Tibetans protest new uranium mine citing religious and environmental concerns
August 24, 2015
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, August 24, 2015 – Chinese authorities have used intimidation and threats of force to block attempts by local Tibetans to save a sacred mountain from uranium mining at Dringwa (Ch: Zhanwa) Township in Dzoege (Ch: Ruo’ergai) County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
According to reliable information received by TCHRD, on August 10 a mining team sent by the Chinese government proceeded to start mining at Drak Dzong, a sacred mountain in Dringwa. Just then a large number of Tibetans gathered at the site to stop the miners, with Tibetans explaining to the Chinese miners that it was inauspicious to mine at the sacred site and that mining would have disastrous consequences on the environmental stability of the region. In response, the miners threatened to call the police for obstructing their work. Despite protests from Tibetans, the mining team has already made preparations to start mining uranium; mining machines and equipment have been brought to the site.
Uranium was initially mined mainly for producing nuclear weapons and since the 1960s, for manufacture into nuclear reactor fuel. Being both radioactive and a toxic heavy metal, uranium mining can contaminate air, soil and water.
Drak Dzong is a sacred mountain considered as the dwelling place of Amnye Drak Dzong, the principle deity revered by local Tibetans in Dringwa. The mountain has two sacred caves that receive a continuous chain of pilgrims throughout the year. The locals believe that excavation at this site would bring catastrophes such as epidemics and droughts in the region. Owing to the local belief system, Tibetans have protected this site since time immemorial without even putting a spade on it. The plan to mine this sacred mountain has plunged local Tibetans deep into worry, fear and uncertainty.
Each and every local area in Tibet has its own sacred mountain. Tibetans believe that deities, who provide protection to the local area and people, inhabit these sacred mountains. On top of these mountains, Tibetans perform frequent rituals meant to propitiate these sacred deities. These rituals include burning sang (burning junipers), throwing lungta (paper prayer leaflets) and putting up dharchok (prayer flags). Tibetans think that acts that harm the nature such as digging sacred mountains, cutting forests, and hunting animals will bring disasters, such as epidemics, upon their livestock. Therefore, protecting these sacred mountains have become the religious custom and cultural practice of the Tibetan people for centuries, proving very effective in protecting Tibetan environment, including Tibetan flora and fauna. China’s mining of the sacred mountains, therefore, destroys not just the natural environment of Tibet, but also violates the religious belief and cultural practices of the Tibetan people.
Between 1960 and 1995, in a span of 35 years, a coalition of three mining teams bearing the pseudonyms “792”,”405″ and “407′ based in Kyangtsa (Ch: Jiangzha) and Thewo (Ch: Diebu) executed a series of mining activities at Dringwa township. Kyangtsa Township is located in Dzoege County while Thewo County is located in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. These mining activities have wrought immense harm and destruction on the local Tibetans such as deaths of a large number of livestock in this region. In Dringwa, for the past 35 years Chinese miners have mined 34 different types of metals and minerals such as gold. The environment monitoring bureau of Sichuan Province reported on its website that in June 2014, a team of mining inspectors visited Dzoege County in connection with the mining of uranium ore in the area.
A 1992 report published by the exile Tibetan government stated that the Chinese had discovered some 200 uranium deposits by 1990 in Tibet. [1] Likewise, it was reported in early 1980s that the area around Lhasa contained arguably the world’s largest deposits of uranium. [2] However, the report published by the exile Tibetan government pointed out that the Gya Tseseda mine, located 86 kms away from Thewo town, was at the time the largest Chinese uranium mine.
Already in the early 1990s, local Tibetans in Kyangtsa had reported suffering from the harm done by uranium mining in their region. In September 1992, the now-defunct Tibet Information Network reported that the residents of Guru village in Kyangtsa Township had reported illnesses from 1980. Local Tibetans recounted how the forest near the village had started to dry up and it became harder to get plants to grow. The victims died within a few hours of developing a fever, followed by a distinctive form of diarrhoea. At least 35 people out of the village population of 500 died between 1989 and 1992.
TCHRD calls on Chinese authorities to act responsibly and with restraint when dealing with peaceful Tibetan protesters, who harbor legitimate grievances against the excesses of local authorities and the miners that they support. The resistance of local Tibetans in Dringwa against mining on the sacred mountain demonstrates that neither the miners nor the local authorities have obtained free, prior and informed consent from local Tibetans who have owned and nurtured the land sustainably for thousands of years. TCHRD calls on the Chinese authorities to respect Tibetan cultural sensitivities and belief system, and refrain from implementing mining projects that could harm Tibetans and the land that they inhabit.
