Gaia Community: Chaiwallah's Blog

OLYMPIC OPENING PETITION

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:57:59 GMT

Please take a minute to vote on this poll. Scroll down to bottom right and just click (no emails, addresses or names needed)

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/ for political leaders to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony.

Please circulate the petition.

Tags: Olympics, China, Tibet, HUman Rights.

TIBET GLOBAL ACTION PHOTOS

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:59:58 GMT

Here's a link to a few photos of the Dublin, Ireland, Tibet Support march. Great support from the passers-by, many of whom joined in spointaneously, and lots of media coverage, TV, radio, newspapers etc.

http://public.fotki.com/Chaiwallah/tibet-support-demo-/

Again many thanks to those who supported the Avaaz petition.

Cheers,

Chaiwallah

And here's an update on the situation in Tibet, which you may be helping to change.

THE PRESENT SITUATION IN TIBET

Recent reports from inside Tibet paint a grim picture of life under Chinese rule for most Tibetans. In the twenty years since economic "liberalisation" was unleashed in China, the Chinese authorities have made much publicity concerning the huge amounts of money and resources they have poured into the "modernisation and development" of Tibet.

Sadly, while there has been significant growth of infrastructure, and, as is clearly visible, a vast array of new building in Tibetan towns and cities, the great majority of this primarily benefits the Han Chinese immigrant population, now the majority population in Tibet as a whole. (Recent estimates: 8 million Chinese: 6 million Tibetans in greater Tibet.)

Compared with the time of the protests twenty years ago, (as a result of which PRC President Hu Jintao, then Party Chief in Tibet, imposed martial law and instituted a policy of "merciless repression" as an asnwer to the "Tibetan Problem"), conditions in Tibet now are worse.

1). The vast influx of Han Chinese immigrants includes not just Party cadres, military personnel and business entrepreneurs, but also huge numbers of the unskilled labourers who are also flocking to China's coastal cities and industrial zones. This means that in Tibet, even the most menial jobs are taken by Han Chinese. Any hope of skilled employment depends on the ability to speak Mandarin, which leaves the majority of Tibetans at a severe disadvantage. Unemployment among Tibetans is estimated at around 85%.

2). The recently constructed Golmud to Lhasa railway facilitates the rapid influx of ever more Han immigrants, but also increases the speed and efficiency with which China can exploit and export to the industrial heartland of China the vast mineral wealth of the Tibetan plateau. A recent figure has put Tibet's oil reserves in trillions of barrels, not to mention the 120 other industrially valuable minerals (including gold, coal and uranium) in Tibet. The exploitation of these resources is via a colonial model of the most rapacious kind. The benefit to Tibet and Tibetans is virtually nil.

3). Tibet's strategic position on the borders of India and the old Soviet satellite states accounts in part for the massive military presence on the plateau. Observers tell of military convoys several miles long moving through Tibet on a regular basis. But as the Lhasa railway is due to be extended down to the Himalayan border regions, including the cities of Shigatse and Gyantse, there is every indication that this railway has a significant military purpose, over and above its publicised role in promoting tourism to Tibet. China has an arsenal of rail-based nuclear missiles near Golmud, which can now be moved in a matter of hours from the north of Tibet to the Indian border, should China feel the need to direct them south of the Himalayas.

4). In terms of direct human rights abuses, reports tell that Tibetan women who have more than two children are required to pay a huge fine, several thousand yuan, as much as a year's income, or face enforced sterilisation, routinely without anaesthetics.

(The fact that in Tibet people are allowed to have two, rather than just one child, is another motivation behind Han immigration.). In the northern province of Amdo, now Chinese Qinghai, the nomadic herdsmen have been forced off their grasslands into huge settlement camps, with few resources and virtually no prospect of employment. These camps are effectively prisons, as travel through Tibet is tightly controlled and severely restricted.

5). Religious freedom is effectively non-existent, as we have seen in recnt days from the monks who broke through the police cordons to talk to foreign journalists in the Jokhang in Lhasa. The monasteries, nunneries and temples are tightly controlled, and have resident party officials to ensure adherence to the "Patriotic Re-education" programme. As the current Party Chief in Tibet, Zhang Qinli, said recently,"The Chinese Communist Party is the only true Buddha for Tibetans...people who do not love the Motherland are not qualified to be human beings"

Displaying, carrying or even owning a photograph of HH the Dalai Lama ( whom Mr.Zhang decribed as a "wolf in monk's clothing, a devil with a human face,") carries a likelihood of at least three year's imprisonment on the charge of "splittism."Imprisonment invariably entails torture, and a loss of political rights and hopes of employment upon release.

6). Finally, in the wake of the recent uprisings all across greater Tibet, reports tell of house-to-house searches for anyone suspected of taking part in protests. Arbitrary large-scale arrests have left Tibet's prisons so overcrowded that prisoners are being transported to prisons in mainland China. Reports tell of heaps of dead bodies in the prisons, and hundreds of severely beaten and tortured prisoners recieving neither food, water nor medical aid. Water and food supplies have been cut off, not only to the major monasteries in and around Lhasa, but also to whole Tibetan communities in some of the "Chinese" provinces of former Tibet.

The situation in Tibet is critical. Whether or not the Olympic Games are an issue, there is no doubt that endorsing China's plans to carry the Olympic torch through Lhasa, Tibet and up Mount Everest is to condone China's grotesque propaganda farrago in a country that is suffering under China's harsh colonial regime.

