About TIBET

BACKGROUND
WHY EXILE
• SOCIOECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS
• EDUCATION & RELIGION
THE JOURNEY INTO EXILE
TIBET IN EXILE AT A GLANCE
THE SRUGGLE FOR PEACE IN TIBET
THE TIBETAN PEOPLE’S UPRISING MOVEMENT
RETURN MARCH TO TIBET

"When people ask me 'Which place do you belong to?' I, too, have started to say: 'I belong to a problem called Tibet. And there are many more of us where I come from.'"

- Activist and writer, Tenzin Tsundue

BACKGROUND
Since the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1949, as many as 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed through executions, torture and starvation while more than 6,000 of Tibet's temples and monasteries have been defaced or destroyed. When tensions peaked and violence broke out in 1959, the Dalai Lama, spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, was left with little choice but to flee his homeland along with 80,000 Tibetan refugees. The following year, as more Tibetan refugees arrived, the Indian government allowed political asylum in Dharamsala for the Dalai Lama and Tibetan refugees to set up an administration in exile. Today, the Himalayan hill town of Dharamsala has become the center of the Tibetan exile world amongst its 140,000 refugees.

WHY EXILE?
"Tibet lives mostly in corners and shadows these days... Tibet today is essentially two different countries living on top of, around, and even inside one another; a worn Tibetan amulet inside a gaudy Chinese box."

- Travel writer and journalist, Pico Iyer

Socioeconomic & Human Rights
As China boasts of the economic development in today's Tibet Autonomous Region (T.A.R.), it is a case of increasing marginalization with the Chinese as the domineering stakeholders while 70 percent of Tibetans live in moderate to extreme poverty. With 6 million Tibetans outnumbered by 7.5 million Chinese migrants, it has become increasingly difficult for Tibetans to compete in a Chinese controlled workforce and maintain Tibet's distinct culture as minorities in their own land.

“Tibetans are systematically denied fundamental human rights, including participation in public affairs, the freedoms of speech, assembly and religion.”

Human Rights Watch, 2006

As China is progressively pushing Tibetans out of positions of authority, the cracking down of "splittist activity" in Tibet has become increasingly pervasive. Anti-separatist strategies such as the 2005 Summer Strike Hard Campaign, aimed to purge dissidents mean the possession of a Dalai Lama photo equates to "endangering state security" and gathering for peaceful demonstrations as "effecting stability of the motherland". For anyone suspected of such dissidence, local law enforcement is free to arrest, detain, interrogate and raid homes without warning. As a result, hundreds of political prisoners languish in Chinese prisons, where torture, extortion and "re-education through labor" are routine. Nyima, a 16 year old nun who was arrested for shouting slogans of religious freedom after she was expelled from her nunnery by Chinese authorities, testifies:

"... I was repeatedly burned with lit cigarettes, had boiling water poured over my body and mouth prodded with wooden sticks. I still refused to confess having committed any crime... after 6 months of daily torture, I was formally charged and convicted. I never received access to legal representation and a trial of any kind... For my 'crime', I received a five year prison sentence..."

Ex-political prisoners and those who wish to excise their basic human rights flee into exile.

Education & Religion
Discrimination, indoctrination and assimilation in education and religion is another major reason for exile. Tibetans are continually discriminated against while Tibetan language, culture and religion are repressed, especially in schools. Education in Tibet has been commonly reported as indoctrinating rather than educating. An 18 year old refugee, Tenzin Yangzom describes her three years of primary schooling:

"The textbooks used were composed by Mao. We were studying them chapter by chapter. Apart from these books, we were only learning reading and basic mathematics."

Through China's Patriotic Re-education Campaign launched in the 1990s, students in schools and even monastic institutions have since been taught that Tibetan Buddhism is a "backward behavior", forced to renounce the Dalai Lama as a "splittist" and pledge allegiance to the great motherland. Classes are almost exclusively held in Chinese, leaving many Tibetan students behind by a language barrier. One student reports:

"I couldn't understand Chinese well enough to learn another subject through it, so I had to keep asking the teacher for help again and again. Many of the Tibetans in the class were like me, and when we didn't understand the teacher, the other Chinese students would laugh and call us 'stupid Tibetans' and 'dirty Tibetans'. Pretty soon we gave up asking for help, and just sat there, waiting to fail."

Consequently, the vast majority of refugees, roughly 75 percent, flee for a better education, either lay or religious.

THE JOURNEY INTO EXILE
On September 30th, 2006, a 17 year old nun named Kelsang Namtso was the last in a column of 73 Tibetans who were fleeing into exile over a snow-covered pass when Chinese border patrol opened fire from several kilometers away. An international group of mountaineers videotaped the 17 year old nun shot dead and two others fall. Following international pressure, Chinese authorities claimed that the troops had shot at the group in self-defense and that one person had died due to "a lack of oxygen". While arbitrary shootings at the China-Nepal border are a common risk for the 3,000 plus Tibetans who make the arduous escape into exile each year, this videotaped incident stirred global attention as just another example of the brutal saga inside a Chinese occupied Tibet. Watch the videotape of the shooting at Nangpa La Pass (2:57) >

