STORM in the GRASSLANDS Self-Immolations in Tibet and Chinese Policy
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STORM IN THE GRASSLANDS Self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese policy A report by the International Campaign for Tibet Washington, DC l Amsterdam l Berlin l London l Brussels www.savetibet.org STORM IN THE GRASSLANDS Self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese policy A report by the International Campaign for Tibet Washington, DC l Amsterdam l Berlin l London l Brussels www.savetibet.org Mourning A poem by Tibetan blogger, Sengdor, published online in October, 2011 The sadness of living is more painful than death/[…] Look at the smoke rising from the monastery’s golden roof Look at the doors of each monk’s cell In every moment After a storm bursts on one grassland Another storm bursts on the other grassland Following the direction of the wind Dark shadows move accordingly “To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance.” Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, in a letter to Dr Martin Luther King, 1965 Cover details ‘Self-immolation’ – a painting by Tashi Norbu, Tibetan artist based in Amsterdam, by kind permission of the artist. The work expresses the dual hope that the self-immolators’ sacrifice will lead to their religious realization of ultimate reality, through burning away ignorance, and also ‘burn away’ the conventional reality of oppression. A Tibetan pilgrim with flowers. Troops are visible as Tibetan pilgrims gather at the Jokhang temple in Lhasa in September, 2012. At the Jokhang temple, one of Tibet’s holiest sites, Tibetan pilgrims face intense security, with a constant presence of troops and airport-style scanners now in operation. (Image: ICT). STORM IN THE GRASSLANDS SELF-IMMOLATIONS IN TIBET AND CHINESE POLICY Acknowledgements This report was written and researched by ICT in London and in Washington, DC. Due to the political environment in Tibet and the restrictions placed on information- gathering and the expression of views, particularly at this time, it is not possible to name many of our sources and advisors. We are indebted to our Tibetan researchers in the field in India and Nepal for their dedication, determination, and provision of high-quality information and analysis during a particularly difficult time. We are grateful to Kanyag Tsering and Lobsang Yeshe, Kirti monks in Dharamsala, for their vital and ground-breaking work documenting the unfolding situation, and to Matthew Akester, for his generosity in translating from the Tibetan. Thanks to Tibetan friends Namkho and Tsering for their courage and insights and to Tashi Norbu for allowing us to use his painting ‘Self-Immolations’ on the cover. Thanks also to High Peaks Pure Earth, Adam Koziel of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw and to our designer Gabriella Nonino, for her expertise and patience. 4 INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET Content Executive summary ........................................................................................................... 7 The self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese policy ............................................................... 11 The self-immolations and a new political moment in Tibet ................................................. 16 China’s ‘stability maintenance’ policies and securitization in Tibet ...................................... 25 An insecure response and mixed messages: the Chinese media response to the self- immolations and the death of Phuntsog ............................................................................ 32 A message from young Tibetans in Tibet on the self-immolations ........................................ 45 “The logic of despotism”: oppression, control and surveillance of Tibetan communities since 2008 ............................................................................................................................... 47 Self-immolations in Lhasa and their aftermath ................................................................... 57 ‘Burning the Body’: self-immolations in a global and religious context ................................ 63 Two poems from inside Tibet about the self-immolations ................................................... 68 The self-immolations in Tibet – the lives and deaths of Tibetans who set fire to themselves .. 87 “People living under the gun”: stories from Ngaba ............................................................ 176 An Eight-Point Petition from Qinghai ................................................................................ 192 Recommendations ........................................................................................................... 194 Note on geographical terms Tibet was traditionally comprised of three main areas: Amdo (northeastern Tibet), Kham (eastern Tibet) and U-Tsang (central and western Tibet). The Tibet Autonomous Region was set up by the Chinese government in 1965 and covers the area of Tibet west of the Drichu or Yangtze River, including part of Kham. The rest of Amdo and Kham have been incorporated into Chinese provinces, and where Tibetan communities were said to have ‘compact inhabitancy’ in these provinces they were designated Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties. As a result most of Qinghai and parts of Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces are acknowledged by the Chinese government to be ‘Tibetan.’ ICT uses the term ‘Tibet’ to refer to all Tibetan areas currently under the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China. 5 STORM IN THE GRASSLANDS SELF-IMMOLATIONS IN TIBET AND CHINESE POLICY 6 INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET EXECUTIVE SUMMARY From February 2009, more than 90 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet, including a 19-year old female student, a widowed mother of four, and the grandfather of an important reincarnate lama.1 There was an escalation in self-immolations in Tibet during and after the Chinese Communist Party Congress – a once-in-a-decade leadership transition - with 15 Tibetans setting fire to themselves between November 7 (the eve of the meeting) to November 20 (2012). The self-immolations are now occurring with increasing frequency and there has been a broader geographical spread, with clusters of self-immolations in particular areas such as Rebkong in Qinghai, Labrang in Gansu and Ngaba in Sichuan. This constitutes one of the biggest waves of self-immolation as political protest globally in the past 60 years. While the self-immolations are deeply controversial, the overwhelming response from Tibetans to the individuals who self-immolate is one of respect and compassion and the authorities’ attempts to turn people against them has been a resounding failure. Thousands of Tibetans have gathered to pray and pay their respects for those who have self-immolated, and peaceful protests involving Tibetans from all sectors of society have often followed the self-immolations. The responses by Tibetans across Tibet to the self-immolations indicate both the significance of the actions as statements, and the developing and resolute sense of Tibetan solidarity and unity across Tibetan areas. A Tibetan described the impact of the self-immolations among Tibetans in Tibet as being “beyond measure”. While the Chinese government has sought to underplay the self-immolations, they expose a crisis in the Beijing leadership’s Tibet policy. The self-immolations are a dramatic and visible counter to the claims of the Chinese Communist Party to be improving Tibetans’ lives and they are a direct challenge to the Party’s legitimacy in Tibet. Although the Chinese government has sought to blame the Dalai Lama and ‘outside forces’ for the self-immolations, It is acknowledged by the international community as well as a number of scholars and netizens in China that these dramatic developments in Tibet reflect significant failures in policy that must be addressed. While the crackdown in Tibet has intensified in both scope and tactics since 2008, and more recently in areas where self-immolations have occurred, an alternate narrative of cultural resilience is taking shape in Tibet as Tibetans take increasingly bold steps to defend the core values of their culture. 7 STORM IN THE GRASSLANDS SELF-IMMOLATIONS IN TIBET AND CHINESE POLICY Tibetans who have left testimonies or notes behind to be found after their self- immolation have in general not called for other Tibetans to carry out these acts. Mostly their communication has been addressed to fellow Tibetans, as opposed to the Chinese authorities or the international community, and calling for life-affirming actions of protecting Tibetan cultural identity and connecting to each other as a way of determining their own destiny. In many cases the self-immolations have led to a deepening of community feeling. In November 2012, at the time of the Party Congress, thousands of Tibetans gathered to hold peaceful protests and vigils in the Tibetan area of Amdo, with all sectors of society – students, farmers, monks, nomads, teachers, children – involved in making reasonable and measured demands for change. This report documents the following developments: The Chinese government has responded to the self-immolations by intensifying the military buildup in Tibet and strengthening the very policies and approaches that are the root cause of the acts, such as aggressive campaigns against loyalty to the Dalai Lama. The feared erosion of their authority also leads to retributive actions against families, relatives, or monasteries associated with those who have self-immolated, which creates a vicious spiral in which more people are prepared to self-immolate because of the oppressive