the protests. Photo: SFT By: Student for A Free Tibet

New Delhi - Seven Tibetan activists including Dorjee Tsetan, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India, were arrested while staging a demonstration against Hu Jintao in front of the Oberoi Hotel, where Hu has been staying. The protestors had painted across their chests slogans such as “Swaraj My Birth Right” and “Free Tibet.”

The protest, fourth in a series of direct action protests staged

by Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) India, took place an hour before Hu Jintao was to leave for Cambodia after the BRICS summit. Twenty-nine activists have been arrested in the actions organized by SFT India in the last two days.

“Just as the Indians successfully threw off the chains of British rule, we Tibetans are protesting here today for the freedom of our homeland from China’s colonial oppression,” said Dorjee Tsetan, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India. “The dignified mantra of the Indian independence movement “Swaraj is my birthright” rings true for us as we struggle to achieve the right to Tibetan self-rule.”

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The Tibet Post International

TPI NEWS VIEWS & ANALYS

West Silent on Tibet self-immolation Protest

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

Losing Tibet Forever: The Wall Street Journal By: Thupten Jinpa, The Wall Street Journal

Symbolyzing the current relationship between western and China. Photo: Desinged by Sonam, Outlook Tibet

By: Saransh Sehgal, Asia Times Online

VIENNA - More Tibetan Buddhist monks in China are resorting to self-immolation in desperate protest against Beijing’s suppression of religious freedoms.

However, the suicidal acts have failed to attract global attention to the Tibet issue.

Experts on Tibet attribute this to the rise of China as an economic superpower, with Western and Asian foreign governments, avoiding confrontation with Beijing.

At least 28 Tibetans have set fire to themselves in a wave of protests since February 2009, with 15 cases taking place in the last three months amid reported unrest in the Himalaya region. This has prompted Tibetans in exile to launch worldwide protests against China’s cultural and religious policies toward Tibet. However, no foreign government is willing to put serious pressure on Beijing over the issue.

"As China’s economic power increases and that of the West declines, the Tibet issue risks being confined to a small section of civil society. In the past, Western government would at least pay lip service to the rights of the Tibetans. As China ups the ante, Western governments’ appetite to upset it disappears," Dibyesh Anand, associate professor of international relations at London’s University of Westminster, wrote in an e-mail to Asia Times Online.

Frustrated by the indifference of the world, religious followers inside of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile, inside and outside China, are set to continue their struggle for a Free Tibet.

However, Chinese authorities have heightened their vigilance in Tibetan-inhabited regions inside China in the sensitive month of March. March 10 marks the anniversaries of the Dalai Lama’s fleeing Tibet to India after a failed armed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, and of 2008 bloody riots in Lhasa Tibet’s capital - amid Tibetan protests. Tibet watchers warn that more self-immolations might happen this month.

The latest self-immolation occurred on March 14 in northwestern Qinghai province, according to China’s state run Xinhua News Agency. Jamyang Palden, a monk from the Rongwo Monastery, walked out of his temple at 10:42 am, dressed in gasoline-soaked robes, and used a lighter to set fire to himself.

Rongwo Monastery is the second-largest temple of Tibetan Buddhism in Qinghai, located in Tongren County in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Huangnan.

Security guards on duty nearby rushed to put out the blaze and sent him to the Huangnan People’s Hospital. But some monks and local residents went to the hospital at noon and forcibly took Jamyang Palden away from the hospital, Xinhua said quoting a local government spokesman.

Four days before, on March 10, a teenage Tibetan monk, Gepey, from the Kirti Monastery in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province, set fire to himself.

"18-year-old Gepey self-immolated behind a military camp on March 10 in Aba… locals tried to take his body away but security personnel removed it," the London-based Free Tibet group said.

Just days before, on March 6, an 18-year-old Tibetan protester Dorjee set himself on fire and died, also in Aba prefecture. "Dorjee walked towards a local government office in Ngaba County

(Aba prefecture) shouting slogans against the Chinese government’s policies on Tibet before he self-immolated and died," said the international Tibet campaign group Save Tibet.

Tibetan-inhabited areas in Sichuan, Gansu and provinces - outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region proper are increasingly the Interestingly the epicenter of the self-immolation.

Chinese government officials have recently branded the acts of self-immolation as "suicide terrorism" and held the Dalai Lama responsible. Some Chinese media commentaries said the Dalai Lama deliberately instigated suicide protests outside Tibet proper to "justify" his claim for a "greater Tibet", in other words to show that his influence extends to Tibetaninhabited areas beyond Tibet proper.

Wu Zegang, head of Aba prefecture in Sichuan, had earlier made similar allegations. "Some of the suicides are committed by clerics returning to secular life, and they all have criminal records or suspicious activities. They have a very bad reputation in society," said Wu, himself an ethnic Tibetan.

However, at a press conference in Beijing on March 14 at the end of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao appeared to strike a different note, saying he was "deeply distressed" by the self-immolations.

"The young Tibetans are innocent. We feel deeply distressed by their behavior." He also stressed that that the Chinese government was "opposed to such radical moves that disturb and undermine social harmony".

Wen also accused the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala of trying to separate Tibet and its inhabitants away from China.

"We have a firm position and principle on this matter," he added.

Meanwhile, Tibetan exiles have rejected the allegations and continued a series of mass protests against Beijing’s policies, while calling for intervention from the United Nations and major governments.

On the eve of the anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising, mass protests were launched by Tibetans and their support groups from their exiled capital Dharamsala, India to Times Square New York. Hunger strikes, Candle light vigils, remonstrations and public anger were witnessed in every Tibetan community across the world.

On March 8, during the conclusion of a five-day Monlam Chenmo (great prayer festival) in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama said, "Truth is being violently suppressed inside Tibet right now … truth is losing to might and power but there is nothing much we can do."

Marking the March 10 anniversary of the failed uprising, Dr Lobsang Sangay, prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile, said, "I offer tribute to the brave people who have sacrificed so much for Tibet. Despite 53 years of occupation by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Tibetan spirit and identity inside Tibet remains unbroken … Fault lies squarely with the hardline leaders in Beijing," he said. "We hope that China’s upcoming leaders will initiate genuine change, and that they find the wisdom to admit the government’s long-standing hardline policy in Tibet has failed."

Countries neighboring China like Nepal and India also seem to have yielded to China’s economic power and influence and do their best to prevent any anti-China activities on their soil.

No other Asian countries has actually shown much concern with what happens inside Tibet.

Instead, their governments always reiterate their recognition of Tibet as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and that the issue is an internal affair of China.

Western countries which used to raise Tibet as an issue in their relations with China now also appear to overlook or bypass it when dealing with China.

During a visit to the United States in February

by Vice Chinese President Xi Jinping - tipped to succeed Hu Jintao as China’s supreme leader later this year - President Barack Obama and senior US officials never broached the Tibet issue.

This rendered a recent statement by US Special coordinator for Tibetan Issues Maria Otero rather weak.

"The US Government consistently and directly has raised the issue of Tibetan self-immolations with the Chinese government, " said Otero in January. " The US Government repeatedly has urged the Chinese government to address the counterproductive policies in Tibetan areas that have created tensions and that threaten the distinct religious, cultural and linguistic identity of the Tibetan people."

"South Asian governments’ record when it comes to raising issues of human rights anywhere is rather abysmal. While Nepal acts against its Tibetan residents as if it is a surrogate of the Chinese government. India’s conduct is only marginally better," says Anand at the University of Westminster.

Associate professor Elliot Sperling, an expert on the history of Tibet and Tibetan-Chinese relations at Indiana University, says "China exercises a degree of leverage over the way it is criticized by dint of its economic footprint in the world and this is reflected in the ways in which it is criticized (or not criticized) over Tibet."

But for Tibetan exiles, international support, especially support from big powers such as the US, is very important for the Free Tibet movement. Now the community of Tibetans in exile in Dharamsala starts to discuss and debate how to win back international attention and support to their cause, seeing that even the extreme protests of self-immolations are largely overlooked.

Lobsang Wangyal, an exiled Tibetan entrepreneur living in India says, "Tibetans in Tibet have long said they are not happy under Chinese rule. The self-immolations are saying that they mean it. But the world is paying little attention. It gives a feeling that 25 Tibetans risking their lives is still not enough to make a point and as if more lives should be sacrificed."

Saransh Sehgal is a freelance contributor based in Dharamsala, India, who currently is pursuing further study in Vienna. He can be reached at saranshsehgal@gmail.comJLIB_HTML_CLOAKING. Original Published: 17 March 2012, by Saransh Sehgal, Asia Times Online

Original Published: 8 March 2012, Thupten Jinpa, The Wall Street Journal.

Beijing has only a narrow window of opportunity to convince Tibetans they have a stake in China.

This year’s anniversary of the Mar. 10, 1959 uprising in Tibet and the escape into exile of the Dalai Lama takes place at a time of deepening crisis. Since February 2009, at least 27 Tibetans, including many monks, have set fire to themselves in what is an unprecedented development in Tibetan society. The Chinese leadership has failed to appreciate the extent to which the nature of the Tibetan struggle has changed. As a result, China risks losing Tibet.

When I first saw footage of a monk standing ablaze like a column of fire, I experienced a mixture of emotions. On the one hand I could not help but admire the monk’s courage and, as a former monk myself, also feel an instinctive sense of identification and solidarity.

Though the first case occurred in Tibet in 2009, self-immolation became widespread only after the death of 21-year-old monk Phuntsog in Ngaba’s Kirti monastery in March last year. This year alone there have been 14 known cases.

They have mainly been carried out by younger monks or former monks in their late teens or early twenties, although a reincarnate lama in his forties set fire to himself on Jan. 8, and there has also been a self-immolation by a monastic official.

This form of protest and sacrifice, emerging from the anguish of oppression, is dramatic, powerful and destabilizing, but it does not involve the death of others. There are still no Tibetan suicide bombers, thanks to the Dalai Lama’s emphasis on non-violence and the compassionate precepts of Tibetan culture.

So far, Beijing’s response has been simple: censor the news, label the protesters terrorists, blame it on outside forces and use excessive security force. This is almost exactly the same script we saw used by the ill-fated Gadhafi regime and currently in use in Syria by Bashar al-Assad.

The Communist Party leadership is failing to explore the causes of this new radicalization in a deeply religious society. Tibetans have lived, or barely lived, through a harsh crackdown in the wake of protests that swept across the plateau in 2008, racial animosity against ethnic Tibetans in the aftermath and the systematic demonization of their beloved Dalai Lama. In monasteries, monks have been subject to relentless “patriotic education” sessions and driven to despair by the presence of armed troops even within their religious institutions.

All of these factors have led to further unrest.

Meanwhile, there is a growing recognition among Tibetans that Beijing lacks the political imagination and will to resolve the question of Tibet. There has been a total failure to engage constructively with the Dalai Lama despite the latter’s concessions and numerous overtures over more than three decades.

Mr. Jinpa is adjunct professor at McGill University and the principal English translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This especially became evident when the Party failed to respond to the Dalai Lama stepping down as Tibetans’ political leader. Beijing hasn’t appreciated that the current struggle has gone on even after the Dalai Lama stepped down as Tibetans’ political leader. This means Tibetans now envision their struggle beyond the life of the Dalai Lama, and not necessarily in keeping with this style.

Beijing’s failures have possibly opened the way for a much more vocal and aggressive tone in Tibetans’ campaign for their legitimate aspirations. There may be a link between the current more radical protests and this change in political leadership. When the Tibetan freedom struggle was led by the Dalai Lama, there were certain norms which even the most vocal Tibetan critics of China implicitly respected, including trying to avoid publicly embarrassing Beijing. This can no longer be taken for granted.

Unwittingly then, the Party has been more successful than the exile Tibetan political establishment ever was in creating a strong united sense of national Tibetan identity across the entire plateau. If the current impasse continues, Tibetans may become bolder and demand full independence. We can also expect to see the current wave of self-immolation spreading to other parts of Tibet. No regime can have an effective weapon against individuals who are not afraid to die.

Beijing needs to find ways of convincing the Tibetan people that it does care for the survival of their unique language, culture and Buddhist faith within the larger family of the People’s Republic of China. The massive buildup of troops and climate of terror in place now is only alienating Tibetans and risking further loss of life. Appointing one more hardline party official to crack down on protests is not the answer. Taking the extended hand of the Dalai Lama to help seek a mutually agreeable long-term solution to the Tibetan problem is clearly the first and most urgent step forward.

There is no doubt in my mind that 2011 was a watershed year in the Tibetan people’s struggle, and that with the ongoing campaign of selfimmolation this struggle has crossed an important threshold. If China’s leadership fails to seize the narrow window of opportunity it still has left, it will lose Tibet forever.

Another Tibetan Dies.........

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Seven of the thirty one are former monks at Kirti monastery in Ngaba (It is currently not known whether the eight chose to disrobe, or were expelled from the monastery

by Chinese government authorities).

Two of the thirty one were nuns from Mame Dechen Chokorling nunnery in Ngaba. thirty of the self-immolations have occurred since March 16, 2011.

Announcement: Ven. Kanyak Tsering from India-based Kirti monastery today infomed TPI that video footage we posted this morning cannot be confirmed as showing the self-immolation of Ven. Lobsang Sherab. TPI apologises to our readers for any error on our part.

Thousands Shown Solidarity at Jampal Yeshi’s funeral in Dharamshala By: HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times

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Meanwhile, addressing the gathering after the prayer session, Tibetan parliament-in-exile speaker Penpa Tsering said, “The question is how many more Tibetan lives have to be lost before the issue is resolved.”

Later, the body was taken to a local crematorium. More than 5,000 Tibetans took part in the funeral procession.

The last rites were performed in accordance with traditional Tibetan Buddhist practices.

