Event: Tibet Awareness Night

Caroline Robertson, of Columbia University, is organizing 'Tibet Awareness Night' this Friday night (3/28). The evening will be structured around a potluck and some house members will be making Tibetan food. There will also be information about what's been happening historically and during the crackdown this past couple of weeks in Tibet. We're hoping to have experts there to answer questions and facilitate dialogue about the situation. The house will be decorated with photos, perhaps even a sand mandala. There will also be a speech preceding a little vigil and the night will end with a screening of Cry of the Snow Lion.

The event is at 7pm on Friday 3/28 at 606 114th street.

Contact: Caroline Robertson ([email protected])

Comments

[Chris Kelley]

A Statement by Concerned Tibetan Studies Scholars on the Current Crisis in Tibet

http://www.tibetopenletter.org/

[José Cabezón]

Dear Christopher,

Here’s a link to something I wrote for Religion Dispatches, in case you want to add this to your links:

http://religiondispatches.org/Gui/Content.aspx?Page=AR&Id=145

Yours,

José

[Carol Bailey]

See:
http://www.seedsofcompassion.org/event/speakers.asp#visionary1

[Vincanne Adams]

Chris.
Here are two interesting articles. I think the first should be posted as it offers a pretty insightful reading of events. The second is interesting for its interpretation of this (from a Japanese scholar’s perspective) as a part of the longer term contestation between religious lineages that pre-date the current Chinese presence in at least Lhasa. You might want to post them. Best, VA


More on the Protests in Tibet - Analysis from on the Scene

* Protests in Tibet and Separatism: the Olympics and Beyond by Barry Sautman, Associate Professor,
Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

* Endgame for the Dalai Lama: Black Hat Sect Dismantling Power Base by Yoichi Shimatsu, former
editor of the Japan Times Weekly in Tokyo, was executive producer of the video documentary "Flight
of a Karmapa" (Nachtvision 2002) taped in the Tsurphu area of Tibet, the Mustang region of Nepal, Sikkim
and Dharamsala.

==========

Protests in Tibet and Separatism: the Olympics and Beyond

by Barry Sautman,
Associate Professor
Division of Social Science
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Recent protests in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas were organized to embarrass the Chinese government ahead of
the Olympics. The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), the major Tibetan exile organization that advocates
independence for Tibet and has endorsed using violent methods to achieve it, has said as much. Its head,
Tsewang Rigzin, stated in a March 15 interview with the Chicago Tribune that since it is likely that Chinese
authorities would suppress protests in Tibet, "With the spotlight on them with the Olympics, we want to test
them. We want them to show their true colors. That's why we're pushing this." At the June, 2007 Conference
for an Independent Tibet organized in India by "Friends of Tibet," speakers pointed out that the Olympics
present a unique opportunity for protests in Tibet. In January, 2008, exiles in India launched a "Tibetan
People's Uprising Movement" to "act in the spirit" of the violent 1959 uprising against Chinese government
authority and focus on the Olympics.

Several groups of Tibetans were likely involved in the protests in Lhasa, including in the burning and looting
of non-Tibetan businesses and attacks against Han and Hui (Muslim Chinese) migrants to Tibet. The large
monasteries have long been centers of separatism, a stance cultivated by the TYC and other exile entities,
many of which are financed by the US State Department or the US Congress' National Endowment for Democracy.
Monks are self-selected to be especially devoted to the Dalai Lama. However much he may characterize his own
position as seeking only greater autonomy for Tibet, monks know he is unwilling to declare that Tibet is an
inalienable part of China, an act China demands of him as a precondition to formal negotiations. Because the
exile regime eschews a separation of politics and religion, many monks deem adherence to the Dalai Lama's
stance of non-recognition of the Chinese government's legitimacy in Tibet to be a religious obligation.

