"How I Met His Holiness the Dalai Lama Without a Passport" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on January 5, 2011 and posted on her blog on January 10, 2011.

"The Chinese and Tibetan Legal Contexts: Which is Worse?" by Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser originally written for Radio Free Asia on June 26, 2009 and posted on her blog on June 30.

In this article Woeser re-visits the theme of her earlier blogpost titled 'Tibetan Lawyers: Why Don’t They Come Forward?' dealing with the issue of legal rights for Tibetans. In the weeks since the blogpost was written, Chinese lawyers have been in the news as Beijing shut down an independent legal research centre that, amongst other activities, published an insightful report and enquiry into the events in Tibet of 2008 that boldly spoke against official state narrative.

It has also since been reported that another Beijing lawyer, Li Dunyong, was barred from representing Tibetan amateur filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen who faces charges of 'inciting separatism' for making a documentary.

Finally, for more on the five monks from Labrang monastery who escaped to India, see this article from the New York Times published on June 20.

The photo shows a closed trial after the verdict has been passed, as broadcast on Gannan TV (TV of southern Gansu province), where two Labrang Monastery monks Tsultrim Gyatso and Thabkhay Gyatso were on trial. This is a photo of the television screen taken by a local Tibetan so it's not very clear.

The Chinese and Tibetan legal contexts: which is worse?
By Woeser

Last month, two Tibetan monks were again punished by authorities because they took to the streets during the protests in March last year. The sentence was extremely harsh and they had to pay a tremendous price: Tsultrim Gyatso was condemned to life imprisonment while Thabkhay Gyatso was condemned to a fifteen-year jail sentence. In reality, these two monks from Labrang Monastery were not the only ones to receive this kind of harsh punishment. News coming from the whole Tibetan territory confirms that up till today, many Tibetans still remain in detention, and many Tibetans are still sentenced secretly. This was notably the case in Jomda County, Chamdo Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region, where six monks have recently been sentenced to 12 to 15 years imprisonment.

Faced repeatedly with hard times, Tibetans can only accept their fate and endure adversity. For instance, since they were arrested and condemned, more than a year ago, Tsultrim Gyatso and Thabkhay Gyatso’s family have not been allowed to visit them in prison, or to attend their trial. In addition, the two monks have been tortured during their imprisonment so that they would confess, and have been compelled to take a lawyer appointed by the authorities for their trial. In the meantime, five monks from Labrang Monastery were able to flee to Dharamsala. Even though it was a very painful experience, this is extremely lucky since the monks would have otherwise run the risk of being detained and condemned to the same kind of harsh sentence.

Even though the main reason that his license to practice law was revoked was that he represented two Tibetans who had been detained during their trials, lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who has just been prevented from taking the bar examination for registration, still spoke bluntly to foreign media: “As Chinese citizens, Tibetan monks should enjoy legitimate legal rights that entitle them to an open and fair trial as stated in the law. Even if the Chinese authorities want to prove that China is a country of rights as they say, then they should provide the defendants with an open and fair trial, to show how China protects the legal rights of the defendents, instead of merely announcing the sentence.”

In recent years, in China, a group of courageous human rights lawyers have assumed safeguarding rule by law, defending human rights, protecting the citizen’s legal rights and safeguarding justice as their own responsibilities. They have been active in providing legal services for public welfare and for safeguarding citizen’s rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of belief, racial equality, human rights workers’ rights, ethnic minorities’ rights, rights of equality, the right to information, the right to participation, the right to supervision. However, they have been considered by the Chinese political and judicial system as well as by special interest groups as a challenge, and have continuously been attacked and criticized. Recently, authorities have acted very harshly towards these lawyers, and at once have revoked the license of more than a thousand lawyers, stating that they failed the bar examination for registration. This created a sensation in news around the world.

Even if lawyers face the risk of having their license suspended, such as Jiang Tianyong and Li Fangping, they still fight for the statutory rights of Tibetans who are not being treated fairly and speak on behalf of silent Tibetans. This already is very valuable. What is really moving is that when I sent an article that I wrote not long ago entitled ‘Tibetan Lawyers, Why Don’t They Come Forward?’ to lawyer Jiang Tianyong, he, who is in a difficult situation, said tolerantly, “I can understand my fellow Tibetan lawyers, they have no space or opposition margin, once they are hit, then it’s over, they cannot be lawyers any more.” In fact, when I heard these words, I was extremely sad. Thus it can be seen that the Tibetan legal context is far worse than the Chinese legal context.