It would be a serious mistake for the international community to assume that after the passing on of the present Dalai Lama, or even before, the populace of greater Tibet will continue to adhere to His Holiness's policy of non-violence. Most of the younger Tibetans feel that after twenty years, there is nothing to show by way of improvement in their situation, for a policy of non-violence. They have been forgotten and ignored by the international media, except when there are significant protests. After 60 years of Chinese rule, many Tibetans have declared they would rather die than continue to live under their present conditions.

Tags: TIBET PROTESTS, DALAI LAMA, PETITION HUMAN RIGHTS

1,329,894 SIGNED FOR TIBET...DID YOU?

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:09:10 GMT

1,329,894 SIGNED FOR TIBET, DID YOU?

Monday 31st. March Global Action Day for Tibet, and petition handing-in day. It's not too late to help Tibet.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/

Tags: TIBET PETITION HUMAN RIGHTS

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:37:01 GMT

1,058,716 have signed - 1 million target reached in just 7 days!

BRILLIANT. CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED.

2 MILLION BY MARCH 31ST?????

Tags: TIBET PETITION HUMAN RIGHTS

952,000 SIGN FOR TIBET

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:36:36 GMT

Here's an update. 952,000 people have signed the petition. It would be brilliant to get it up to 1 million before the World Day of Action for Tibet, next Monday, March 31st. That's also the day that the Olympic torch arrives in Beijing. If you can think of anyone who might not have signed the petition, please forward this email to them again.

If you have already signed and circulated this petition, thank you so much. News of this will bring hope and joy to thousands of Tibetans who are imprisoned right now for resisting Chinese oppression, who are being physically tortured for their Buddhist beliefs, for their loyalty to HH the Dalai Lama.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/

BTW some of you may feel by this stage that my blog has become a bit too strident and politic al, not quite laid back enough for a confessed advaitin. Remember Krishna's advice to Arjuna on the battlefield of the Kurus and Pandavas,"Established in Being, perform action!"

It's so easy for us in the West not only to venerate, but actually to meet HH the Dalai Lama, and other spiritual luminaries, Tibetan, Zen, Vedic etc. In Tibet, to carry a photo of HH the Dalai Lama is to risk arrest, imprisonment without trial, torture, even death. In China, to pronounce belief in "Truth, Forbearance and Compassion" will get you arrested as a Falun Gong "evil-cultist". Same fate as the Tibetans.

We owe it to their courage to support them in their hour of need. Which is what is happening now.

Cheers,

Chaiwallah

Tags: Tibet, Peace Petition, Appeal, Dalai Lama

TIBET PETITION 751,472 SIGNED

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:48:27 GMT

Dear Gaia friends,

Nearly there.

LET'S TRY TO REACH 1 MILLION BY MARCH 31ST

The global outcry over Tibet is rising fast - In just 5 days, 751,472 of us from 192 countries have come together to call for restraint and dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Even more amazing, we have told over 5 million of our friends about this important campaign - that's 1 million people per day!

A personal email from a friend is a powerful thing – it is helping to drive the global tide of concern. Let's push now to tell 5 million more friends, get over 1 million signatures this week, and deliver the largest global online petition in history to the Chinese government. Just forward the email below to a few more friends and family with a personal note from you…

------------------

Dear friends,

After decades of repression, the Tibetan people are crying out to the world for change. The spotlight of the upcoming Olympic Games is now on China, and Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner the Dalai Lama is calling to end all riots and violence through restraint and dialogue--he urgently needs the support of the world's people.

China's hardliners are lashing out publicly at the Dalai Lama--but we're told that President Hu Jintao may believe dialogue is the best hope for stability in Tibet. China's leadership is right now considering a crucial choice between repression and dialogue that could determine Tibet's--and China's--future.

We can affect this historic choice – for President Hu, China's global reputation matters. He needs to hear from us that the 'Made in China' brand and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing will succeed only if he chooses dialogue over the hardliners' repression. An avalanche of global people power is moving to get his attention. We're closing on our goal of 1 million signatures and the largest global online petition in history - click below to join the global outcry, and then forward this email to friends and family right away:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/39.php?cl=65939797

Tags: Tibet, Peace Petition, Appeal, Dalai Lama

BUDDHA FOR TIBETANS

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:26:53 GMT

"The Communist Party is like the parent to the Tibetan people, and it is always considerate about what the children need. The Central Party Committee is the real Buddha for Tibetans."

Quoye from Zang Qingli, Communist Party boss in Tibet.

Tags: Tibet, China, Human Rights, Protests

TIBET: THE TORCH OF SHAME

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:40:17 GMT

THE TORCH OF SHAME

The Olympic torch is bleeding
In a harsh and cruel hand
As it crushes Tibetan voices
Spilling blood upon the land.

If we all say "Yes" to China
Who will be to blame
When the torch of hope and beauty
Has become the Torch of Shame.

Chaiwallah
Easter Sunday. 23rd March 2008

Tags: Tibet, China, Human Rights, Dalai Lama, protests

HH THE DALAI LAMA WEPT/TONGLEN

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:12:23 GMT

In a recent interview with Melinda Liu of Newsweek, HH the Dalai Lama admitted he wept at the news from Tibet, but practises "giving and taking,"...in a word, tonglen.

Newsweek:Some images of the recent casualties have been graphic and disturbing. Have you seen them? What was your reaction? We heard you wept.

HH the Dalai Lama:Yes I cried once. One advantage of belonging to the Tibetan Buddhist culture is that at the intellectual level there is a lot of turmoil, a lot of anxiety and worries but at the deeper, emotional level there is calm. Every night in my Buddhist practice I give and take. I take in Chinese suspicion. I give back trust and compassion. I take their negative feeling and give them positive feeling. I do that everyday. This practice helps tremendously in keeping the emotional level stable and steady. So during the last few days, despite a lot of worries and anxiety, there is no disturbance in my sleep. (Laughs).