Endnotes:
1. Tibetan Environment and Development issues 1992, Dept. Of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, India.).
2. Richard Pascoe, “Uranium rich Tibet still awaits steam; ” South China Morning Post; 24 Aug. 1982.)
WTN -24th August 2015

Clampdown Amid Questions Over Death of Tibetan Monk in Custody
2015-08-12
Authorities in southwestern China’s Sichuan province have launched a clampdown in the home county of a popular Tibetan monk who died last month amid unexplained circumstances in a Chinese prison, deploying security personnel and restricting communications, a Tibetan source in exile said Wednesday.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 65, died on July 12 in the 13th year of a life sentence imposed for what rights groups and supporters have described as a wrongful conviction on a bombing charge. He was widely respected among Tibetans for his efforts to protect Tibetan culture and the environment.
In recent weeks, authorities in Rinpoche’s Nyagchuka (in Chinese, Yajiang) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture have ordered residents to stop discussing the circumstances surrounding his death, Lobsang Yonten, a Tibetan exile living in south India, told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“After his death, the Chinese authorities started conducting political re-education activities in the area, instructing people not to talk about it, saying it could lead to riots,” Yonten said, noting that many local residents are affiliated with Rinpoche’s Kham Nalanda Thekchen Jangchub Choling monastery.
“The authorities also tried to impress upon the public that Rinpoche had died a natural death and had received all possible medical treatment,” he said.
According to Yonten, young men in the county have been “forced to engage in military training and exercises,” while those who do not comply are “detained for several days” and subjected to re-education.
Local Tibetan devotees who wanted to attend a ritual prayer for Rinpoche at the Kham Nalanda Thekchen Jangchub Choling monastery were not permitted to do so, he said, adding that residents are required to obtain special permission from authorities before they can even go near the site.
“A large contingent of security forces is still deployed in the area and Rinpoche’s monastery is also surrounded by police and armed paramilitary units,” he said.
Sister and niece
On July 30, authorities freed the sister and niece of Rinpoche after holding the two women in custody in a secret location for nearly two weeks, the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said last week. No charges were filed against them, the group said.
Dolkar Lhamo, 55, and Nyima Lhamo, aged about 25, had been detained in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu on July 17 on suspicion of having shared information related to the death of Rinpoche with contacts outside the area.
TCHRD said that family and friends living outside Tibet feared the two women had been subjected to beatings, intimidation and possibly torture during their detention.
Yonten said Wednesday that they have been under police monitor since their release.
“Although the sister and her daughter were released, they are confined in their home without a phone, which the authorities took away,” he said.
“They were told not to meet or talk with their relatives and friends, nor are they permitted to travel away from their house.”
Call for investigation
Before being detained, Dolkar Lhamo had appealed to authorities for an explanation of the circumstances surrounding Rinpoche’s death, also submitting abstracts from China’s constitution on required procedures following the death of a prisoner belonging to a minority national group, one source told RFA in an earlier report.
“But the authorities refused to accept those representations,” the source said.
In its statement last week, TCHRD called for an “independent and impartial investigation” into the death of the widely respected monk, saying the Chinese government has a legal obligation to determine whether his death was caused intentionally or by negligence.
Despite protests from his family, Rinpoche’s remains were cremated by prison authorities on July 16.
Reported by Sonam Wangdu for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Dalai Lama to join fellow Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta at peace conference in Indonesia
August 10, 2015
Coconuts Jakarta, August 6, 2015 – The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, will be making his way to Java early next month to speak at the 1st Annual Malang Peace Conference.
The conference, which will take place from September 6-9, aims to promote tolerance and world peace.
The Dalai Lama will be speaking on the first day of the conference, along with fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of East Timor José Ramos-Horta, Minister of Religion Lukman Hakim and President Joko Widodo.
The conference was organized the Raden Rahmat Islamic University of Malang. The head of the conference committee, Dimas Iqbal Romadhon, told CNN Indonesia that Malang was a perfect place for such an event as it is the home of numerous religious organizations that all coexist in harmony.
Dimas confirmed that the Dalai Lama was coming to the event, but said they were still taking care of his visa. He also said that the Dalai Lama was planning to visit Borobudur in Magelang while he was in Indonesia.
For more information on the the 1st Annual Malang Peace Conference go to: http://amipec.org/

Tibetan Political Prisoner Dies After 14 Months in Custody
2015-07-23
UPDATED at 6:35 a.m. EST on 2015-07-24
A Tibetan village chief being held in prison for his role in protests against a Chinese gold mine died in a Lhasa hospital, a Tibetan source living in exile told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Lobsang Yeshi, a father of eight in his 60s, died on July 19 at Lhasa Hospital, where he had been taken after his health deteriorated in Ngulchul prison in Lhasa, the source told RFA.
