Tibetan Uprising Day 2022

 

Each year on March 10th, Tibetans and allies around the world commemorate Tibetan Uprising Day and remember the courageous Tibetans who took a stand against Chinese imperialism. It is a symbol in Tibetan history, marking the day in 1959 when tens of thousands of Tibetans  rose up in protest against China’s occupation of Tibet. This revolt was preceded by several deliberate acts of the Chinese which deprived the Tibetans of freedom to follow their religious practices, customs and traditions.The all-enveloping subjugation, discrimination and harassment resulted in pent up frustrations amongst the peaceful Tibetans which burst out in the form of an unprecedented uprising.

 63 years after the first uprising, Tibet’s culture is in peril with more than 800,000 Tibetan children separated from their families and at risk of losing their connection to their native culture. The destruction of Buddhist monuments and the crackdown in Drakgo has been likened to the Cultural Revolution. Dozens of Tibetans who have spread news about this tragedy have been arrested. 

The vast landlocked Tibet is a region in Central Asia inhabited mainly by the Tibetan people. For thousands of years Tibet was a self-governing, independent entity with its’ own language, script, costumes, traditions & religion. Being an independent Buddhist nation in the Himalayas, Tibet had little contact with the rest of the world. It existed as a rich cultural storehouse of the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings of Buddhism.Religion is a unifying theme among the Tibetans, as is their language, literature, art, and world view developed by living at high altitudes, under harsh environments.

After  Chinas newly established communist government  took over Tibet in 1949- 50, in an invasion of unprovoked aggression, a treaty was imposed on the Tibetan  government acknowledging  sovereignty over Tibet  but recognising the Tibetan governments autonomy with respect to Tibets internal affairs. But as the Chinese consolidated their control, they repeatedly violated the treaty, nut since it was signed under duress anyway  the agreement was already in  violation of international law. In open resistance and with simmering resentment growing it led to the first major popular uprising against ChinsesE rule. 

On 10 March - in Lhasa in 1959, the Dalai Lama was supposed to attend a dance troupe performance, but he was told he could not bring his bodyguards.Fearing his abduction to Beijing soon thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Norbulinka summer palace of their spiritual leader, in order to protect him from being taken away by the Chinese army. From Tibet then aged 23 he reached the safety of India having escaped on foot disguised as a soldier in a gruelling 15- day journey over the Himalayan mountains, traveling by night and hiding by day. where he has maintained a government-in-exile in the foothills of the Himalayas ever since.

On March 12, 1959, two days after the National Uprising Day, thousands of women gathered on the ground called Dri-bu-Yul-Khai Thang in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. This demonstration marks Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day. March 12th was the catalyst that sparked the Tibetan Women’s Movement for independence.

Tibetan rebels launched an attack on March 19, but Chinese troops captured the city on March 25.The uprising was vastly outnumbered and met with extreme force, and brutal suppression, some 87,000 Tibetans were killed, and some 100,000 fled as refugees.resulting in the beginning of increasingly harsh  Chinese rule over Tibet.Members of the Dalai Lama's bodyguard  remanng in Llasha were disarmed and publicly executed  or arrested, and monasateries and temples around the city were looted or destroyed.

The Chinese government dissolved the Tibetan  government headed by the Dalai Lama on March 28, 1959, and the Panchen Lama assumed control of the Tibetan government on April , 1959. The Malayan government condemned the Chinese governments use of military force against the Tibetans on March 20, 1959, and Prime Minister Nehru of India expressed support for the Tibetan rebels on March 30, 1959. 

Prior to its invasion, Tibet had a theocratic government of which the Dalai Lama was the supreme religious and temporal head. The Chinese media routinely try to illustrate a narrative of oppression  being commonplace in Tibet  before their invasion and painting the Dalai Lama  as a terrorist and dangerous seperatist to justify their occupation, stating they freed the pEople of Tibet from "misery" and " slavery" under a feudal serfdom controlled by the Dalai Lama and his followers to try and distract us from the human rights abuses that China committed.Though it was no Shangri-La like paradise not only are their contradictions in this false narrative of serfdom and oppression that China likes to portray, most scholars have soundly rejected it and are moving away from this idea. 

Tibetans since the invasion were treated as second-class citizens in their own country. They are routinely kicked out of their homes and sent to townships so the government can ‘develop’ occupied spaces '. Over 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed and those that have survived are not being used by monks, but ironically, are used as spiritual attractions for – mostly Chinese – tourists while they tighten Tibetans’ religious freedom. Areas that were once spiritual spots and pure nature are used as nuclear waste sites. Worst of all, Tibetans do not have freedom of speech, religion or movement. Many passports have been recalled and the borders are closed, trapping Tibetans in the country as their culture and land diminishes.Chines replaced Tibetan as the official language, Despite official pronouncements, there has been no practical change in this policy. Secondary school children are taught all classes in Chinese. Athough English is a requirement for most university courses, Tibetan school children cannot learn English unless they forfeit study of their own language. In addition the Dalai Lama says 1.2 million people  have been  killed under Chinese rule, though China disputes this. 