Tags: Dalai Lama, Tonglen, Tibet, China, meditation, tantric practise, energy transformation.

1 million signatures for Tibet: Avaaz appeal petition

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:44:53 GMT

Dear Gaia friends,

We believe in peace, love and reconciliation, in non-violent solutioons to ancient fears and animosities. Here's a chance to take direct non-violent action to promote a peaceful solution to the situation in Tibet.

Please act now and circulate the link to all your friends.

Shanti, shanti, shanti,

Chaiwallah

In just 36 hours, 253,553 of us have supported the Dalai Lama's call for dialogue and human rights in Tibet. This is an incredible response--if each of us can get 4 more of our friends to sign the petition, we'll hit 1 million this week! Just quickly forward the email below to your friends and family with a personal note from you-

---------------------------

Dear friends,

After decades of suffering, the Tibetan people have burst onto the streets in protests and riots. The spotlight of the upcoming Olympic Games is now on China, and Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner the Dalai Lama is calling to end all violence through restraint and dialogue--he urgently needs the world's people to support him.

China's leaders are lashing out publicly at the Dalai Lama--but we're told many Chinese officials believe dialogue is the best hope for stability in Tibet. China's leadership is right now considering a crucial choice between crackdown and dialogue that could determine Tibet's--and China's--future.

We can affect this historic choice--China does care about its international reputation, and we can help them choose the right path. China's President Hu Jintao needs to hear that the 'Made in China' brand and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing will succeed only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an avalanche of global people power to get his attention. Click below now to join 250,000 others and sign the petition--and tell absolutely everyone you can right away--our goal is 1 million voices united for Tibet:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/19.php

Tags: Tibet, Peace Petition, Appeal, Dalai Lama

DALAI LAMA'S STATEMENT

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:59:14 GMT

HH THE DALAI LAMA THREATENS TO RESIGN

Background:

In the face of ever-growing reports of uprisings all over Tibet, HH the Dalai Lama has appealed to Tibetans to refrain from violent protests.

Many young Tibetans are frustrated by the non-violent approach which has produced no change in the lives of Tibetans under Chinese rule.

The Chinese have imposed a complete media black-out in Tibet. Foreign journalists have been expelled from all parts of Tibet. News is coming from the cell phones of individual Tibetans.

The latest news this morning is that trucks full of Chinese armed troops, accompanied by tanks, have rolled into several Tibetan towns in the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan (formerly parts of the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham)

DALAI LAMA'S STATEMENT

*PRESS RELEASE*
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to
world leaders and the international community for their concern over the
recent sad turn of events in Tibet and for their attempts to persuade
the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with the
demonstrations.
Since the Chinese Government has accused me of orchestrating these
protests in Tibet, I call for a thorough investigation by a respected
body, which should include Chinese representatives, to look into these
allegations. Such a body would need to visit Tibet, the traditional
Tibetan areas outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, and also the Central
Tibetan Administration here in India. In order for the international
community, and especially the more than one billion Chinese people who
do not have access to uncensored information, to find out what is really
going on in Tibet, it would be of tremendously helpful if
representatives of the international media also undertook such
investigations.
Whether it was intended or not, I believe that a form of cultural
genocide has taken place in Tibet, where the Tibetan identity has been
under constant attack. Tibetans have been reduced to an insignificant
minority in their own land as a result of the huge transfer of
non-Tibetans into Tibet. The distinctive Tibetan cultural heritage with
its characteristic language, customs and traditions is fading away.
Instead of working to unify its nationalities, the Chinese government
discriminates against these minority nationalities, the Tibetans among
them.
It is common knowledge that Tibetan monasteries, which constitute our
principal seats of learning, besides being the repository of Tibetan
Buddhist culture, have been severely reduced in both in number and
population. In those monasteries that do still exist, serious study of
Tibetan Buddhism is no longer allowed; in fact, even admission to these
centres of learning is being strictly regulated. In reality, there is no
religious freedom in Tibet. Even to call for a little more freedom is to
risk being labeled a separatist. Nor is there any real autonomy in
Tibet, even though these basic freedoms are guaranteed by the Chinese
constitution.
I believe the demonstrations and protests taking place in Tibet are a
spontaneous outburst of public resentment built up by years of
repression in defiance of authorities that are oblivious to the
sentiments of the local populace. They mistakenly believe that further
repressive measures are the way to achieve their declared aim of
long-term unity and stability.
On our part, we remain committed to taking the Middle Way approach and
pursuing a process of dialogue in order to find a mutually beneficial
solution to the Tibetan issue.
With these points in mind, I also seek the international community’s
support for our efforts to resolve Tibet’s problems through dialogue,
and I urge them to call upon the Chinese leadership to exercise the
utmost restraint in dealing with the current disturbed situation and to
treat those who are being arrested properly and fairly.
Dalai Lama
Dharamsala
March 18, 2008

Tags: Dalai Lama, Olympics, China, Tibet, protests, Human Rights

HELP TIBET AND CHINA: WITH TONGLEN

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:25:27 GMT

Tonglen, which means “giving and taking,” is a Tibetan Tantric Buddhist technique for energy transformation. It is very simple, based on breathing and visualisation. (My empowerment came from Ringu Tulku.)

Tonglen can be practised on the most personal level, to deal with sickness and negative emotional energy in your own body. It can be used between two people for the same reasons. You can use it to help another person to heal. You can use it between you and any source of threatening or negative energy.

Here's how.

