Self-immolation, again, now in Lhasa

[icy]

DHARAMSHALA, February 28: Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people, has blamed China’s occupation and repression of the Tibetan people for the ongoing wave of self-immolations in Tibet.

He was testifying before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Canadian Parliament on February 26 in Ottawa.

Since 2009, as many as 107 known Tibetans living under China’s rule have set themselves on fire protesting China’s occupation and demanding freedom and the return on exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

“Tibetans are saying occupation is unacceptable and repression is unbearable,” Sikyong Sangay said describing the unprecedented numbers of self-immolations.

“There is political repression, economic marginalisation, environmental destruction, cultural assimilation, and denial of religious freedom (in Tibet) ... There is no space for any kind of protest and there is no freedom of speech for Tibetans. Hence tragically and sadly, they are resorting to self-immolation.”

The de facto Tibetan prime minister, while noting that the exile Tibetan administration has made repeated calls to Tibetans inside Tibet not to resort to self-immolation, said that Tibetans are bound by duty to honour the sacrifices.

“As Buddhist or person of faith, we pray for all those who have died, including the self-immolators. And as a Tibetan, we support the aspiration of the Tibetan people inside Tibet including the self-immolators.”

Sikyong Sangay categorically denied China’s allegations of blaming Tibetans in exile for instigating the protests, calling them “baseless.”

“There is not even a shred of evidence as far as these allegations are concerned and we have welcomed the Chinese government to come to Dharamshala to see our files and look for evidence if there is any,” he said. “In reality, the blame and solution lies with Beijing.”

The Tibetan political leader reiterated his administration’s stance of Middle Way Approach, which seeks genuine autonomy within the framework of the Chinese constitution, and renewed calls for negotiations for the peaceful resolution of the Tibetan issue.

“We will continue to subscribe and believe in these principles. So we seek the support from friends like you who believe in freedom, who believe in democracy, that the Chinese government ought to enter into dialogue to solve the issue of Tibet peacefully.”

Sikyong Sangay also thanked Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism and the Canadian government for allowing one thousand visas to Tibetans living in Arunachal Pradesh state of India to migrate to Canada.

He reported that the exile Tibetan administration has done the selection of around 900 Tibetans.

The Dalai Lama was presented with honourary Canadian citizenship in 2006.

[icy]

China sentences three Tibetans up to 15 years for self-immolation “crimes”


DHARAMSHALA, March 2: A Chinese court in eastern Tibet has passed down heavy prison terms of up to 15 years to three Tibetans for their “crimes” relating to the ongoing wave of self-immolations in Tibet.

An official Chinese newspaper in Kanlho region reported that a court in Luchu carried out the rulings on Thursday.

The court sentenced Lhamo Dorjee to 15 years in prison, Kalsang Sonam to 11 years, and Tsesang Kyab to 10 years on charges of “intentional homicide.”

According to US based Radio Free Asia, the court hearing was “largely a closed door affair” and was held “under tight security” as opposed to China’s earlier claims of open trials attended by relatives of the accused.

"The trial was conducted quietly with a huge presence of security forces in and around the Kanlho Prefecture court. The Tibetans were barred from coming close to the court premises," the radio service quoted a Tibetan source as saying.

Although details of the court ruling are not available, it was earlier reported that nine Tibetans were standing trial on the same day in connection with the self-immolation protest of Tsering Namgyal.

Phayul had earlier reported on the arrest of eight Tibetans, including a family member of Tsering Namgyal, for sharing information with outsiders.

The eight arrested Tibetans have been identified as Kalsang Samdup, Nyima, Lhamo Dhundup, Dorjee Dhundup, Kalsang Kyab, Kalsang Sonam, Kalsang Namdren, and Sonam Kyi.

Tsering Namgyal, 31, succumbed to his injuries after setting himself on fire near a local Chinese government office in Luchu on November 29, 2012. He is survived by his wife Choekyong Tso, their two children, Dorjee Kyi, 7, and Kalsang Dolma, 3, and his parents.

In the past few months, Chinese courts have carried out a number of rushed hearings and sentenced a Tibetan monk to death with a two-year reprieve and several others to lengthy jails terms.

Following the court rulings, the New York based global rights group, Human Rights Watch had demanded the immediate release of the jailed Tibetans arguing that their conviction “relied solely on confessions they gave during five months in detention.”

“These prosecutions are utterly without credibility,” HRW said. “The Chinese government seems to think it can stop self-immolation by punishing anyone who talks about it. But in pursuing these ‘incitement’ cases, the government compounds the tragedy of these suicide protests.”??

HRW noted that it has documented “endemic use of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and coercion of Tibetans in detention.”

“Self-immolations take place in the context of the Chinese government’s long-standing repressive policies in the Tibetan areas that have seen severe restrictions on Tibetans’ rights,” the rights group had said.

