Tibetan Headlines
Mar 2: A Winner!
Tenzin Pema, 25, a Tibetan Mixed Martial Arts fighter, has won the silver medal in the Wushu Stars 2019 tournament in Moscow, Russia. She represented India in the Contact Fighting - or Sanda - category. She is the first Tibetan professional woman boxer and had previously represented India to win medals in Bangkok, Thailand and New Delhi.
Mar 1: Tibetans Monitored
Tibetans living in Nepal are being monitored by the authorities who are compiling information to restrict their anti-China activities, according to reports coming through from Nepal. Around 14,000 Tibetans live there and Nepal is the usual escape route for Tibetans fleeing Tibet. Nepal has made life increasingly difficult for Tibetans over the last 30 years and these new moves are seen as further compliance with China’s demands.
Feb 28: Compensation
The Central Tibetan Administration has provided relief funding to the Phuntsokling Tibetan settlement in Odisha in east India which was hit by cyclone Titli last October. The funds were raised with “generous donations from well-wishers across the world”. Nearly 80% of the standing maize crop was damaged in the cyclone, as well as fruit crops and residential houses, in a community dependent on agriculture for its livelihood.
Feb 27: Tibetan Shops Destroyed
Fourteen Tibetan shops have been destroyed by fire at the Tibetan complex in Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh in north east India. The ongoing row about the status of Tibetans and other ethnic communities in Arunachal has escalated and has turned violent with mobs, protests, ransacking and now arson, this despite a curfew and police using firearms (firing blanks) to control the situation.
Feb 27: Education Conference
The three-day General Conference on Education has concluded in Dharamshala with 242 participants taking part from 76 Tibetan schools in Nepal and India. The conference is the largest gathering of school leaders in the Tibetan exile community and takes place every five years. This year discussion focused on improving the calibre of school heads, the Basic Education Policy and the inclusion of secular ethics in the Policy.
Feb 26: Most Influential
HH the Dalai Lama has been listed as one of the most spiritually influential living people for 2019. The London UK based bookshop Watkins has published its Spiritual 100 List in its February issue of MIND BODY SPIRIT, placing His Holiness third on the list. Watkins aims to celebrate spiritual teachers, activists, authors and thinkers that change the world.
Feb 26: Cyber Attacks
A new cyber espionage campaign against the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has been uncovered by the researchers and analysts Cisco Talos. A copy of a legitimate CTA PDF file has been emailed to recipients of a CTA mailing list. The copy contains a Trojan capable of stealing information, terminating or launching process, surveillance and theft of data. This is one of a series of cyber attacks by China.
Feb 24: New Textbook
A new textbook entitled Meilijiangzi, for primary and middle school pupils in Gyangze in Tibet, according to Chinese state media the Global Times, “integrates regional history, geography and moral education for [the] first time”. The article continues, saying that pupils will “receive education on patriotism”, using the book which was written by officials from Shanghai, and “ aims to inform students in Tibet about the integration and lineage of Han and Tibet cultures”.
Feb 24: Tibetans Outsted
A new report by Radio Free Asia says that “Tibetan university graduates are facing increasing difficulty finding jobs in Tibetan regions of China, with Han Chinese flooding job markets and civil service exams slanted more and more toward Han applicants”. Quoting their local sources, they report that few Tibetans now find employment in the government sector in Tibetan areas, nor in private companies and corporations”.
Feb 23: Another Win!
Tashi Tobgyal, a Tibetan photojournalist with the The Indian Express has won Photo of the Year at The Hindu Photojournalism Awards - his second award for the same photograph. His photo shows a young male manual scavenger at work in Delhi. Tashi says his work is, for him, “something akin to religion”. He comes from Darjeeling.
Feb 22: Year of Tsongkhapa
2019 will be observed as the International Year of Tsongkhapa, commemorating the 600th anniversary of his death. The Geluk International Foundation has announced that the celebration is in recognition of the “extraordinary contribution” made to the world by the renowned 14th century Tibetan Buddhist master Tsongkhapa - the founder of the Geluk tradition.
Feb 22: Funding Sanctioned
The US$17 million funding promised by the United States for Tibet and the Tibetan exile community has been signed by US President Donald Trump under the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2019. $8 million will go to Tibetans in Tibet and Tibetan communities in China, £6 million for Tibetans in India and Nepal and $3 to the Tibetan exile administration. Additional programmes are in progress under the US government.
Feb 21: Tibet in the 1950s
An original Czech documentary Cesta vede do Tibetu [The Road Leads to Tibet] from the early 1950s has been screened in Prague. The award-winning film was screened in Czech cinemas until it was banned by the Communist authorities in 1956. The film shows Tibetans’ everyday lives as well as a meeting with HH the Dalai Lama, aged 19 and many places destroyed in the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Feb 21: Lockdown in Tibet
Tibet is in lockdown ahead of March 10 - the 60th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day. Visas for foreign visitors to Tibet are unavailable until April 1 and Tibetans are being banned from taking part in religious activities as China takes measures to avert potential unrest at this sensitive time of year. This year marks 60 years since HH the Dalai Lama fled Tibet.
Feb 21: Mother Language Day
A coalition of Tibet support groups have written an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping on International Mother Language Day, asking him to “ensure that the Chinese government complies with its international obligations to respect the cultural and linguistic rights of the Tibetan people and demand the immediate and unconditional release of [imprisoned language advocate] Tashi Wangchuk”.