TPI NEWS TIBET Dozens Injured After Police Use Explosives, Firing Tear Gas at Tibetan People

The Tibet Post International

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

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Without Freedom, 6 Million Tibetans Are Like A Butter Lamp In The Wind Article by Yeshe Choesang, WN Correspondent

Dharamshala: - A handwritten statement in Tibetan was found the same day that Jamphel Yeshi self immolated. The two page document was discovered in a suitcase in his room stashed in an envelope. Below is the English translation of his message.

Will of Martyr Jamphel Yeshi: 1. Long Live His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the shining example of world peace. We must strive to ensure the return of His Holiness to Tibet. I pray and believe that the Tibetan people in and outside Tibet will be united and sing the Tibetan national anthem in front of the Potala Palace.

2. My fellow Tibetans, when we think about our future happiness and path, we need loyalty. It is the life-soul of a people. It is the spirit to find truth. It is the guide leading to happiness. My fellow Tibetans, if you want equality and happiness as the rest of the world, you must hold onto this word 'LOYALTY' towards your country. Loyalty is the wisdom to know truth from falsehood. You must work hard in all your endeavors, big or small.

3. Freedom is the basis of happiness for all living

beings. Without freedom, six million Tibetans are like a butter lamp in the wind, without direction.

My fellow Tibetans from Three Provinces, it is clear to us all that if we unitedly put our strength together, there will be results. So, don't be disheartened.

4. What I want to convey here is the concern of the six million Tibetans. At a time when we are making our final move towards our goal - if you have money, it is the time to spend it; if you are educated it is the time to produce results; if you have control over your life, I think the day has come to sacrifice your life. The fact that Tibetan people are setting themselves on fire in this 21st century is to let the world know about their suffering, and to tell the world about the denial of basic human rights. If you have any empathy, stand up for the Tibetan people.

5. We demand freedom to practice our religion and culture. We demand freedom to use our language. We demand the same right as other people living elsewhere in the world. People of the world, stand up for Tibet. Tibet belongs to Tibetans. Victory to Tibet!

One More Self-Immolation in Ngaba

Sonam Dhargey, aged 44 and a father of three, has became the 30th Tibetan since 2009. Photo: TPI

By The Tibet Post International

DHARAMSHALA, March 19: Dozens of unarmed Tibetans were injured after Chinese security forces fired tear gas and used explosives to disperse a crowd of peaceful protesters.

Sources reveal that dozens of Tibetans sustained injuries, while six of them are believed to be in a critical condition.

The incidence occurred near the local judicial complex in Ba county, eastern Tibet, where a number of Tibetans had gathered on Sunday.

These protestors were demanding the release of 50 monks of the Shingtri monastery, who were arrested on Friday, a day after they carried out a protest march to the district headquarters.

According to sources, in Shingtri monastery, the monks had set out at 3 am (local time) on the 15th of March, to carry out a protest at the district headquarters. Upon reaching the district early in the morning, the monks led a march, raising slogans demanding the return of His

Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile and freedom in Tibet. The monks later stopped their protest march after local leaders and the head of the monastery intervened.

However, the next day, Chinese security forces arrived at the monastery and arrested 50 monks on suspicion of their involvement in the protest.

Few of the protesters were reportedly arrested, while the 50 monks have been whisked away to another location.

Security in the region has been tightened following warnings of more severe protests. On the same day, more than two thousand Tibetans, led by monks from the Tsang monastery took out a protest march in Malho town. Here Tibetans filled the streets raising slogans for the Dalai Lama's return and freedom in Tibet. A day earlier, on March 17, around 8000 Tibetans had taken part in the biggest ever protests in Rebkong. Since the 14th of March of this year, three Tibetans have reportedly torched their

Continued Oppression and Unrest in Sangchu County, Eastern Tibet

bodies and thousands have carried out bold protests in Tibet. The Tibetans in Rebkong had gathered together to offer prayers and show their solidarity with Sonam Dhargey, 44, who passed away in a fiery protest on the 17th of March.

Sonam Dhargey, aged 44 and a father of three, has became the 30th Tibetan since 2009 to set himself on fire protesting China's continued occupation of Tibet. The Tibetans offering condolences to his self immolation included representatives from both villages and towns.

Many Tibetans from Chentsa, Nangra and other areas sent their condolence messages written on large banners whereas other Tibetans from the Rebgong Gomar area offered their solidarity in the form of monetary contribution.

Earlier today, the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, which is currently holding its budget session in Dharamshala, suspended house proceedings to take up the urgent situation inside Tibet.

Two Tibetans Self-Immolate in Barkham

By: Sangay Dorjee, The Tibet Post DHARAMSHALA: Following two successive self-immolation incidents in neighbouring Rebgong on 16 and 17 March, thousands of Tibetans took to the street in Sogdzong in northeastern Tibet's Malho region to protest against the Chinese government.

Around 2,000 Tibetans led by monks from the Tsang monastery held peaceful protest in Malho on 18 March, shouting slogans for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile and freedom in Tibet.

After about an hour of protest, armed police and paramilitary forces arrived and arrested 17 Tibetans for allegedly instigating the protest.

Eyewitnesses said other protesters went to the police station to demand their release. They broke

the main gate of the police station and called for more protests if the arrested Tibetans are not released. Finally at around 5 pm, the 17 Tibetans were released. But the local Tibetans fear that they might be rearrested.

The region is now under heavy military lockdown.

Following the incident two vehicles carrying around 70 monks from Tsang monastery arrived at Sogdzong. But they were forcibly blocked by the police and security forces.

Though schools in Sogdzong usually close at 5:00 pm, but on that day students were held till 8:30 pm.

A large number of military convoys carrying continue to arrive in the region.

The main Sogdzong town and the surrounding roads are occupied by police and security

One More Self-Immolation in Ngaba, North-eastern Tibet

By: Elizabeth Delehant, The Tibet Post International

Dharamsala: Yesterday at 12pm Tibet time the monks of Bora Monastery, Labrang erea, eastren Tibet raised the Tibetan flag and shouted "we want human rights and freedom of religion and language" at the gates of the local Chinese government.

As a result, the area is on lockdown and the Chinese government's response is unknown. Previously, during Losar of this year, the Chinese government distributed 5000 yuan to each family that agreed to celebrate Losar.

Tibetans have forgone Losar celebrations in protest of oppressive Chinese rule. Three weeks ago, during the Losar festival of Chotrol Duchen, the monks of Bora displayed the image of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which angered the local Chinese government.

On March 18th, in Pema county, Golok, Chinese police arrested a father and son without cause. After two days, the father was released in critical condition and unable to speak while the son remains in custody.

Previously, on the 24th of January, six people were arrested

by Chinese police. One was eventually released but five were given long prison sentences.

Their only crime was the presentation of His Holiness' picture and the shouting of Free Tibet slogans. As a result of this protest, on the 13th of March, Tseten, age 28, was sentenced for three years by Peoples Court of Golok Area.

His younger brother, Wangdar, age 25, was sentenced for two years; another man, Lus, age 17, was sentenced for one year and Pelgya, age 20, was sentenced for one and a half years. Additionally, Damtsek, age 26, was sentenced for two years. They are all being kept in Golok prison.

From left- Tenpa Darjey and Chimey Palden (Photo: Kirti monastery). Photo: VOA Tibetan

Washington: - Two Tibetans self-immolated Friday around noon in Barkham, capital of Ngaba Prefecture, according to VOA News The latest self-immolations bring the number of Tibetans who set themselves ablaze in Ngaba prefecture since March last year to 22. More than 33 Tibetans are known to have self-immolated from Tibetan populated regions in China since February 2009.

According to spokesperson of Kirti monastery in India, the two monks of Tsodun Kirti monastery, identified as Tenpa Darjey and Chimey Palden, set themselves on fire outside the local government offices to protest Chinese repressive policies on Tibetans.

Same sources say Chinese security forces took both men and that one may have died at the scene of the protest. Their present conditions and whereabouts are not known.

Heavy Chinese security forces are known to have been deployed in the region after the self-immolations.

The Tsodun Kirti monastery has present monk population of around 300 and it is located 80 kilometers from Barkham town.

Losang Tsultrim, a 20 year old monk at the Tantric college of Kirti monastery, North-eastern Tibet. Photo: TPI By: The Tibet Post International

At about 5 pm on March 16th, Losang Tsultrim, a 20 year old monk at the Tantric college of Kirti monastery, set himself on fire. He proceeded to march along the main road in the upper part of Ngaba county town, shouting slogans of protest against the Chinese government.

As he walked on from the site of his selfimmolation, armed police personnel came running to intercept him, at which he turned and ran back in the other direction, continuing to shout. He was then knocked to the ground by a police officer, the police extinguished the flames, and threw him into the back of a pickup vehicle.

He was held down by police officers, but was seen to raise his arms while continuing to shout, showing that he was still alive.

The slogans he was shouting could not be heard.

Losang Tsultrim was from the Yeshe Tsang household in Soruma village, Choejema township, Ngaba county. His father's name is

Yeshe and his mother is Tsedron; he was the eldest of four brothers and sisters. He joined Kirti monastery at the age of eight, and studied at the ‘Buddhist Youth Academy' or monastery school.

Once the school was closed down in 2003, he entered the monastery's Tantric college.

Tsultrim was among the best in recitation liturgy, and was a humble and well behaved student. Early this morning, armed police and other security forces increased their presence at the main gates to the monastery compound. They set up checkpoints on all the roads and paths leading to Ngaba county town in an unusually heavy crackdown, presumably aimed at preventing protests on the anniversary of Losang Puntsok's self-immolation protest in 2011.

Additionally, the whereabouts of Lhaso Lodro, the Kirti monk arrested on October 2nd 2011 remain unknown.

Losang Yeshe and Kanyag Tsering Kirti monastery in exile March 16th 2012

4

The Tibet Post International

TPI NEWS H.H. THE DALAI LAMA

Educate Mind And Heart, His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tells DU

His Holiness the Dalai Lama's public talk given at Delhi University in New Delhi, India, on March 22, 2012. His Holiness's talk is followed by a question and answer session.

Photo: HHDL

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post International

New Delhi: - The spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, during his visit to Delhi University on Thursday, March 22 spoke on the "Ethics - Educating the Heart and Mind" as part of the University lecture series.

His Holiness stressed on the knowledge of the heart and soul along with the principle of meditation.

His Holiness Dalai Lama emphasised on the need for analytical meditation while speaking at the Seminar Hall of the Vice Regal Building.

"Meditation does not mean closing the doors from the world and going blank. Meditation cannot be done with vacant mind," His

Holiness said.

The Tibetan spiritual leader insisted that good meditation can be done only with good reading and ideas in the mind. His Holiness added that for successful meditation, self-analysis and focus were important.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureatal also said there was a very thin line between ego and envy.

"When you envy, you hurt yourself and not the person who you envy," he pointed out. Replying to a question, His Holiness said ego was both positive and negative. "A positive ego helps you become self confident and gives you positive energy," he said, while the negative ego makes a person ego-centric. The spiritual leader

warmed against a superiority complex.

The auditorium was packed beyond its capacity.

Many Tibetans not part of Delhi University but wanting to get a glimpse of the leader, gathered in huge numbers outside the Vice-Chancellor's office. "Even if we did not get a chance to listen to his preaching, we just want to get one glimpse of His Holiness," said Tsering Dolma.

Over 200 Tibetans from Tibetan settlement in Majnu Ka Tila had come to the university.

The spiritual leader of Tibet who was awarded the title of "adjunct honorary professor" by the Delhi University in 2009. After the Delhi University lecture, His Holiness is also scheduled to give a three-day public talk in the Indian capital.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama Wins 2012 Templeton Prize By: The Tibet Post International

West Conshohocken, Pa, USA, 29 March 2012 The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader whose long-standing engagement with multiple dimensions of science and with people far beyond his own religious traditions has made him an incomparable global voice for universal ethics, nonviolence, and harmony among world religions, has won the 2012 Templeton Prize.

For decades, Tenzin Gyatso, 76, the 14th Dalai Lama – a lineage believed by followers to be the reincarnation of an ancient Buddhist leader who epitomized compassion – has vigorously focused on the connections between the investigative traditions of science and Buddhism as a way to better understand and advance what both disciplines might offer the world.

Specifically, he encourages serious scientific investigative reviews of the power of compassion and its broad potential to address the world’s fundamental problems – a theme at the core of his teachings and a cornerstone of his immense popularity.

Within that search, the “big questions” he raises – such as “Can compassion be trained or taught?”

– reflect the deep interest of the founder of the Templeton Prize, the late Sir John Templeton, in seeking to bring scientific methods to the study of spiritual claims and thus foster the spiritual progress that the Prize has recognized for the past 40 years.

The announcement was made this morning online at www.templetonprize.org, via email to journalists, and on Twitter via @TempletonPrize by the Templeton Prize office of the John Templeton Foundation in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

The Prize will be presented to the Dalai Lama at a ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on the afternoon of Monday, May 14. A news conference with the 2012 Prize Laureate will precede. the ceremony. Both events will be webcast live at www.templetonprize.org and to global media on a pool basis. Photography from the events will also be pooled.

Valued at £1.1 million (about $1.7 million or •1.3 million), the prize is the world's largest annual monetary award given to an individual and honors a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.

The announcement praised the Dalai Lama for his life’s work in building bridges of trust in accord with the yearnings of countless millions of people around the globe who have been drawn by the charismatic icon’s appeal to compassion and understanding for all.

“With an increasing reliance on technological advances to solve the world’s problems, humanity also seeks the reassurance that only a spiritual quest can answer,” said Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., president and chairman of the John Templeton Foundation and son of the late Prize founder. “The Dalai Lama offers a universal voice of compassion underpinned by a love and respect for spiritually relevant scientific research that centers on every single human being.”