[samayakeeper]

I hope with this it will send a message to people that dialogue after dialogue is a better way to resolve differences rather than taking such actions that harm self and others. Sure, a person has his own rights and justifications but why resort to violence?

People's minds are really degenerating that harmful actions such as self immolation are carried out for their voices to be heard. Then there are those who impose rules that hurt others and create much hardship and suffering on the innocents just because the innocents are quietly doing Dorje Shugden practices.

Such people have turned Buddhism into NOT what Buddha taught.

[Ensapa]

Well, the most western media can do about the self immolations is this:

Situation clearly worsening in Tibet: UK
Phayul[Friday, March 01, 2013 23:55]
DHARAMSHALA, March 1: The United Kingdom expressed its deep concern over the self-immolation protests inside Tibet and said the human rights situation in the region is “clearly worsening.”

Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Warsi told the British parliament that the UK “regularly raises” its concerns with the Chinese authorities.

“Of course, I have real concern about the tragic cases of self-immolation,” Baroness Warsi said. “Tragically, those who die do so at great loss to their communities and families, but those who survive end up suffering for many years with very little treatment. It is a matter that we continue to raise.”

Answering queries raised by members of the British House of Lords earlier this week, she noted that Tibet was discussed at the last round of the annual UK-China human rights dialogue in January 2012. However, she conceded that this year’s round of dialogue “is now overdue and that officials have been in contact with each other with a view to try to fix a date for further discussions.”

The Senior Minister encouraged all concerned parties to work for the resumption of substantive dialogue as a means to address Tibetan concerns and to relieve tensions.

“We are concerned about the lack of meaningful dialogue to address the underlying grievances against a clearly worsening situation,” Baroness Warsi said.

“We continue to encourage all parties to work for a resumption of substantive dialogue as a means to address the Tibetan concerns and to relieve tensions. Of course, we continue to make the case to China that any economic progress can be sustained only if there is social progress as well.”

In response to a question concerning the fate of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, she said her government has made representations with the Chinese government. Soon after the Dalai Lama recognised the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, China abducted him and replaced him another boy. The whereabouts of Gendun Choekyi Nyima and his parents remain unknown till this day.

“Indeed, I think his name appeared on a specific list that was handed over during one of the UK-China human rights dialogues,” Baroness Warsi said. “We have also put forward the idea of him being allowed access to an independent organisation that could assess his current health and whereabouts.”

Briton Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire in a statement last year called on China to allow diplomatic access to Tibet and urging Beijing to resume “meaningful dialogue” with Tibetan representatives.

[icy]

Situation clearly worsening in Tibet: UK

DHARAMSHALA, March 1: The United Kingdom expressed its deep concern over the self-immolation protests inside Tibet and said the human rights situation in the region is “clearly worsening.”

Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Warsi told the British parliament that the UK “regularly raises” its concerns with the Chinese authorities.

“Of course, I have real concern about the tragic cases of self-immolation,” Baroness Warsi said. “Tragically, those who die do so at great loss to their communities and families, but those who survive end up suffering for many years with very little treatment. It is a matter that we continue to raise.”

Answering queries raised by members of the British House of Lords earlier this week, she noted that Tibet was discussed at the last round of the annual UK-China human rights dialogue in January 2012. However, she conceded that this year’s round of dialogue “is now overdue and that officials have been in contact with each other with a view to try to fix a date for further discussions.”

The Senior Minister encouraged all concerned parties to work for the resumption of substantive dialogue as a means to address Tibetan concerns and to relieve tensions.

“We are concerned about the lack of meaningful dialogue to address the underlying grievances against a clearly worsening situation,” Baroness Warsi said.

“We continue to encourage all parties to work for a resumption of substantive dialogue as a means to address the Tibetan concerns and to relieve tensions. Of course, we continue to make the case to China that any economic progress can be sustained only if there is social progress as well.”

In response to a question concerning the fate of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, she said her government has made representations with the Chinese government. Soon after the Dalai Lama recognised the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, China abducted him and replaced him another boy. The whereabouts of Gendun Choekyi Nyima and his parents remain unknown till this day.

“Indeed, I think his name appeared on a specific list that was handed over during one of the UK-China human rights dialogues,” Baroness Warsi said. “We have also put forward the idea of him being allowed access to an independent organisation that could assess his current health and whereabouts.”

Briton Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire in a statement last year called on China to allow diplomatic access to Tibet and urging Beijing to resume “meaningful dialogue” with Tibetan representatives.

[icy]

Kirti Rinpoche: If we don’t act, who will?


Kirti Rinpoche addressing the Tibetan community members in Jona, Switzerland on March 3, 2013.
DHARAMSHALA, March 4: The exiled chief abbot of a Tibetan monastery at the centre of a wave of self-immolations called on Tibetans in exile to take responsibility as Tibet continues to burn in protest against China’s occupation.