TIBET IN EXILE AT A GLANCE

Worldwide distribution: 140,000
India: 100,000; Nepal: 25,000; USA & Canada: 7,000; Bhutan: 1,600; Switzerland: 1,540; Taiwan: 1,000; Other countries: 3,860

Government
Democratic with popular and electoral college voting

Cabinet Ministries
Education, Finance, Health, Home Affairs, Information & International Relations, Religion & Culture, and Security

Head of State
His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Seat of Government
Dharamsala, Northern India

Military & Police
None

Government Income
Annual voluntary tax, business revenue, donations

Economy
Sweater-selling, agriculture, agro-industrial, handicrafts, handicraft exports, carpet weaving

Legal Status
Stateless. A small percentage of Tibetan bear foreign passports but most hold Indian registration certificates

THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE IN TIBET

Five days before he doused himself with gasoline and struck a match, Free Tibet activist, Thupten Ngodup told a radio interviewer, "I am giving up my life to bring about peace and fulfillment to my unhappy people." Ngodup had been a part of a demonstration in Delhi to protest against the UN's inaction towards Chinese occupation in Tibet. Instead of sitting in for the planned hunger strike, his blazing body shook awake the ferocity of the modern Tibet struggle. Shouting slogans for a free Tibet as fire consumed his body, Thupten Ngodup not only caught headline attention, but also the admiration as a martyr for the Tibet cause amongst a new generation of young Tibetan exiles; a generation of youth born and raised in exile, and growing restless of their ineffective peaceful resistance. Amongst the last words that Ngodup heard before he died were those of the Dalai Lama at his hospital bedside, "You must not feel any hatred towards the Chinese..."

Since 1959, when the Dalai Lama went into exile, Tibetans have held steadfast to a non-violent approach for freedom and justice. The Dalai Lama appealed to Tibetans, "Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our struggle must be nonviolent and free of hatred." Yet after nearly 50 years, the Chinese government has been unyielding in their claim of Tibet. Today, many Tibetans fear that the current cultural genocide will eventually wipe out Tibet's unique cultural heritage. Even as numerous support groups and lobbyists around the world dedicate their lives for the Tibet cause, international attention has become increasing in the favor of China's booming economy rather than the sanction of its human rights violations.

While many believe that a Free Tibet will only come through the fall of communist China, others, including the Dalai Lama have accepted Tibet as a part of Chinese territory with hopes to bring more rights and genuine autonomy within China's Tibet.

THE TIBETAN PEOPLE’S UPRISING MOVEMENT

“There is a great and growing desire for change in the world: change that ushers in a renewed commitment to ethical and spiritual values; that resolves conflicts peacefully, employing dialogue and non-violence; that upholds human rights and human dignity as well as human responsibility.”

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

March 10th, 2008 will forever be recorded in the history of Tibet. The weeks following the massive Tibetan Uprising undoubtedly brought Tibet into the international spotlight again as the largest demonstrations since 1959 spread from Lhasa to the far reaches of the Tibetan plateau in Kham and Amdo. Crackdowns began quickly as Chinese authorities violently suppressed the peaceful demonstrations, using tear gas and indiscriminately firing gunshots, resulting in the death of hundreds and mass arrests of over 2,300 Tibetans. Lhasa was put under curfew the following weeks as phone lines and foreign media were strictly kept at bay for an indefinite period. Following the evacuation of the media, Amnesty International, along with other human rights and Tibet support groups issued statements to send independent UN fact finding missions to investigate the situation inside Tibet. The request submitted by the UN High Commission for Human Rights was later denied by China.

Just as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay made its world tour, exiled Tibetans and Tibet supporters erupted in protests. In various capital cities, demonstrators demanded independence, an Olympics boycott, human rights, free press and peace in Tibet. Despite the monumental scale of the global demonstrations against China, Beijing has still refused to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Chinese authorities even called the Dalai Lama, “A wolf in monk’s clothing” and accused him of masterminding the violence in Tibet. The Dalai Lama, on the other hand has made appeals to China, reiterating his commitment for genuine autonomy within the People’s Republic. He also urged the Chinese leadership to exercise restraint and appealed to Tibetans to practice non-violence, never wavering from this path no matter how serious the situation may be.

For the latest and most comprehensive news and opinions about Tibet, go to www.phayul.com.

RETURN MARCH TO TIBET
In 2008, Tibetans living in exile in India launched the March to Tibet as part of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement. This historic movement was aimed to revive the spirit of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959. Through direct, non-violent action, the March sought to bring about an end to China’s occupation of Tibet by utilizing the limelight of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The March to Tibet, organized by five Tibetan NGOs based in Dharamsala, began on March 10th from Dharamsala and reached Delhi on April 9th. The first group of one hundred core marchers were arrested and put under judicial custody within four days of beginning the March. They were detained for 14 days. As the marchers constantly face threats of arrest, they are united in the determination to achieve one goal: to return home. “The camaraderie of the marchers is inspiring especially at this critical period for Tibet,” said Tsewang Rigzin, President of Tibetan Youth Congress. “The marchers are truly banding together to show their support for the Movement inside Tibet. They realize the present urgencies and have vowed to push forward with the March to Tibet.”

Watch the March to Tibet Documentary >

For daily progress and more information on the Return March to Tibet, go to www.tibetanuprising.org.