He also noted that the Dalai Lama’s remarkable record of intellectual, moral and spiritual innovations is clearly recognized by the nine Prize judges, who represent a wide range of disciplines, cultures and religious traditions. The Prize judges evaluate – independently of each other – typically 15 to 20 nominated candidates each year and then individually submit separate ballots – from which a tally then determines the selection of each year’s Laureate.

The Dalai Lama responded to the prize in the humble style that has become his signature. “When I heard today your decision to give me this quite famous award, I really felt this is another sign of recognition about my little service to humanity, mainly nonviolence and unity around different religious traditions,” he said in a video available at www.templetonprize.org.

In other brief videos on the Prize website, the Dalai Lama elaborates on key issues including his call for humanity to embrace compassion as a path to peace, both personally and on a global scale. “You can develop genuine sense of concern of wellbeing of others, including your enemy,” he states in one video. “That kind of compassion – unbiased, unlimited – needs training, awareness.”

The Right Reverend Michael Colclough, Canon Pastor at St. Paul’s Cathedral, welcomed this event: “A non-violent voice of peace and reason in a calamitous world, the Dalai Lama represents core values cherished by many different faiths. The award of the Templeton Prize to the Dalai Lama under the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral will be a

reminder that working towards peace and harmony is a practical and spiritual challenge to all faith communities.”

The Dalai Lama is no stranger to honors and accolades, with scores to his name. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of nonviolence as the path to liberation for Tibet. He becomes the second Templeton Prize Laureate to have also received the Nobel Peace Prize; Mother Teresa received the first Templeton Prize in 1973, six years before her Nobel.

In concert with his efforts to achieve peace for Tibet, the Dalai Lama’s extensive travels have promoted cross-cultural understanding with other religions and with disciplines as varied as astrophysics, quantum mechanics, neurobiology, and behavioral science.

He often notes that the rigorous commitment of Buddhists to meditative investment and reflection similarly follows the strict rules of investigation, proof and evidence required of science.

Among his most successful efforts is the Mind & Life Institute, co-founded in 1987 to create collaborative research between science and Buddhism. The Institute hosts conferences on subjects such as contemplative science, destructive and healing emotions, and consciousness and death. While initially beginning as quiet academic affairs, they have evolved into enormously popular public events.

In 2005, after a series of dialogues at Stanford University among the Dalai Lama, scientists in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and medicine, and contemplative scholars, the university became the home of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. The interdisciplinary discourse recognized that engagement between cognitive sciences and Buddhist contemplative traditions could contribute to understanding of the human mind and emotion.

The center now supports and conducts rigorous scientific studies of compassion and altruistic behavior.

Many of these conferences have led to popular best sellers written or co-written by the Dalai Lama, including "The Art of Happiness" (1998), "The Universe in a Single Atom" (2005), and "The Dalai Lama at MIT" (2006). All told, he has authored or co-authored more than 70 books.

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

The Dalai Lama Offers Advice for Unhappy Millionaires

By By Barbara Chai, The Wall Street Journal

According to the Dalai Lama, Adam Smith didn’t tell the whole story.

With his new book, “Beyond Religion,” the Dalai Lama wants readers to think beyond money and focus on compassion, forgiveness, and love. The Dalai Lama’s view is that these secular ethics, as he calls them, aren’t necessarily tied to religion, although faith can enhance the practice of those ethics.

“Any moral principle based on religion can never be universal,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview with the Journal. “So, what is a moral principle?

Simply, keeping some sense of concern of others’ well-being. We are social animals. If society, humanity is happy, I also get maximum benefit.”

We asked the Dalai Lama his specific thoughts on a range of topics. In this installment, we look at the Dalai Lama’s views on money, economics and happiness.

In economics, the invisible-hand theory of Adam Smith says if we act in our self-interest, we benefit society. But you are saying if we act with altruism we also benefit society. Can that work economically?

Yes, one aspect in economy may be you do well economically, then at least your neighbors, your friends get some benefit. So all these developments must start from individual initiative.

It’s true. Now, if you look only economically, then compassion, these things are mental things.

No direct link. But then money only brings comfort for our physical needs. Good shelter, good food, good clothes. Money never brings

peace of mind. I think through money, you may develop some kind of satisfaction, that’s actually just one side. Not complete, holistic. More money, more fear.

I think these people who in the village are quite ordinary families, may have better human relations with their neighbors. If one family is becoming millionaires, then another family also tries. Then there’s jealousy. When you’re ordinary families, maybe there’s genuine human friendship. When one has more money, more power, then I think genuine human relations may become distant. Firstly, jealousy, then distrust.

Competition. These destroy and develop distrust.

Then eventually if that family becomes even millionaires, but deep inside, [they are] lonely.

What is your advice for the millionaires who are powerful but maybe unhappy?

Some of my friends I think are at least millionaires.

Very rich. Very good reputation. Like big university chancellors. But as a person, unhappy person. Not due to lack of money. Not due to lack of fame.

Not due to lack of education. But something in here [points to heart], so unhappy. I think western education, the history of how it developed, itself is oriented toward material development.

Obviously, we have this body and mind. Emotion.

In terms of happiness, sadness, fear, these fields, mental is more superior than physical experience.

A very wealthy person has every physical comfort.

But when there’s too much worry here [points to forehead] the physical comfort never subdues the mental anxiety or concern. Other side: [if] mentally [you’re] very peaceful, very calm, even some physical pains, you can subdue.

Dalai Lama Says He’d ‘Welcome’ Investigation of Tibetan Self-Immolations By: Barbara Chai, Wall Street Journal

Nearly 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest Chinese rule in Tibetan areas, and in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Dalai Lama said he would welcome an investigation of the matter.

The latest incident of self-immolation involved a farmer whose funeral Saturday turned into a protest march with thousands calling for the release of Tibet from Chinese rule and the return of the Dalai Lama, the Associated Press reported.

The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetans who fled to Dharamsala, India in 1959, hasn’t made many public statements in response to the self-immolations.

“Now, I have nothing to say. Only pray,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview with the Journal on Friday. He called the self-immolations “very, very sad” and a “very sensitive, political issue.”

At the annual press conference at the close of the National People’s Congress last week, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said “we feel extreme sorrow” and the government “doesn’t approve of using these extreme methods to destroy social harmony.” According to Time, he didn’t explicitly link the self-immolations to the Dalai Lama but he said the exiled leader and the government-in-exile were trying to divide Tibet from China.

When asked to respond to this, the Dalai Lama referred to the 2008 Tibetan unrest. “Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and foreign media, he mentioned all these crises started from India, from Dharamsala. Then I immediately responded, please send some Chinese officials.

Check all our files and records of my talk [in] Tibetan. Most welcome. But nobody come. So this time also, if they come, start an investigation here. Most welcome.”

Water & Road Repair for Tibetan Settlements in Karnataka

By Tibetan Oficial Media: Tibet Net

Today, Mr. Tashi Phuntsok, Chief Representative, Bangalore called on Dr. Amita Prasad, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Karnataka, to thank her for her department's sanction of Rs 170 lakhs for water & road repair for Tibetan settlements in Karnataka.

She has sanctioned Rs. 110 lakhs on February 21 for water relief with Rs 55 lakhs for Mysore district, 33 lakhs for Kollegal and 22 lakhs for Mundgod. The Department has also sanctioned Rs 60 lakhs for road repair of Dhondenling in Kollegal vide her order dated February 3. The projects have been sanctioned as special grants for the fiscal year of 2011-2012 and as a result of repeated and series of meeting with her by the Chief Representative over the past months.

She has done a special gesture for Tibetans as promised to Mr. Phuntsok earlier. According to Dr. Amita Prasad, "This is the first time that that her department has sanctioned special projects for Tibetans". It may be recalled that the Office of Chief Representative (CRO) has been liaising with various departments in the State capital to address serious infrastruture and basic amenity needs of the Tibetans in Karnataka. In this there has been much contribution by the Settlements Officers at the district level.

Dr. Amita Prasad was even more enthusiastic and eager to be more helpful in the coming fiscal year now that a path has been broken. She has stated that she would be able to help more in areas of sanitation, school toilets and water supply, water supply for public, rain water harvesting and solar energy. She expressed her inability to assist in cases of drainage and roads, especially for internal roads. As advised by her instructions have been issued to settlement officers to prepare afresh better proposals for next year.

Dr. Amita Prasad was of the opinion that CTA should approach the Union Government of India for a special aid package to address the more serious, large scale and fundamental basic needs of the Tibetan settlements in India.

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

TPI NEWS

EXILE

Tibetan Parliament’s Resolution On The Critical Situation Inside Tibet

Mr. Penpa Tsering, the speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in exile delivering his opening speech at the first day of second session of the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, being held in Dharamshala, India, 16th September 2011.

Photo: TPI

By Rajeshwari K., The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala, India: After extensive deliberation during the third session of the 15th House, the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile unanimously passed a resolution to seek intervention from the international community on March 14, 2012.

Outlining the atrocities inflicted by the Chinese government on the Tibetans inside Tibet this resolution details major issues being faced by the Tibetans inside Tibet along with appealing for intervention from the international community.

Expressing much lament on the current state of affairs inside the Third Pole, Penpa Tsering, Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile addressed the media with the final draft of the latest resolution made by the Kashag.

The eight points highlighted in Resolution No. 2012/15/3/4 Document No. 6 are: 1. The Tibetan parliament in Exile would like to express our wholehearted solidarity, deep respect and appreciation to all the Tibetans who lost their lives and to all those who continue to suffer in Tibet for their selfless sacrifice and indomitable courage. We strongly condemn the Chinese government for resorting to harsh and inhuman repressive measures driving the Tibetans to selfimmolation, instead of responding positively to calls of the Tibetans for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and freedom for the Tibetans.

2. The Chinese government should, with

immediate effect, end the repressive policies and ensure the basic rights and genuine autonomy for the Tibetans by implementing the provisions enshrined in the National Regional Autonomy Law. 3. For the purpose of ensuring the implementation of the National Regional Autonomy Law, SinoTibet negotiation must be resumed immediately.

4. Neutral, independent international fact finding delegations must be allowed to visit Tibet to ascertain the factual ground realities. Failing which, representatives of the Central Tibetan Administration must be allowed. Likewise, independent international press, representatives of organizations and individual tourists must be freely allowed to visit Tibet.

5. The Chinese authorities should immediately stop the massive infrastructure development in Tibet and sedentarisation of Tibetan nomads that created the condition to transfer large numbers of Han Chinese in Tibet aimed at annihilation of the rich Tibetan cultural heritage and way of life. The Chinese government should end its wrong policies which adversely impact the sentiments of the Tibetan people and work towards fulfilling the long and short term interest of the Tibetan people and their rights.

6. The Chinese authorities should immediately release all political prisoners including Panchen Lama Gedun Choekyi Nyima, to promote trust

between the government and people just as Burma did.

7. We strongly appeal to the world leaders to raise the reality of the situation inside Tibet with the Chinese leaders and take effective responsibility in fulfilling the aspiration of the Tibetan people and to save Tibetan lives.

8. The Tibetan Parliament in Exile wishes to thank governments, parliaments, Tibet support groups, international organizations, Chinese democracy promoters and individuals that support truth and justice, for expressing their concern and solidarity through various nonviolent means. We seek your continued support and solidarity in not only resolving the current crisis in Tibet but also in finding a lasting solution for the issue of Tibet. Moreover, we wish to reiterate our appeal to the United Nations to send fact finding delegations to ascertain the critical situation inside Tibet.

Lamenting over China's repressive policies, Mr. Penpa Tsering in his address to the media, said, "China has with complete disregard to the basic rights of the Tibetan people been imposing obstinate policies resulting in death of many and torture of hundreds, who, unable to bear the heavy handedness are resorting to selfimmolations, one after another."

In an appeal to the world leaders to intervene, he said, "For a lasting resolution of the Tibetan issue and in view of the increasingly grave and urgent situation in Tibet, it was felt necessary and important to adopt the resolution to seek the intervention of the international community to support the just cause of Tibet," and thanked the organizations that have expressed and extended their support in every way as he concluded.

OVERVIEW The situation in eastern Tibet has consistently remained grim since March 2011 self-immolation by a Tibetan names Phuntsok.

30 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest of the Chinese rule in Tibet since then.

Most of the incidents have taken place in eastern Tibet but these incidents are now spreading to other areas as well.

Reports suggest that this crackdown has intensified after leaflets calling for Tibetans to skip New Year celebrations this year to pay homage to the martyrs were circulated in Drakgo.

Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile, Dr. Lobsang Sangay called for a worldwide vigil to protest against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet as an initiative to call for international intervention.

Thirty Tibetans Self-immolated In Tibet: Amnesty At UN Meeting

A new video from Tibet shows a large group of monks holding a peaceful protest in Ba Thunte or Gepa Sumdo in Tsolho in Tibet's Amdo Province, 15th March demanding the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and respect for Tibetan language. Photo: TPI/ File

By Tibetan Oficial Media: Tibet Net

Geneva: 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in Tibet since February 2009, said Amnesty International on 19 March during the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

These self-immolations are "protest against these restrictions, and the heavy presence of security forces since 2008 when protests swept across the region. Tibetans have also held prayer vigils and demonstrations against repressive government policies," said Amnesty International.

On three different days the Chinese authorities have used force to break up some peaceful demonstrations and have detained participants.

A delegate from Amnesty International expressing its concern said, Chinese security

forces shot protestors, killing at least three and injuring dozens.

The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action urges all States to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.

"Freedom of religious worship is guaranteed under the constitution of China and so are the rights of minority nationalities. Nonetheless, restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and religion and on cultural rights continue in the Tibet Autonomous Region," said Amnesty International.

It criticised China for branding the Tibetans who have self-immolated as "very bad reputations" or "criminal records."

The rights groups said that following the self-

immolation of a young monk in March 2011, three people were sentenced to prison terms of between ten and 13 years for "intentional homicide" following the self-immolation of a young monk in March 2011. No details from their trials were released. The Amnesty International said that from past records these trials would not have been conducted in accordance with international fair trial standards.

