PHOTO: Kevin Bubriski
The Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu has for centuries been a holy place for Tibetans. It is also where Tibetans in Nepal have often demonstrated against Chinese rule in Tibet. On the morning of March 10, 2011, the 52nd anniversary of the uprising in Lhasa that was thwarted by Chinese Communists, the presence of over 1,000 Nepali police deployed throughout the city sends a strong message to Tibetans who may be thinking of marking the anniversary with protests...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
Riot police congregate outside the main gate of the Boudhanath Stupa...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
Sharing a joke before things turn serious...
PHOTO: Kevin Bubriski
An elderly Tibetan woman circles the stupa chanting prayers as more police converge on the area...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
Inside Samteling Monastery, located on a side-street near the stupa, about 1,000 Tibetans have gathered to hear the annual address of the Dalai Lama that is broadcast on loudspeaker from Dharamsala, India. In recent years, as a result of pressure from Beijing, even social and cultural gatherings of Tibetans have been labeled 'anti-China' activities by Nepali authorities.
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
The Tibetan community has been warned that if they take a single Tibetan national flag beyond the monastery gate, there will be trouble...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
A coalition of international human rights groups are present to monitor the event. Many Nepalis have joined as voluntary observers....
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
Outside the monastery gate, the tension builds as a police move in. "Should I be worried?" asks a young American tourist.
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
The police are armed with lathis, six-foot-long bamboo sticks. A local reporter tells me that their riot gear is a gift from the Chinese Embassy...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
A young Tibetan man with a Tibetan flag over his shoulder walks nonchalantly out of the monastery into the street, slipping through the police cordon unnoticed. He saunters alone down the street and poses proudly for this photo. Seconds later, the woman on the right snatches the flag out of his hand. "You're asking for trouble," she scolds.
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
Without warning, the police storm the courtyard and begin snatching flags from the Tibetans inside who begin to shout and wail in protest...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
The incursion angers the crowd. People begin pushing their way out of the gate, and through the police line, chanting freedom slogans. Police begin to beat, kick, and punch them indiscriminately, pulling one man along by the prayer beads around his neck. Watch the video from Euronet. And The Telegraph UK.
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
In a risky move, a Tibetan teenage boy sticks a Tibetan flag onto the back of a police officer. A few seconds later, a Tibetan man rips it off....
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
"What have I done wrong? All I did was lose my country," cries a man wearing a shirt on which he's written: 'Stop Killing in Tibet'...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
A strange dance ensues as reporters, human rights observers and a few tourists rush to surround people as they're being beaten....
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
A woman looks on in horror as a young police officer moves in to strike a middle-aged Tibetan woman. The police officer raises his stick as she bends her head down before him. "Beat me," she says. She is later arrested...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
A Western monk tries to reason with the Deputy Superintendent of police...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
Girls from a local school hold hands tightly and shout "We want justice!" just yards away from the skirmish. Earlier, police had visited local Tibetan schools and ordered the children to stay inside...
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
PHOTO: Rebecca Novick
Four people are arrested at Boudhanath. Seven more are arrested later in the afternoon at a protest near the Chinese Embassy...
PHOTO: Courtesy of Yeshi
A young woman is one of 21 Tibetans injured during the police action...
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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MD02Ad03.html
The article is long but contains many refreshing facts, e.g. how many Tibetans willing return to the "living hell" after a religious or political pilgrimage to Dharamsala.
http://foreign.senate.gov/download/?id=E3A86CB6-499B-4228-9F2F-2B046E0ADE83
She can stick around UN headquarter in NYC with video camera ready after coordinating with the Free Tibet people to STAGE a protest there. The confrontation happened once (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rae0ufXb9QI) and can happen again.
http://diggchina.blogspot.com/2011/03/serf-emancipation-day.html
People of Tibet love their freedom!
Thank goodness, China set them free!
Apologists for CCP love their state propaganda!
Thank goodness, China represses them and keeps them safe from self-determination and free speech and other basic human rights!
Here are some super photos, as China marks the 52 Anniversary of Serf Emancipation Day!
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-03/28/c_13801677.htm
"The first 50 years of my life were dark and with no dignity," said Tsering Chodron, a former serf. "My life as a human began only after 1959."
She was among up to 1 million serfs that gained freedom thanks to the central government's democratic reform launched in Tibet on March 28, 1959.
On the eve of the anniversary, a group of farmers in Nedong County, Shannan Prefecture, staged a self-directed drama to recount their miserable past.
The drama, named "Tears of the Serfs," tells the tragic life of serf Trinley Dorje and his family. Despite its simple plot, the drama moved many people to tears.
Padma Yonten, 63, cried when he saw Trinley Dorje's preteen son being whipped by a housekeeper at the Khesum Manor where the family of six worked as slaves. "I was like that poor child. All serf children began working at 8 years old, herding or running errands."
The distortion is yours- you've fallen for and repeat ridiculous claims of the Chinese government. Your deluded history matches your monstrosities about the current Chinese repression. Life in old Tibet was no picnic, but wasn't worse than life in China at the time. And "emancipation"?? Do you REALLY think Mao invaded with emancipation on his mind? Back to your 95% distortion, why did Tibetans rise up against the Chinese invasion en masse if *everybody* were serfs and slaves?