Reports on the violence have underscored that Tibetan merchants competing with Han and Hui are especially
antagonistic to the presence of non-Tibetans. Alongside monks, Tibetan merchants were the mainstay of protests
in Lhasa in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This time around, many Han and Hui-owned shops were torched. Many
of those involved in arson, looting, and ethnic-based beatings are also likely to have been unemployed young
men. Towns have experienced much rural-to-urban migration of Tibetans with few skills needed for urban
employment. Videos from Lhasa showed the vast majority of rioters were males in their teens or twenties.

The recent actions in Tibetan areas differ from the broad-based demonstrations of "people power" movements
in several parts of the world in the last few decades. They hardly show the overwhelming Tibetan anti-Chinese
consensus portrayed in the international media. The highest media estimate of Tibetans who participated in
protests is 20,000 -- by Steve Chao, the Beijing Bureau Chief of Canadian Television News, i.e. one of every
300 Tibetans. Compare that to the 1986 protests against the Marcos dictatorship by about three million -- one
out of every 19 Filipinos.

Tibetans have legitimate grievances about not being sufficiently helped to compete for jobs and in business
with migrants to Tibet. There is also job discrimination by Han migrants in favor of family
members and people from their native places. The gaps in education and living standards between Tibetans and
Han are substantial and too slow in narrowing. The grievances have long existed, but protests and rioting
took place this year because the Olympics make it opportune for separatists to advance their agenda.
Indeed, there was a radical disconnect between Tibetan socio-economic grievances and the slogans raised in the
protests, such as "Complete Independence for Tibet" and "May the exiles and Tibetans inside Tibet be reunited,"
slogans that not coincidentally replicate those raised by pro-independence Tibetan exiles.

While separatists will not succeed in detaching Tibet from China by rioting, they believe that China will
eventually collapse, like the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and they seek to establish their claim to
rule before that happens. Alternatively, they think that the United States may intervene, as it has
elsewhere, to foster the breakaway of regions in countries to which the US is antagonistic, e.g. Kosovo
and southern Sudan. The Chinese government also fears such eventualities, however unlikely they are to come
to pass. It accordingly acts to suppress separatism, an action that comports with its rights under
international law.

Separatists know they can count on the automatic sympathy of Western politicians and media, who view
China as a strategic economic and political competitor. Western elites have thus widely condemned China for
suppressing riots that these elites would never allow to go unsuppressed in their own countries. They demand
that China be restrained in its response; yet, during the Los Angeles uprising or riots of 1992 -- which
spread to a score of other major cities – President George H.W. Bush stated when he send in thousands of
soldiers, that "There can be no excuse for the murder, arson, theft or vandalism that have terrorized the
people of Los Angeles... Let me assure you that I will use whatever force is necessary to restore order."
Neither Western politicians nor mainstream media attacked him on this score, while neither Western
leaders nor the Dalai Lama have criticized those Tibetans who recently engaged in ethnic-based attacks
and arsons.

Western elites give the Chinese government no recognition for significant improvements in the lives
of Tibetans as a result of subsidies from the China's central government and provinces, improvements that the
Dalai Lama has himself admitted. Western politicians and media also consistently credit the Dalai Lama's
charge that "cultural genocide" is underway in Tibet, even though the exiles and their supporters offer no
credible evidence of the evisceration of Tibetan language use, religious practice or art. In fact, more
than 90 % of Tibetans speak Tibetan as their mother tongue. Tibet has about 150,000 monks and nuns, the
highest concentration of full-time "clergy" in the Buddhist world. Western scholars of Tibetan literature
and art forms have attested that it is flourishing.

