When in 1994 my husband and I arrived from India to settle in Lancashire, via a year in Wales, there were very few Tibetans living in the North of England: you could count the Northern Tibetans on one hand, and he was the sole Tibetan in Lancashire. Now, some 30 years later, we are talking about hundreds, with a thriving Tibetan Community North UK.
Back in the 90s, pre smartphones and social media platforms, our contact with family inside Tibet came very slowly. Conversations would span many months as we sent cassette taped messages back and forth.
So you might think that with the advances in technology and the swelling numbers of Tibetans living in proximity, contact with fellow Tibetans is at an all time high, and therefore a magazine like Contact is largely redundant.
I would like to offer an alternative view, and explain how very welcome the publication has been and why it will be greatly missed in our household.
Firstly, although we have access to other sources of information (His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s own website, Phayul, Radio Free Asia, ICT, Free Tibet amongst them), nowhere can we find the same mix of positive and negative news, news from the diaspora and news from within Tibet. And nowhere else does the information presented provide such a sense of proximity, of getting to know the people behind the stories.
Secondly, whilst communication with family and friends inside Tibet might be easier than in the past, it is certainly not any more open. WeChat is used, and is heavily monitored by the Chinese authorities. Nothing controversial or political or even culturally significant can be discussed, at risk of endangering Tibetans inside Tibet. Conversation is kept superficial and light. The truth of the hardships of daily reality never revealed. Reports of detentions, deaths in custody, etc, from very close to our family’s home reach us through Contact – not through family.
And finally, a printed publication on the table is a great focal point for people coming into our household, something people can pick up and dip into, and thus acts as a way of educating others about the situation inside and outside Tibet. Website links and online articles can be shared, but there is something about having Contact around that starts conversations. The next generation, our children, are given direct access to their heritage when Contact turns up in the post.
I respect and understand the decision to end the publication , but I have to admit that I am saddened. And I want to express my gratitude to the Contact team: I have loved being involved in some small way, and really value the sense of connection it gave us. Thug je che, and please keep doing what you do, finding new expressions for your passion and talents.
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