Amnesty urged the Chinese authorities to: · redress violations of the freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and cultural rights which have fuelled resentment among Tibetans; · provide information about the current whereabouts and well-being of individuals who set themselves on fire in protest and were removed from the scene; · provide information about lay people and religious people detained · resume meaningful dialogue with representatives of the Tibetan community who can represent widely-held human rights concerns; · exercise restraint in policing demonstrations and conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the allegation of use of excessive force · allow independent monitors into the region.

In its Right to reply, the Chinese delegation said it strongly rejects the groundless remarks made

by Amnesty International. China has been promoting democratic rights for over 50 years and Tibet has experience a sea change.

The present situation in Tibet was strongly raised by the EU, US, Germany, France, UK, Czech Republic and Canada. Eight international NGOS including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and International Commission of Jurist made statements on Tibet at this ongoing UN Human Rights Council session.

The Tibet Post International

5

Tibetan NGO Lobbies Indian Parliamentarians - Requests Support

By Rajeshwari K., The Tibet Post International

Tibetan NGO Lobbies Indian Parliamentarians Requests Support To Pressurise China to End Crackdown in Tibet.

New Delhi, India: With the Indian Parliament currently in session, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), an NGO supporting the Tibet issue has initiated a lobby campaign to gather the support of Indian Parliamentarians against the Chinese crackdown inside Tibet.

This initiative has been launched to raise the issue of the crisis inside Tibet to Hu Jintao, the President of China who is scheduled to attend the fourth BRICS summit on 28th March 2012 in New Delhi, India.

Many presume it may be Jintao's last visit to India before he steps down as the head of his party in October/November 2012.

SFT (INDIA) met with six parliamentarians from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha who represent various states of India as a part of this initiative.

Shri C.M. Chang: IAS (Rtd.) Nagaland People's Front Hon. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha.

Shri Prem Das Rai Sikkim Democratic Front Hon. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha Shri Tathagata Satpathy Orissa Biju Janata Dal Hon. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari Uttarakhand Bharatiya Janata Party Hon. Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha Shri Sharad Yadav Bihar Janata Dal (United) Hon. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha Shri Maheshwar Hazari Bihar Janata Dal (United) Hon. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha 31 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest of the repressive Chinese policies since February 2009 with 27-year-old Jampa Yeshi incident at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, India a few hours ago being the latest of its kind.

"At a time when brutally oppressed Tibetans inside Tibet are making ultimate sacrifices, it is highly crucial that world leaders intervene and pressure China to bring an immediate end to the crackdown in Tibet before more Tibetan lives are lost," said Tenzin Jigdal, Program Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India.

"Everyone we have met in the Indian Government expressed their concern on the tragedy unfolding in Tibet and assured to highlight the issue before the Parliament and to the Government," he concluded.

Kalon Tripa Launches Book on Self Immolation Protests

Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay (c) at the book launch.Photo:TPI

By Tibetan Administration Media: Tibet Net

DHARAMSHALA: Kalon Tripa Dr. Lobsang Sangay today launched a book, Chak-Yoe-ShiGoel-Meh Chey ( Eng: Flames of Peaceful Protests in the year of the Iron Rabbit) at the DIIR hall at 10:00 am.

The book is authored by Member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Dr. Khenrab, and is published by the Domey Literary Association.

Kalon Tripa Dr. Lobsang Sangay (c) at the book launch.

The book chronicles the urgent situation prevailing inside Tibet, particularly in the Ngaba region, since the self-immolation of Kirti monk Tenzin

Phuntsok. It also gives information on the Tibetans who have set themselves in protest of the Chinese government.

Kalon Tripa Dr. Lobsang Sangay thanked the Domey Literary Association for inviting him to launch the book and acknowledged their hard work in producing books integral to the Tibetan Freedom movement.

The book launch was attended by more than 30 people including Kasur Alak Jigme, Member of Parliament Dolkar Kyab,members of the Domey Literary Assoiciation, as well as the heads of various governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Tibetan hunger striker forced to hospital by NYPD

Three Tibetans (Shingza Rinpoche (32), Dorjee Gyalpo (59) and Yeshi Tenzing (39) have been on hunger strike in front of the United Nations since February 22nd 2012. Photo: TPI

By Tibetan Youth Congress Media Section

Dharamsala: Three Tibetans (Shingza Rinpoche (32), Dorjee Gyalpo (59) and Yeshi Tenzing (39) have been on hunger strike in front of the United Nations since February 22nd 2012 to demand immediate UN's intervention in the ongoing genocide in Chinese occupied Tibet.

30 Tibetans (mostly Buddhist monks and nuns) including 17 just this year has set themselves on fire in Tibet demanding return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and Independence for Tibet.

Today around 5:30 pm on the 27th day of not

eating any food, NYPD called in EMS to check on the three hunger strikers and when the oldest of the three hunger striker, Dorjee Gyalpo had difficulties getting up, he was forcefully removed from the hunger strike site by NYPD in an ambulance and taken to hospital. Many Tibetans at the hunger strike site resisted the police and blocked the ambulance for around 20 minutes.

He has vowed to continue not eating even in the hospital.

The remaining two hunger strikers will continue their protest in front of the United Nations (E 43rd St & 1st Ave).

6

TPI NEWS

The Tibet Post International

Thirty Tibetans Self-immolated In Tibet: Amnesty At UN Meeting

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

Geneva: 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in Tibet since February 2009, said Amnesty International on 19 March during the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

These self-immolations are "protest against these restrictions, and the heavy presence of security forces since 2008 when protests swept across the region. Tibetans have also held prayer vigils and demonstrations against repressive government policies," said Amnesty International.

On three different days the Chinese authorities have used force to break up some peaceful demonstrations and have detained participants.

A delegate from Amnesty International expressing its concern said, Chinese security forces shot protestors, killing at least three and injuring dozens.

The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action urges all States to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.

"Freedom of religious worship is guaranteed under the constitution of China and so are the rights of minority nationalities. Nonetheless, restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and religion and on cultural rights continue in the Tibet Autonomous Region," said Amnesty International.

It criticised China for branding the Tibetans who have self-immolated as "very bad reputations" or "criminal records."

The rights groups said that following the selfimmolation of a young monk in March 2011, three people were sentenced to prison terms of between ten and 13 years for "intentional

homicide" following the self-immolation of a young monk in March 2011. No details from their trials were released. The Amnesty International said that from past records these trials would not have been conducted in accordance with international fair trial standards.

Amnesty urged the Chinese authorities to: · redress violations of the freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and cultural rights which have fuelled resentment among Tibetans; · provide information about the current whereabouts and well-being of individuals who set themselves on fire in protest and were removed from the scene; · provide information about lay people and religious people detained · resume meaningful dialogue with representatives of the Tibetan community who can represent widely-held human rights concerns; · exercise restraint in policing demonstrations and conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the allegation of use of excessive force · allow independent monitors into the region.

In its Right to reply, the Chinese delegation said it strongly rejects the groundless remarks made

by Amnesty International. China has been promoting democratic rights for over 50 years and Tibet has experience a sea change.

The present situation in Tibet was strongly raised by the EU, US, Germany, France, UK, Czech Republic and Canada. Eight international NGOS including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and International Commission of Jurist made statements on Tibet at this ongoing UN Human Rights Council session.

Tibet Support Groups Petition for His Holiness To Visit Taiwan

By Hsieh Wen-hua / Staff Reporter / Taipei Times

HOPEFUL: Support groups launched a joint petition on Facebook for the Tibetan spiritual leader to come to Taiwan to attend a cross-strait forum on human rights.

Taipei: - Tibetan support groups on Tuesday petitioned for Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to attend a cross-strait human rights forum to discuss issues related to Tibet and democratization in China, the president of the Taiwan Friends of Tibet organization said.

A total of five groups, including the Taiwan Development and Cultural Exchange Association and the Taiwan Association for China's Human Rights, drafted a joint petition titled "A public invitation for the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan" on Facebook on Tuesday, calling for a visit by the spiritual leader to participate in the forum.

The invitation will be handed to the Dalai Lama through the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, said Sun Chi-pen (???), president of Taiwan Friends of Tibet and an associate professor at National Chiao Tung University.

The date for the forum has not yet been decided because the event's organizers are waiting to hear back from the Tibetan spiritual leader on his availability.

Commenting on the situation in Tibet, Sun said that since March last year, more than 30 cases of selfimmolation by Tibetans in protest of the continued

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occupation of their country by China had occurred, claiming the lives of nearly 20 people.

"The rising number of self-immolations suggests that China's so-called ‘stability maintenance' policy in Tibet has only resulted in the intensification of the crackdown on Tibetans, making the situation worse in an already tense area," Sun said.

Sun said cross-strait interactions have continued to increase, with members of the Democratic Progressive Party also conducting visits to China for cross-strait communication.

However, if Taipei only centers its China policy on economic exchanges, while disregarding democracy and human rights and turns a blind eye to Beijing's authoritarianism, that would be an "awful and stupid" thing to do, Sun said.

"The Dalai Lama said during his visit to areas hit hardest by Typhoon Morakot in 2009 that only with China's democratization could the Tibetan issue be truly settled," Sun said. "He also expressed hopes that Taiwan could facilitate China's democratization, given its democratic achievements."

An awareness of democracy is growing in China, Sun added, as evidenced by the rising number of Chinese netizens who have denounced the nation's pervasive corruption problems and used the Internet as a platform to fight for their fundamental rights. Translated by Stacy Hsu, staff writer

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Mr. Thomas Keimel Dr. Vincent Brucel Mr. YC. Dhardhowa Ms. Keary Huang Mathew Singh Toor Mr. Sangay Dorjee Ms. Pema Tso Ven Phuntsok Dhondup Mr. Sonam Sangay Mr. James Dunn Mr. Sangay Dorjee

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31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

UN Assurance Acknowledgement of Very Grim Situation in Tibet: Kalon Tripa

DPP legislator Chen Chiech is amongst the protesters during the 10th March Uprsing in Taipei, Taiwan, 10th March 2012. Photo: TPI

By Tibetan Official Media: Tibet Net

Dharamshala: Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay said the UN's assurance to the three Tibetan hunger strikers to send a special rapporteurs to probe situation in Tibet is an "acknowledgement of a very grim situation in Tibet, and a sign of support for the truth and just cause of Tibet".

Addressing a joint press conference by the Tibetan Parliament and the Kashag today, Kalon Tripa said: "What we hear in response the three hunger strikers in front the United Nations, after 30 days of major sacrifice on their part, an official from the United Nations visited the three hunger strikers. He assured, both verbally and in writing, that the United Nations will try to send a Special Rapporteur to investigate the actual situation inside Tibet, which we think is the acknowledgement of a very grim situation in Tibet."

"And also from the news accounts that we have read that the Australian Ambassador in China has requested the Chinese foreign ministry to allow to visit Tibet to assess the situation in Tibet,"

Kalon Tripa said.

"These two events, even though not the extent we would like to see, are in many ways are an indication that truth will be heard, truth will be supported, and hopefully truth will prevail. Truth being that Tibetans deserve their basic freedom, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama deserves to return to his rightful place in the Potala palace in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet," Kalon Tripa said.

Kalon Tripa said, "repeated appeals have been made by the Tibetan Parliament, the Kashag, and many NGOs including Tibetans, to the United Nations to send a special rapporteur or an envoy to Tibet to investigate the real conditions inside Tibet."

The Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Mr Penpa Tsering, read out the 8-point resolution unanimously passed during the opening day of the ongoing parliament session on 14 March. The resolution reaffirms exiled Tibetans' solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet, calls for the Chinese government to end its wrong Tibet policies, and

appeals to the international community to send fact-finding delegations to assess the groundreality inside Tibet.

Kalon Tripa emphasised the Kashag's firm support to the parliament resolution, which he said makes very clear that Tibetans inside Tibet are in really critical condition. 30 Tibetans have self-immolated of which 22 have died and many are in critical conditions, he added.

"The reasons are very clear. The self-immolators and the peaceful Tibetan protesters are showing the resentment against the continuing occupation of Tibet and the repressive policies of the Chinese government. What the self-immolators and those who have died and those who are in prisons are demanding that His Holiness the Dalai Lama returns to Tibet and freedom be restored for Tibetans inside Tibet," Kalon Tripa added.

Speaker Penpa Tsering said the Tibetan Parliament will hold a separate press conference to put the spotlight on Tibet's critical situation when Chinese President H

Campaign for Tibet Cause Gets Momentum in North-East India

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Contributors for this Editon Keary Huang Mathew Singh Toor

INTERNATIONAL

Ms Gyari Dolma, the home minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Photo: TPI/file

By Nava Thakuria, The Stateman

Guwahati, 26 March: - Addressing a conference today in Guwahati, Ms Gyari Dolma, the home minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, argued that Tibet is closer to India than China. She urged people of India's North-east region, which is adjacent to Tibet, to support a free Tibet.

"When the Chinese regime in Beijing speaks about Tibet, it definitely means Arunachal Pradesh, too," Ms Dolma said. "So it is in the interest of every Indian to support genuine autonomy in Tibet, and I believe that the people of north-east India can play a pivotal role in raising their voices for us."

Organised by the Core Group For the Tibetan Cause, New Delhi, at the Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Guwahati, the conference ~ titled "Tibet and Himalayan Environment and Ecology" ~ was attended by hundreds of

people, including exiled Tibetans, residents of Guwahati, and media representatives.

Ms Dolma, who is based in Dharamsala, in northern India, also pointed out that the President of the People's Republic of China, Mr Hu Jintao, is a hydrology expert and is the man behind the Chinese plan to construct a number of dams on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet.