The cause of the man’s death was not immediately clear. But the website of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan exile government in India, said he had been tortured since his detention in May 2014 after a protest in his village.
“Due to severe beating in the prison, Lobsang Yeshi sustained grievous injuries and suffered dizziness as a result of poor health,” said the CTA report.
Lobsang Yeshi, who was the head of Gewar village in (In Chinese, Changdu) prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region, near where a Chinese mine was being built, and two other village men were sentenced to two years in jail for their roles in protests that rocked the village a year earlier.
On May 7, 2014, Gewar village resident Phakpa Gyaltsen died in a solitary protest after stabbing himself and jumping from a building in Tongbar town to oppose Chinese plans to mine gold in an area of Dzogang (Zuogang) near Madok Tso called Ache Jema, according to Tibetan sources at the time.
“At that time, the Tibetans, led by some elderly Tibetans including Lobsang Yeshi who was head of the village, protested at Dzogang county center. The protest continued even after threatening warnings given by Chamdo and Dzogang police,” the exiled Tibetan source told RFA.
“The leader and others continued with frequent protests and refused to budge under the threat. The tension was eased when the county level officials tried to mediate between the police and the protestors and allowed the Tibetans to go home without any action,” the source added.
Later, however, Lobsang Yeshi was one of seven Tibetans taken into custody by the authorities and detained in Dzogang county for almost one year, he said.
Tibetan areas of China have become an important source of minerals needed for China’s economic growth, and mining operations have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of disrupting sites of spiritual significance and polluting the environment as they extract local wealth.
“None of the relatives and friends of Lobsang Yeshi was allowed to see his body. Only a monk was finally allowed in to see his body and conduct prayer,” the exile source said.
Lobsang Yeshi’s body was cremated on July 21, with two of his brothers attending the cremation, the source said.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated that Ngulchul prison is in Chamdo, instead of Lhasa

Congressman McGovern Statement on Death of Tibetan Activist Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
Jul 20, 2015
Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02), a senior House Democrat and Co-Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, released the following statement on the death of Tibetan activist Tenzin Delek Rinpoche:
“Last week I was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of the well-known Tibetan monk, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. Tenzin Delek was serving a life sentence under very harsh conditions for allegedly ‘causing explosions’ and ‘inciting separatism,’ charges against which he steadfastly maintained his innocence. Just last April, I had written to the U.S. State Department to encourage our government officials to prioritize Tenzin Delek’s release on medical parole, because he was reported to be suffering from serious health problems. In late June, the State Department assured me the message had been transmitted, but now we see that China turned a callous blind eye to my pleas and those of many others. The Chinese authorities bear direct responsibility for Tenzin Delek’s unnecessary death.
“But the barbarity of the story does not end there. Tenzin Delek’s family asked the Chinese government to return his body to them, so that they could carry out funeral rites in accordance with Tibetan tradition. This very basic, very human request was supported by Tibetan religious leaders and many others around the world. Instead, Chinese authorities cremated the body at a secret prison outside Chengdu, returning only ashes to his distraught family and community. The authorities’ only humane gesture, which was minimal and under pressure, was to permit several monks and family members, including two sisters, to view the body before the cremation. The monks were able to wash and dress the body, and carry out prayers, as was the family. But let me be clear: the authorities’ actions after Tenzin Delek’s death display the same utter contempt for their own laws, and for religious traditions, that characterized their treatment of this spiritual leader during his life.
“We do not know the cause of Tenzin Delek’s death. He died while family members were waiting to see him, in what would have been only his second family visit in 13 years. His sisters, after seeing the body, report that his lips and fingernails had turned black; they believe he was murdered. At a minimum, it was the height of cruelty to have allowed a prisoner who was tortured, suffering from medical problems, and had been denied medical treatment, to die in prison.
“I do not believe that we can expect the Chinese government to tell the world the truth about Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s death. For this reason, today I am calling for an immediate independent international investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, with the participation of forensic and human rights experts from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I also call on the Chinese government to allow a visit and investigation by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, in light of the allegations of torture against Tenzin Delek, and China’s upcoming review this fall under the Convention Against Torture.
“Frankly, these independent investigations would be in China’s best interests. Given their treatment of the man before his death, and of his body afterwards, authorities’ statements have little credibility.