Take a moment to be quiet in the face of the energy source (sitting, or standing, even in traffic, I've done it to deal with frustration and fear while cycling in the city on my bicycle!)

1) Visualise the negative energy ( physical pain, anger, fear, craving, etc.etc.) as a thick cloud of greasy black smoke.
2) Inhale deeply, drawing the visualised smoke into your very Being.
3) There, it will dissolve automatically, exploding into its essential emptiness. As it does so, your own ego's attachment to that energy is dissolved, and the black smoke becomes the fuel which burns to create a fire of intense light and compassion. This happens instantly. You don't need to work at it.
4) Exhale the light and compassion as a stream of positive energy, back to the source of pain, fear, etc.

That's it. It's very powerful, as I know from using it to deal with what appeared to be a life-threatening disease. Tonglen dissolves fear, pain, anger, craving.

For Tibet and China, maybe start by looking at a map, or Google Earth, just so you have a mental picture of where the energy source is. Actually, you can do tonglen for Planet Earth. Easy to visualise the Earth as a small blue ball surrounded by black smoke.

If you're into mantras or prayers, you can use a simple mantra on the inbreath and outbreath to energise your practice. Something as simple as “am-ma” divided between the inbreath and outbreath.(Gai-a would make a good Earth-healing mantra!)

Tags: Tonglen, Tibet, China, meditation, tantric practise, energy transformation.

AN EXPERT'S VIEW OF TIBET

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:15:07 GMT

RECLAIMING THE STREETS IN TIBET.
WHO'S BEHIND THE UPRISING AND WHY

BY GABRIEL LAFITTE
(Former Environmental adviser to HH the Dalai Lama's Govt-in-Exile. )

The monks and nuns leading the protest in Tibet know they will die - and they're ready for it, writes adviser to the Tibetan Government-in-exile, Gabriel Lafitte
The Tibetan revolt, like those of two and five decades ago, will be crushed by the overwhelming might of the Chinese military. No match could be more unequal: maroon-clad nuns and monks versus the machinery of oppression of the global rising power. In recent months, fast-response mobile tactical squads whose sole purpose is to quell the masses have been overtly rehearsing on the streets of Tibetan towns for just what they are now doing.

What is the point of revolt if it is almost certainly suicidal?

This uprising has many uniquely Tibetan characteristics. At street level, a favourite item seized from Chinese shops was toilet rolls - hardly the usual target of looters. Not that Tibetans, over millennia, have felt much need for the paper rolls, or even for the basics of the Chinese cuisine such as soy sauce. What the Tibetans did with the loo paper was to hurl it over power lines, instantly making Lhasa, and other Tibetan towns, Tibetan again. Right across the 25 per cent of China that is ethnically and culturally Tibetan, the unrolled toilet paper looks like wind horses, the white silken scarf khadags with which Tibetans greet and bless each other. As all Tibetans know, they carry their message on the wind: Victory to the gods!

That is what this revolt is about: making Tibet Tibetan once more. The white scarves also protected Tibetan shopkeepers from attack as the streets filled, for a short and costly moment of freedom, with Tibetans smashing the businesses of immigrant Chinese traders.

Even in the most intoxicating moment of reclaiming the streets no Tibetan could have forgotten the ever present security cameras, and the network of informers penetrating deeply into urban Tibetan private lives. No Tibetan could have been unmindful that the full repressive power of a modernised, high-tech tyranny would hunt them down, and show no mercy. All Tibetans know of former friends who, on release from prison and torture, now shun old acquaintances because they are under such intense pressure by their torturers to regularly name names of those who privately voice thoughts that do not conform to the Party line. These informers live in fear of being hauled in again, for further torture, and of betraying their friends.

That is what makes this revolt uniquely Tibetan. It is no accident that from the outset the protests were led by those who have already renounced all ties to kin, dedicating their lives to serve all of humanity, unconditionally. The nuns and monks of Tibet have taken vows to work for the liberation of all sentient beings from all sources of suffering - in the mind and in the external world. From the Dalai Lama through to the newest novice, they train in meditation to cut attachment to existence, to the existence of me ahead of all others.

They know they will die, and are ready for it. Just as in the great Tibetan revolts of 1959 and 1987, many will die in secret prison cells, after torture. When the world is no longer watching, or able to see, Tibetans who risked all so as to focus the world - in this Olympic year - on China's shame, will die.

What do Tibetans find so objectionable about today's China? Why is it that Tibetans and Chinese, neighbours for thousands of years, cannot get on?

Media coverage focuses on immediate causes, but there is a deeper story. Having worked with Tibetans for 30 years, having seen Chinese development projects in Tibet for myself, and having been briefly imprisoned for it, I can share what my Tibetan friends tell me. Contemporary Chinese capitalist modernity is as problematic for Tibetans as past State violence and repression. China today pours money, overwhelmingly State money, into Tibet, into railways, highways, tourist infrastructure and a top-heavy administrative elite. Glass towers, shopping malls, enormous brothels masquerading as discos, towering offices, now dominate urban Tibetan skylines which only 20 years ago were a sacred landscape of prayer flags, temples and meditation.

On the face of it, that's progress. If Lhasa now looks like any Chinese boomtown, that's just the price of modernity - or so many outsiders say. But Tibetans find themselves excluded from the material benefits of modernity, watching powerlessly as gangs of non-Tibetan immigrants take over even the unskilled jobs on construction sites and driving taxis. Tibetans remain poor, socially excluded, on the margins of a State-funded construction boom that reduces Tibetans to a minority meant to smile for the tourist cameras as they try to focus on their spiritual pilgrimage. The holy city of Lhasa, and all the big monasteries where the protests began, have been swamped by mass Chinese tourism, poking lenses into the most private devotions of those on the path to enlightenment.

