INCREASINGLY OPPRESSIVE CHINESE,TIBETAN NATIONALISM EMERGED AS.

 

Policy increasingly violent repression by Beijing to the Tibetan people, especially from 2008 to date, are counterproductive. Instead people are, stability, integration into Tibetan Chinese community in general, this policy is increasingly encouraging the spirit of the Tibetan people. Correspondent in Beijing Stéphane Lagarde analysis.

Dalai Lama's teaching day of a traditional New Year Losar Tibetan in Dharamsala, on 22/02/2012. REUTERS / Stringer

This year, start date 22/02/2012 is third on New Year's tradition of Tibetan communities everywhere, from the Tibet Autonomous Region to neighboring provinces in China, where the majority of Tibetans living life, as well as abroad. But this year, the festival atmosphere is gone. Harsh policies of China are imposing on the Tibetans, have sparked a wave of self-immolation in nearly a year, overshadowed the New Year.

In the air, many Tibetans have decided not to celebrate the traditional holidays of his greatest, but take this occasion to think of those who have sacrificed their lives to measure public opinion on the oppression of China is heavy on them. Boycott their traditional New Year is considered a form to attract the world's interest to draconian regime which Tibetan communities in China are suffering.

According to many observers, the persecution of increasingly intense targeting of Beijing to the Tibetan people, especially from 2008 to date, are counterproductive. Instead people are, stability, integration into Tibetan Chinese community in general, this policy is increasingly encouraging the spirit of the Tibetan people.

With the most recent self-immolation on 02.19.2012, under the protection of human rights organizations, who have at least 22 cases of self-immolation to protest against China, especially in Sichuan Province. Before these events, Beijing was consistent, has accused the self-immolation is the "terrorists" and accused the "breakaway" is to encourage suicide. They significantly enhance security, ready to immediately suppress the response of the Tibetan community.

In this context, Prime Minister of Tibetan Government in exile, Mr Lobsang Sangay, Tuesday 21/02 recently, has called on the Tibetan community ceased to celebrate Losar - Tibetan New Year is - to reflect campaign of repression against the Chinese government aimed at the Tibetan Buddhist monks.

Annually on high alert, but this year more stringent

It must be said that Beijing every year there are on high alert before the anniversary is not in the official list. For Tibetans, their greatest concern is the time st March 10, marking the uprising in Tibet's capital Lhasa in 1959, led to the exile of the Dalai Lama.

Every year, until March, is the enhanced security in Tibet Autonomous Region to prevent uncertainties, the monastery was more tightly controlled, visitors to Tibet more carefully purged. But this year, announced defense system are particularly enhanced, not only autonomous region, the entire Tibetan plateau region have been frozen, as two district Ba Cam Tu and A Sichuan province.

On the day of Tet Tibetan, called losar, ie the new year - usually in three-day festival, food festival we have in the family, to visit relatives, friends, wishing each other happy new year , just go to the temple to pray, according to Buddhist rites.

By Tuesday, a day of standing, ringing in the Tibetan monastery rang every two minutes to mark a new step in time, but the ceremony has been reduced to a minimum since the token campaign crackdown was launched in Lhasa in 2008, many Tibetans do not celebrate this New Year again. It is a mark of its own attitude to restrictions by the Chinese government.

The new Prime Minister Tibetan government in exile, Mr. Lobsang Sangay, a few days ago has encouraged throughout the Tibetan community and celebrate not only pompous but «to the monastery to make offerings and burn butter lamps burning remember all those who have sacrificed their lives or have been suffering the persecution of the Chinese government. »

Above call was immediately condemned by Beijing. On Tuesday 21/02 recently, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry vehemently attacked was named the point of «Dalai Lama clique» : « Since last year, there was the self- motivated individuals missing in Sichuan and other Tibetan areas ... We are very sad about the deaths that (...) But what we know, a lot of self-immolation directly involved to friends flood Dalai Lama ».

Mr. Zhang Cang, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetology at Sichuan said:

As usual, the exiles have asked the Tibetan people remain in the country is not to celebrate the new year with the goal to put pressure on the Chinese government. They will hold a ceremony to honor those who set themselves on fire are they flatter every «martyrdom», also aimed at smearing the image of the Chinese government.