“Tenzin Delek’s death is being felt very strongly in Tibetan communities – we’ve already seen reports of police firing into the air to disperse the crowds that gathered to demand the return of the body to his home in Sichuan. I am concerned for the safety of the members of Tenzin Delek’s family and I have received very disturbing reports that his sister, Dolkar Lhamo, and her daughter, Nyima Lhamo, have been detained by the police. Please be assured that my voice will be heard if they are harmed or their rights are violated in any way.
“My heart goes out to the family of Tenzin Delek, to his religious followers, and to the communities he served. He was an outstanding human being who defended his culture and his people, and paid dearly for it. He will not be forgotten.”

Chinese Cremate Body of Revered Tibetan Monk, Ignoring Pleas
By ANDREW JACOBSJULY 16, 2015
BEIJING — Authorities in southwest China on Thursday cremated the body of a prominent Tibetan monk who died in prison last week, ignoring the pleas of relatives, religious leaders and thousands of supporters who had demanded that they be allowed to carry out funeral rites integral to Tibetan Buddhism.
Relatives of the monk, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 65, said prison officials in Sichuan Province had brushed aside their requests and hastily cremated his body early Thursday, a move likely to exacerbate protests that have already turned violent in recent days.
“I think they were afraid people would see the body and know that it was not a natural death,” a cousin, Geshe Jamyang Nyima, said in a Skype interview.
Rights advocates have been calling for an investigation into the death of Tenzin Delek, a revered community leader who had been serving a life sentence on charges of terrorism and incitement of separatism. During his 13 years in prison, Tenzin Delek repeatedly maintained his innocence, saying accusations that he had orchestrated a series of bomb blasts in 2002 were fabricated by officials unhappy with his growing public stature.
Alarmed by accounts of his failing health, family members in recent years had been petitioning Beijing to grant Tenzin Delek medical parole, a campaign that drew support from Tibetan exile groups, Western governments and thousands of his followers in China. This week, the State Department and the European Union called on the Chinese government to release his body.
Prison officials in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, could not be reached for comment on Thursday but relatives say they have repeatedly declined to give a cause of death.
Family members say Tenzin Delek was in good health before his arrest, but that he had developed a heart ailment they attribute to the abuse they say he suffered while in custody.
“From their earliest efforts at harassing him, all the way through to their disposal of his body, Chinese authorities’ treatment of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche has demonstrated utter contempt for their own laws and for religious traditions,” said Sophie Richardson, the China director of Human Rights Watch. “To have allowed someone who had been tortured and denied medical care to die in detention is the height of cruelty.”
Tenzin Delek was one of China’s most high-profile political prisoners, and his death and hasty cremation are likely to aggravate tensions in a region already bristling with anti-government sentiment.
On Monday, the police were said to have fired tear gas and live ammunition into a crowd of more than a thousand people who had gathered outside government offices in Nyagchuka, a largely Tibetan town in Sichuan where Tenzin Delek had once lived. More than a dozen people were wounded, according to Students for a Free Tibet, an overseas advocacy group that reported the confrontation.
In recent days, nearly 100 people, including two of Tenzin Delek’s, have been staging a sit-in outside the prison in Chengdu where he is thought to have been held. Many had traveled nearly 400 miles from his hometown in Lithang, in western Sichuan, despite warnings from authorities that those caught traveling to Chengdu would face long prison terms.
Geshe Jamyang Nyima, the cousin, said prison officials had allowed Tenzin Delek’s sisters to view his body Thursday morning shortly before it was cremated at a secret prison outside Chengdu. “They found that his lips and his fingernails had turned black,” said the cousin, who lives in exile in India and is in frequent phone contact with one of the sisters. “To us, it is clear he has been murdered.”
Tenzin Delek was a revered figure among Tibetans in Sichuan, where he helped build medical clinics, schools and monasteries. He was also known as an environmentalist who opposed mining and deforestation.
But his promotion of Tibetan language and culture — and his devoted following among local residents — made Chinese officials uncomfortable, according to Padma Dolma, campaigns director for Students for a Free Tibet. “He wasn’t involved in political activities, which is why it was such a shock when he was arrested and charged with conspiring to plant a bomb,” she said. “It’s because of his message of nonviolence that Tibetans were so dedicated to him.”
Following his arrest — and a secret trial — Tenzin Delek’s notoriety spread beyond Sichuan. After international rights advocates campaigned for his release, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison, though a co-defendant was executed in 2003.
Robert Barnett, director of the Modern Tibet Studies Program at Columbia University, said the Chinese government had been quietly granting medical parole to ill Tibetan prisoners, including 17 over the past two years. But given Tenzin Delek’s popularity, he said, the authorities may have feared public celebrations over his release.