It must be said that in real life, many of us do not understand at all, as citizens, which rights we are entitled to enjoy, or how many rights we have. Also, what does the legal system, often described as holy and sublime, eventually mean as far as citizens are concerned? I wrote in a previous article that many Tibetans have always lacked the consciousness of their rights and of how to safeguard their rights. Especially when there is high political pressure, because of extreme fear, they will not dare to fight for their own rights. However, whatever circumstances may be, we must understand what our rights are as human beings, even if under the system in this country, human rights have already been cut down greatly. We must not only understand, but also fight for and most importantly defend our rights. This is because human rights are strongly linked to human dignity and humans’ intuitive knowledge of what is right or wrong. Therefore, human rights are worth fighting for.

Beijing, June 24, 2009

‘June 4th’: Facing the Mirror, Seeing Our Common Fate By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser originally written for Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on June 5th 2009 on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the historic events on Tiananmen Square, June 4th 1989.

Amidst all the media attention surrounding the anniversary, Woeser's reflections on What Being A Dissident Means, published on the blog pages of the New York Times on June 2nd 2009, were one of the few Tibetan voices on the topic.

‘June 4th’: Facing the Mirror, Seeing Our Common Fate
By Woeser

1989 Tiananmen

2008 Lhasa

One of my friends, a Chinese musician born in the ’80s, sent me one of the songs he had just written. After listening to it only once, I could remember the lyrics. Tears quietly slid down my face because that penetrating sound of remembrance contained the following melancholic lyrics: “One day in June there were only young faces. Amid the spring breeze, they forgot time. One day in June there were only young faces. Under the sunlight, they were imagining the world. A gust of wind blew you away; a strong shower cleared up the sky. A gust of wind blew me far away; a strong shower erased footprints…”

I know whom this song is dedicated to. In the meantime, appearing before my eyes were not only Tiananmen twenty years ago, but also the three Tibetan regions of Kham, U-Tsang and Amdo last year; appearing before my eyes were not only the three Tibetan regions of Kham, U-Tsang and Amdo last year but also the streets of the Barkhor twenty years ago, or Norbulingka Palace fifty years ago. That time there were the faces of Tibetan people, but not only the faces of young people; there were also the faces of middle-aged people, and of old people, although the faces of young people were in the largest numbers. This allowed people to complain about the loss of beautiful lives, which solemnly disappeared like the sacrifice. Only yesterday, I was talking about ‘June 4th’ with a Tibetan living overseas. We think that ‘June 4th’ is not an accidental special event, and it is not the sort of event that only happens in China; if you compare it with what happened last year in Tibet, there are similarities in the nature of these events.

Chinese dissident writer Yu Jie described in his writings that after the ‘June 4th’ massacre, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shed tears for the Chinese people who had been killed and said sadly: “How can they use such ruthless means to oppose students leading a peaceful demonstration? These fresh and lively lives are so precious!” His Holiness indicated that he would openly condemn the crackdown carried out by the Communist Party. However, at that time the contact between Tibet and China entered a key era, and if such a statement were to be announced, the mutual dialogue between them would probably be suspended one more time. Yet His Holiness used stronger terms and said: “In this moment of grief, we must stand together with the people who have been massacred, and we must pray for their souls.”

But before the events of ‘June 4th’, that same year in March in the old part of Lhasa, the exact same massacre was carried out against Tibetans. Except for the place and the time that were different, another difference lay in ethnic groups. However, the people who perpetrated the massacre were all the military forces under the command of the Communist Party. In Beijing, they call themselves ‘The People’s Army’ whereas in Lhasa they call themselves ‘The Liberators of a Million Freed Serfs’. When the army crushed the protests by Tibetan people in the name of putting an end to the ‘unrest’, what most Chinese believed was the authorities’ excuse. When the army crushed the protests by the students and the common people in Tiananmen and in many other places throughout China in the name of putting an end to the ‘counterrevolutionary riot’, did most Chinese people still believe the authorities’ excuse? In fact, one of the lessons taught by ‘June 4th’ is that we must have the world wake up to the reality: since this political regime can open fire without mercy on its children, on its people, therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that it opens fire against different ethnic groups (or ethnic minorities) that are governed under its rule. Thus it is an issue of the nature of the political power and not an issue originating in minorities.