"Not only dams, but the Chinese government is planning to divert water from the mighty river to the northern part of Tibet to support its agricultural needs," she said. "If completed, the project will have a severe negative impacts on the environment and ecology of India and also Bangladesh."

Wrapping up her speech, she referred to leader termed Mr Hu's upcoming visit to New Delhi, saying "a monster is coming to India". The Chinese president is scheduled to attend the

next BRICS summit in New Delhi on 28-29 March, along with leaders from Brasil, Russia, India, and South Africa. He is also slated to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Mr K C Agnihotri, in his speech at the conference, criticised the Union government of India for its "weak response" to China's unnecessary intervention on Arunachal issues, including the McMahon Line, the line of control marking the boundary between India and Tibet.

"The McMahon Line was recognised in the Simla Convention and was signed by the British (India) and Tibet in 1914," Mr Agnihotri said.

"We, the people of India and Tibetans in exile, still consider the McMahon Line an official international border, but the Union government in New Delhi occasionally terms it as disputed, which is actually the language of Beijing."

D N Chakrabarty, a senior journalist in Assam, argued that Tibet should get its independence from China as soon as possible. He also appealed to the United Nations to recognise Tibet as a sovereign nation, and urged New Delhi to extend formal recognition to the government-in-exile as an independent country.

"Let's boycott Chinese goods in India as a protest against Beijing's continued occupation of Tibet. We should understand that it is the duty of every citizen living in the North-east to support the cause of Tibet," Chakrabarty said.

Mr R K Khrimey, north-east convener of the Core Group For the Tibetan Cause, recalled China's 1962 invasion and march into Tezpur, Assam, after capturing Arunachal Pradesh.

"The Communist forces, however, fled as Beijing received warnings from America and France following pleas for help from Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru," said Mr Khrimey. "After the 1820 (till 1826) Burmese attack, no forces except China have attacked the region."

TPI NEWS INTRERVIEW

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

The Tibet Post International

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Chinese Democrats Offer Freedom for Tibet and China

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post International

An Interview with Frank Ruanjie, A Chinese democracy activist from Australia.

Melbourne: - I met with Frank Ruanjie on a Monday afternoon in the centre of Melbourne, at the city-end of Chinatown. We found a quiet spot in a restaurant upstairs where only a few teenagers came to hang out after school, and had a long chat over coffee and hot chocolate.

I've known Frank almost since I moved to Melbourne nine months ago; I've seen his face at every Tibetan event, protest or vigil, listened with tears in my eyes to his inspiring speeches and photographed him more times than I can count. My admiration for the man who brought to Australia the Chinese Democratic Party and Tiananmen Times publication, and who has devoted his life to fighting for democracy and human rights in his country has grown by the day. I was excited and grateful for this opportunity to discuss his life and his work with him one-on-one.

A little about Frank Ruanjie and the Democratic Party...

It was in his third year of university studies in Guangdong province that it all began, when Frank and a fellow classmate organised a forum on democracy. At the time it was Hu Yaobang calling the shots in China and amid greater freedom of speech and expression teachers were encouraging students to talk about the future of China. This certainly didn't last long, and before the second part of the forum could take place the Dean of the university had warned the pair against continuing, and they found themselves with a record on file for involvement in political activities.

It was 1989, the year of the notorious Tiananmen Square massacre that has since been scrubbed from the Chinese history books and blocked out by the Great Firewall in cyberspace. His involvement in the movement calling for democracy, which culminated in the slaughter of thousands of Chinese citizens, led authorities to ban him from work for a period of two years.

Not to be defeated, he returned to his village and helped his parents sell chickens and farm their land, and when the ban was lifted he returned to work and began dangerously including political content in an internal company publication.

It was in 1998 that Frank joined in the preparation to establish the Chinese Democratic Party, attending meetings and helping in the preparation of people and policies. When the Chinese government began arresting many key people involved in the party they somehow missed him, and the Democratic Party was driven underground. In 2006, with offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Frank was honoured to establish the Australian branch of the party to continue the fight that had been silenced back home in China.

But why do you think the Chinese even want Democracy?

I asked Frank about the issue on many Westerners' minds. You know the type, the ones who insist that the Chinese people want autocracy. The ones who argue with paternalistic superiority that the Chinese are happy being dictated to, and that minorities like the Tibetan and Uighur populations are enjoying development, not exploitation. The ones who go home to their elections and their free speech and criticise their own governments' actions without ever realising the irony. I asked Frank if China's political system was really appropriate for its unique needs as a large and populous nation, and what made him think the people of China wanted democracy.

To those who have any doubts, Frank has a strong message: "Too many people, Chinese and Western people, think this system is suitable because it's such a big country. I don't think many people understand the real political system in China. It's a one-party dictatorship. There's no voting; they took power by violence in 1949.

They make a lot of problems. In the last 60 years, in the 1950s the CCP killed a lot of Chinese people". At the orders of Chairman Mao, he says "they killed all the intelligent people who questioned him" and "used young people to crack down on others to let himself be king of the regime". Thirty million people were killed in the Cultural Revolution alone, he adds solemnly.

Frank goes on to ague: "The system's defects prove that it is not fit for China. It's not suitable for human beings in society. You should have freedom of speech, freedom of association- that is the natural way of society. Chinese people are morally worse off. We are seeing things like poisoned milk, poisoned foods, fake goods. They don't have any justice in their minds".

Making an admiring comparison to the Australian political system which features both state and federal areas for legislation, Frank adds that what

a country as big as China really needs is ‘local autonomy', wherein each province answers to the central government but also has the ability to elect local leaders and make decisions on legislation concerning it. In true Chinese fashion, he illustrates this with an allegory: "If you have ten sons, and you are the father, you want them all to have their families and manage very well".

Simply put, no father wants to smother his children by making all their decisions for them.

So what is wrong with the Chinese Communist Party?

Essentially, the CCP was not elected by the people; they only got into power through violence, so they rely on two things to keep people happy: economic growth, which is often at the expense of the environment ("we have a chicken today, but not tomorrow"), and nationalism. Particularly since the adoption of the strategy of fast economic development at all costs, the combination of power and economic control have led to blatant widespread corruption that nobody can challenge.

In Frank's words, in a nutshell: "Nobody can criticise them. Not any elections, not any voting, not any competition".

Furthermore, the Chinese government (controlled by the CCP) has dramatically upset the traditional Chinese sense of morality, by convincing the people that it is unscientific to believe in consequences for their actions. Frank explains: "They don't want the people to think too much, because if they want to improve their spirit they'll want more freedom. So they just encourage people to make more money. The CCP sets the standard for morality, but they are corrupt and the people have a hard time having any faith in them". In the beginning they used ‘class struggle' to establish their own morality, now they don't have religion and their propaganda encourages a warped sense of values and lack of personal responsibility.

In Frank's view, "all the Chinese problems are caused by the [effectively] one-party dictatorship. Democracy is the only solution".

He asks me how many Chinese live in Australia, and I reply that I don't know but it's a lot. He then suggests that the millions of Chinese immigrants you see in places like Australia, America and around the world are here because they don't like the system in China. They want democracy. These are the lucky ones who have the means to get out of the country; many others would jump on a plane tomorrow if only they had the chance.

Does the CCP have a future?

"It cannot last much longer. Dictatorships cannot last forever". A simple, determined answer.

Despite the name of ‘Communist Party' in effect it is a dictatorship, says Frank. When I ask him what he thinks of the enigmatic Chinese premier, he seems cautious: "Some Chinese say Wen Jiabao is a good man. He may want reform but he can't have it. It will be rejected by every level of government. Leaders are wary of introducing accountability and having to pay back the money they obtained illegally".

What about the recent citizen occupation and elections in Wukan? Were they real and fair elections? Do they herald the start of a new phase for China?

Apparently not. Originally, the first round of elections in Wukan had no connection to the CCP and it was held by the locals, who elected the new administration of their village. "This indicates the people can make a decision for themselves.

The Chinese government says the people are low quality, have low education and are not qualified for elections, but it's a lie" says Frank angrily.

The elections were declared illegal and in the new ‘government approved' elections, deemed an exception in China and a likely publicity stunt, the CCP interfered and appointed the Communist Committee's branch secretary. While discussing these rigged elections Frank lowers his eyes and says "I feel very disappointed for what they did there", adding that sadly the Wukan occupation and elections cannot spread because even those on the other side of the province (Frank's own Guangdong), as well as the rest of China, had been prevented from learning about what happened in Wukan.

A Chinese politician's thoughts on Tibet?

I'm not surprised that Frank has a lot to say on the subject of Tibet. After all, it was at a Tibetan protest outside the Chinese consulate in Melbourne that I first had the honour of meeting him, and he admits to "having the same feeling" of being an exile as his "Tibetan brothers and sisters".

"I think many Chinese don't understand why the Westerners support Tibet, maybe they think they have some hostilities [against China], maybe they think they are receiving some money from the Tibetan exile government. There is a lot of misunderstanding". Frank feels that it is not only

Frank Ruanjie, Australian branch leader of the Chinese Democratic Party & the Tiananmen Times. Photo: TPI/Carly

the Tibetans and other minorities but also the Chinese who are suffering the effects of repression and intimidation, and that the sooner the Chinese majority realises they are in fact on the same team there will be much greater cooperation.

For him, there is no doubt around the question of autonomy or the relationship between the Chinese and their Tibetan neighbours: "Actually there is no conflict between the Chinese and Tibetan people or nationalities. The two lived together very well for thousands of years. Before, they had their own leadership. They had autonomy. Now all officials are appointed by the CCP. Some say Tibet has autonomy, but it's not true. There is an ethnic Tibetan governor of the TAR, but the CCP is the first to make the decisions, not him".

Frank believes it is unjust for the Chinese government to encourage its citizens to look down on Tibetans, arguing that "Tibet is really important to China, in terms of religion. Most Chinese have no religion, no morality. I think the Tibetan Buddhism can save China". When I question Frank on how the government is handling what it no doubt perceives to be its ‘Tibetan problem', he gives me perhaps my favourite line of the afternoon's interview.

Without thinking, he retorts "There is no Tibetan problem. China only has a communist problem".

Let's imagine that one day soon the CCP regime is overthrown, and China holds its first free elections. What would the Chinese Democratic Party promise the people of China and Tibet in their campaign?

Frank gets into campaign mode, with a message to his fellow citizens of China: "We should work

hard to establish the democratic constitution: freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of religion. Everywhere you can believe in everything. Magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, all free. We should stop the Han Chinese migrants to Tibet, Mongolia and Xinjiang, and convince some of them to return to their hometowns. In a democratic system local people elect local government, so they need to represent the people.

People say in a democratic country you can move where you like, it's not true. They can move anywhere except Tibet and Xinjiang. They (the ethnic minorities in those regions) can make their own policy on accepting migrants. This should be decided by the local governments". Frank contends that China is different from other countries because of its unique ethnic regions, and a Chinese democracy would reflect that. "For example, there is a lot of oil in Xinjiang, and they can't get it themselves, but there can be an exchange. We can work together".

If you could do everything again, or make different choices, is there anything you've done that you would change?

"No. I don't regret that I'm on this road. I don't regret this. The Chinese government is very big.

Everyone keeps silent, keeps to themselves, and one day it will destroy them. If it were a Western country they would have been gone long ago".

Frank explains that in Chinese culture there is an attitude of not getting involved in another's problems, but he has a warning for those who fail to help their neighbours: "Today they damage another and you keep silent, tomorrow it will be your turn and nobody will help you".

I ask Frank what would likely happen to him now if he returned home to China, after all his

work for democracy and human rights. He shakes his head dismissively, saying "I'm not allowed, I'm on the blacklist. I worry now about [things like] pollution and morality. If we go back we can't keep quiet now. [But] as a Chinese man, I think we should have this conscience for China". *************** In the past three years, Frank has been sending out a PDF file to a secret network of distributors in China who print the material and leave it in conspicuous places all over town, in the middle of the night. The distribution changes cities often to avoid detection, and Frank is very aware of the danger faced by those in his network if they are caught. The lengths they are willing to go to only illustrate the desperation of the Chinese people in their quiet and muted suffering. Frank smiles as he tells me that some of his paid journalists within China are double agents: "they have two pens- one pen to write for the government, and one pen to write for me".

It seems fate intervened when Frank was offered the chance to travel to Australia. While overseas he learnt that he was being investigated for an article he'd written criticising Deng Xiaoping, the man behind the command to butcher thousands of peaceful demonstrators under the wheels and bullets of military tanks at Tiananmen. He decided wisely not to return to his homeland, and has not been able to return since. Currently there is a Propaganda Bureau investigation order on the Tiananmen Times, sent out to local governments ordering them to find the "publisher of the enemy of China".

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TPI NEWS TORTURE AND TIBET

The Tibet Post International

Authorities openly threaten those who circulate information with “torture”

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

Special Envoy Calls for International Sympathy and Support for Tibet

WASHINGTON - APRIL 23: Lodi Gyari (R), special envoy of the Dalai Lama, becomes emotional as he testifies during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee April 23, 2008 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The hearing was focused on the crisis in Tibet. Photo: AP By: Tibetan Oficial Media: Tibet Net

DPP legislator Chen Chiech is amongst the protesters during the 10th March Uprsing in Taipei, Taiwan, 10th March 2012. Photo: TPI

By The Reporters Without Borders International

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the policy of terror openly pursued by the Chinese authorities in Gan Lho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northwestern province of Gansu, where the police have posted notices in public places in which “criminals” who circulate certain views and information are threatened with “beating” and “torture”.

The existence of the notices was revealed by Tibet Post International, a Tibetan news website based in Dharamsala, in northern India. The site operates under the aegis of the Himalayan Literacy Trust, a Reporters Without Borders partner organization.

“The aim of these torture threats is to instil terror in all those who might circulate information about the government’s repressive policies,” Reporters Without Borders said. “By posting warnings of physical reprisals, the Public Security Bureau is directly violating article 2 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which China has signed. This article says that ‘An order from (...) a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.’