Ethnic contradictions in Tibet arise from the demography, economy and politics of the Tibetan areas.
Separatists and their supporters claim that Han Chinese have been "flooding" into Tibet, "swamping" Tibetans
demographically. In fact, between the national censuses of 1990 and 2000 (which count everyone who has lived in
an area for six months or more), the percentage of Tibetans in the Tibetan areas as a whole increased
somewhat and Han were about one-fifth of the population. A preliminary analysis of the 2005 mini-
census shows that from 2000-2005 there was a small increase in the proportion of Han in the central-
western parts of Tibet (the Tibet Autonomous Region or TAR) and little change in eastern Tibet. Pro-
independence forces want the Tibetan areas cleansed of Han (as happened in 1912 and 1949); the Dalai Lama has
said he will accept a three-to-one Tibetan to non-Tibet population ratio, but he consistently misrepresents the
present situation as one of a Han majority. Given his status as not merely the top Tibetan Buddhist religious
leader, but as an emanation of Buddha, most Tibetans credit whatever he says on this or other topics.

The Tibetan countryside, where three-fourths of the population lives, has very few non-Tibetans. The vast
majority of Han migrants to Tibetan towns are poor or near-poor. They are not personally subsidized by the
state; although like urban Tibetans, they are indirectly subsidized by infrastructure development
that favors the towns. Some 85 % of Han who migrate to Tibet to establish businesses fail; they generally
leave within two to three years. Those who survive economically offer competition to local Tibetan
business people, but a comprehensive study in Lhasa has shown that non-Tibetans have pioneered small and medium
enterprise sectors that some Tibetans have later entered and made use of their local knowledge to
prosper.

Tibetans are not simply an underclass; there is a substantial Tibetan middle class, based in government
service, tourism, commerce, and small-scale manufacturing/ transportation. There are also many
unemployed or under-employed Tibetans, but almost no unemployed or underemployed Han because those who
cannot find work leave. Many Han migrants have racist attitudes toward Tibetans, mostly notions that Tibetans
are lazy, dirty, and obsessed with religion. Many Tibetans reciprocate with representations of Han as
rich, money-obsessed and conspiring to exploit Tibetans. Long-resident urban Tibetans absorb aspects
of Han culture in much the same way that ethnic minorities do with ethnic majority cultures the world
over. Tibetans are not however being forcibly "Sincized." Most Tibetans speak little or no Chinese.
They begin to learn it in the higher primary grades and, in many Tibetan areas, must study in it if they go
on to secondary education. Chinese, however, is one of the two most important languages in the world and
considerable advantages accrue to those who learn it, just as they do to non-native English speakers.

The Tibetan exiles argue that religious practice is sharply restricted in Tibetan areas. The Chinese
government has the right under international law to regulate religious institutions to prevent them from
being used as vehicles for separatism and the control of religion is in fact mostly a function of the state's
(overly-developed) concern about separatism and secondarily about how the hyper-development of
religious institutions counteracts "development" among ethnic Tibetans. Certain state policies do infringe on
freedom of religion; for example, the forbidding, in the TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region), of state employees
and university students to participate in religious rites. The lesser degree of control over religion in
the eastern Tibetan areas beyond the TAR-- at least before the events of March, 2008 -- indicate however
that the Chinese government calibrates its control according to the perceived degree of separatist
sentiment in the monasteries.

The Dalai Lama's regime was of course itself a theocracy that closely regulated the monasteries,
including the politics, hierarchy and number of monks. The exile authorities today circumscribe by fiat those
religious practices they oppose, such as the propitiation of a "deity" known as Dorje Shugden. The
cult of the Dalai Lama, which is even stronger among monks than it is among Hollywood stars, nevertheless
mandates acceptance of his claim that restrictions on religious management and practice in Tibet arise solely
from the Chinese state's supposed anti-religious animus. Similarly, the cult requires the conviction
that the Dalai Lama is a pacifist, even though he has explicitly or implicitly endorsed all wars waged by the
US.