Kyabje Kirti Rinpoche, the head of Kirti monastic community, was speaking to Tibetans in Switzerland on Sunday.

“Tibetans in Tibet are looking to the exile community for help,” Rinpoche said. “Therefore, if we don’t act, who will respond to their cry for help?”

The former minister in the exile Tibetan administration is currently on a three weeklong visit of Europe to talk about the situation in Tibet, particularly in Ngaba region, where almost 40 self-immolations have taken place since 2009.

He blamed 60 years of China’s oppressive rule and policies aimed at destroying Tibetan religion, culture, environment, and language for the ongoing wave of self-immolations and protests inside Tibet.

“Wherever there is oppression, there is rebellion,” Rinpoche said quoting China’s paramount leader Mao Tsetung. This is what we are witnessing in Tibet today he added.

Kirti Rinpoche noted that the drastic situation, particularly in Ngaba region is an outburst of three generations of suffering under China’s rule. The septuagenarian recalled that Tibetans in Ngaba had first faced communist China’s onslaught when Mao’s Long March plundered the entire region in 1935 leading to the first case of famine in Tibet.

The sufferings continued with the horrors of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and to the past more than one decade with the intensification of patriotic re-education campaigns and the harsh crackdown on the peaceful protests of 2008.

On February 27, 2009, Tabey a 27 year-old-monk of the Kirti Monastery became the first known Tibetan inside Tibet to self-immolate. Chinese security personnel instead of putting out the fire shot him and since then his whereabouts remain known.

More than a year later, on March 16, 2011, Lobsang Phuntsok, 20, a monk at the same monastery set himself on fire, beginning in earnest, the ongoing wave of self-immolations which has now witnessed 107 Tibetans living under China’s rule torch themselves.

On Saturday, Rinpoche also presided over a special prayer service for Tibetan self-immolators and their family members at Rikon Monastery.

As part of the lobbying tour, Rinpoche will visit Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and United Kingdom.

In Brussels from March 7-11, Rinpoche will meet with European Union and Belgian government officials and will address the March 10 European Solidarity Rally for Tibet. He will also speak on the self-immolations and current crisis in Tibet on March 8.

Kirti Rinpoche has lived in India since he followed the Dalai Lama into exile at the time of the Tibet Uprising in March, 1959. He was recognised and enthroned as the reincarnation of the Tenth Kirti Rinpoche in 1946.

In 1984, as a Representative of the Central Tibetan Administration, Rinpoche visited Tibet and China, where he met many Chinese dignitaries and high Tibetan lamas including the 10th Panchen Lama.

[Ensapa]

And this is what happens to the relatives of self immolators...

China jail Tibetan self-immolator’s uncle
Phayul[Tuesday, March 05, 2013 09:15]


Yarphel in an undated photo.

DHARAMSHALA, March 5: An uncle of a Tibetan self-immolator has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for his “crime” of carrying a photo of his nephew during the latter’s funeral procession in Rebkong, eastern Tibet.

After a month-long detention in police custody, Yarphel, 42, was sentenced in a closed-door trial in the afternoon of March 1, exile sources say.

Yarphel is the uncle of Tibetan self-immolator Dorjee Lhundup.

He was charged with indulging in “illegal activities,” which included carrying pictures of Dorjee Lhundup during a non-violent procession when monks and lay Tibetans carried the ashes of Dorjee Lhundup to his home village.

Earlier in February, local Chinese security personnel summoned Yarphel along with Drayang, both monks of the Yershong Monastery in Rebkong. After long hours of interrogation, Yarphel was detained while Drayang, who is chronically ill, was sent off.

Following his arrest, Monastic authorities and family members made repeated appeals for his release but to no avail.

Till date, Yarphel was kept in a local prison in Dragmar but he is now likely to be shifted to another prison to serve his sentence.

Yarphel is the son of Lubum Gyal and a native of Dragkar Dewa. He was also a teacher at the Yershong monastery.

Dorjee Lhundup, 25, set himself ablaze on November 4, 2012 at one of the busiest crossroads in Rongwo town of Rebkong in eastern Tibet, days before the Chinese communist party’s 18th Party Congress in Beijing. He passed away at the protest site.

Father of a four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, Dorjee Lhundup called for freedom in Tibet and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile, while engulfed in flames.

Thousands of local Tibetans gathered later that day, when Dorjee Lhundup was laid to rest at Dhongya-lay cremation site behind the Rongwo Monastery.

Since 2009, 107 Tibetans have set themselves on fire, protesting China’s continued occupation and demanding freedom in Tibet and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

[Ensapa]

Here's an example of a western article that supports the self immolations and completely ignores the evidence that China found that CTA is behind it. But what can these articles do? Nothing much. The world is looking away because you cannot trick the world twice.