The new railway to Lhasa, less than two years in operation, accelerated the tourism boom, the brothels and discos, and the marginalisation of Tibetans. Most Tibetans live in a countryside as big as western Europe, with their herds of yak, sheep and goats, eking an existence on land rigidly allocated decades ago by Chinese bureaucrats who refuse to re-divide land as families grow and new families form. Poverty among Tibetans is endemic, even as statistics averaged for entire provinces, bundling urban boom and rural neglect, proclaim rising standards of living.

The latest threat to Tibetan ways of life comes wrapped in an ideology of environmentalism. In the name of protecting the Tibetan upper reaches of China's great rivers - both the Yangtze and the Yellow - thousands of Tibetan nomads are being forced off their land, and resettled in miserable new towns in the middle of nowhere. Instantly, their livelihoods and intimate knowledge of the land and sustainable management, are useless - but they are seldom given training in new skills or even compensation beyond a grain survival ration.

Now the nomads, in a huge and rapidly expanding area, are ecological refugees, on the mistaken assumption that they are ignorantly and carelessly to blame for degradation of a vast grassland second in size only to Australia's pastoral inland. The nomads, compulsorily voiceless, not allowed to form any NGOs of their own, have no opportunity to show how deeply they care for the land, having sustained its productivity and its wildlife over millennia. China's urban-based Party elite regards nomads as stupid, uneducated, unscientific, greedy and destructive - everything China is trying to get away from. There is no partnership between authority and those on the land, because they are of different races, with very different worldviews.

This is the bedrock of the revolt. The Chinese authorities hold rural Tibetans in contempt, while urban educated Tibetans are viewed with suspicion, their exclusive loyalty to China and the Party forever tested by extreme "patriotic education" campaigns that make it compulsory to denounce the most revered lamas.

To be a Tibetan in Tibet is a lot like being black in Mississippi 50 years ago. Travel within Tibet, migration from country to city, number of livestock permitted, number of children permitted, all are rigidly and oppressively controlled by an invasive bureaucracy. Meanwhile health care and education, strictly on a capitalist user-pays basis, are concentrated in urban areas. Only if you have the money upfront, and connections, do you even get in the door of a hospital.

The monks and nuns, who devote their lives to clarifying and purifying the mind, draw inspiration from the example of their teachers, and the teachers of their teachers, the highest of all being the Dalai Lama. China's Party leaders, including President Hu Jintao, who imposed martial law the last time Tibet revolted, never seem to learn that insisting on monks trampling or spitting on an image of the Dalai Lama is only going to deepen Tibetan alienation.

The China the world glimpses briefly today is a China that has not, in Tibet, changed as much as we would all hope. Tibet is stuck in a time warp, of Marxist anti-religion propaganda, mass campaigns of denunciation and thought reform. China's policies in Tibet are deeply contradictory and self-defeating. China wants Tibetans to embrace and love the motherland and the Party, but the punitive insistence on stability always undermines the uneven, often exclusionary, progress towards development.

China needs to be told by its friends that an empire cannot be made into a nation by force. Australia, as a close friend and with a Prime Minister fluent in Chinese, is uniquely placed to remind the isolated and fearful Party leaders that they can gain much by listening to the message of the rioters: give us a break. Australia could teach China much about landcare, about rural communities and government working as partners to repair long term damage, and about discovering the hard way how to respect and reconcile with the Indigenous peoples.

As the Dalai Lama has always said: Tibetans and Chinese have gotten on well in the past, and can do so again, but only if there is mutual respect for fellow human beings who differ in their sources of happiness.

Tibetan monks and nuns are now dying, usually with equanimity and no hatred, in order to maintain that difference.

Tags: Tibet, China, Human Rights, Dalai Lama, protests

TIBET DEATHS

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:01:42 GMT

Amidst widespread reports from within Tibet, one fact is emerging. The Chinese authorities are using massive force against Tibetan demonstrators.

Media footage shows violence on both sides, but the only killing appears to have been the shooting of Tibetans by Chinese troops.

During a demonstration in Dublin, Ireland, the day before yesterday, one of our small Tibetan community was receiving phone calls from within Tibet. Tibetans estimate the number of Tibetans killed by the Chinese security forces in the last few days to be many hundreds.

What can you do?

Follow the links posted by Jenny re.Tibet on the "God" thread.

Practise "tonglen" on Tibet and China (if you're a Tibetan Buddhist meditator. HH the Dalai Lama does this daily.) If you're an activist, enter a dialogue with your local politicians, and media people. For example, there's a discussion going on worldwide at the UK TimesOnline newswebsite: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3566647.ece?Submitted=true.

You could also join International Campaign for Tibet, Campaign Free Tibet, or Students for a Free Tibet (google any of those names for the links.) Or start a local Tibet Support Group if there isn't one.

This is a good time for Dharma bums to get off their bums and support the home of the Dharma.

If you need any info, feel free to ask me.

Cheers.