The development of the "market economy" has had much the same effect in Tibetan areas as in the rest of
China, i.e. increased exploitation, exacerbated income and wealth differentials, and rampant corruption. The
degree to which this involves an "ethnic division of labor" that disadvantages Tibetans is however
exaggerated by separatists in order to foster ethnic antagonism. For example, Tibet is not the poorest area
of China, as is often claimed. It is better off than several other ethnic minority areas and even than some
Han areas, in large measure due to heavy government subsidies. Rural Tibetans as well receive more state
subsidies than other minorities. The exile leaders employ hyperbole not only in terms of the degree of
empirical difference, but also concerning the more fundamental ethnic relationship in Tibet: in contrast
to, say, Israel/Palestine, Tibetans have the same rights as Han, they enjoy certain preferential economic
and social policies, and about half the top party leaders in the TAR have been ethnic Tibetans.

Tibet has none of the indicia of a colony or occupied territory and thus has no relationship to self-
determination, a concept that in recent decades has often been misused, especially by the US, to foster the
breakup of states and consequent emiseration of their populations. A settlement between the Chinese
government and Tibetan exile elites is a pre-condition for the mitigation of Tibetan grievances because absent
a settlement, ethnic politics will continue to subsume every issue in Tibet, as it does for example, in Taiwan
and Kosovo, where ethnic binaries are constructed by "ethnic political entrepreneurs," who seek to outbid
each other for support.

The riots in Tibet have done nothing to advance discussions of a political settlement between the
Chinese government and exiles, yet a settlement is necessary for the substantial mitigation of Tibetan
grievances. For Tibetan pro-independence forces, a setback to such efforts may have been their very
purpose in fostering the riots. Tibetan pro-independence forces, like separatists everywhere, seek
to counter any view of the world that is not ethnic-based and to thwart all efforts to resolve ethnic
contradictions, in order to boost the mobilization needed to sustain their ethnic nationalist projects.
They have claimed that China will soon collapse and the US will thereafter increase its patronage of a Tibetan
state elite, to the benefit of ordinary Tibetans. One only has to look round the world at the many
humanitarian catastrophes that have resulted from such thinking to project what consequences are likely to
follow for ordinary Tibetans if the separatist fantasy were fulfilled.

--
Barry Sautman, JD, LLM, PhD
Associate Professor
Division of Social Science
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Clearwater Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Tel: 852 23587821; Fax: 852 23350014

==========

Endgame for the Dalai Lama: Black Hat Sect Dismantling Power Base

by Yoichi Shimatsu

New America Media - Posted: Mar 21, 2008

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=2384413bc4f60e6614d134038737f3aa

[Editor's note: The facade of Tibetan unity has
unraveled and along with it, the Dalai Lama's power
base. Yoichi Shimatsu, former editor of the Japan Times
Weekly in Tokyo, was executive producer of the video
documentary "Flight of a Karmapa" (Nachtvision 2002)
taped in the Tsurphu area of Tibet, the Mustang region
of Nepal, Sikkim and Dharamsala.]

Hezuo, Gansu Province - For decades, the Beijing
government had recognized the Dalai Lama as its sole
negotiating partner in Tibetan affairs. For the
officialdom, it was simpler to deal with a single
person -- the "pontiff" of Tibetan Buddhism - to
control the entire ethnic population. The facade of
Tibetan unity was convenient to both sides but now it
has unraveled, and it's the endgame for the Dalai Lama.

By ordering the monks of his Gelugpa or Yellow Hat sect
to hold peaceful rallies on the 49th anniversary of the
Chinese invasion, the Dalai Lama -- unwittingly --
ignited pent-up emotions among Lhasa residents. Scenes
like the head bashing, stoning and kicking of a
prostrate bicycle owner arose from popular grievances
against runaway price inflation and perceived
discrimination against Tibetans in their own land. Such
cruelty, regardless of past injustices, has nothing to
do with Buddhist teachings but arises from the human
condition.

Unfortunately for the Dalai Lama, the loyalists in his
once-powerful organization inside Tibet are being
selectively investigated, arrested and detained for
causing the violence. The Beijing government has
repeatedly stated that only a small minority of
Tibetans loyal to the Dalai Lama were involved in the
protests. Whatever its legal flaws, there's more than a
grain of truth in the official assertion.