Tibet’s future
The limits of despair

Five years after an explosion of unrest on the Tibetan plateau, the region is again in crisis. This time the world is looking away

Mar 9th 2013 | DHARAMSALA, INDIA AND QINGHAI PROVINCE, CHINA |From the print edition


INSIDE a small monastery in China’s Qinghai province, a red-robed monk looks around to see if he is being watched, then begins sobbing. “We just want the Dalai Lama to come home”, he says. His words echo those of dozens of Tibetans seeking to explain why they have set themselves on fire in public places across the Tibetan plateau in the past two years. Desperation is growing among the Dalai Lama’s followers in China. So, too, is the government’s effort to silence them.

Since an outbreak of unrest swept the Tibetan plateau five years ago this month, including anti-Chinese riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and protests in numerous towns and monasteries, the party has tried to control Tibetan discontent by means of carrot and stick. The stick has involved tighter policing of monasteries, controls on visits to Lhasa, denunciations of the Dalai Lama and arrests of dissidents. The carrot is visible not far from the crying monk’s monastery: new expressways across the vast grasslands, new roads to remote villages, better housing for monks and restorations to their prayer-halls. Yet the spectacle of more than 100 Tibetans setting themselves alight, mostly in the past two years, in one of the largest such protests in modern political history, suggests that neither approach is working.

Despite, or perhaps because of, intense crackdowns in the affected areas of the Tibetan plateau, the burnings in recent months have spread across a wider area (the plateau is one-third the size of America) and involved more people without links to monasteries. The government’s growing worry is evident in the intense security in the worst-affected areas, mostly in Tibetan-populated parts of the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai, as well as in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Since last year the government has begun rounding up those deemed to have encouraged Tibetans to burn themselves. Dozens have been detained. Several have been jailed for terms ranging from a few months to life.

All of the TAR, as well as trouble spots in neighbouring provinces, are off limits to most foreign journalists. But tension is palpable even in the few areas that remain accessible. During celebrations of the Tibetan new year in late February, at least three fire engines were parked inside Kumbum monastery compound near Xining, the capital of Qinghai. Dozens of police with extinguishers and fire blankets stood among the crowds of pilgrims and holidaymakers. West of Xining in Hainan prefecture, a Tibetan-majority area about the size of Switzerland, no one has been reported to have set themselves on fire. But the authorities are worried. In November hundreds of medical students protested in Gonghe county against the circulation of a government leaflet disparaging the immolators and the Dalai Lama. Residents say the police used tear-gas to break up a demonstration in the county town and arrested several participants. The prefectural authorities called the demonstration “illegal” and demanded that young people in Hainan form a (metaphorical) “wall of copper and rampart of iron against splittism, infiltration and self-immolations”.

Though most minority groups live fairly peacefully under Chinese rule (see article), the Tibetans cite many reasons for the renewed unrest: the continuing influx of ethnic-Han migrants (encouraged by huge government investment in transport infrastructure); environmental damage caused by mining and construction; the marginalisation of the Tibetan language in schools. The ageing of the Dalai Lama (he is 77) and his announcement in 2011 that he was retiring as head of Tibet’s government-in-exile in India are also factors. A growing sense that this incarnation of the Dalai Lama might not have much longer is fuelling demands for his return to the land that he fled after a failed uprising in 1959.

Too long in exile

“[In] this life…service at least in the field of Tibetan struggle now already end”, says the Dalai Lama in his halting English in the Indian town of Dharamsala that is his home. He is now, he says, devoting himself to the promotion of religious harmony and a dialogue between Buddhism and modern science. China is not convinced. Robert Barnett of Columbia University says that in recent weeks Chinese officials have increasingly accused the “Dalai Lama clique” of organising the burnings.


Mr Barnett says it is possible that China will try to defuse the tensions by reopening talks with the Dalai Lama’s representatives. There have been no such meetings since January 2010, when the two sides reached an impasse over differences relating to the envoys’ call for “genuine autonomy” for Tibet, while accepting that it remain part of China. (Other Tibetans in India still want independence, a cause of dispute among the exiles.) Chinese officials denounce even the compromise of autonomy as a scheme for achieving full independence. Among China’s other concerns is a proposal that Tibet be defined as the TAR plus the Tibetan-inhabited areas of neighbouring provinces, an area one quarter the size of China (see map).

Sleeping demon

The Dalai Lama’s retirement could make a resumption of talks more difficult. In August 2011, after winning an election in which nearly 50,000 Tibetan exiles voted, Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard academic, took over as head of the exiled government and assumed the political role once played by the Dalai Lama (“now demon peacefully sleeping”, the holy man quips, referring to a word he says Chinese officials have used to describe him). Mr Sangay says that China can still hold talks if it wants with the Dalai Lama’s representatives. But those envoys resigned in June, citing the “deteriorating situation” in Tibet and China’s failure to “respond positively” to autonomy proposals. Among the powers Mr Sangay has taken on is the right to appoint the envoys’ successors, who have yet to be chosen. This will make China wary of beginning talks, for fear of conferring legitimacy on the new exile administration.