In fact, China has done a lot for the Tibetan region. The government gave the Tibetans the right to religious freedom. Just go to the local is seen immediately that the monasteries are majestic, elegant, and a large number of monks. Sichuan alone had about 50,000 to 60,000 monks.

I have a feeling that the self-immolation mind dissidents were controlled. And then to have financial problems too: the self-immolation will bring money to their relatives ... The monastic organizations often help the family raise the monks set themselves on fire, sometimes they get to 2 million yuan .

Self-immolation to measure public opinion about the status of the oppressed

For Mr. Vincent Metten, director of representative office in Brussels to protect the organization's International Campaign for Tibet Tibet, self-immolation act is a form of public opinion moved oppressed Tibetans. Reply to RFI, he determined:

These are the cries of desperate people, who felt that they had nothing to lose, and now they want change, want the freedom of religion, the Dalai Lama to return.

All of these messages, these expectations have not been listening to the Chinese authorities. Not only that, stick to the policy is applied here. Therefore, Tibetans think the only way to be heard as they burn themselves, as this government in Beijing can not hide reality.

The self-immolation caused embarrassment for Beijing to mobilize additional security forces to every place, in the Tibetan plateau region ca. However, according to Ms Katia Buffetrille, an ethnographic researcher and expert on Tibetan culture at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, a wave of self-immolation can also cause confusion for the Tibetan government in exile. Reply RFI, she Buffetrille explained

Dalai Lama has strongly condemned the first self-immolation took place in New Delhi, India, in 1998. He was really opposed to this way of operating.

But recently, last year, he had all a speech in which he expressed regret about the same action, so sorry that people were forced to go to such extremities. But he does not condemn.

In my opinion, the reason the Dalai Lama does not condemn the recent self-immolation, it is because if he do so, it will highlight issues that Tibetans in Tibet, which he did not follow all policies guidelines, a full line of non-violence, not only for others but for yourself.

Nevertheless, the campaign to deal with lack of movement itself as well as the Tibetan struggle brings an unprecedented scale in recent years. The area was almost closed to foreign reporters, and the Tibetan population in Sichuan is tightly controlled no less than Tibet Autonomous Region.

Increasingly brutal repression, the Tibetan national spirit has been forged

The problem, according to Mr. Vincent Metten is breaking news of the shore, the current changes on the Tibetan plateau is the result 60 years of brutal repression aimed at destroying the Tibetan culture. A policy of repression increasingly fierce spirit of the Tibetan people have been increasingly raising:

It is the action to denounce the violations of human rights very heavily for years, and increasingly serious since 2008, China held at the Olympic Games in Beijing and wave crackdown demonstrations in Tibet.

Chinese armed forces are deployed in areas with strong protests, the eastern capital of Lhasa and other cities. One other consequence undertakings given to the Tibetans thought reform, irrespective of the inspection, arrest, kill etc.. This action reinforces anger, hatred of Tibetans to China.

In the eastern part of Tibet, a sense of Tibetan national identity is very strong. The indomitable spirit of the Tibetans are no longer latent but growing more publicly disclosed. They have said openly expressed their aspirations, both by the desperate act of self-immolation, the recent demonstrations nonviolent. Some protests have been suppressed, with the dead man.

Besides there are other protest actions through books, or organize prayer vigils in Tibet.

Katia Buffetrille experts also noted the tendency of radical nationalism where the Tibetans in recent years.

Currently there is a movement, which I think comes from the Khang (one of three regions of Tibet's traditional old), named Flakar, ie on Wednesday White.

On that day, more eastern Tibetans Tibetans Speak only pure Chinese do not use a word at all. And this day, Tibetans arbitrarily set to pay a penalty if you miss your mouth yuan from Chinese use.

Currently there are blogs, songs, poems, for example, said that «I am a Tibetan, I wear Tuba (Traditional), I Shampa cake (cake, roasted barley flour); I am a Tibetan butter tea I drink, I was leader of the Dalai Lama; I am a Tibetan, I work for the Tibetan resistance; I am a Tibetan, I am proud that the West Tibet » .

Overall, the issue of Tibet is becoming more and more thorny than for China. If the former, the issue is often framed in the Tibetan areas, but now, the attitude against China discontent has spread everywhere.END=VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY GESHE TASHI TSERING.( MHDT ).13/4/2012.OM MANI PADME HUM.( 3 TIMES ).