“Like so much of China’s Tibet policies, they were trapped in a cul-de-sac with no exit,” he said. “Still, that he was allowed to die in prison is really quite extraordinary. It’s something that is going to be very strongly felt in Tibetan communities.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/world/asia/china-cremates-body-of-revered-tibetan-monk-tenzin-delek-rinpoche.html?_r=0

Popular Tibetan Monk Serving Life Sentence Dies in Chinese Jail
2015-07-13
A popular Tibetan monk serving a life term in prison in China’s Sichuan province has died after being known to be in extremely poor health with a serious heart condition for which he allegedly received no treatment, according to sources and rights groups.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who had been imprisoned since 2002 after what rights groups and supporters described as a wrongful conviction on a bombing charge, died on Sunday, the sources said. He was 65 years old.
“Chinese police informed his relatives that he was seriously ill and when they rushed to visit him, they were told he was already dead,” one source inside Tibet told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Another source said Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s body has not been handed over to his family after his death at 4:00 p.m. local time
Two of his relatives had been in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital, for more than a week hoping to visit the ailing monk in Mianyang jail but they were not allowed by the authorities to see him, the source said.
Death sentence
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who was highly respected by Tibetans, was charged with involvement in an April 3, 2002 bombing in the central square of Chengdu and initially sentenced to death in December that year along with an assistant, Lobsang Dondrub.
His death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, but Lobsang Dondrub was executed almost immediately, prompting an outcry from rights activists who questioned the fairness of the trial.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded in a report two years after the trial that the legal proceedings against Tenzin Delek Rinpoche had been “procedurally flawed” and that he was charged only in order to “curb his efforts to foster Tibetan Buddhism … and his work to develop Tibetan social and cultural institutions.”
Authorities had begun to perceive Tenzin Delek Rinpoche as a threat as his “local status rose and he successfully challenged official policies on a number of issues,” HRW said in its report.
‘Devastated’
Students for a Free Tibet, a global Tibetan group, said Sunday it was “devastated” by his death. “A Tibetan hero has died in Chinese prison,” it said.
“Over 13 years of unjust imprisonment and torture in prison left him with critical medical conditions for which he received no treatment,” the group said.
It charged that he “has died under suspicious circumstances,” calling him “a revered Tibetan Buddhist teacher and outspoken advocate for his people.”
“Tibetans inside Tibet are already demanding local authorities to release his body to arrange Buddhist religious rites,” the group said.
Recognized by Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as a reincarnated lama in the 1980s, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche had been a community leader and a staunch advocate for the protection and preservation of Tibetan culture, religion, and way of life for decades, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) had said.
He had been held in detention for over 13 years “for a crime that he did not commit,” ICT said.
Petition
More than 40,000 Tibetans had signed their names to a petition asking for his release, each attesting to their signature by adding a thumbprint in red ink, the ICT said. “Every single one of the 40,000 Tibetan signers knows that they risk their freedom and perhaps their lives by speaking out for the Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.”
Tibetans had also been protesting for his release since he was detained in 2002 and many were themselves jailed for the action.
Reported by Lhuboom and Kalden Lodoe for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Kalden Lodoe. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

Tibet Isn’t Free Yet; That Doesn’t Mean the Dalai Lama Has Failed
Freya Putt Human rights activist & Deputy Director at Tibet Action Institute
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/freya-putt/tibet-isnt-free-yet-that_b_7665720.html
In recent years, I’ve noticed an increasing trend of articles and commentaries examining the Dalai Lama’s life and legacy that conclude Tibetans, and he as their leader, have failed in their cause to restore freedom to Tibet. Having worked for this movement for 18 years, I can understand having doubts about what the future holds. But really? Failed? It’s a done deal?
Some voiced similar sentiments in the 1960s and 1970s, when most people had never heard of Tibet, and certainly no countries were bothering to advocate for Tibetan political prisoners or other rights. China had been “lost” by the west and Tibetans were unfortunate casualties.
But the gloom-and-doom analysis proved to be misguided then, as the mere handful of Tibetan refugees who had resettled globally built awareness and inspired activism. Huge protests in Lhasa in the late 1980s, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Nobel Peace Prize, Hollywood and the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, drove Tibet into international public consciousness. Likewise, this frame of analysis is misguided now.
Perhaps I’m just too invested to acknowledge that the cause is lost. But I don’t think so.
First of all, it’s human nature that where there’s injustice, there’s struggle. People don’t just give up trying to make their lives better because the odds are against them; the daily effort to resist indignities and oppose oppression continues regardless of what the endgame might be. Tibetans demonstrate this constantly, showing their opposition to China’s occupation by wearing traditional clothes, patronizing Tibetan-owned shops, holding onto their language and fighting for its use in schools, deploying art, music and poetry to express themselves and rally each other, using blockades and other direct action to protect lands, and even making the extreme choice to light themselves on fire in defiance of Chinese rule.