Some Tibetans in India see a glimmer of hope in China’s ten-yearly change of leadership which will be completed with the appointments of Xi Jinping as president and Li Keqiang as prime minister shortly before the end of the annual session of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, on March 17th (see article). Mr Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, was party chief in Tibet during an outbreak of unrest in the late 1980s which he resolutely suppressed (just as he suppressed the far bigger eruption in 2008). Mr Xi, goes the thinking, could be different. In the 1950s the Dalai Lama got to know Mr Xi’s late father, Xi Zhongxun, who was one of Mao Zedong’s comrades. The elder Xi received a watch from the Dalai Lama, which he wore long after the flight to India. If the father had a soft spot for the Dalai Lama, optimists think, so might the son.

In recent months the birthplace of the Dalai Lama in Hongya village, about 30km (20 miles) south-east of Kumbum monastery, has been given a makeover, though no one is sure why. Despite a crackdown on Dalai Lama worship elsewhere on the plateau, visitors to the grey-walled compound can see photographs of him, as well as a golden throne intended for him to sit on should he ever return. A caretaker says money for the recent improvements (including new bricks and a coat of paint) came from the government. She says foreigners are not allowed inside, but gladly shows around a group of Tibetan pilgrims who have driven hundreds of kilometres to see the site. But exiled officials are unimpressed and the Dalai Lama is cautious. “Better to wait till some concrete things happen, otherwise…some disappointment”, he says with a chuckle.

Indeed, disappointment still appears likely. Mr Xi is under little pressure from other countries to change Chinese policy on Tibet. The unrest in 2008 broke out as China was preparing to host the Olympic games. It wanted the event to mark the country’s emergence as an open-minded world power. Despite that, it cracked down hard on the protests, but in a concession to international demands, resumed talks with the Dalai Lama’s representatives less than two months later. Two rounds were held before the games started, but with no obvious progress.

Since 2008 the West’s economic malaise has made China even less amenable to foreign persuasion on Tibet. Britain, hoping to reduce China’s prickliness on the issue, announced in October that year that it was abandoning its century-old policy (unique among Western countries) of merely recognising China’s “suzerainty” over the region rather than its sovereignty. It has reaped no obvious reward. Britain’s relations with China were plunged into a prolonged chill by a meeting last May between the Dalai Lama and the British prime minister, David Cameron. Global Times, a Beijing newspaper, said last month that China had “more leverage than Britain” in the two countries’ relations, adding with some justification: “Few countries can afford to really be tough against China.”

One nation indivisible

Mr Xi faces little pressure from public or elite opinion inside China, other than to maintain a firm grip. Some Chinese intellectuals have questioned whether the government’s heavy-handedness in Tibet will bring about long-lasting stability. A small but seemingly growing number of Han Chinese, the country’s ethnic majority, are attracted by Tibetan Buddhism (Han visitors to Kumbum Monastery thronged around its statues and clasped their hands in prayer during the recent festivities). But concessions to the Dalai Lama on autonomy have little support in China.

Few observers expect any relaxation of what seems to be a stepped-up effort to stop Tibetans fleeing to India. Before 2008, 2,000-3,000 a year were doing so. This fell to a few hundred after the unrest that year. A new refugee centre opened in Dharamsala in 2011, with American funding and the capacity for 500 people. In 2012 fewer than 400 escaped. At the beginning of March only two people—a couple from a Tibetan area of Sichuan province—were there. Before they left their village, they had to sign a document saying they would not go to India. For Tibetans, even visiting Lhasa needs a permit. Last year hundreds were detained, some of them for months, after returning from legal trips to India in which they surreptitiously attended teachings by the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya, a holy Buddhist site.

Heavy security in Tibet, including riot police patrolling the streets of Lhasa, may help prevent another plateau-wide explosion like that of 2008. But the sight of Tibetans setting themselves on fire, and official attempts to denigrate them, are deepening the region’s wounds. Little chance of resolution is in sight. The weeping monk recalls that, after an earthquake in 2010 in Qinghai’s Yushu county, officials asked some victims what they needed. They replied that they just wanted the Dalai Lama back. “They can control us,” the monk says, “but they can’t control our hearts.”

[Ensapa]

And now, more propaganda from the US about the self immolations.

