Iron Hare 2011 – flames of resistance ____A detailed account of the historic Self Immolation Protest against China’s oppression by Tibetans Translated and edited by Matthew Akester Published By Dhomay Alliance for Freedom and Justice To the brave men, women and children who died martyrs to the cause of a free Tibet. Dhomay Alliance for Freedom and Justice March 16th 2012 English language version translated and edited by Matthew Akester 23 July 2012 First Edition: August 2012 First Print: 1000 Copies CONTENT Contents Introduction .............................................................V Section 1 Chronicle of the Iron Hare year fire protests One: Tabey’s protest on February 27th 2009 .........................1 Two: Losang Puntsok’s protest on March 16th .....................2 Three: Tsewang Norbu ........................................................91 Four: Losang Kalsang ........................................................103 Five: Losang Konchok ......................................................103 Six: Kalsang Wangchuk .....................................................105 Seven: Kaying and Eight: Choepel ...................................107 Nine: Norbu Dramdul ........................................................112 - III - CONTENT Ten: Tenzin Wangmo .........................................................114 Eleven: Dawa Tsering .......................................................139 Twelve: Palden Choetso ....................................................154 Thirteen: Rongtsa Tenzin Puntsok ....................................157 Fourteen: Tsultrim .............................................................167 Fifteen: Tennyi .................................................................167 Sixteen: Tulku Sobha Rinpochey ......................................172 Seventeen: Losang Jamyang .............................................181 Eighteen: Rikdzin Dorjey .................................................196 Nineteen: Sonam Rabyang ................................................198 Twenty: Tenzin Choedroen ...............................................205 Twenty One: Losang Gyatso ............................................207 Twenty Two: Damchoe .....................................................209 Twenty Three: Nangdrol ..................................................217 Twenty Four: Tsering Kyi .................................................223 Twenty Five: Rinchen .......................................................226 - IV - CONTENT Twenty Six: Dorjey ...........................................................226 Twenty Seven: Gebey .......................................................234 Twenty Eight: Jamyang Palden ........................................236 Section 2 Self immolation protests in exile One: Thubten Ngodrup .......................................................241 Two: Lhakpa Tsering ..........................................................242 Three: Sherab Tsedor ..........................................................242 Four: Poetruk ......................................................................243 Section 3 International statements of support for Tibet ..........................................................................245 Section 4 Solidarity initiatives by exile Tibetan community organisations ..........................................................................377 - V - CONTENT - VI - INTRODUCTION མདོ་鮨ད་བཙན་讒ོལ་བདེན་རྒྱབ་མནའ་འ宲ེལ་让ོམ་སྒྲིག་ཚོགས་᭴ང་ Dhomay Alliance for Freedom and Justice Ref. No................. Dated: 14/Aug/2012 Introduction The Communist Party of China established the Peoples Repub- lic of China on October 1st 1949. On a visit to the Soviet Union in December of that year, the Chinese leadership was urged to advance into Tibet at the earliest. The main force of the Tibet- an army was defeated at Chamdo in October 1950, and the 17 point agreement on Peaceful Liberation was signed in Beijing on May 23rd 1951. In 1959, the whole of Tibet came under di- rect Chinese rule, and in the maelstrom of political campaigns that followed, monasteries all over the country, some six thou- sand, were destroyed, and some 1.2 million Tibetans, Lamas, Tulkus and Geshes, ordinary monks, leaders and commoners lost their lives. Tibet’s natural environment was devastated, religion and learning extinguished, and the way of life trans- formed by force. Resistance by successive generations of Ti- betans has been ruthlessly crushed wherever it occurred, and their aspirations vilified rather than addressed. One ray of light to appear in the darkness of Chinese oppres- sion was the six point reform announced by General Secretary Hu Yaobang following an eight day inspection tour in Tibet at a meeting of TAR officials on May 29th 1980, stressing the need for Tibetans to be allowed to govern themselves. That year, the first Tibet Work Meeting was held, and measures for- mulated for the protection and promotion of the Tibetan people - VII - Iron Hare 2011 – flames of resistance and their traditions, the flourishing of history, literature, per- forming arts, medicine and so on, but with the death of Hu Yaobang, that prospect also vanished. Another sign of modest respite for Tibet at that time was the release of the 10th Panchen Lama from 14 years of imprison- ment, who proceeded to visit all parts of the country, like a lion freed from a trap, dedicating himself to finding ways for the rights of nationalities guaranteed in the Chinese constitution to be implemented and for the revival of religion and education in the devastated country. In 1987, the ‘Regulations on Tibet- an language education and the use and promotion of Tibetan language in TAR’ were passed by the TAR Peoples Congress. Similar measures on autonomy and language use were drafted in other Tibetan areas, and for a period, there were limited op- portunities for Tibetan language education and the revival of religion and education. However, with the tragic death of the Panchen Lama in 1989, the prospects for realising his wishes and the clear aspirations of the Tibetan people began to change, Chinese language ed- ucation took over in the urban centres of central Tibet, and gradually in villages too, and more recently education in other Tibetan areas has been forced into Chinese medium, with only Tibetan language textbooks in Tibetan. Almost all social activ- ity in Tibetan areas has been taken over by the government and by Chinese people, and Tibetan language is excluded from government work, public facilities, cultural activities and even shops and transport services, as well as entrance exams for higher education and government service, and the marginali- sation of Tibetan medium education has become only a matter of time. In the monasteries, the government has assumed direct con- trol over the selection of incarnate Lamas, and work teams are being sent in to do “Patriotic Education”, forcing people to - VIII - INTRODUCTION denounce the Dalai Lama and imposing limits on the number and origin of monks. While there is nominal freedom of belief and study, subpolice stations and security offices are being set up, to the point of having local Party branch offices in monas- teries, Womens’ Association offices and so on, portraits of the four generations of Communist leaders must be hung and red flags flown, surveillance cameras have been installed to moni- tor assembly halls, monk dormitories and the movements of lay worshippers, interrogating and detaining monks and nuns without official ID documents, increasing controls over public teaching events and so on. These coercive policies are at the root of all the popular grievances against the government, but state propaganda media tell a different story. During the more than five decades of Chinese rule, the resis- tance struggle of the first generation of Tibetans went on up to the 1980s, the second generation continued during 1980s and 1990s, and this has been carried on by the third generation. All along, the Chinese government has taken the same attitude to- wards it, that is to say ignoring all pleas, and using the security forces to crush protest, with violence if necessary. These days they are increasing the deployment of ‘Aid Tibet Cadres’ in all Tibetan areas, and there is an increase of Chi- nese officials at all levels, while Tibetan officials are sidelined. They get workers, technicians and business people from their home provinces to migrate to Tibet, help them with job oppor- tunities and schooling for their children, and even salary and promotion, and this has boosted Chinese migration. Tibetans meanwhile are turned out of places where they have lived for generations, which are then prospected and dug up indiscriminately for resource exploitation, forests cut, wild- life killed and rivers dammed, leaving no hill or valley un- touched. In the Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture where the Iron - IX - Iron Hare 2011 – flames of resistance Hare year protests were most sustained, only 5 of the 14 Party leadership positions are held by Tibetans, and of the 600 of- ficials who have received promotion in recent years only 20 are bilingual. The situation in other so-called “Tibetan Au- tonomous” prefectures is entirely similar. In fact, Chinese officials appointed to high office in Tibetan areas lately tend to have work experience in punitive or security-oriented posi- tions in mainland provinces, like the Political-Legal depart- ments. When new officials are appointed at county and town- ship level, there seems