In other words, in fact, ‘June 4th’ is just like a mirror, which clearly and completely reflects the nature of the political regime. Inside the mirror of ‘June 4th’, we can see that Tiananmen Square has become the scene of a bloody massacre; we can also see that Lhasa in 1959, 1989 and 2008 has turned into a scene of a bloody massacre; but there is also Kashgar, the plains of Inner Mongolia…Han people, Tibetan people, Uighur people, Mongolian people etc. As long as this autocratic political regime exists for one more day, whichever minority, they all face the risk of being plunged into misery and suffering. Some people believe that ‘June 4th’ was provoked by a mistake of the political power at one time but this is not the case. Therefore, when we recall ‘June 4th’, we also recall the events that happened in our Tibet in 1959, and we also recall the events that happened in our Tibet in 2008.

The tears of His Holiness the Dalai Lama were shed for each life that was taken away; the prayers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama were said for each person, for the fate of each person who has suffered. On the 20th anniversary of ‘June 4th’, His Holiness once again issued an open statement, appealing to the Chinese leaders while the Chinese economy has developed, “they should have the courage to accept the true principle of equality, and accommodate different views. A tolerant and normal new policy would lead the Chinese society towards genuine harmony, and could also increase the popularity of China within the international community”. If this happens, Han Chinese, Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongols would live in happiness, and everyone would live in happiness.

Charter 08

Liu Xiaobo

The biggest China news story at the moment is “Charter 08”, a document signed by over three hundred prominent Chinese citizens all united in their calling on reform for the political system in China. As Perry Link, who translated the Charter into English, tells us, Charter 08 “was conceived and written in conscious admiration of the founding of Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia, where, in January 1977, ‘more than two hundred Czech and Slovak intellectuals formed a loose, informal, and open association of people…united by the will to strive individually and collectively for respect for human and civil rights in our country and throughout the world.’” Václav Havel was one of the key figures behind Charter 77 and has been a long-time supporter of Tibet and a symbol of freedom in his own right. The two recently met in Prague where Havel said "I dare say we have become good friends". Read Havel's editorial in the Wall Street Journal in support of Liu Xiaobo here.

Chinese intellectuals and liberal thinkers are fond of writing this kind of charter or petition to their government. Liu Xiaobo, a high-profile intellectual, writer and activist, was sentenced to three years in labour camp on 30th September 1996, for writing a joint letter addressed to China’s President Jiang Zemin supporting Tibetan self-determination and also calling for dialogue with the Dalai Lama. He was the first Chinese person to be sentenced for speaking up for Tibet.

Liu Xiaobo and Zhang Zuhua – both of whom were detained by police in Beijing on 8th December - spearheaded this particular Charter 08 initiative. Liu Xiaobo, alongside Wang Lixiong, was also a crucial figure behind this year’s “Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation” which High Peaks Pure Earth had translated into English and published by the New York Review of Books. It is interesting to note that there are overlaps between the signatories of both documents, at least 28 names signed both “Charter 08” and “Twelve Suggestions”. Only one Tibetan, however, has signed “Charter 08” and that is Beijing based poet and blogger Woeser who just days ago on her blog wrote a touching tribute to Liu Xiaobo. Liu Xiaobo still remains in police custody.


Signatories of both “Charter 08” and “12 Suggestions…”:

Liu Xiaobo, (Beijing, writer)

Zhang Zuhua , (Beijing, Constitutional Scholar)

Yu Haocheng (Beijing, Legal Scholar)

Ding Ziling (Beijing, Professor)

Jiang Peikun (Beijing, Professor)

Sun Wenguang (Shandong, Professor)

Ran Yunfei (Sichuan, Scholar)

Pu Zhiqiang (Beijing, Lawyer)

Liao Yiwu (Sichuan, Writer)

Jiang Qisheng (Beijing, Scholar)

Zhang Xianling (Beijing, Engineer)

Wang Debang (Beijing, Writer)

Zhao Dagong (Shenzhen, Writer)

Jiang Danwen (Shanghai, Writer)

Wen Kejian (Zhejiang, Scholar)

Tian Yongde (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Human Rights Defender)

Zan Aizong (Zhejiang, Journalist)

Liu Yiming (Hubei, Freelance Writer)

Che Hongnian (Shandong, Freelance Writer)

Zhang Jiankang (Shaanxi, Legal Professional)

Zhang Xianyang (Beijing, Ideologist)

Ye Xiaogang (Zhejiang, Retired University Faculty Member)

Yu Meisun (Beijing, Legal Professional)

Li Changyu (Shandong, Teacher)

Shi Ruoping (Shandong, Professor)

Wan Yanhai (Beijing, Public Health Expert)

Wang Xiaoshan (Beijing, Media Worker)

Ouyang Yi (Sichuan, Human Rights Defender)