Amid the mayhem and anarchy, a decisive factor in the
Tibetan equation has gone practically unnoticed: Key
major players did not join or support the protests:

-- The Panchen Lama, a top prelate of the Gelugpa or
Yellow Hat school, second in rank only to the Dalai
Lama himself, has spoken in no uncertain terms against
the rioting and instead backed the government.

-- Leaders of the Nyingma and Sakya schools, as well as
the native Bon religion, did not endorse the protests
and are tight-lipped about the wave of arrests.

-- Laymen with the re-ascendant Kagyupa or Black Hat
school, are furious with the Dalai Lama after being
targeted by Gelugpa supporters during the horsemen's
raid on the Hezuo local district office in south Gansu
and in several counties in Sichuan Province.

In this negative light, the rallies by the Gelugpa
monks seemed a desperate bid to reassert the Dalai
Lama's authority by accusing their Tibetan rivals of
being "collaborators" and presenting themselves as the
"resistance." Due to the unintended violence, however,
the Yellow Hats find themselves as the odd man out.
Following the crackdown, rival sects are moving to
dismantle the remnants of the Gelugpa organization,
which had the monopoly of power over the Tibetan
Autonomous Region (TAR) and other districts as recently
as five years ago.

If the facade of Tibetan unity was convenient, it now
no longer serves.

In January 2000, the Chinese view of the Dalai Lama
started to undergo a radical change during the affair
known as the "Flight of the Karmapa" - covered in a
documentary by Nachtvision. The Karmapa is the head
lama of the Kagyupa, or Black Hat school, which ruled
Tibet until the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama began in
1642.

At the turn of the millennium, the teenage Karmapa,
born Ogyen Trinley Dorje, began a secret journey from
his seat in Tsurphu monastery, west of Lhasa, to Sikkim
in north India to recover the mystic Black Crown of the
Kagyupa. In the bid to strengthen his nomination
against other contenders, the Karmapa rode horseback on
a tortuous path through the frozen wilderness of
Nepal's Mustang region. At the 4,500-meters altitude
Thorong-La Pass, he was separated from his Nepalese
Kagyupa guide and whisked aboard a mountain-rescue
helicopter. He soon turned up under virtual house
arrest near the Dalai Lama's headquarters in
Dharamsala, India.

As told by his guide, the Venerable Gyaltsen Rimpoche,
nicknamed the "Tall Manangi," the Ogyen Trinley had to
retrieve the charismatic crown because "in Lhasa the
Karmapa was rising and becoming more popular, so the
Gelugpa did not like it and the situation was becoming
dangerous for him." Only the magic talisman could turn
the tables on the powerful Yellow Hats.

In the eyes of many Kagyupa monks, the Karmapa has been
abducted by the Dalai Lama's exile government and
remains a hostage to the senior leader of a rival sect.
The Black Hats responded furiously with demands to
Beijing that Gelugpa monks should be stripped of their
control over the Tibet province budget and other
privileges.

Feeling sorely betrayed by the Dalai Lama, who had
earlier backed the appointment of Orgyen Trinley as
Karmapa, Beijing consented to the Black Hat's harsh
demands. Thus ended the Yellow Hats' monopoly on power
inside Tibet. Since then, the local governments of many
Tibetan zones have been taken over by laymen loyal to
the Black Hats. Hezuo, the scene of the horsemen's
well-publicized raid, is the site of the Kagyupa's
Milarepa Shrine. Horses were used in the attack because
the raiders came from the Xiahe district, the
stronghold of the rival Gelugpa's Labrang Monastery.

This realignment of sectarian power in Tibet, which can
be compared with the Protestant Reformation in Europe,
is only now coming to light in public discourse after
the Lhasa riots. A People's Daily editorial, titled "No
return to old Tibet" (March 18), stated: "the political
exile (Dalai Lama) has continued his rule with an iron
fist that smashes any challenge to his power from
anyone or any sect. . . . Local Tibetans have managed
their affairs well without his interference."

