Tibetan Headlines
Jan 17: Taking a Stand
Two prominent members of the Tibetan community in exile, Dhardon Sharling and Tenzin Palkyi, have publicly refuted the allegations of sexual assaults made in a recent YouTube video. They describe the video as “an abuse of free speech and a mockery of the #MeToo movement” and say the video has “emboldened our spirit and resolve to champion the cause of women’s empowerment”.
Jan 16: New Tibetan Enterprise
A new enterprise has launched its product Tibet Premium Rice. The Tibet Rice Mill at the Bhandara Tibetan Settlement in Maharashtra is an offshoot of the Co-operative Society of Norgyaling Tibetan Settlement and their new rice mill was funded by the Dalai Lama Trust and the Central Tibetan Relief Committee. The project aims to generate additional income for Tibetan farmers and promote sustainable Tibetan co-operatives.
Jan 16: International Issues Workshop
A workshop Tibetan Issues and International Community is underway in Dharamshala, organised by the Central Tibetan UN and Human Rights Desk. The 20 participants include CTA staff, the Tibet Policy Institute and representatives of NGOs. The workshop aims to share information about international human rights institutions; promote understanding about integrating Tibetans into other countries; promote co-operation with interested stakeholders and discuss Tibet-related environmental issues.
Jan 14: Tibet Court Report
25 people from the Tibet Autonomous Region were sentenced last year for “inciting separatism or financing crimes which jeopardised national security”. A report from Tibet's High People's Court said that they had “dealt with more than 30,000 cases”. The report in China’s Global Times also said Tibet had "launched a crackdown on gang crimes, with 360 people in 268 cases found guilty”.
Jan 11: Visit to Xinjiang
The Chinese state media Xinhuanet has reported that diplomatic envoys from 12 countries “witnessed the social and economic progress in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” during a recent short visit. The Malaysian representative is quoted as saying “religious activities are protected by the state”. This comes in the face of worldwide condemnation of the treatment of the ethnic Uyghur Muslim residents there.
Jan 11: Chinese Only for Students
Tibet Minzu University in Xianyang city in Shaanxi province has ceased giving instruction in Tibetan. There are over 6,000 students at the school, half of whom are Tibetans. Established in 1958 the school is China’s oldest university for Tibetan students. Teaching will now be entirely in Chinese, prejudicing against Tibetan students – including classes in traditional Tibetan medicine.
Jan 10: Escalating Hostilities
The Reciprocal Access Bill recently passed in the United States - denying access to the US to some Chinese officials – has prompted a hostile response from China on the diplomatic stage. There are reports that, in addition, China has ramped up its campaign against HH the Dalai Lama in Tibet with a drive to eliminate pictures of His Holiness and by publishing a series of negative articles about him.
Jan 9: Poverty-free Lhasa?
The city government of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, has claimed to have achieved its target of eliminating poverty. They are reported as announcing that nearly 44,500 people were removed from the poverty list last year, thus ending poverty in the capital. The Chinese press has reported big investment in development and job creation to alleviate poverty.
Jan 9: Military Readiness
China’s President Xi Jinping is reported in the media as having ordered the Chinese army to be “battle ready”, saying that China faces “increased risks and challenges”. This comes in the wake of increased tensions between China and both Taiwan and the United States, and on the India-Tibet border China is reported as deploying high-altitude combat equipment including new vehicle-mounted howitzers.
Jan 8: A Winner!
Tashi Tobgyal, a Tibetan photojournalist at the Indian Express, has won the prestigious 2017 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award. The photograph that won him the award was of Jhony, a manual scavenger, working in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh; the award presenters described it as a powerful image documenting the life and death of the people who keep our cities clean, working in the sewers and as manual scavengers
Jan 7: Prehistoric cave
A 4,000 year-old cave containing prehistoric tools, animal bones, paintings and pottery shards has been found in Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. The two Melung Taphug caves are located at an altitude of 4,600 metres on the Qinghai- tibet plateau reports the Chinese state media Xinhua.
Jan 7: Sudents’ Restrictions
Students at a Tibetan school in Tibet have been forbidden from participating in extracurricular activities, including workshops, during their winter break, reports Radio Free Asia. The restriction includes attendance of religious activities and applies to Tibetan students in Lokha Tsewang City southeast of Lhasa.
Jan 4: Statues Distributed
Statues of Lord Buddha and Tonpa Shenrab have been distributed to Tibetan monasteries and nunneries in India, Nepal and Bhutan as part of the Central Tibetan Administration’s undertakings during this portentous critical year of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Department of Religion and Culture has a programme of activities including accumulating prayers, following advice from the spiritual heads of Tibetan Buddhism and state oracle.
Jan 1: Tibet Support
The traditional annual January 1 demonstration in Hong Kong saw over 3,000 people on the streets to protest against the administration, reported the South China Morning Post. The said that both pro-independence activists and supporters of the "one country, two systems" principle took part and that some of the demonstrators used the event to call for the independence of Tibet.
Dec 27: Dalai Lama
The Tibetan spiritual leader and global icon of peace, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, has been voted eighth in the top ten most admired persons in the world in the American Gallup News poll which was conducted from December 3-12 this year. Former US President Barack Obama was voted the most admired person.