Chaiwallah

Bod Rangzen

Tags: Tibet, China, Human Rights, Dalai lama

TIBET PROTESTS: ICT PRESS RELEASE

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:15:18 GMT

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET; USA

Update from NY: 6 Tibetans have been arrested for staging a peaceful
sit-in outside the United Nations in solidarity with Tibetans inside
Tibet. We will post more details shortly.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2008

Contact: Tenzin Dorjee in New York, +646-724-0748
Lhadon Tethong in Dharamsala, India, +91-9805-237-015
Kate Woznow in New York +917-601-0069

PROTESTS RAGE ACROSS TIBET AS CHINA RESPONDS WITH BRUTE FORCE
Tibetans Clash with Chinese Troops in Lhasa; Unprecedented Unrest
Throughout Tibet

Dharamsala/New York– Chinese authorities have responded with brute force
today to ongoing protests in Lhasa and across Tibet. Sources inside
Tibet say that Chinese tanks rolled into Lhasa this morning and
thousands of armed troops have sealed off the three major monasteries
where the protests were initiated on Monday. Following a police
crackdown on a protest staged by monks from Ramoche Monastery in central
Lhasa, dozens of monks and lay people clashed with armed police in the
streets, overturning police vehicles and lighting them on fire. Police
fired live ammunition into the crowd of protesters and at least two
people and up to 33 are reported dead.

“At great risk, Tibetans across Tibet are rising up against China’s
occupation of our homeland to show the world that, five months out from
the Beijing Olympics, the situation in Tibet is critical and demands
international attention,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of
Students for a Free Tibet. “Years of China’s repressive policies,
repeated denunciations of the Dalai Lama, and the violent response to
peaceful demonstrations by monks earlier this week have aggravated the
tensions and desperation felt by Tibetans throughout Tibet."

In Labrang, eastern Tibet (present-day Gansu Province), 3,000 people
converged in the streets today while The Tibetan Center for Human Rights
and Democracy is reporting widespread unrest throughout the Kham
(present-day Sichuan province) and Amdo (Qinghai province) provinces of
Tibet. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said it has “received firsthand
reports from American citizens in the city who report gunfire and other
indications of violence.” Foreign governments are calling on the Chinese
government to show restraint and have issued travel advisories for the
Tibetan Autonomous Region.

“China has swamped Tibet with Chinese settlers, poured money into
colonialist mega-projects like the railway that solidify its control,
and ruthlessly attacked Tibetan culture and religion," said Tenzin
Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “As the Olympics
approach and the world’s eyes turn to Beijing, this outpouring of
frustration is the natural consequence.”

The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, appealed to the Chinese
leadership to “stop using force and address the long-simmering
resentment of the Tibetan people.” In concert with Tibetan exiles around
the world, Tibetans inside Tibet launched the protests on Monday to mark
the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising.

“The timing and scale of this unrest throughout Tibet indicate a truly
national Tibetan uprising taking place against China’s illegal
occupation of Tibet,” added Mr. Dorjee.

Tags: Tibet, China, Human Rights, Protests

TIBET: massive protests met with bullets and tear gas

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:12:33 GMT

HH the Dalai Lama's statement today

Contacts:

Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, Secretary Mobile + 91 (09816021879)

Tenzin Taklha, Joint Secretary Mobile + 91 (09816021813)

PRESS RELEASE

I am deeply concerned over the situation that has been developing in Tibet following peaceful protests in many parts of Tibet, including Lhasa, in recent days. These protests are a manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people under the present governance.

As I have always said, unity and stability under brute force is at best a temporary solution. It is unrealistic to expect unity and stability under such a rule and would therefore not be conducive to finding a peaceful and lasting solution.

I therefore appeal to the Chinese leadership to stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people. I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence.

THE DALAI LAMA

Dated: March 14, 2008

Tags: Dalai Lama, Olympics, China, Tibet, protests

..CHINA MEDIA CLAMP-DOWN...

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:17:05 GMT

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

China: Media Freedom Attacks Continue Despite Pledges

11 Months Ahead of Beijing Olympics, Journalist Harassment Ongoing

(New York, September 7, 2007) The Chinese government continues to violate the rights of journalists in spite of assurances to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the 2008 Beijing Olympics would foster improvements in human rights and of specific pledges of wider media freedoms, Human Rights Watch said today.

Just 11 months before the 2008 Beijing Games begin, journalists in China continue to face physical abuse and harassment from police and plainclothes thugs who appear to work at official behest.

“The continuing harassment and physical abuse of journalists in the countdown to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing raises serious questions about the sincerity of government pledges to greater media freedom,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The Chinese government seems to see a free media as an enemy rather than a watchdog of public safety and social stability.”

As part of its 2001 bid for the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government expressly assured the IOC that it would loosen its long-held grip on the media during the Olympic Games. That commitment is consistent with the obligation of Olympic host cities to comply with Article 51 of the Olympic Charter, which stipulates that the IOC should take “all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Olympic Games.” Moreover, Article 35 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China specifically guarantees “freedom ... of the press.”

In late 2006, the Chinese government announced new freedoms for accredited foreign journalists as part of its IOC commitments. The temporary regulations, in effect from January 1, 2007 until October 17, 2008, allow foreign correspondents to freely conduct interviews with any consenting Chinese organization or citizen.

Despite those temporary rules, on August 24, police prevented a group of seven foreign journalists, including two camera crews and a radio journalist, who attempted to visit Yuan Weijing, the wife of jailed human rights defender Chen Guangcheng, prior to her scheduled flight to Manila to receive an international human rights award on her husband’s behalf. One of those journalists told Human Rights Watch that the police on duty outside Yuan’s Beijing residence forced the journalists to accompany them to the neighborhood police post, where they were subjected to a lengthy “registration” process in order to get access to the residence.

The authorities subsequently barred Yuan from leaving China and forced her to return to her native Shandong province. The Associated Press reported that a group of “government workers” abducted Yuan from a Beijing-bound bus on August 31 and forced her back to Shandong.