“We call on the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, to open an investigation based on this notice published by the Chinese authorities and to condemn their use of such threats. The police must immediately withdraw these posters and stop legitimizing the use of torture and physical mistreatment for criminal actions that are deliberately defined in vague, loose terms open to broad interpretation.”

According to a report yesterday on the Tibet Post International website, the notice has been posted in at least six of Gan Lho’s counties and one city-county. Gan Lho is part of Amdo, the northernmost of the three traditional regions of Tibet.

The notice calls on the public to inform on “criminals” who “threaten the social stability of Gan Lho” and lists a series of prohibited activities that include “corrupting” the public with “ideas of splitting the nation,” inciting “illegal activities,” harming national security, destabilising society, “agitation between ethnic groups” and promoting “illegal organizations.”

All of these actions “will be met with violent beating/torture by the Public Security Bureau,” the notice says.

The list of illegal activities also defines the means of communication and information whose use is forbidden for “criminal purposes.” They include “speech and the distribution of written information,” “cartoons,” “home-made materials,” “videos,” “websites,” “emails and audio files,” and “SMS texts.”

The notice finally promises informers that they will get protection, confidentiality and a reward of 5,000 Chinese Yuan.

Translation of the notice (as translated by Tibet Post International):

Notice: Gan Lho Public Security Bureau (PSB) requests the public to inform on criminals who threaten the social stability of Gan Lho. Protect social and political stability in Gan Lho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and quickly establish a harmonious Gan Lho! Establish a better economic environment for investment! Be vigilant of and crack down on criminals who threaten Gan Lho’s social stability! Directly inform on criminal lairs!

The following directives have been authorized by the security department: I) Damage to national security, the destabilization of society, the destruction of ethnic unity.

All the following actions will be met with violent beating/torture by the PSB: 1) The disturbance of relations between ethnic groups, public agitation between ethnic groups, the destruction of national unity.

2) The corruption of the public with ideas of the splitting of the nation, through speech and the distribution of written information, cartoons, home-made materials, videos etc - all acts destructive to social discipline and stability.

3) The membership, promotion of, or the making of donations to illegal organizations - all of which harm national security and destabilize society.

4) The incitement of the public to illegal activities

through websites, emails and audio files, all acts destructive to ethnic unity through websites and SMS texts, and other major criminal actions against the security of society.

5) The engagement in criminal activities such as grievous bodily harm, destruction of property, arson and looting etc, and the coercion of others into criminal acts that damage the security of society.

II) Any member of the public who informs the police about the above criminal acts or gives the police information about the perpetrators will be guaranteed personal protection by PSB officers, personal confidentiality and a reward of 5,000 Chinese Yuan.

III) This directive is to be applied with immediate effect. 0941 - 669 6271, 6696272 In a 23 February press release, Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm at the blackout imposed by the Chinese authorities on coverage of the ongoing protests in the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai and the autonomous region of Tibet. According to organizations that defend human rights in Tibet, at least 30 Tibetans, mostly Buddhist monks, have set fire to themselves since March 2011.

China fell six places in the 2011-2012 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index and is now ranked 174th out of 179 countries.

Washington: Mr. Lodi Gyari, the special envoy of His Holiness the Dalai lama, issued the following message on March 23, regarding the current lock-down of Tibet and the many Tibetans who have self-immolated in the past two years.

"As you would expect, the ICT Board focused its attention on the terrible situation in Tibet, as the self-immolations are of grave concern to us all. And, while there is widespread international sympathy and support, no one feels the sorrow as much as the Tibetans themselves and especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

I am writing as ICT Executive Chairman, at this critical time for Tibet, to share some personal reflections on our ICT Board discussions today, March 23, and to ask for your continued commitment to the Tibetan struggle.

There was much for the ICT Board to consider - the extended reach of the protests, the implementation of oppressive policies across Tibetan regions, the willingness of more and more Tibetans to confront the authorities, and the often brutal response by the Chinese armed police and military. ICT President Mary Beth Markey assured the Board that the entire ICT organization would use every resource available to get the facts and analysis of events in Tibet out to the general public, media and policymakers with the intention of persuading China to change its policies and practices in Tibet. We all resolved to work together with extra effort so that the international community and particularly world leaders understand that the Tibetans are rising up against oppression and mis-rule and that, therefore, it is only the Chinese authorities who can bring this tragic situation to a close.

This was explicitly conveyed to Mary Beth during her recent visit to Dharamsala when she met with several monks from Kirti monastery and others who have connections and an intimate understanding of the emotions of the people in

Top Ten Cliches About Environment In Tibet

By Gabriel Lafitte, Outlook Tibet

CHINA’S KEY METAPHORS OF TIBET’S ENVIRONMENT: Presentation given to TIBET POLICY INSTITUTE seminar 29 March 2012-03-27.

China has a set of slogans that define its approach to the environments of the Tibetan Plateau. These key metaphors, endlessly repeated, shape China’s thinking, limit China’s imagination, close Chinese minds to the complex circumstances on the ground that are quite different to the clichés of Chinese policy.

Some of China’s familiar slogans are grazing ban, ecological migration, leap-style development, comfortable housing, grain to green. Underlying these formulas for reducing Tibet, making Tibet predictable and governable, is the basic metaphor of rangeland degradation. It’s worth taking a fresh look at the basis of this key term.

RANGELAND DEGRADATION/ FRAGILE ENVIRONMENT China talks a lot about rangeland degradation or grassland degradation (without making much clear distinction between rangeland and grassland); while exiled Tibetans often say the environment in Tibet is fragile. Both terms have similar meaning, suggesting that life, especially plant life, is easily disturbed in Tibet, and once disturbed, it is hard to rehabilitate.

But China and Tibetans draw opposite conclusions.

To Tibetans the obvious response to a fragile environment is to respect it, work with it, use the land in a mobile way, moving on before too much

pressure is put on any area, not mining, not digging more than absolutely necessary, not cutting the earth for highways, railways, mines, quarries etc.

For China, the answer to rangeland degradation is to ban grazing on degrading areas, and remove the nomads, as the only way to let the degraded land heal itself and grow more grass.

Since Tibetans and the Chinese government see the solution to degradation/fragility so differently, it is worth exploring these concepts further.

Scientists would say that rangeland degradation is a scientific term, which simply describes an objective truth, which can be scientifically measured, so it is not a metaphor, it is truth. But degradation is an emotional word, which implies that before the degradation happened there was a stable, entirely natural state of harmony and balance, which has been lost. Indeed China’s official policy is to restore grassland to its natural state, on the false assumption that the natural state of the grassland is a wilderness in which there is no presence of humans and their animals. The official policy of tuimu huancao means remove animals to restore grassland.

This attitude shows a basic ignorance among Chinese officials, of the actual history of nomadic land use, which has lasted almost 9000 years (so the archaeologists say), without disastrous degradation of the kind seen in the past 50 or 60 years. In other words, the Tibetan Plateau has been a stable and productive pasture land for thousands of years, in which the drogpa nomads routinely burned forest patches, and kept pasture land clear of regenerating forest, in order to expand pasture

area, while maintaining major forests, and managing the grazing lands sustainably. So the vast pastures of the Tibetan Plateau are not a natural wilderness, they are a man-made, curated landscape. If the objective of policy is to restore a sustainable landscape, that is no longer degrading, then this is an important distinction.

Degradation means a serious loss of that original harmonious, balanced state. Yet the Tibetan Plateau is a young land, continuing its rise to the clouds, and the entire land is unstable, dynamic, filled with energies circulating through the earth.

Degradation, in the form of erosion is natural, and in Tibet erosion is extraordinarily strong and directly due to uplift.

Although rangeland degradation seems at first to be an objective scientific term, the science keeps changing. It is decades since the publication of “Uncertainty on a Himalayan Scale”, which first raised doubts about how much we actually know about hydrology and river flows, on both sides of the Himalayas. Still today, the earth scientists are still guessing, and forever changing their models, on how the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau actually works. So much is yet to be understood, yet already it is clear that what goes up must come down, uplift is balanced by the downward force of erosion, and the rivers of Tibet have extraordinary erosive power.

We could go so far as to say the capacity of the mighty mountain rivers of Tibet to cut through mountain chains keeps pace with the uplift., even though this means cutting a gorge that is five kilometres deep, by far the deepest gorge in the

Ngaba. Mary Beth asked the monks what would help stop the self immolations, and they told her what will end this tragic situation is when China stops demeaning their culture, their identity, their language and their leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Chinese government is the responsible party as the restive situation in Tibet continues to escalate - and Tibetans continue to sacrifice themselves to free others from suffering.

I also had the opportunity to brief the Board of my recent visit to India and in particular I shared my own experience of observing the tremendous enthusiasm for Kalon Tripa Dr. Lobsang Sangay among the more than ten thousand Tibetans who travelled to Bodhgaya from Tibet for the Kalachakra teachings this past January. I watched their faces as he addressed the crowd and at once felt their hope in him and the importance of helping him succeed. The political transition in the Tibetan community in exile also provides important context for our movement in and outside Tibet. We will certainly do everything we can to assist Kalon Tripa Dr. Lobsang Sangay and the Central Tibetan Administration.

The Board also discussed the status of the dialogue process and was dismayed with the PRC's shortsightedness in responding to our sincere efforts, particularly at a time when the situation in Tibet is so dire. In this context the leadership succession in the People's Republic of China beginning this fall and the wait for it to take hold could be particularly frustrating for those seeking positive change in China and Tibet.

Let me conclude by saying that you have a dedicated and professional team working on your behalf at the International Campaign for Tibet, and I look forward very much to continuing my close association with them. As stated above, the success of Dr. Lobsang Sangay and the Central Tibetan Administration is crucial for fulfilling the vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

We must all maximize our efforts at this critical time. I ask you to join me." world, around the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra as it encloses Pemako, the likeliest location for the pure land Buddhists pray to be reborn into. Khamtrul Rinpoche’s memoir of his pilgrimage to this area, while fleeing from the communists, is memorable reading: Memoirs of Lost and Hidden Lands.

Geologists now say that the Yarlung Tsangpo has probably managed to maintain a steady altitude above sea level, even though the entire landscape around it has been rising for millions of years. That is the power of erosion, a power which in turn makes it possible for monsoon clouds to pass through the Himalayas, up the gorge, falling as rain and snow in Tibet, thus contributing further to river flow, a complete circle.

CHINA’S IMPERIAL YELLOW IS FROM TIBET So powerful is the erosion of the Tibetan Plateau that China’s most fundamental metaphor of identity comes from it. The yellow emperor, yellow earth and yellow river are core metaphors of China’s identity, deriving from the colour of the great river of northern China, which delivers an extraordinary burden of yellow sediment along its lowland length, all originating in the erosion of the Tibetan Plateau. So enormous is this burden of yellow sediment coming from Tibet that the loess plateau of Gansu, immediately below the Tibetan Plateau is hundreds of metres of thick yellow sediment deposited there by the yellow river. That yellow silt is so fine, and recent that it has not compacted, water drains away and cannot be stored on the surface, and it in turn very quickly erodes, sending the yellow earth further downstream.

To be continued in the next issue....

9 TPI NEWS TIBET IN FOCUS International Collaboration Saves the An Academic Dialogue: What Does the Tibet Memories of Tibet’s Elders Leverage Mean for India Today?

The Tibet Post International

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala

By: YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: - March 30, 2012 - The Tibet Oral History Project and Memoro-The Bank of Memories are working together to share the unique culture and history of Tibet with the world.

The Tibet Oral History Project documents the extraordinary lives of exiled Tibetan elders-the last generation to live in a free, unoccupied Tibetand preserves memories of their homeland for future generations. The Project has already videotaped the eyewitness accounts of 120 elderly Tibetan refugees and this May, their oral history team of Tibetans and Americans will meet in Dharamsala, India, home of the Tibetan government in exile, to videotape 50 more oral histories with the oldest surviving Tibetan elders.

When the Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet in 1959, an estimated 80,000 Tibetans followed their spiritual leader into exile in India where most now live. The Tibet Oral History Project (TOHP) (www.TibetOralHistory.org) documents the refugees' early peaceful life in Tibet and the devastating impact of the Chinese invasion and occupation on their families, livelihood, social structure and religious practices. Now at the ages of 70, 80 or 90, these refugees are the last generation who can describe the rich and ancient traditions of Tibet as an independent country.

Now these important stories will reach an even wider audience with the help of Memoro-The Bank of Memories (www.memoro.org), also a non-profit organization, dedicated to collecting the experiences and life stories of people born before 1950. The Memoro website enables the public to upload short audio or video clips of elders' life stories and provides free distribution of this collection on an international scale.

Not only will memories and life stories be preserved, but more importantly they are being shared on a medium, the Internet, that is able to reach young people. Memoro aims to be a bridge between generations, in which they ask to the younger technology savvy generations to become "Memory Hunters", active listeners and sharers of memories from the elderly. This project enables the elders to return to the role of "wisdom holders", which they held just few decades ago.

Memoro is also a place where people or organizations already collecting oral histories of elders can easily publish and share all or part of their work and invite visitors to their own website or physical exposition, such as the collaboration now established with the Tibet Oral History Project.

Memoro recently archived of TOHP's 22 short videos from the Tibetan elders' eyewitness accounts with many more to be added in the future.

The special section of Memoro devoted to Tibet will be translated into seven languages for Memoro websites hosted on each continent. TOHP is also making video footage and English transcripts of the oral history interviews available through their own website, the United State Library of Congress and several universities and archives.

Memoro invites everyone to help preserve the wisdom culture of Tibet. Anyone living near a community of Tibetan refugees can easily record a Tibetan elder's story with an iPhone, iPad or Android App and upload the stories directly to Memoro's website. Visit Memoro's Tibetan section for more information: http:// www.memoro.org/us-en/tibet/.