In fact, while state oppression has increased in recent years, resistance in Tibet has grown and deepened. A decade ago, opposition to Chinese rule seemed to manifest mainly through small, unplanned protests, which though symbolically powerful, are easily countered by China. Today, resistance is constant, sophisticated, and waged on many fronts.
And while our collective memory is short, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to remember that many — perhaps most — conflicts about rights, territory and self-governance have taken decades or centuries to resolve. Think slavery and civil rights in the U.S.A., Irish independence, the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, Indian independence and decolonization the world over.
The conditions affecting rights and freedom for Tibet are daunting, to say the least. China has steadily gained economic clout and countries increasingly react in fear when it flexes its economic muscle. Tibetans number roughly six million, Chinese 1.3 billion. Tibet’s high, mountainous plateau has kept it isolated and made it easier for China to severely limit both physical and virtual interaction between Tibetans and the outside world. And Tibet’s mineral and water resources and strategic location in the heart of Asia make it an economic and geopolitical prize.
Looking at these factors, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that the Tibetan struggle hasn’t yet been won.
But not having yet won a struggle is very different from having lost it. Bill Moyer, an American theorist and activist, developed a strategic model for explaining the progress of social movements and used case studies to illustrate eight distinct phases. He emphasized that after substantial gains, such as building a mass movement, achieving popular support and defining an issue as a problem on society’s agenda, movements often find themselves mired in a sense of despair and powerlessness based on a misperception of their progress. The Tibetan freedom movement has made significant strides toward its goals: establishing the legitimacy of Tibetans’ claims to freedom, building a mass base of popular global support, overpowering China’s propaganda factory in the media, and making Tibet a constant challenge to China’s reputation on the global stage. There is much more to be done, clearly, but the critical foundation has already been built.
In fact, amidst all the tragedy, suffering and daily hardship that Tibetans face, there is much to celebrate. Far from having failed, the Dalai Lama should be recognized as one of the global leaders of the 20th and 21st century who has made an indelible, positive impact on the world.
The Dalai Lama brought the issue of Tibet to the world and inspired tens if not hundreds of thousands of people to support the cause. He bridged the various religious, regional and other divides within the Tibetan community to unify Tibetans behind a strategic approach to the struggle that included making it visible internationally — despite China’s constant objections and best efforts — and emphasizing the moral power of using nonviolence.
Tibetan Buddhism emphasizes nonviolence, but the current Dalai Lama raised it to the level of global politics. It permeates the thinking of Tibetans, particularly the new generation raised in exile, and will influence Tibetan political leadership far into the future. Although some young Tibetans legitimately ask why they should remain nonviolent when the world seems to pay attention only to violence, and wonder if armed insurrection could bring a quicker end to the human rights violations and suffering they or their families face daily in Tibet, the overwhelming number are committed to the path of nonviolence now and in the future, for moral reasons or because they believe it is the most certain route to victory (a belief supported by recent research showing that nonviolent struggles succeed more often than violent ones).
The Dalai Lama’s legacy of nonviolence reaches far beyond the Tibetan community. He has been a moral beacon for decades and his nonviolent message has transcended the constant refrain of violent conflict and escalating responses that comes from our media and our politicians, giving people something we both need and crave: a vision of a peaceful and compassionate world. If even a few more global leaders emphasized the value of nonviolent struggle, our world could look very different.
Sadly, we are quick to overlook the impact of leaders such as the Dalai Lama and largely nonviolent movements like that of the Tibetans. Suggestions that either the Dalai Lama or the broader Tibetan struggle has failed ignore the importance of alternatives to violent conflict and also neglect to consider what real failure could look like: the death of Tibetan culture and religion, hopelessness, infighting, mob violence and self-defeating attacks on the overwhelmingly armed Chinese occupiers.
Commentators, activists, elected officials and the many others who support the Dalai Lama’s nonviolent path, rather than reinforcing a frame of failure, should acknowledge what gains have been made and think strategically about what can be done next. At age 80, the question is not whether the Dalai Lama has failed but if the world has failed this towering leader who has given so much to humanity. Let’s make sure the answer is no.

China tightens access to information in Tibetan monasteries
June 19, 2015
UCA news, 19 June 2015
Multi-year plan sees crackdown on unauthorized satellite access and installation of government-approved TVs
China has finished installing televisions in every one of Tibet’s nearly 1,800 Buddhist monasteries as Beijing steps up efforts to control information in the restive Himalayan region.