In another recent incident, Yixing court officials in Jiangsu province barred The New York Times and the South China Morning Post from entering the courtroom to cover the August 24 trial of environmental activist Wu Lihong, who was sentenced to three years in prison on extortion and fraud charges that observers have described as politically motivated. Officials gave no reason for restricting access, saying only that the proceedings were “an ordinary trial.” Reporters who waited outside the courthouse for the verdict were subject to harassment by plainclothes police, who demanded to know why they were there, what questions they wanted to ask, and what their equipment was for.

”Barring journalists from covering an “ordinary” trial raises questions about the integrity of the legal proceedings,” said Richardson.

Human Rights Watch pointed out that the temporary regulations also do not extend to Chinese journalists or Chinese nationals who work as assistants or translators for foreign journalists the same freedoms they do to foreign journalists. As a result, Chinese journalists remain particularly vulnerable to retaliation from local authorities who do not want embarrassing issues covered.

In mid-August, five Chinese journalists, including a reporter from the government mouthpiece People’s Daily, were interviewing witnesses to the Fenghuang bridge collapse in central Hunan province. Plainclothes thugs interrupted the interviews and kicked and punched the journalists, who were then detained by the police.

The government is also tightening controls over domestic media content ahead of the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which begins on October 15. The congress, which is held only once every five years, is a period of heightened sensitivity for the government, as it is the forum where the next generation of the party’s leadership will be unveiled.

On August 19, the media authorities demonstrated their power to control the press by requiring that five of the country’s largest newspapers : the People’s Daily, Guangming Daily, Economic Daily, People’s Liberation Army Daily and the Beijing Daily ; run near-identical front pages (see http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2007/08/one_editors_job_for_four_newspapers.php). The Chinese government offered no explanation for the stage-managed front pages, which all led with an article on China’s leaders’ personal involvement in efforts to rescue miners in a flooded mine shaft and included photos of President Hu Jintao’s state visit to Kazakhstan.

On August 31, the government ordered domestic internet search engines, including Google China, China Yahoo, and Baidu.com, to remove all “illegal and unhealthy content” within a week without providing any criteria for making such judgments and without clarifying what penalties might result.

“Such vaguely worded content prohibitions are an obvious direct threat to all media, as they encourage self-censorship of news or postings which could embarrass the government ahead of the Party Congress,” said Richardson.

Those efforts have extended to the closure by government authorities of numerous internet data centers, which host thousands of servers. Unplugging these internet data centers to squelch “illegal” content ahead of the 17th Party Congress has affected thousands of web sites, forums, and blogging platforms in provinces including Guangdong, Henan, Sichuan, and the eastern coastal city of Shanghai.

“If the Chinese government is serious about combating corruption and easing social unrest, why is it stifling media and abusing journalists, especially when they are crucial in exposing precisely such threats?” Richardson said. “Such actions make a mockery of the Chinese government’s commitments to its own citizens and the IOC.”

Tags: China, human rights, journalists, media freedom, bloggers, censorship.

...CHINA'S PLA HACKATTACKS.....

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:36:26 GMT

CHINESE MILITARY BEHIND "TITAN RAIN" HACK ATTACKS ON WHITEHALL AND THE PENTAGON

Richard Norton-Taylor

Wednesday September 05 2007

The Guardian (UK)

Chinese hackers, some believed to be from the People's Liberation Army, have been attacking the computer networks of British government departments, the Guardian has learned.

The attackers have hit the network at the Foreign Office as well as those in other key departments, according to Whitehall officials.

The Ministry of Defence declined yesterday to say whether it had been hit. An incident last year that shut down part of the House of Commons computer system, initially believed to be by an individual, was discovered to be the work of an organised Chinese hacking group, officials said.

Security and defence officials are coy about what they know of specific attacks. However, they say several Whitehall departments have fallen victim to China's cyberwarriors. One expert described it as a "constant ongoing problem".

The disclosures came after reports that the Chinese military had hacked into a Pentagon military computer network in June. The Financial Times said American officials called it the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department.

Defence department officials confirmed that there had been a "detected penetration" of elements of the email system used by the network serving the office of Robert Gates, the US defence secretary. US officials were reported to have said that an investigation had discovered that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was responsible.

The US gave the codename "Titan Rain" to the growing number of Chinese attacks, notably directed at the Pentagon but also hitting other US government departments, over the past few years.

The latest attack caused some minor administrative disruptions, but there had been no adverse impact on operations, an official said.

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, is reported to have raised the issue of Chinese attacks on her government's computers during a visit to Beijing. Officials here declined to say whether the British government had raised the issue with the Chinese authorities.

Alex Neill, China expert and head of the Asia Security Programme at the Royal United Services Institute, Rusi, said cyber attacks by the Chinese had been going on for at least four years. He described the reported attack on the Pentagon as the "most flagrant and brazen to date".

He said such attacks reflected a new doctrine of the PLA described as "pressure point warfare" - the attacking of specific nodes to leave the adversary paralysed.

The incidents should be seen against the background of the forthcoming 17th Chinese Communist party congress, which could determine the next generation of leaders, and the PLA keen to flex its muscles, Mr Neill suggested.

The attacks on the Pentagon's computer system were described by Dr Sandra Bell, head of Rusi's homeland security department, as "very much a wake-up call". She added: "The Chinese see no difference between asymmetric warfare and conventional warfare".

Analysts have argued over the seriousness of the attacks, and China has officially denied responsibility. However, the latest attack was said by officials and analysts yesterday to be the most serious discovered so far.

Responsibility for advising government departments on how to protect their networks rests with MI5, GCHQ, and the Centre for the Protection of the National Infrastructure in the Cabinet Office.

Tags: China, human rights, hackers, cyber warfare.