In private, many exiles across the Himalayas, including
former Khampa guerrillas who fought the Chinese army in
the 1960s, recount disturbing allegations of the Dalai
Lama's security team's involvement in the murdering of
his critics by poisoning and bombing. This dark side of
intra-Tibetan intrigue is yet to be factually uncovered
before world opinion.

In an ultimate irony, the only person who can prevent
the coming demolition and disgrace of the Gelugpa
school is Gyeltshen Norbu, the Beijing-appointed
Panchen Lama.

The Panchen Lama probably won't rush to their defense,
not after pro-Dharamsala lamas lobbied furiously
against Beijing's attempt to appoint the young lama as
a delegate to the National People's Congress, held in
early March, arguing that he was not yet 18 years of
age. To avoid controversy, Beijing reluctantly
conceded, even though the official birth date of
Gyeltshen Norbu was February 13, 1990, making him 18
and eligible.

The Panchen Lama is likely to receive Buddhist VIPs at
the Beijing Olympics. An audience and blessing from the
bright young monk will certainly win international
support for his confirmation of the next reincarnation
of the Dalai Lama. It is the traditional custom for the
Panchen Lama to confirm the reincarnated Dalai Lama and
vice versa. By contrast, high-ranking monks have
scoffed at the Dalai Lama's idea of forming a committee
to elect a successor.

The recent uprising in Lhasa, despite its grim pathos,
is a reminder of the tragic 1959 insurrection that
resulted in the deaths of thousands of Tibetans. In
both cases, the 14th Dalai Lama badly miscalculated the
divisions among his own people, Beijing's strategic
determination, and the moral hypocrisy of the
international community.

In the Buddhist view, all things come full circle. In
the 17th century, the 5th Dalai Lama called in a Mongol
general to overthrow the Karmapa's theocracy. Today,
the Karmapa's men are ousting the Gelugpa power
structure. Ceaseless change is unstoppable, taught
Sakyamuni Buddha. Thus, attachment only results in
suffering - our attachment to wealth, power, pride,
respect and, most of all, to love, the meanest vice yet
highest virtue of human existence. Not even his bitter
opponents can dispute the deep love of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso for his homeland, Tibet. How
difficult it must be now, to let go.

==========

[Douglas Kremer]

Today's big story-- quite sensational and quite telling --
the entire facade of lies ripped apart by this AP reporter's dispatch.
PAP moves in to Barkhor area afterwards, plus no access to
Ramoche, Sera or Drepung. The AP's Hutzler hits and hits hard.
The question is: how do we further influence policy makers as a result of this?

Tibet monks disrupt tour by journalists
By Charles Hutzler
Associated Press

8:45 AM PDT, March 27, 2008

LHASA, CHINA — A group of monks shouting there was no religious
freedom disrupted a carefully orchestrated visit for foreign reporters
to Tibet's capital today, an embarrassment for the Chinese government
trying to show Lhasa was calm after recent violence.

The government had arranged the trip for the reporters to show how
peaceful Lhasa was after the deadly riots shattered China's plans for
a peaceful run-up to the Beijing Summer Olympics.

The outburst by a group of 30 monks in red robes came as the
journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, were being shown
around the Jokhang Temple -- one of Tibet's holiest shrines -- by
government handlers.

"Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!" yelled one young Buddhist
monk, who then started to cry.

They also said their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had
nothing to do with the anti-government riots by Tibetans in Lhasa,
where buildings were torched and looted, and ethnic Han Chinese were
attacked.

The government has said the March 14 riots were masterminded by "the
Dalai clique," Beijing's term for the Dalai Lama and his supporters.

Government handlers shouted for the journalists to leave and tried to
pull them away during the protest.

"They want us to curse the Dalai Lama and that is not right," one monk
said during the 15-minute outburst.

"This had nothing to do with the Dalai Lama," said another, referring
to the March 14 riots. The Chinese government says 22 people died,
while Tibetan exiles say the violence plus a harsh crackdown afterward
have left nearly 140 people dead.

