Tibet: Robbie Barnett on the recent unrest

Comments by Robbie Barnett, Tibet expert at Columbia University, March 27, 2008, regarding the recent major protests in Tibetan-populated rural areas, especially the temporary takeovers of government buildings and taking down of Chinese flags and raising of Tibetan flags:

Newsdesk: Troops remain, detentions continue in Tibet

Ding Xiao’s report from RFA’s Mandarin service:
A journalist working in Beijing for a British television station who was not selected to go to Lhasa told RFA Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao on Thursday that the invitation by the Chinese government was highly selective:
“After the announcement was made, we tried like mad to get more information from [...]

Tibet: Comments from RFA listeners

From a Hunan man on the RFA Mandarin call-in program Listener Hotline, March 27:
The Tibet issue is analogous to forcing a woman to marry a man. The man may give the woman food, clothing, and shelter, but material things cannot replace spiritual values. She is a human being. The Dalai Lama is the rightful leader [...]

China: RFA listener comments on Tibet

“Could it be possible that Tibetans cannot accept the fact that their tradition and customs have been so radically changed by the Han?” –Inner Mongolian man on RFA-Mandarin call-in program Listener Hotline, March 26, 2008
“How sad it was to listen to the Tibetans chanting their prayers. It was such a peaceful demonstration here in Brussels. [...]

Tibet: Lama dies in protests, monks say

On Monday, about 1,000 people, including hundreds of monks from the Jueri Monastery and nuns from the Woge Nunnery , took part in a protest in Karze’s (Ganzi’s) Luhuo county.
A lama at the Jueri Monastery told Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao on Wednesday, “They killed a lama.  They fired shots at the lamas and killed one.  [...]

Newsdesk: China suspends Baixing editor

Xu Feng, editor of the “restructured” Baixing (Commoners) magazine, said on Wednesday during his interview with Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao –
DX: I heard that you were fired?
Xu Feng: Not “fired.” Technically speaking, my job was “forcibly suspended.”
DX: Since when?
Xu: Around the 13th. The [...]

Bao Tong: Talk to the Dalai Lama

Here is Bao Tong’s essay translated in full. Original Chinese as broadcast on RFA’s Mandarin service here.
Take harmony seriously; talk to the Dalai Lama
by Bao Tong
The Lhasa incident has caused massive grief for all the Tibetan people and all of China. Anyone who has ever been through a great historical tragedy will understand its significance. [...]

Tibet: Reactions from inside China

The recent protests by Tibetans come amid growing calls among Chinese intellectuals for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing accuses of conspiring to split the motherland by secretly orchestrating the March 15 protests and riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, during which armed police opened fire on Tibetans, and where house-to-house searches and arrests [...]

Newsdesk: UPDATED – Tibetans in Karze (Ganzi)

The following quotations are garnered from recent reporting by RFA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services on the situation in Tibetan areas of China:
RFA Cantonese interviewed Ms Zhou (a Tibetan) Tuesday. During the interview, at about 2 pm local time, she said there were about 200 protesters including monks from monasteries in the area, protesting in the [...]

Tibet: Monks protest in Qinghai

Right now, we are protesting in the area of Tsolho. We are demanding that the Chinese leadership open a dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and peacefully resolve the Tibetan issue. We are also demanding that His Holiness be allowed to visit Tibet. Our protest is peaceful and involves about 10-15 monks from Serlho [...]