Tibet increasingly identified with self-immolations: Secretary Kerry
Phayul[Saturday, March 09, 2013 20:00]


Tibetan writer and activist Tsering Woeser waving from the balcony of her home in Beijing on Friday. (Photo/AP)

DHARAMSHALA, March 9: Tsering Woeser, the Tibetan writer and activist, was awarded in absentia the 2013 International Women of Courage Award by the First Lady Michelle Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry in a formal function held at the State Department on Friday.

Woeser is currently under house arrest and has been repeatedly denied passport by the Chinese government.

Secretary John Kerry, while awarding the prize to Woeser, said, “for courageously striving to improve human rights conditions for China’s Tibetan citizens by illuminating their plight through her writings, and thus giving eloquent voice to those whose stories might otherwise never be heard, Tsering Woeser is a woman of courage.”

Secretary Kerry noted that Tibet has become “increasingly identified with self-immolations and protests against the deteriorating human rights condition” of Tibetans.

“Against this backdrop, Tsering Woeser has emerged as a clarion voice of the people, even as the Chinese Government has worked to curtail the flow of information from Tibet. Through her website, called Invisible Tibet, her poetry, her nonfiction works, her savvy use of communication networks like Twitter, Tsering has bravely documented the situation around her,” Secretary Kerry said.

“She says that “to bear witness is to give voice,” and that is what she is doing for the millions of Tibetans who cannot speak for themselves. And she has vowed to never give up or compromise.”

In her remarks, First Lady Michelle Obama said, "This is not an honor bestowed on a few but a call for action to all of us." "These honorees ... have shown the potential to stand up and demand action for the next generation." "With every blog post these women have inspired millions," she added.

Woeser had earlier dedicated the award to the Tibetan self-immolators, numbering 107, who have set themselves on fire protesting China’s occupation and demanding freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from exile.

Beijing reacted sharply to the honour bestowed on Woeser, accusing her of distorting facts about Tibet.

"Woeser has frequently published articles distorting facts about Tibet that vilify China's ethnic policies, incite ethnic separatist feelings, and destroy China's ethnic unity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing Friday.

"The United States giving this kind of person an award is the same as public support for her separatist speech, and clearly violates its frequent promises to recognise Tibet as part of China."

Since 2007, the International Women of Courage Award has been presented in recognition of women around the globe who have demonstrated courage and leadership, often at great personal risk, to promote justice and rights. Tsering Woeser is among ten awardees this year.

[Ensapa]

Another monk has done it again

Breaking: Kirti monk marks March 16 with self-immolation, Toll rises to 108
Phayul[Saturday, March 16, 2013 23:56]


Tibetan self-immolator Lobsang Thokmey.

DHARAMSHALA, March 16: A Tibetan monk in Ngaba region of eastern Tibet has become the 108th Tibetan living under China’s rule to self-immolate, marking five years since the 2008 peaceful protests in the region.

Lobsang Thokmey, 28, a monk at the Kirti Monastety set himself on fire today at around 2:40 pm (local time). He passed away in his protest.

According to the Dharamshala based Kirti Monastery, Lobsang Thokmey doused his body with kerosene in front of his monastic quarters in the west of the Kirti Monastery and started running towards the east.

“Lobsang Thokmey was in flames as he began running with the Buddhist flag in his hands,” the Kirti Monastery said in a release. “Before he could reach the main gate, he fell on the ground.”

Monks and people gathered at the scene of the protest carried Lobsang Thokmey to the local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

“A large number of Chinese security personnel arrived at the hospital soon after Lobsang Thokmey was admitted and later forcibly took away the deceased’s body to the regional headquarters of Barkham,” the same source said.

It is not yet known what slogans Lobsang Thokmey raised during his self-immolation protest.

He is survived by his parents Rogtrug and Depo and one sister and three brothers.

Lobsang Thokmey became a monk at the Kirti Monastery at a young age and was currently enrolled in the pharchin class.

“His conduct was excellent and he was very diligent in his studies,” the Kirti Monastery recalled contacts as saying.

On March 16, 2008, around 28 Tibetans were shot dead on a single day by Chinese security forces during the peaceful protest in Ngaba as part of the wider uprisings that engulfed the entire Tibetan plateau.

On the third anniversary of the 2008 killings, Kirti monk Lobsang Phuntsok set himself on fire at a busy market place in Ngaba on March 16, 2011, triggering in earnest the continuing wave of self-immolations.

A year later on March 16, 2012, another Kirti monk Lobsang Tsultrim torched his body, marking the anniversary of the March 16 killings and protests in the Ngaba region.

Since Kirti monk Tabey’s self-immolation protest in 2009, as many as 108 Tibetans living under China’s rule have set themselves on fire protesting China’s occupation and demanding freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from exile.

The exile Tibetan administration earlier called the unprecedented number of self-immolations “ultimate acts of civil disobedience against China’s failed rule in Tibet.”