...YAHOO AND MSN SIGN CHINESE SELF-CENSORSHIP PACT

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:56:13 GMT

'Self-Discipline' Pact Could End Anonymous Blogging in China

Voice of America News

By Claudia Blume
Hong Kong
28 August 2007

Internet companies including Yahoo and MSN have signed on to new government guidelines on blogging in China. An international press-freedom watchdog says the pact will lead to censoring and silencing of those who post their words on computer Web logs. Claudia Blume reports from VOA's Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

Yahoo, MSN and a number of Chinese blog service providers signed the so-called "self-discipline" pact at the end of last week. The pact does not force, but rather "encourages" Internet companies to register and store the real names, addresses and other details of their users.

Beijing had earlier tried to implement legislation that would have made such registration mandatory, but the plan met with strong resistance from both Internet companies and the public.

Nevertheless, the Chinese authorities can now go to any company that stores such information in order to identify anyone posting material online.

Vincent Brossel of the press freedom group Reporters without Borders says the more cautious wording of the agreement will not protect Chinese bloggers.

"They have to 'encourage,' and everybody puts the word 'encourage' between brackets, because 'encourage' in China means you have to do it in some way, non? ... When the government wants this type of information they will be able to get it, because we know that in the past these companies, including Yahoo and MSN, have delivered information, I mean private information, about Internet users," Brossel said.

In 2005, Yahoo's China operations were taken over by Alibaba.com, a Chinese Internet company. In an official company statement, Yahoo Incorporated says it understands that Alibaba does not "currently" plan to implement "real-name registration" of bloggers.

Prior to the link-up with Alibaba, Yahoo passed information about one of its Chinese users, journalist Shi Tao, to the Chinese authorities. As a result, Shi was arrested, and in 2005 was given a 10-year jail sentence for divulging state secrets.

Shi and Wang Xiaoning, who was also jailed after Yahoo provided his confidential information to the authorities, are suing Yahoo in U.S. court. The suit seeks a court order to stop Yahoo from cooperating with Chinese requests for the identities of Internet users.

Brossel says the "self-discipline" agreement has been publicized in China, and that Chinese bloggers realize they will no longer be able to post items anonymously.

"So I think it will have a chilling effect, and it will increase self-censorship," Brossel said.

The blog service providers who signed the new agreement also pledged to monitor the comments posted by their users, and to delete in advance information the government does not approve of.

Rebecca MacKinnon is an expert on online media at the University of Hong Kong. She says this is nothing new: Both Chinese and foreign companies, eager to stay in business in the world's second-largest Internet market, have long been censoring Chinese Web sites and blogs.

"The signing if this pledge really is only just making public what is already being practiced ... In theory - according to the guidelines of the pledge - they will ask their users to acknowledge that this is happening and to agree that if you are going to have a blog here, we will censor you - that is life here in China!" MacKinnon said.

An estimated 30 million people in China write online diaries, or blogs, and their number is growing steadily. Until now, bloggers could remain anonymous online using screen names, and in a country where the news media and personal expression are controlled, blogs have become an important forum for citizens to express and exchange views freely. If the authorities can obtain their real identities from the service providers, this avenue for free expression is likely to be closed off.

Tags: Internet, blogging, China, Human Rights, democracy, freedom.

...CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY CONTROLS REINCARNATION !

http://chaiwallah.gaia.com — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:24:10 GMT

New Legal Measures Assert Unprecedented Control Over Tibetan Buddhist Reincarnation

(International Campaign for Tibet)

The Chinese government State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) issued legal measures on July 18, 2007, that if fully implemented could transform Tibetan Buddhism as it exists in China into a less substantial, more completely state-managed institution, and further isolate Tibetan Buddhist communities from their counterparts outside China. The "Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism" (MMR) (Web site of the SARA (in Chinese), 18 July 07) take effect on September 1. The MMR (ICT translation) would empower the Chinese Communist Party and government to gradually reshape Tibetan Buddhism by controlling one of the religion’s most unique and important features—lineages of teachers that Tibetan Buddhists believe are reincarnations and that can span centuries. As elderly reincarnations pass away, the measures authorize government officials to decide whether or not a reincarnation is eligible to reincarnate, and if one is permitted, the government will supervise the search for the subsequent reincarnation, as well as religious education and training.

An August 3 SARA statement (Xinhua, reprinted in People’s Daily) describes the government objective as "an important move to institutionalize management on reincarnation of living Buddhas." A SARA official summarized political requirements of a reincarnation under Article 2 of the MMR: "The selection of reincarnates must preserve national unity and solidarity of all ethnic groups and the selection process cannot be influenced by any group or individual from outside the country." The remark refers to the Dalai Lama and other high-ranking Tibetan Buddhist teachers living in exile in India and elsewhere. This provision underscores how the MMR will further subordinate traditional Tibetan Buddhism to Party policy, and heighten the barrier between Tibetan Buddhists in China and their teachers and co-religionists living abroad.

The MMR establishes or expands government procedural control of the principal stages of identifying and educating reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist teachers, including:

Determining whether or not a reincarnated teacher who passes away may be reincarnated again, and whether a monastery is entitled to have a reincarnated teacher in residence (Arts. 3-4).
Conducting a search for a reincarnation (Arts. 5-7).
Recognizing a reincarnation and obtaining government approval of the recognition (Arts. 4, 7-9).
Seating (installing) a reincarnation in a monastery (Art. 10).
Providing education and religious training for a reincarnation (Art. 12).

The measures provide for administrative or criminal punishment to individuals or offices that are responsible for a failure to comply with the measures, or that conduct activities pertaining to reincarnation without government authorization (Art. 11).

Tags: Reincarnation, Human Rights, religious freedom, Tibetan Buddhism, Tibet, China