The scheme required monks and nuns to carry television sets on their backs or on horses across high mountain passes over the past three and half years to achieve complete coverage, the state-run Tibet Daily reported yesterday.
“By listening to the radio and watching television, monks and nuns have a more intuitive understanding of the party and the country’s policies, laws and regulations, ethnic and religious policies,” it added.
Completion of the scheme has coincided with a new “patriotic program” launched by Tibet’s Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo in April that requires all temples to fly China’s national flag.
Beijing began its latest information war in Tibet during 2009 — a year after an uprising led by monks — when authorities piloted a television and radio scheme at 44 temples in Lhasa.
The government has long been irritated by services including Voice of America, sponsored by the US State Department, which beams in Tibetan-language news on human rights and exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Authorities started posting notices in monasteries that had failed to replace old satellite televisions in 2013, threatening fines of 5,000 yuan (US$805) and “other consequences that should be borne by the monks themselves”.
Officials then destroyed “illegal” televisions in bonfires, said Tsering Tsomo, director of the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala, the Indian city where the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan exiles are based.
“The Chinese government is trying really hard to try to stop Tibetans from getting any information from outside,” she told ucanews.com. “It has gotten much worse and we are very concerned. Now what we see is the government punishing Tibetans just for sharing information.”
Police detained eight monks in March for allegedly sharing news on the popular Chinese messaging app WeChat at their monastery in Sog County, according to the London-based campaign group Free Tibet.
In 2012, senior monk Yonten Gyatso was sentenced to seven years in prison for sharing images of nun Tenzin Wangmo, one of about 140 Tibetans who have self-immolated to protest against Chinese rule since the 2008 uprising.
As Beijing has cracked down on information sharing, Tibetans have devised new methods to get information in and out of the region, although these could not be revealed for security reasons, said Tsering Tsomo.
“This is like a cat and mouse game, they try to block something from outside and then Tibetans come up with something else so we share information, and then they crack down again,” she said. www.Tibet.net

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Visit to Australia Comes to an End
June 16, 2015
By Staff Writer
dalailama.com
His Holiness the Dalai Lama began the last day of his current visit to Australia in Perth by giving an interview to Monika Kos of Seven West Media. In a wide range of questions she asked about the negative effects of the internet on children. His Holiness told her that as long as children have some sense that inner values are the best source of happiness they’ll be able to exercise their own judgement. He remarked that he often encourages members of the media to exercise a broader sense of responsibility. They tend only to report negative stories, taking positive reports of instances of loving kindness for granted. He expressed the view that the media could do more to show that basic human nature is positive.
He also told her:
“Many of the troubles humanity faces today are because we see other people too often in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’, a division that contains within it the seeds of conflict, the possibility that weapons will be used. To think instead of the oneness of humanity is a basis on which we can work for peace.”
Meeting with approximately 50 Tibetans, he greeted and encouraged them.
“Buddhism is about transforming the mind,” he said, “not just about making prayers. It’s something you need to learn about. You should know that the Tibetan language is the best language for accurately explaining Buddhist ideas. It’s something to be proud of. Always remember you are Tibetans. Please don’t forget how important it is for our young ones to be able to speak Tibetan. If they lose that they will feel at a distance from our community. Meanwhile, let’s also remember the Tibetans in Tibet who have been living under oppression for 60 years and yet whose spirit remains amazingly strong.”
At the University of Western Australia His Holiness was invited to speak to 700 students, some from the University and others from local high schools, about the education and service. Before proceeding with the discussion, Dr Walli performed a welcome on country involving incantations and playing the didgeridoo. He expressed the wish, “May the good spirit be with us. May we gain knowledge here and pass it on to those who need it.”
His Holiness was introduced and invited to speak and he took his place at the lectern.
“Good morning everybody. I usually start by addressing everyone as ‘brothers and sisters’, because all 7 billion human beings alive today are brothers and sisters. It’s good to keep a sense of the oneness of all human beings in our minds, regardless of the secondary differences between us, such as nationality, colour, race, social background and so on. I always regard other people I meet, especially leaders, as fellow human beings.
“Many problems we face, including simple shyness, come about because we put too much stress on the differences between us. Actually, on a mental, physical and emotional level we are the same. The way we are born and the way we die is the same and in between we all want to live a happy life. As social animals, when we receive affection from others we feel happy.”
He noted that most of the 700 strong audience were students and told them that young people like them were the hope for the future.