“Concrete steps that the leaders of the world need to take immediately are to send Ms Navi Pillay of UNHCR on a visit to Tibet and investigate the real causes of self immolations, and convene a meeting to discuss and address the crisis in Tibet,” Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people said last month.

[brian]

And this is what happens to the relatives of self immolators...

China jail Tibetan self-immolator’s uncle
Phayul[Tuesday, March 05, 2013 09:15]


Yarphel in an undated photo.

DHARAMSHALA, March 5: An uncle of a Tibetan self-immolator has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for his “crime” of carrying a photo of his nephew during the latter’s funeral procession in Rebkong, eastern Tibet.

After a month-long detention in police custody, Yarphel, 42, was sentenced in a closed-door trial in the afternoon of March 1, exile sources say.

Yarphel is the uncle of Tibetan self-immolator Dorjee Lhundup.

He was charged with indulging in “illegal activities,” which included carrying pictures of Dorjee Lhundup during a non-violent procession when monks and lay Tibetans carried the ashes of Dorjee Lhundup to his home village.

Earlier in February, local Chinese security personnel summoned Yarphel along with Drayang, both monks of the Yershong Monastery in Rebkong. After long hours of interrogation, Yarphel was detained while Drayang, who is chronically ill, was sent off.

Following his arrest, Monastic authorities and family members made repeated appeals for his release but to no avail.

Till date, Yarphel was kept in a local prison in Dragmar but he is now likely to be shifted to another prison to serve his sentence.

Yarphel is the son of Lubum Gyal and a native of Dragkar Dewa. He was also a teacher at the Yershong monastery.

Dorjee Lhundup, 25, set himself ablaze on November 4, 2012 at one of the busiest crossroads in Rongwo town of Rebkong in eastern Tibet, days before the Chinese communist party’s 18th Party Congress in Beijing. He passed away at the protest site.

Father of a four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, Dorjee Lhundup called for freedom in Tibet and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile, while engulfed in flames.

Thousands of local Tibetans gathered later that day, when Dorjee Lhundup was laid to rest at Dhongya-lay cremation site behind the Rongwo Monastery.

Since 2009, 107 Tibetans have set themselves on fire, protesting China’s continued occupation and demanding freedom in Tibet and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

This sort of treatment to relatives of a self immolator are unacceptable.  How can paying ones last respect can  e deemed as an offence? Chinese government must be kibd of joking here. Plain ridiculous and mind disturbing. Isn't mourning of ones death be allowed in China and instead being charged for indulging in illegal activities. I don't support self immolation , don't get me wrong. I don't feel it can do any help to revive Tibet's independence again.

[Ensapa]

This sort of treatment to relatives of a self immolator are unacceptable.  How can paying ones last respect can  e deemed as an offence? Chinese government must be kibd of joking here. Plain ridiculous and mind disturbing. Isn't mourning of ones death be allowed in China and instead being charged for indulging in illegal activities. I don't support self immolation , don't get me wrong. I don't feel it can do any help to revive Tibet's independence again.

I'm sure that China has their own reasons as to why they arrested him. Also, phayul always reports news that makes the Tibetans sound like victims as opposed to the reality of the situation, and also that they tend to make china look like the bad guy in every report. China is currently finding people who are instigating self immolations and this man might be one of those people which is why China is quite heavy handed. Any country would be quite heavy handed towards people who are plotting to create unrest or to disrupt the country's peace and harmony and China does have the rights to do that. Perhaps this man might be released, but Phayul will not report it.

[icy]

Tibetan woman self-immolates on eve of Xi’s appointment as president

DHARAMSHALA, March 17: Exile Tibetan media are reporting on a self-immolation protest by a Tibetan woman on the eve of Xi Jinping’s formal selection as the new President of China earlier this week.

According to Tibetan news reports, Kunchok Wangmo, in her 30s, set herself on fire protesting China’s rule at around midnight on Wednesday, March 13 in the Dzoege region of Ngaba, eastern Tibet. She passed away in her fiery protest.

Xi, communist party general secretary, was formally appointed to the largely ceremonial post of president by the rubber stamp parliament on Thursday, completing China’s once in a decade leadership transition.

Chinese authorities took possession of Kunchok Wangmo’s body and carried out the cremation without informing her family members. They later handed over the remains.

Kunchok Wangmo’s husband Dolma Kyab, has been arrested after he refused to comply with local Chinese authorities’ orders to declare internal family feuds as the reason for her self-immolation.

The present condition and whereabouts of Kyab are not known.

Due to intense restrictions on all communication channels in the region, information on the self-immolation protest and the later fall out of Kyab’s arrest is not yet known.

Kunchok Wangmo is the 15th Tibetan woman to set herself on fire demanding freedom and the return of Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

In the same week, a monk at the Kirti Monastery set himself on fire on Friday in Ngaba region, taking the toll to two in the week marked by China’s leadership transition.

