A Prayer for the Dead (continued)

I decided not to type up everything I wrote on the night of the 17th March – I was emotional, tired, numb. So I’ll just give a summary of the last couple of weeks. It has been intense to say the least.

Two weeks ago today, as I said in the last post, was the 49th anniversary of the 1949 uprising in Lhasa, where many tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed by Chinese troops as they protected the Dalai Lama from an attempted assassanation attempt by China, forcing him to flee into exile – here in Dharamsala where he remains to this day. Many more Tibetans were imprisoned and tortured for many years, sometimes decades as a result of these 10th March 1949 protests (I have met some – Palden Gyatso imprisoned and tortured almost daily for 33 years); and obviously many hundreds of thousands more died as a result of torture, starvation and execution following this date, as the Chinese occupation began its brutal intensity.

Every year, as I said, this date therefore marked further peaceful protests around the world. As I said, again, this year the protests were larger in scale, due to the proximity of the August Olympics in Beijing, and the fact the world’s media is focusing to some degree on China in the run up to the games.

So, the usual marches were organised around the world by all the individual Tibet Support Groups (some Tibetan, some non-Tibetan); but they had more people turning up as supporters realised the significance of this year’s protest. IN Dharamsala, there were thousands of monks, nuns, schoolchildren, Tibetans and some Westerners who first attended a ceremony and talk by HH Dalai Lama and various other speakers at the main temple here

then a march down to Lower Dharamsala (hour or 2 away). As somebody who’s been to every march round London on March 10th for the last 5 years – where a few hundred people show up(although many more this year I believe) – the whole thing was awe inspiring. I cry just hearing the Tibetan national anthem – surrounded by the wealth of feeling, surrounded by so many monks, so many thousands of people who have left everything – their homes, their families, their country – because they had no choice – all of them chanting just for freedom, for some semblance of human rights to be returned, for the UN and the international community to listen – left a constant lump in my throat. Everyone carrying the Tibetan national flag – a beautiful flag that you get arrested and tortured for carrying or possessing in Tibet. It was incredibly moving.

The march in Dharamsala was led this year by 100 Tibetans who wre trying to Walk back to Tibet – the plan was to start marching today, and keep going through India, until they got to Tibet and Lhasa, the capital. No-one knew what would happen – it is rare for a Tibetan who has lived in exile in Dharamsala to be able to return to Tibet – the Chinese police are suspicious of the proximity to the Dalai Lama and political freedom for Tibetans here, so the likelihood of being arrested, interrogated, jailed for any of these marches who made it through to Lhasa without being stopped first by the Indian or Nepalese authorities, was extremely high. (As it turned out, the Indian police arrested them and detained all 100 of them after just 2 days peaceful marching – they are still ‘imprisoned’ (in a guest house albeit) now – but this is another story).

So the 100 marchers – all wearing orange ‘Walk to Tibet’ caps,were given khatags (symbolic white scarves) for their journey – to a rousing ovation from the thousands of people gathered at the Temple and with much gathered media from around the world- and then they led the march, followed by the monks, by the nuns, the schoolchildren, and then everyone else. As I say, it was unbelievable, seeing the thousands of people, hearing the chants, seeing the flags, the banners – all winding down the hills of India, to a crossroads in Lower Dharamsala where everyone stopped, and various speeches were given to those gathered there. We then made our way back up to Mcleod Ganj, and ate in the bright sunshine.

That night I think it was, was the first candlelight vigil in the grounds of the Temple, where I had seen the Dalai Lama’s teachings just weeks before (actually, I never updated this blog with that? A quick catch up, my friends Sophie and John came up from the UK end of Feb, beginning of March – was awesome to see them, so lovely – and we saw the Dalai Lama – he was awesome and inspiring and brilliant and I cried most times I even saw him – the place was packed with Tibetans and monks, and the Indian rhododendron trees began filling up with beautiful big clustered crimson flowers that showered all the trees around the temple like the crimson maroon multitude of monks filling the streets of Mcleod Ganj to see the Dalai Lama).

But anyway, I completely digress. On the evening of 10th March, the first candlelight vigil was held in the grounds of the temple.

After the shouting and energy of the march (all obviously completely peaceful), the vigil was held to commemorate the more than a million dead in Tibet, the people suffering there daily now. Again, it was terribly moving – so many monks, chanting the same mantra over and over – really beautiful, really sad. I think already this night, there was some talk already of a crackdown on similar peaceful protests that were taking place in Tibet. I don’t remember if it was on the 10th or the 11th, but I’m pretty sure already on the 10th, news was filtering in – also that protesters in Tibet were inspired by the news from Dharamsala of the 100 marchers back to Lhasa and by the fact there was worldwide media interest. It is difficult to explain how much this means to many Tibetans. Tibetans inside Tibet are fed propaganda daily in school education, religous ‘Patriotic Re-education Campaigns’ inside monasteries, ‘Thamzing’ sessions where they are forced to make up lies about family, neighbours, etc etc – just in their daily lives, where they are told ‘This is the way Tibet is now – it’s a part of China and always has been, the Dalai Lama is evil, no-one cares about him outside Tibet, the rest of the world doesn’t care about Tibet, and the world’s media isn’t interested – they know China liberated Tibet, and that’s that.’ For Tibetans in Tibet to find out how much the world is interested, how much Tibetans and their supporters in Indi and the rest of the world are prepared to show their passion for Tibet’s freedom, and how much the world’s media is interested – this a huge thing for them. For monks and nuns who aren’t allowed to practise their religion, parents whose children aren’t allowed to learn Tibet’s language, history, culture. They’ve had enough. So basically, the peaceful protest in Tibet started. They were marching anyway, to celebrate the day’s anniversary. And like I keep saying, to wave a flag OR to say ‘Long live the Dalai Lama’ OR to march down the street OR to say ‘Free Tibet’ – as a Tibetan in Tibet, any of these things will get you arrested, interrogated, tortured, imprisoned – probably your family and friends too just because they know you. But many hundreds took to the streets that day, in Lhasa as reported in the news, and throughout U-Tsang (the main (Western) region of Tibet) as well as Amdo and Kham (the huge Eastern regions of Tibet – referred to by China and most of the world’s media as ‘China’) knowing the results of their actions, but brave beyond belief.