“I feel very happy to meet you who belong to the 21st century. Older people like me belong to the 20th century, a period that has gone. We created a lot of problems, which you’ll have to deal with. You’ll have to find ways to reduce the corruption and killing that is going on in some places today. This isn’t something computers can do for you; you’ll have to use your own minds. Remember, our deepest emotions are love and compassion, and forgiveness and tolerance naturally arise from them.
“I feel it’s a great honour to speak students like you. When I encounter people my age, I just wonder, ‘Who’ll go first, me or you?’, but when I look at young faces like yours, I feel younger too. What I want to tell you is that warm-heartedness is the basis of better mental and physical health. It’s the basis for people to become more balanced, healthier individuals, families and communities. There are increasing numbers of people interested in how to foster warm-heartedness, because if we can do that, we can ensure a happier, more peaceful humanity.”
An indigenous Australian student said he was getting a modern education, while trying to preserve his people’s values and His Holiness told him that he had been in Uluru the day before. He repeated what he’d said there about his respect for indigenous people’s culture wherever they are in the world. They differ according to the environments in which they have evolved. All the indigenous people he’s met are concerned to preserve their culture and language, but some like the Samis and Maoris do so by embracing the modern world, while others seek further isolation. He said that as far as our brains are concerned we are all equal.
With regard to young people who have felt drawn to fight in Iraq and Syria, His Holiness suggested that some people are easily manipulated. They develop a strong sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ and think that the destruction of their enemies is their victory. This way of thinking is out of date. His Holiness pointed out that Muslims in India and Malaysia, who have grown up in multi-religious, multi-ethnic backgrounds tend not to have such divisive attitudes.
His Holiness remarked that across the world education systems seem inadequate. Teachers have to show their students the value of compassion, not only by talking about it, but also by exemplifying it themselves. When they are motivated by love and compassion, teachers are much more effective.
A student leader asked advice on making decisions and His Holiness told him first of all to think in terms of moral principles, then to investigate whether whatever it is is practical and finally to seek his friends views. After he’d made them laugh several times, the students showed their appreciation of meeting His Holiness with robust applause.
Invited to a lunch event by the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, His Holiness was introduced by Sue Clough who referred to him as a source of peace and happiness for the world. She prayed that he will one day be able to return to his homeland.
He greeted the gathering of 650 as brothers and sisters, telling them that it was almost the last engagement of his visit. He said he would like to report to them about his commitments to promoting human happiness, fostering inter-religious harmony and seeking to preserve Tibet’s culture of compassion and non-violence. He said being a happy person is ultimately related to warm-heartedness. He also expressed his admiration for Israel and its hardworking people. But also mentioned meeting group of Palestinians and Israelis who were getting together to create harmony among their communities. This sort of action is the seed of the future, he said.
An additional surprise guest was Scottish-Australian philanthropist Scott Neeson. He had worked in Hollywood and risen to be President of 20th Century Fox International. Then he went to Cambodia and among the scavengers on the huge rubbish heap outside Phnom Penh decided he wanted to devote his time to helping particularly the children he encountered there. He sold his house and goods and set up the Cambodian Children’s Fund. He now dedicates himself to rescuing, rehabilitating and educating Cambodian orphans.
It was put to His Holiness that he is an inspiration to millions, but the questioner wanted to know who inspired him. In his reply he mentioned the accomplished masters of Nalanda such as Nagarjuna and Shantideva. In modern times he mentioned Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle to employ non-violence. He spoke of the way Gandhi had a thorough education as a lawyer in England, but returned to his homeland to live the simple life of an ordinary Indian. He also recalled the genuine humility of the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad.
The meeting was movingly concluded with a video clip of children, and one or two older ladies, in Cambodia singing “Happy Birthday” to His Holiness.
Finally, for the first time, His Holiness met a group of about 700 Bhutanese, along with several Mongolians.
“We are all followers of the Buddhadharma,” he told them, “The tradition that flourished in Nalanda. Here in the 21st century, we should be 21st century Buddhists with a firm understanding of what the Buddha taught. Read the texts. Just praying to the Buddha or Guru Rinpoche is old fashioned and no longer enough. Once you have better knowledge, your faith will be based on reason. You have study centres; open them up to lay people too.”
Remarking that they had asked him to give some teaching, he explained the traditional verse that expresses taking refuge in the Three Jewels and generating the aspiration to attain enlightenment for all sentient beings. In addition, he gave transmissions of the Buddha’s mantra, the mantra of Chenresig, the mantra of Manjushri, including the way to count 100 syllables ‘dhi’ on one breath, ending with Tara’s and Guru Rinpoche’s mantras. He answered several of their questions before having to leave for the airport.