Posts Tagged ‘Tibet’
February 1st, 2012
Several Tibetan-language blogs hosted in China are reported to have
gone offline today, amid a period of
severe unrest.
AmdoTibet’s blog section has been temporarily shut down, a message on the site reads, “due to some of the blog users not publishing in accordance with the goal of this site.” Tense events of recent weeks have included a stream of self-immolations in Tibet protesting against Chinese rule, and more recently,
deadly clashes between officials and demonstrators.
January 5th, 2012
A Tibetan writer has been
sentenced to four years in jail by a Chinese court in eastern Tibet. Kalsang Tsultim, also known as Gyitsang Takmik, was first arrested in July 2010 for committing what the Chinese authorities termed “political error.” He had widely circulated a Video Compact Disc (VCD) in which he urges the international community to “act swiftly on behalf of the Tibetan people” to end repression in the tense region, while calling for the return of the Dalai Lama from exile.
July 18th, 2011
Three nuns have each been jailed for three year after they staged a peaceful street protest, chanting “
Free Tibet” and “long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama”, on 15 June. The women, aged between 21 and 31, are part of the Gyemadrak Nunnery in
Tibet and were
arrested by Chinese authorites hours after the protest began. The nuns have been named as Jampa Choedon, Sheh Lhamo and Tashi Choetso.
October 12th, 2010
Woeser, author of “Notes on Tibet”, was one of many signatories of a letter to the Chinese government calling for the release of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo. Writing for Index on Censorship magazine, she celebrates Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup
(more…)
July 16th, 2010
The Sun Behind the Clouds
Ritu Sarin/Tenzing Sonam I UK/India 2009 79 mins
Tue 20 July @ 7pm, Free Word Centre, London EC1R 3GA
After an amazing international film festival run, including Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2010 where the film was the centre of a controversy instigated by the Chinese Government, The Sun Behind the Clouds presents a timely account of the reality of the Tibet struggle today.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Sun Shuyun Senior Adviser on China for the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, and Tsering Topgyal, Tibetan academic working in the field of international relations.
Official selections – DMZ Korean International Documentary Film
Festival 2009, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2010
Winner – Václav Havel Award, One World International Human Rights
Documentary Film Festival 2010
Venue: Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3GA
tel: 020 7324 2570 / bookings@freewordonline.com
tickets on door: £5 full / £4 conc
Further information: www.day-for-night.org/tibetfilmfestival
July 5th, 2010
Three prominent environmentalists
have been jailed by the Chinese authorities amidst allegations of torture, judicial bias and harassment. Karma Sandrup, one of Tibet’s wealthiest businessmen, who used the profits of his antiques business to fund several small-scale environmental projects on the Tibetan plateau, was given a 15 year sentence on 24 June for
dealing in looted relics. Sandrup’s wife has accused the police of fabricating evidence and assaulting him while in custody. On 3 July, Karma’s elder brother Rinchem Sandrup was charged with “endangering state security” and sentenced to three years in prison, after he failed to register a small local ecological group. The family’s youngest brother, Chime Namgyal, is serving a 21-month sentence for organising litter collections, tree plantings, and patrols to prevent the hunting of endangered animals. Namgyal, who is disabled, has been in hospital since 11 June after receiving serious injuries whilst in custody. None of the three are on record as having criticised the Chinese government or engaging in opposition activism.
May 24th, 2010
A high school near the city of Shigatse in Tibet has
banned teachers and pupils from having “separatist” ringtones on their mobile phones after they were ruled “unhealthy” by local education officials. A list of 27 popular Tibetan songs was posted on the school website, and anyone caught in possession of them was warned they would be “severely dealt with”.
May 20th, 2010
A new report highlights the way China targeted Tibetan intellectuals and artists in response to Tibet’s spring 2008 protests writes Kate Saunders
There has been a vibrant literary and cultural resurgence in Tibet since spring 2008, when protests against Chinese government policy and in support of the Dalai Lama swept across the plateau.
A new generation of Tibetan intellectuals, often fluent in Chinese and familiar with digital technology, are daring to refute China’s official narrative. Their critiques are among the most wide-ranging indictments of Chinese policy in Tibet for 50 years.
In response, there is a deepening crackdown by the Chinese government against Tibetan writers, bloggers, artists, and other intellectuals in the public sphere. For the first time since the Cultural Revolution, writers, intellectuals, singers and artists in Tibet are being systematically targeted for their work, and almost every expression of Tibetan identity can be accused of being “reactionary” or “splittist”. Tashi Dhondup, a popular singer from Amdo (now Qinghai), , is in a labour camp as a result of singing songs referring to Tibetans’ grief at the killings of March 2008. Kunchok Tsephel, the founder of a website promoting Tibetan culture, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in November. Bloggers, artists and other intellectuals, including an artist who taught the Tibetan language to nomad children, have ‘disappeared’.
Although less well-known outside China than high-profile Chinese dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo and Hu Jia, many of the intellectuals named are famous among Tibetans, and are also enduring long prison terms for peaceful expression. Their concerns about restrictions and repression mirror those of their Chinese counterparts.
A new list is now available at www.savetibet.org detailing the cases of more than 50 Tibetans, including 13 writers, involved in the arts and public sphere who are either in prison, have been ‘disappeared’ or have faced torture or harassment due to expressing their views.
Since March 2008, the Chinese government has blocked news of the arrests, torture, disappearances and killings that have taken place across Tibet. The dangers faced by Tibetans who seek to describe the situation on the ground or simply express their views to the outside world have dramatically increased.
Among those named in the International Campaign for Tibet’s report are Tibetans sentenced to long prison terms for simply speaking about the crackdown via email or on the telephone. The penalties attached to these cases indicate a zero tolerance policy that is counter to China’s obligations to free speech under its own law and international human rights law.
Kate Saunders works for the International Campaign for Tibet