 

The international community has since reacted with shock to the events that have ocurred in Tibet. The question of Tibet was raised at the U.N General Assembly between 199 and 1967. Three resolutions have been passed by the General Assembly condemning China's violations of human rights in Tibet and callIng upon China to respect their right including their right to self determination. 

The following website https://tibetuprising.org/  is a useful one to view a timeline of Tibetan resistance over the decades. Large scale protests across Tibet took place in the 1980s and in 2008, as Beijing prepared to host the Olympic Games. China's  response left 227 dead, over 1,000 injured and 6,810 in prison.  Some have since been released.  Some are still behind bars.  Some didn’t live to tell the tale. A few not only survived until release but then evaded surveillance and managed to escape into exile.

At least 155 Tibetans, young and old, monks and nuns, have self immolated since 2009 calling for the freedom of Tibet and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama..With no end in sight to the Chinese occupation of their motherland, the Tibetans have been forced to choose the path of self-immolations as an individual form of non-violent protest to highlight their plight and sufferings. The gravity of the present day situation can be understood from the recent action of  Tsewang Norbu, a 25 year old popular Tibetan singer attempted self immolation on February 25 in front of the Potala Palace in Llasha and was subsequently reported dead,  taking the number who have self immolated to 158.

Usually, protesters on this day end up in detention. Some known as potential protesters are also arrested in advance as a cautionary measure, simply meaning that innocents are imprisoned in absence of any crime. In some cases, Tibetan protesters in Tibet have been also shot on spot. Even Tibetans residing abroad are routinely locked up in some countries before March 10, on the pretext of avoiding disturbances between the host countries and Chinese Government.  Yes, March 10 is the most restricted day in Tibet. Several thousand of Chinese security force are usually sent throughout Tibet Autonomous Region. To cope with this, young and educated Tibetans have adopted new strategies to combat Beijing’s policies, always using non-violence. They of course use social media, a toll that reveal itself to be effective and efficient in waking up consciences in the world at large

Recent evidence shows that there has been a significant increase of Tibetan political  prisoners since the protests, and torture has become more widespread than ever. In 2015, Tibet Watch put the testimony of seven torture survivors in front of the UN. Voices that China tried to silence now told tales of barbaric cruelty and incredible bravery.  They told of the unbreakable spirit of Tibetan resistance. Please see the following link for more details www.tibetwatch.org/blood-on-the-snows 

At the moment the citizens  of Tibet do not have anything that resembles any form of basic human rights. Children and adults can dissapear at any time. To practice their religion means they will face prison, torture and death. The people are prevented from displaying their banned flag, or in joining mass protests, but Tibetans still assert their desire for freedom in the face of severe repression. 

Today this struggle  is being carried forward by a generation of Tibetans whose parents and even grandparents do not remember a life free of Chinese rule. Tibetans’ spiritual leader has pleaded with the Chinese government to make Tibet truly autonomous so people can have freedom of speech, religion, and movement. The Tibetan people should be allowed to retain their right to protest and allow their struggle and dscontentment with China and its illegal occupation and continued mistreatment of Tibetans to be recognised.Even though the plight of the Tibetans does not seem to garner the media attention it once recieved todays anniversary still marks  years of oppression and exploitation.The fact remains that China still occupies Tibet in much  the same way that Western empires of the nineteenth and twentieth century occcupied large parts of Africa and Asia. Chinas claims to have ' liberated 'Tibet rings hollow,and the continuing Tibetan resistance represents a legitimate important call for self-determination. 

 Despite being stripped of virtually all freedoms of their identity, Tibetans have continued to preserve their rich and diverse culture and traditions. The struggle is still not over yet. Tibetans are still fighting for basic human rights, such as the freedom to practice their religion, follow their own religious leaders, learn their own language in schools, being able to openly speak Tibetan, and live freely in their own country. 

On this annual day of resistance and hope for the Tibetan people, I pay tribute to the extraordinary courage of Tibetans resisting in Tibet, and all Tibetans, past and present who have courageously resisted China’s violent colonial rule I  urge citizens around the world to join me in calling for an end to China’s occupation of Tibet, stand in solidarity with the Tibetan people, to show them that they are not alone and that the world is responding to their calls for freedom . Call our governments to action to challenge China's repression in Tibet and to unite in action to help resolve the Tibet crisis, and hold Xi Jinping and the Chinese government accountable for it extreme and violent policies against the Tibetan people, and .commit to securing the promise of human rights and religious freedom for the people of Tibet and support their ongoing  struggle.