It was worse in Tibet because the DL told all the serfs and slaves, and women that they deserved the bad treatment and bad life due to traditional Tibetan Buddhist teaching that in their past lives they had been bad people and were now being punished, and that in order to be born to a better life next time they had to submit without complaint.
>Do you REALLY think Mao invaded with emancipation on his mind?<
1st, Mao didn't "invade" Tibet, his mother was a Buddhist, and he argued with the soviet educated commies for Autonomy for Tibet. That is why there was a 17 point agreement. All the DL had to do was lead his own people out of the feudal system. But the DL refused, and hooked up with the CIA.
2nd. yes, Mao intended emancipation, and you can see from the notes he kept in his diary during the long march how much he was agrieved at the poverty in that area of China.
>Back to your 95% distortion, why did Tibetans rise up against the Chinese invasion en masse if *everybody* were serfs and slaves? <
They didn't rise up enmasse. That is why the CIA instigated "uprising" by the aristocrats failed. The serfs and slaves did not support the continues feudal system in Tibet. They had heard about emancipation from their "brothers" in other provinces.
:)
But don't take my word for it, nor the word of Free Tibet activists, let the people of Tibet speak for themselves...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unD3igMFEoE
(3:03)
.
For example, what is “violence”? What is “nonviolence”?
“nonviolence”, a popular catch phrase of Free Tibet movement, does not have the same definition as we (allow me for my arrogance or using “we” here) typically understand.
According to an official from the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan government-in-exile, Dawa Tsering, the actions of beating people and setting fire to a building with people holed up inside who end up being burnt to death are both scenarios of nonviolence.
Here is an excerpt of an interview with Mr. Dawa Tsering after the 2008 Tibetan riots:
“First of all, I must make it clear that the Tibetan (rioters) has been non-violent throughout (the incident). ...the Tibetans rioters were beating Han Chinese, but only beating took place. After the beating the Han Chinese were free to flee.”
With the definition above I can hardly see any violent crackdown from the Nepal police.
For the Free Tibet people, they have the wrong target here. Even though it makes a great show they should direct their issue with the Nepal government, not the ordinary police people, for allowing their "Free Tibet" demonstration.
Anyway it's not really surprising that Nepal would care about its relations with its biggest and most powerful neighbor, especially since what the Nepali police are doing is not all that different from what riot police anywhere do. I mean here in Los Angeles the police can get a little rough with protesters, it's not like they're shooting them with live ammunition or anything.
The Nepal police gave clear definitions of what would be allowed and what would not be allowed before hand. The fact that the Free Tibet people ignored the directions of the authority and proceeded as if they are above the police authority led to the forceful actions from police. This is clear from this report, and I thank the author for not hiding the context of the “violent” crackdown.
Would it be OK for anyone in the US, with all his/her righteous beliefs, to disobey the police in action? Granted, in the US we usually do not get into trouble for carrying a flag. But Nepal is not US so you can not apply US standards onto Nepal.
Law and order applies not only to your opponents but also your righteous selves.
Nepal has no option as it is being crushed by the powerful influence by its two powerful neighbours(india and Chine). But nepal still is a democratic country and tibetans refugees still enjoy right to free trial and justice. There is a life after being caught unlike in Tibet where you are imprisoned for life or tortured.
China, progress made during the last 50 years has revolutionized life for Tibetans.
Infant mortality has dropped from 430 deaths per 1,000 births, to a range of 6.61 to 24.5 per 1,000 in 2002. Where only 2 percent of school-age children in the 1950s were in school, today the figure is 85.8 percent; however, there is still a need to increase secondary-level educational levels. The region’s 6,348 hospital beds and 8,948 medical personnel exceed China’s national per-capita average. (11)
Before the revolution, the masses had no elections or political life. In 1965, the First People’s Congress of Tibet was held, which led to the founding of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and the Regional People’s Government. There are 70,000 elected representatives on all levels of government in the TAR.
Beijing is intensifying its development programs in Tibet, with substantial investments in housing, medical care, infrastructure and restoration of cultural sites.
The Ninth People’s Congress of the TAR put forth a housing plan for farmers and herders—the backbone of Tibet’s economy—that will build 52,000 housing units in 2008. By 2010, new housing will have been constructed for 80 percent of farmers’ households. (China Radio International, March 22)
In 2006, the annual income of farmers and herders grew 13.1 percent, the fourth double-digit growth in as many years.
There's been double digit growth everyyear since.
"Before the revolution, the masses had no elections or political life."
So a neo-colonial landgrab is now a revolution? What a giveaway that you confuse reaction with revolution, it then makes your posts make sense. Funny how Tibetans rose up en masse to oppose this so-called revolution to fight the Chinese army tooth and nail at great loss of life. To complete your deception, you try to pawn off meaningless elections as somehow evidence of political life in Tibet when such elections are simply displays in Chinese hegemony as they curtail speech and press. The USSR had lots of elections as well, you prove nothing as you imply lies to cover the truth. These sham elections aren't evidence of democracy or political life.