On March 16, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the brutal killings of peaceful Tibetan protesters by Chinese armed forces in 2008, Lobsang Thokmey, 28, a monk of the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba set himself on fire.

Lobsang Thokmey carried out his fiery protest at the Kirti Monastery and later succumbed to his injuries.

109 Tibetans living under China’s rule have torched their bodies since 2009 protesting China’s rule.

Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people, in his March 10 Tibetan National Uprising Day statement this year blamed China’s occupation and repression in Tibet for driving Tibetans to self-immolation.

“The prohibitions of peaceful protest and harsh punishments compel Tibetans to resort to self-immolation. They choose death rather than silence and submission to the Chinese authorities,” Sikyong Sangay said.

[Ensapa]

So, there is 'dialogue' between CTA and China, but too bad it isnt between them and the key people who would discuss the reality of the situation. Again, CTA claims they want the middle way in front of the Chinese, but behind them they want independence. hypocrisy much?

Tibetans and Chinese discuss crisis in Tibet
Phayul[Tuesday, March 19, 2013 15:37]


Representative Lobsang Nyandak with Chinese scholars and students during an open exchange in New York on March 16,2013.

DHARAMSHALA, March 19: In an open exchange of ideas between Tibetan and Chinese on the current crisis inside Tibet, more than a dozen Chinese scholars and students met with Tibetans in New York at a gathering organised by the Office of Tibet on March 16.

Lobsang Nyandak, Representative of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the Americas, took part in the discussions, explaining the Central Tibetan Administration’s Middle Way Policy.

He reiterated that the Central Tibet Administration’s Middle Way Policy is a win-win solution for both the Tibetan and the Chinese government in exile and called for democratic reforms in China.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama always said that the democracy is like a medicine that would cure all of China’s social ills,” Nyandak said.

Responding to questions on the wave of Tibetan self-immolations, Nyandak explained the exile Tibetan administration’s stance that it “does not encourage any drastic measures, including self-immolation” and stressed that Dharamsala has no role in inciting the self-immolations as often claimed by the Chinese government.

Zhang Boshu, a visiting scholar at the Institute of Human Rights at Columbia University in New York, who was sacked from his position as assistant researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2008 after he published an article on Tibet was among the attendees.

Zhang noted that there is “absolutely no inherent animosity” between the Tibetans and the Chinese peoples and that the problem lies in the institution of the Communist Party.

Also in attendance was Chinese Internet activist Wen Yunchao, better known by his online alias “Beifeng,” who is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Human Rights Institute. Wen has 80,000 followers on Twitter.

At the end of the meeting, which lasted for nearly five hours, Chinese participants said that the meeting was “extremely helpful in gaining a better understanding of the Tibetan issue.”

According to the organises, the attendants concurred that the root of the problem lie in the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party and that the only way forward for both China and Tibet is to work towards gradual democratic reforms in China.

[icy]

DHARAMSHALA, March 21: As a response to continuing attempts by Chinese authorities to blame and impose heavy punishment on the family members of the self-immolators, the Tibetans in Dharamshala today staged a protest on “China’s victimization” of family members of self-immolators.

The protesters paraded Xi Jinping’s bigheaded oaf holding a million Yuan in Mcleod Ganj and displayed placards saying Accept the Lie or Die! Two option: Either Accept the Bribe or Face the Punishment! I Will Never Accept the Lie! etc.

The protest was jointly organized by regional chapters of Tibetan Youth Congress and Tibetan Women’s Association and Students For a Free Tibet, India.

“The continuous self-immolations by Tibetans inside Tibet is one of the strongest political statements that highlights the height of oppression under which Tibetans have been suffering for a long time,” said Dorjee Tseten, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet.

“Chinese government’s attempt to conceal the reality by deploying heavy military and punishing innocent Tibetans or offering bribe will only further deteriorate the situation. Tibetans will not stop resisting until and unless China addresses the real issue of the Tibetan people.”

On 13 March, Kunchok Wangmo, 31, set herself on fire protesting China’s rule over her homeland around midnight in the Dzoge region of Ngaba, Northeastern Tibet. She died from injuries.

Following her self-immolation protest, the local Chinese authorities arrested Wangmo’s husband Dolma Kyab when he refused to comply with their orders to declare internal family feuds as the reason for her self-immolation.

According to China’s state news agency Xinhua, Dolma Kyab allegedly choked his wife to death after a quarrel and then transferred her body to the residential community where it was set alight on 12 March. Currently, Kyab’s condition and whereabouts of Kyab are not known.

Similarly, in November last year, by Chinese security personnel secretly detained the husband of self-immolator, Dolkar Tso, when he refused to accept bribes offered by local authorities to state that his wife set herself on fire due to to family disputes and not in protest against China’s rule.