Information flow is more prevalent between Tibet and Dharamsala, than to much of the world because so many Tibetans have come and settled here in this town (maybe 300 – 400,000?); and almost all keep in contact with families, friends and people from their areas on a regular basis, by phone, email, internet live programmes etc. When you have 400,000 people in one town getting firsthand information each from various people in Tibet, as well as major information gathering NGOs, media stations etc, based here, with long term, reliable, independent sources in Tibet, you know if everyone is saying the same thing that it is the truth. When photos, video footage, the same reports from different people – Buddhist monks who don’t lie, journalists who have just come off the phone from Westerners inside Tibet, NGOs etc etc are coming out, it’s difficult to ignore. And from that night – the 10th March, the information just kept coming, and it was very different fronm the coverage the Western media was showing. Basically there is no media freedom in China- only Xinhua the Chinese media agency, which publishes propaganda. There are no foreign journalists allowed inside Tibet without special permission and constant accompaniement and surveillance by the Chinese authorities (they don’t want the outside world to get information regarding the true situation from any Tibetans brave enough to risk the certain reprisals they will get from speaking to foreigners). So the media, even before this complete ban on journalists in Tibet enforced for the last week or so, have had to rely either on Chinese led information, or directly on ‘news footage’ put together and presented to them by the state controlled Chinese media agency. Almost no footage taken and fed through to here by mobile phone, email, internet, at unbelievable personal risk by Tibetans inside Tibet, can be broadcast in much of the world’s media, because the sources can’t be named. It is a Catch 22 situation of the media being reported of the most grotesque proportions. The BBC coverage on the first few days of the protests erupting in Tibet, made me almost physically ill. Working at the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), I immediately became aware of the reports coming in – all from the 10th March – huge protests in Lhasa, thousands of monks and laypeople protesting near Labrang monastery in Amdo (where many of my friends here lived near) with 10,000 armed police lining the streets (I saw the pictures on the 1st day). The concern here grew, as reports of reprisals and crackdown by the Chinese military and police grew. The protests in Tibet got bigger, and every day here since there have been marches (I went on a 30+ km march one day)

Also candlelight vigils every night, always with speakers from the Tibetan parliament, various NGOs, monasteries etc, many monks, the unified chanting of prayers of thousands of voices at once. There has been a 24 hour chain hunger strike going on for maybe 10 days now outside the temple (all my former political prisoner students have done it, many many monks, many students from the Tibetan schools for miles around).

There has been a call from TCHRD for people to shave their heads in solidarity with the people in Tibet who have died and the people protesting (I shaved my head 3 days ago – yes I am bald. It doesn’t look so good, but it has had a little media attention (I think I am the only Westerner or female to take up the call so far – as well as apparently a mention by a speaker from the Parliament outside the temple tonight – bizarre). Reports of the huge number of deaths coming in, pictures of those killed by the Chinese authorities, the horrific reports I’m getting from so many of my friends who have spoken to their friends in Lhasa etc on the phone – to find out their mother, brother, best friend (all these instances are true – from my students as well as my friends) have been dragged from their homes in night time raids – a[pparently this happening by the thousand – there is no doubt what is happening to these people even as I type – I know the Chinese authorities do not discriminate in their torture whether men, women, children.

Tonight I spoke to one of my students, a young monk who was imprisoned and tortured for 3 years just for peacefully saying ‘Long Live the Dalai Lama, Free Tibet’ in Lhasa a few years ago, when he was in his early 20s. He was beaten so badly he still gets regular horrific headaches, and wears glasses because of the damage done to his brain/eyesight by the beatings he received from Chinese guards with sticks, batons and electric cattle prods. He also has stomach problems, and problems because of these beatings to other parts of his body. He is one of the sweetest, gentlest people I have ever met, with a great sense of humour, who says he feels compassion for the people who did this to him. He spoke to his friend in Lhasa last week each day fr 2 days. On the third day, his friend’s wife told him he had been taken away by the police at night, from their house. There is no news of where or how he is now, just in prison, but the reality of what is happening to him is clear. This apparently is the case for thousands of people right now being rounded up.

I’m gonna be kicked out the internet cafe now, but just a couple of important things to say – will finish tomorrow.