---------------------------------------------About the Tibet Oral History Project: At the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibet Oral History Project was initiated in 2003 by Marcella Adamski, Ph.D to record the early life experiences of Tibetan elders, who were forced to flee their homeland in 1959 following the Chinese invasion and subsequent occupation.

The Tibet Oral History Project is a non-profit organization committed to making the elders' oral history interviews accessible via the Internet in order to share with the world the culture and history of Tibet.

About Memoro-The Bank of Memories: Memoro-The Bank of Memories is a non-profit organization, dedicated to collecting the experiences and life stories of people born before 1950. Established in Turin, Italy, in August 2007, the first website was launched in June 2008 and now the project is active in 14 countries on four continents. Videos on the Memoro website have been viewed more than eight million times since the website launched in 2008.

Thousands Mourn At Jampal's Funeral

TWA organizes a crucial Panel Discussion on the eve of Hu Jintao’s India visit Photo: TPI

By The Tibet Post International

New Delhi, March 27, 2012: In the wake of heightening Tibetan resistance and desperation, intensifying Chinese military response, and Asia’s looming water crisis threatening the future of regional stability, there is no doubt that the global eye has shifted east.

In preparation for Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to New Delhi tomorrow, the Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) hosted an “Academic Dialogue” today to present imperative viewpoints to decision-makers and the public regarding Sino-Indian-Tibetan affairs. Four speakers debated “What the Tibetan Leverage Means for India Today,” and engaged in a question-and- answer session after their individual 15-minute statements.

The event, held at the Casuriana Hall of New Delhi’s India Habitat Center, commenced with a moment of silence to respect those who are contributing to the peaceful resolution for Tibet crisis - “Tibetan, Chinese, or other, alive or passed on.” Special recognition was made to yesterday’s self-immolation by Jamphel Yeshi (27) in New Delhi on March 26.

Following the introduction, four speakers offered insight into Sino-India-Tibet realities: Mr. Tempa Tsering, Special Representative for the Delhi Bureau Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; Dr. Mohan Guruswamy, Chairman and Founder of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and author of ‘Chasing the Dragon: Will India Catch Up with China?’; Former Major General Vinod Saighal, internationally acclaimed political author and Executive Director of Eco Monitors Society (EMS); and Tenzin Tsundue, writer, 2001 winner of the Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction, and renowned Tibetan activist.

Tempa Tsering began the discussion with an overview of past and present Tibetan history,

relating notable events to a declining trust among Asian neighbors today. Tsering highlighted sources of Tibetan inspiration for nonviolent resistance and insisted that military might is not a sole source of power. He called on other countries to represent their stated principles, and suggested that India can contribute to progress in Sino-Tibet affairs under the Middle Way Policy, a path continuously encouraged by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Mohan Guruswamy followed Tsering with a compelling assessment of Indian and Chinese military positioning, the statehood of Tibet, and a review of the Indian policy of compassion toward troubled governments and citizens.

“When the Tibetans threw out the Chinese in 1913, they came to India: we are a place of refuge.

We are home to Afghans, Ugyurs, Burmese, Pakistanis, Tamils… it is the nature of India.”

Dr. Guruswamy insisted that though Tibetan activities have a strong impact on the Indian community, India would not go to war over Tibetan issues—India can only continue to pressure for the resumption of dialogues.

Tenzin Tsundue started off by acknowledging United States and India’s inability to assist Tibet— country efforts that are thwarted by business interests. Tsundue recognized India’s particularly immense desire to lessen neighborly tensions and claimed that “India gives us [Tibetans] our strength, our confidence—India is our guru.”

Tsundue pointed to Tibetan unity on the boycott of Losar in honor of self-immolations, defining the “Tibetan Leverage” to be the Tibetan freedom struggle itself. “If there is any leverage India seeks—it’s the Tibetan people—they make the Tibetan freedom struggle a threat to China.” He warned of an impending Chinese collapse that will drastically damage the western corporate

Tibet supporters condemn GOI attempt to crush Tibetan voice New Delhi: - Mar 27, 2012 - Core Group for Tibetan Cause in India is shocked at the arrest of its two Tibetan colleagues from a press conference at Press Club of India in New Delhi. The press conference was organized to release appeal of leading religious leaders to visiting PRC leader Hu Jin Tao to improve human right situation in occupation of Tibet in light of over 30 self immolations

by Tibetan youths.

We condemn the high handedness of Govt of India GOI to crush and gag the voice of exiled Tibetans and behaving in the same manner as the colonial regime of China in occupied Tibet.

By arresting Tibetan refugees en-masse in Delhi, GOI has insulted the Supreme Court of India and the Indian Parliament who are on record admitting and issuing assurances about right of Tibetans to publicly express their opinion in 1991 during Mr. Li Peng's visit.

Dharamshala: - Over 20000 Tibetans in Dharamsala gathered to pay respect for the funeral of a man who set himself ablaze in a protest against China.

Mourners carried the flag-draped casket of 27year-old Jamphel Yeshi to his funeral Friday in Dharamsala, in northern India.

The speaker Tibetan government-in-exile blames

China for Yeshi's death, and for other protesters' death by self-immolation.

"How many more Tibetan lives have to be lost before the Tibetan issue is resolved."

Thousands of mourners followed Yeshi's casket to the funeral pyre where his remains were cremated.

Photo: The Tibet Post International/Pema Tso

We urge GOI to immediately release and free the Tibetan refugees to express themselves freely.

We demand that Mr. Hu Jin Tao should be tried in the international court of law for his personal involvement in mass murder of hundreds of Tibetan demonstrators in Tibet in 1989 and 2008.

World should not forget that it was the 'Lhasa Model' of Hu Jin Tao of using tanks and armoured vehicles to crush the Tibetan demonstrators which was used to crush the Chinese youth uprising 3 months later in Beijing.

GOI has brought shame to democratic image of India by arresting Tibetans. Hence it has the moral responsibility to uphold the basic human rights of its Tibetan guests in India.

Vijay Kranti Co-Convenor Core Group For Tibetan Causr, N. Delhi

investment that has propped China up. “We are already free and have nothing to lose aside from Chinese insecurity.” Tsundue asserted that if China has any fear, it is of the unity and the spiritual strength of the Tibetan people. He affirmed that ‘this is the leverage Tibetans have to offer.’

Major General Vinod Saighal contended that ‘dialogues’ are among equals, and the western recession has eliminated the ability of many governments continue respectable dialogue with China. “Money talks… the day that India can ‘talk’ will be the day India tells China to talk to a representative of His Holiness.” Until then, General Saighal suggested Tibetan nonviolence itself to be the ‘Tibetan Leverage,” as a force the world has never seen before.

An audience of students of various levels, news media, concerned citizens, and intellectuals responded to the statements with follow-up questions and requests for elaboration during the preliminary question an answer session, held before a break for hi-tea.

In response to a question requesting concrete examples of potential Indian action, Tempa Tsering claimed that India had already done everything within its political limitations, and Guruswamy agreed and said that ‘Freedom is something people must earn themselves.” Tenzin Tsundue pointed to the many political calculations that failed to predict the Arab Spring or the fall of the USSR—human efforts. He suggested that India recognize historical Tibetan independence in order to claim their right to Arunachal Pradesh under the bilateral treaty signed between Tibet and British India in 1914.

The panelists also responded to inquiries regarding foreign response to self-immolation and media coverage of Tibetan events. Guruswamy said that while India is ‘unhappy to see people immolating, it has a responsibility as a rising power.’ Tsundue asserted that ‘Tibetans will fight and win our freedom, but we will not kill ourselves - we may set ourselves on fire, but we will not hurt the other. This is our spirit’.

Upon breaking for hi-tea, approximately ten policemen in plain-clothes, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, ambushed Tenzin Tsundue while he was speaking with guests and “preventatively arrested” him around 5:30 p.m.

TWA officials pleaded with the authorities to let Tsundue complete his commitment, but were met with violent shoves. Tsundue was dragged to his feet and forced out the back door, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Tenzin Tsundue’s unexpected detainment proved a stark reminder of the reality –‘Tibet’s leverage’that spawned today’s panel discussion.

TWA was founded in 1959 in Lhasa, Tibet, and is the second-largest Tibetan non-governmental organization in exile. TWA is committed to the Middle Way Policy seeking genuine autonomy within the framework of PRC, and believes that thought-provoking discussion is one of the effective ways to mark President Hu Jintao’s visit to India and suggest the continuation of dialogues among government representatives.

10

TPI NEWS

31 March, 2012 Dharamshala TIBET IDENTITY IN FOCUS On Water Day, Let’s Protect Tibet’s Erasing Tibetan Ethnic Indentity from Rivers for Asia’s Survival Chinese Citizinship: Will it Happen?

The Tibet Post International

By The Tibet Post International

Tibetan Identity is in danger as China plans to erase ethnics' identities. Photo: Outlook Tibet By: Outlook Tibet

Dharamshala: - Zhu Weiqun, of the CCP United Front, has boldly proposed abolishing all reference to nationality on the identity cards all Chinese citizens must carry, and frequently produce for inspection. This latest step towards erasing Tibetan identity as a category with legal meaning, did not come from nowhere.

PRESENTATION TO TIBET POLICY INSTITUTE SEMINAR 22 MARCH 2012.

CHINA’S SECRET DECISIONTO “DOWNPLAYTHE NATIONAL QUESTION.” It has a lineage and is best understood in the context of a steady, deliberate, two-sided strategy that has been implemented over the past 20 years.

China has been moving steadily towards downplaying, forgetting, even erasing ethnic difference, as a key policy originating during the reign of Jiang Zemin, who “accurately read the complex international and domestic situations following the end of the cold war and clearly identified the developments in China’s ethnic situation.” (Jia Qinglin) The cold war ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union which CCP leaders read as having collapsed because of ethnic nationalism.

Thus China should do all it could to de-emphasise concepts such as ethnic autonomy, self-determination, with special rights and responsibilities legally guaranteed for the shaoshu minzu, the legally classified and defined ethnic minority nationalities.

This secret decision was taken a decade after the Soviet collapse, and circulated widely within the Party, but remained in public a secret. It was a major turning point, turning away from minzu defined as fixed, unchanging nationalities with collective rights, to a redefinition of minzu simply as ethnic groups, whose questions of identity are purely personal questions, in private life, no longer matters for the public realm.

When Jiang Zemin announced xibu da kaifa (opening up the west) in 1999, shortly before officially retiring, it was the culmination of a decade of careful rethinking of Chinese policy towards minority peoples. Minglang Zhou, of Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, has carefully traced the evolution of ethnic policy throughout the 1990s, as China sought to learn lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union which, in Chinese official eyes, was largely due to minority ethnicities breaking the Soviet Union apart. It was China’s leading anthropologist, Fei Xiaotong, who first formulated the shift, summed up in the slogan jiakuai jingji fazhan, danhua minzu wenti, meaning “speed up economic development, while downplaying the national question.” (Zhou Minglang in, China Learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present, edited by Tom Bernstein and Hua-yu Li , Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield 492) Fei Xiaotong, having observed and written about minorities for decades, saw the time was right to shift away from the fiction that China is a collection of 56 nationalities, with the Han (90 per cent of China’s population) being just one. In his 1989 speech at Chinese University of Hong Kong, he did not propose abandoning this cherished formula, but instead added to it another layer. In addition to the 56 nominally equal ethnicities China is also “a national entity that has developed from a common emotion and desire for a shared destiny of opportunities and successes.”

(Minglang Zhou 491) This is a higher identity, beyond the particularities of specific minority cultures, a bond of sedimented sentiment that stretches back into the past, and enables all of China to share a common destiny stretching far into the future. Unquestionably, the Han played the core role, of integrating all disparate elements into one Chinese nation, and will play the core role of leading all of China to its greater destiny.

Fei called this duoyan yiti, “one nation with diversity.”

That was the year of the Tiananmen massacre, followed shortly by the collapse of Soviet power. In 1990 the State Nationalities Affairs Commission, the supreme official organ for governing minorities, sponsored a symposium on this new formula and commissioned several expert studies. Within months Jiang Zemin announced official adoption of this new formula, in a speech to local leaders in Xinjiang. Jiang made the new stance easy to memorise by announcing it as the “three cannots.” The Han cannot do without the

minorities, the minorities cannot do without the Han, and the minorities cannot do without each other. There is little doubt as to who elder brother is, and who is junior. (Minglang Zhou 491) This coincided with intensive think tank studies of the imploding Soviet bloc, which took time to reach consensus as to the lessons to be learned, and what to do to avoid China making similar mistakes. These discussions were run not by the State Nationalities Affairs Commission but by the Communist Party’s mass organ for controlling minorities, the United Front Work Department. Increasingly, they focused on the 1984 Law on Minority Regional Autonomy, as giving too much scope for minorities to make too many claims, assertions of rights, and demands for financial support.

This, they concluded, opened the way for Soviet-style dissolution of the unitary state.

Each province and autonomous region has its own people’s congress, nominally able to pass its own laws, which could, for example, stipulate a minimum quota of minority ethnicity officials to fill official posts. “Some autonomous regions wanted more economic power, and some wanted more political power, while many desired both. These demands for economic and political power seriously challenged the central government’s authority. Drawing on lessons from the Soviet failure, the PRC realised that these problems must be satisfactorily resolved before they could spin out of control. CCP leaders concluded that the central government should not relinquish political power and should not allow minority dominance of local party apparatuses, or even of the local legislatures in autonomous regions.” (Zhou 494) This culminated, in 2001, in the enactment of two laws, the revised Law on Autonomy, and the National Commonly Used Language and Script Law. In keeping with the new approach, of speeding up development and downplaying ethnicity, “the revised Law on Autonomy gives local governments more power or responsibility in social and economic development, but takes away some political powers.” (Zhou 494) Autonomous Regions no longer have the power to fix minimum quotas for their own ethnicity employment in their own government. Both the 2001 laws “downplayed the role of minority languages and cultures while promoting Putonghua (Mandarin) as the super language in a structured linguistic order. For example, the teaching of Chinese is now required to start in the early or later years in elementary schools.

Minority officials are now required to learn to use both standard oral Chinese and standard written Chinese.

These measures may be considered as a representation of the demotion of ‘nationalities’ to ‘ethnic groups’ in the new model of ‘one nation with diversity’, where Putonghua as the common language is to dominate.”

(Zhou 495) China did little to publicise this redefinition of the key term minzu, which had long signified a people, a nation, a distinct ethnicity with collective rights; perhaps even, early in the Communist Party’s long life, the right to self-determination and perhaps even national independence. “In Beijing in 1997, the State Commission on Nationalities Affairs held a forum on whether ‘minzu’ should be officially translated into ‘nation/nationality’ or ‘ethnic group’. The participating experts unanimously agreed on the term ‘ethnic group’ for ‘minzu’ because the new English term can better represent the spirit of China’s new orientation. The replacement of the Soviet model with the new Chinese model has had direct impact on China’s minorities policy.” (Zhou 492) The State Nationalities Commission has become the State Ethnic Afffairs Commission.

2012:REMOVENATIONALITYFROMIDENTITYCARDS So the 2012 “suggestion” by Zhu Weiqun of the United Front that nationality be removed from official identity cards, is simply an official acknowledgement of a change that has been under way since 1999. This formalises the erasure of nationality. Everyone is now, officially, simply a citizen of China, everyone is a member of the zhonghua minzu, the Chinese nation, a category that supersedes the separate minzu (ethnic nationalities) that were so formally classified in the 1950s, creating the 56 official minzu copying the Soviet

model.

This has many consequences. Ethnicity is no longer a question of collective rights that can be claimed by an ethnicity as a group. Ethnicity is now a purely personal decision to be somewhat different to the Han majority, in private life. Identity is a purely personal question, and has nothing to do with legal rights, especially collective rights such as self-determination, collective autonomy, or special legal status.

China is following a common Western model, in which each individual may choose to identify (or not) with a particular ethnic group, and that is their individual right.

But everyone has a primary loyalty to their nationstate, which transcends their private ethnicity. The state may even encourage such displays of its multiculturalism, tolerance and support for maintaining outward signs of difference. You can call yourself a Latvian Australian, or a Tibetan Australian or a Vietnamese Australian, and no one questions where your loyalty really lies, because you are an Australian, first and foremost.

So now China is starting to refer to itself as a “multiethnic state” for the first time. The insightful Mongolian writer Uradyn Bulag has written about all this in much greater depth, and has noted that the concept of what is a nationality changes significantly, not just the name that the Chinese give it. This is all connected to the controversy created by Fei Xiaotong’s proposal of a “zhonghua minzu” or Chinese super-ethnicity which includes all the sub-groups.

There’s a new movement starting to refer to China as multi-cultural, too.

Zhu Weiqun , deputy head of the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, in the party’s Study Times in February 2012 called on the central government to seize the opportunity and set up political and educational systems to better promote “national cohesion”.

Zhu, who in is charge of Tibetan affairs, said listing ethnic minority or Han Chinese status on identity cards, using ethnic labels in the titles of schools and autonomous regions, and reserving privileges for members of ethnic minorities were obstacles to promoting such cohesion.

“Some of our current educational and administrative policies have unintentionally weakened [the minority people's] sense of nationhood and Chinese nationalism,” he said. “For example, the ethnic consciousness of students studying in [minority] schools was easily stimulated after some ethnic incidents occurred.” He suggested that the central government should expand mixed schooling, with both Han Chinese and ethnic minority children studying Han Chinese culture.

Zhu said the central government’s preferential policies “should not put too much emphasis” on targeting people from ethnic minorities but all people from remote and impoverished areas to ease tensions between minorities and Han Chinese.

Uradyn Bulag says: “Ethnicity is now increasingly discussed in terms of multiculturalism, rather than within a framework of contemporary quasi-colonial relations. Even the notion of ‘internal colonialism’ has been retracted by some on the ground that, inter alia, the criteria of exploitation do not fit the state’s affirmative action to ethnic minorities. All this suggests the need to problematize the violent nature of the classificatory concepts.” (Bulag in Cultural Studies journal 2000) THE WIDER CONTEXT: ETHNICITYVS CLASS Ethnicity is just one of the many problems facing China.

Central leaders today are more worried about the social unrest arising for sharply increasing inequality, the growing gap between rich and poor. Even though the communist revolution, with its violent persecution of the rich and educated, gave class warfare a bad name; nonetheless class antagonisms do exist, and are becoming more acute.

From the perspective of central leaders, class conflict and ethnic conflict are two of the top dangers facing China, but little can be done about class conflict as long as China is ruled by corrupt cadres enriching themselves, while repressing the masses.

We cannot understand the drive, at the highest level, to dissolve ethnic identity, without looking at the bigger picture, of an apprehensive leadership fearful that chaos could erupt, wrecking China’s path to wealth and national strength, either from ethnic nationalist tensions, or from class antagonisms.

ALL TIBETAN PROBLEMSARE NOW PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT From the perspective of central leaders, the problems of the Tibetans, and other nonHan nationalities, from now on are all economic problems, with economic solutions. Development is the answer to everything.

This fits exactly with the key slogan coined in the 1990s, jiakuai jingji fazhan, danhua minzu wenti, meaning “speed up economic development, while downplaying the national question.” The public first half of this slogan, jiakuai jingji fazhan, is now supreme, speeding up economic development, especially in areas that are deemed poor or backward, or close to the borders, thus including nationalities such as the Tibetans, without ever again saying that their problems are anything to do with Tibetan identity. The secret second half of the 1999 slogan, danhua minzu wenti, downplaying the national question, has now been in operation for the past 13 years, and is judged to have succeeded sufficiently to now make the secret public,

Dharamsala, March 22, 11am: To mark ‘World Water Day’ 2012 , the Women’s Environment and Development Desk (WEDD) of the Central Tibetan Women’s Association is spearheading a signature drive for the petition titled ‘Nomads for a Planetary Third Pole,’[1] originally launched at the Buddhist Kalachakra teaching in Bodh Gaya in January. One can sign the petition online.

WEDD will be distributing information leaflets about the imperative role of Tibetan water in Asian food and water security.

The Women’s Environment and Development Desk is also launching a video titled “Experts Speak on Tibet’s Environment,” which is available on YouTube.

The video highlights the critical issue of Tibet’s Environment, covering pertinent topics such as climate change and glacier melt, Tibetan rivers, forced removal of nomads, and mining in Tibet.

Experts discuss failed Chinese Environmental policies, which are not only catastrophic for Tibet, but also for people of Southeast Asia. The speakers also pay tribute to the people inside Tibet who are resisting against these destructive Chinese policies through creative forms of protest.

The right to clean drinking water is a fundamental human right granted under international law.

There are approx. 1.3 billion people who are dependent on the health of the ten major rivers that originate from Tibet. These Tibetan water sources are being polluted through mining and highly restricted through damming, which results in unintended and often unpredicted flooding. In addition, recent studies revealed that damming a river causes the water to evaporate, thereby reducing the quality and quantity of available water for those dependent on the source.

Diminishing water levels are highly evident these days. Earlier this year, people of Pasighat town in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh found the water level of the Brahmaputra River receded so much that it had nearly dried.

WEDD urges these downstream nations and other world governments to pressure China to stop such erroneous environmental policies.

Colossal environmental damage and the loss of life are irreversible.

Press contact: Tenzin Woebum, WEDD, Mob: 9882735801 The mission of the Women’s Environment & Development Desk (WEDD) of TWA is to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change upon Tibet's unique ecosystem and Tibetan women. The WEDD is committed to disseminating timely and useful information that highlights to the international community the critical issue of climate change in Tibet. WEDD continues to engage in proactive measures and sustainable developmental projects and campaigns to combat the destructive environmental policies that are denying the human rights of Tibetans living inside Tibet.

[1] One petition is addressed to the Environment Ministries of the Downstream Nations, which includes China, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. All countries receive water from Tibet’s rivers: the Mekong, Yangtse, and Salween in the east, the Brahmaputra in the center, and the Kamali, Indus and Sutlej in the west. The second petition is addressed to the Environment Ministry of People’s Republic of China, and urges Chinese leadership to halt the forced eviction of nomads from the Tibetan plateau, thereby ensuring future food and water security for Asia.

by officially removing ethnicity as a category, not only on individual identity cards, but also removing the basic purpose of institutions such as colleges, universities, research institutes dedicated to minority nationalities. That is the assimilationist proposal of the United Front’s Zhu Weiqun, a bold public step after 13 secret years.

AN END TO POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION FAVOURING TIBETANS? Initial reactions to Zhu Weiqun’s “suggestion” included dismay from the small community of observers who subscribe to the fiction that the official designation of minority nationality identity is a policy of positive discrimination, awarding special rights and payments to minorities to raise them to the standard of the Han. So they criticise this as a backward step. Barry Sautman, a Hong Kong based educationist who believes China’s rule over Tibet is benevolent, is quite upset that China might now abandon this positive discrimination in favour of minorities by abandoning the whole shaoshu minzu (minority nationality) classificatory regime.

There may be Tibetans staffing the special minority nationality schools scattered across central China, or minority institutes of higher education, who likewise fear these changes will now mean they have to open their classrooms to any Han Chinese who wishes to enrol. If the assimilationist agenda is to proceed, their entire purpose is questionable. Well established and well connected institutions such as the China Tibetology Research Institute will probably be able to defend themselves, as playing a vital role. They have friends outside China, and within.

These highly visible institutions of positive discrimination will be in danger of losing their funding, unless they reduce themselves to multicultural institutes of folk customs. But will the invisible daily experience of negative discrimination disappear? Will Han Chinese stop treating Tibetans with racist contempt? Will the erasure of Tibetanness from identity cards mean that Tibetans can now book hotel rooms in Chinese cities? Today, one glance at the identity card is enough for the hotel reception desk to declare all rooms are full. Will tomorrow’s reception clerk now welcome Tibetans? Of course not, especially if that Tibetan wears the most flagrantly “terrorist” of Tibetan dress, the red robes of a monk.

But China’s leaders think they now have a formula that works. Money will continue to pour into Tibetan areas, to develop urban infrastructure and build “comfortable housing” in rural areas too, even if those houses are often so far from the customary winter house that it means an end to the traditional nomadic lifeworld. The “Tibetan problem” will simply become part of the national effort to manage the class war.

Development is always the answer. China’s leaders promise to provide subsidised urban housing for Chinese no longer able to afford an apartment, because rich speculators have driven the price of housing out of reach. Likewise, government sponsored housing is to be the answer to the Tibetan problem.

China’s leaders believe they now have a bird with two wings, accelerating economic development and downplaying the national question. To Tibetans, who classically depict the two wings of the bird as compassion and deep insight into the nature of all reality, this will seem another self-defeating, assimilationist delusion.

WILL THE NEW POLICY WORK?

Zhu Weiqun’s “suggestion” comes from a hardliner who seeks to undo the solidification of ethnic identity that occurred in China in the 1950s, by following the Soviet model. In the USSR the Soviet model, of rigidly fixed, essentialised ethnic identities, operated for 70 years, and unintentionally invigorated separate ethnic identities in mirror-image opposition to the dominant Russian nationalism. China is right that the Soviet model unwittingly strengthened ethnic nationalism, and this had a lot to do with the ultimate collapse of the USSR, although it is not the fundamental cause of the difficulties Soviet leaders experienced in their last decade.

The Soviet model has now been in operation in China for almost 60 years, even if it has been “downplayed” in recent years. Has 60 years of this model had the same effect in China, as 70 years had in the Soviet Union? In other words, is it already too late for China to reverse direction, and now adopt openly assimilationist policies that attempt to erase ethnicity, at least from the public sphere?

Again, the evidence suggests strongly that six decades of the Soviet model only strengthened Tibetan identity, revalidated Tibetan culture, history, values, language and solidarity. While other nationalities inside China may have made many compromises with the dominant Han, for the Tibetans (and the Uighur), 60 years of Soviet-styled nationality policy has had the same effect that it had on the Latvians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Georgians, Azerbaijani etc.

It is too late for China to reverse direction, and now assimilate Tibet and the Tibetan people by legally removing the fiction of a separate, autonomous status, with special rights as well as responsibilities that arise from that ethnic national status. It is too late.

China’s essentialisation of ethnic identity had had the opposite effect of what was intended, in Tibet. Instead of controlling and limiting Tibetan identity, it has strengthened, above all else, the reverence of Tibetans for HH the Dalai Lama, and for kudrak traditional aristocratic high culture generally, and there is greater solidarity among Tibetans than ever before in Tibetan history. This is largely due to the constant pressure from outside, from Chinese racist chauvinism and contempt. China’s use of the Soviet model has been counter-productive, and the current ferment in Tibet, the unending chain of immolations, sacrificing all for ongoing Tibetan rights to Tibetan identity and culture, is the clearest evidence of the depth of China’s failure.

No amount of economic development is likely to resolve this. In fact, the deepening inequality between rich and poor in China is of deep concern throughout China. Authors are publishing books saying China has failed, because money is everything and culture has become corrupted. When money is all, people even forget to have basic care and concern for each other, these Chinese authors say. Even official reports like the 2012 Blue Book of Chinese Society, published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, show in great detailed the deep dissatisfaction with the insistence of central leaders that development is the answer to all problems. Everywhere, people see that the benefits of development are monopolised by the rich, and unhappiness grows as fast as the growth of the economy.

If Chinese people yearn for more in life than wealth accumulation, so too do Tibetans, and erasing Tibetan nationality from identity cards does not end the nationalities question.