The outburst by the monks came amid a morning of stage-managed events.
Reporters had already been taken to a Tibet medical clinic that had
been attacked nearby the Jokhang, and shown a clothing store where
five girls had been trapped and burned to death.

The monks, who first spoke Tibetan and then switched to Mandarin so
the reporters could understand them, said they knew they would
probably be arrested for their actions but were willing to accept
that.

They had rushed over to stop the reporters from being taken into an
inner sanctum of the temple, saying they were upset that a government
administrator was telling the reporters that Tibet had been part of
China for centuries.

They said troops who had been guarding the temple since March 14 were
removed the night before the visit by the reporters.

One monk said authorities planted monks in the monastery to talk to
the journalists, calling them "not true believers but ... Communist
Party members."

"They are all officials, they (the government) arranged for them to
come in. And we aren't allowed to go out because they say we could
destroy things but we never did anything," another monk said.

The protesting monks appeared to go back to their living quarters.
There was no way of immediately knowing what happened to them.

Later in the day, the China-installed vice governor of Tibet said the
Jokhang monks had previously been confined to the monastery because
some had taken part in the protests. But he promised they would not be
punished for their outburst.

"We will never do anything to them. We will never detain anyone you
met on the streets of Lhasa. I don't think any government would do
such a thing," Baima Chilin told reporters.

China rarely allows foreign reporters into Tibet under normal
circumstances, so the media tour was meant to underscore the communist
leadership's determination to contain any damage ahead of the Beijing
Olympics in August that was supposed to celebrate China as a modern,
rising power.

Later, the area around Jokhang was sealed off by People's Armed Police
wearing helmets and carrying shields. They refused to say why they
were there. The only people allowed to enter the area were those who
live in the narrow lanes around the temple.

Most of the shops near the temple were also closed.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference today that
he had no specific information on the latest protest.

"I would like to stress that, including the monks, the people of
various ethnic groups in Tibet are resolutely safeguarding the
national unity and oppose separatist activities," he said.

"Tibet is developing. The monks and other ethnic people in Tibet enjoy
their lawful rights and freedoms, they can enjoy their lives. Tibet
today is not like medieval Europe," Qin said.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama, speaking in New Delhi, said he was in touch
with "friends" to get a dialogue going with Chinese officials.

"I think this is time the Chinese government and Chinese officials, I
think, must accept the reality. I think that's important. Now in any
case we are (in the) 21st century, pretending or lies cannot work," he
said.

The reporters were kept away from any potential hotspots, including
the Ramoche monastery. Down a lane north of the Jokhang, Ramoche is
where the violence started on March 14. The narrow lanes leading to it
were sealed off by riot police in dark blue uniforms.

The government handlers also told the reporters they would not be able
to see Drepung and Sera monasteries, where initial protests were
launched March 10.

Reporters who tried to break away from the group were followed on foot
and by car.

Only furtive conversations with Tibetans were possible. "Ethnic unity?
This war is an ethnic conflict," said one middle-aged Tibetan in a
shop selling yak butter in the Old City of Lhasa.

Only furtive conversations with Tibetans were possible. "Ethnic unity?
This war is an ethnic conflict," said one middle-aged Tibetan in a
shop selling yak butter in the Old City of Lhasa.

The reporters were taken to places that had been well publicized on
state television as places the rioters had attacked.

That included the Lhasa No. 2 Middle School near Ramoche. Protesters
had hurled burning objects that set fire to one two-story building.
Nobody was hurt at the school.

The principal, Deji Zhuoge, said she did not know why the school was
attacked. "We don't know what happened it was very chaotic that
morning."

She said 85 percent of the schools 620 students were Tibetan. "We're
like one big family," she said.

State television showed the visit by the reporters on its evening news
today, but did not show any of the protest at the Jokhang Temple.

"More than a dozen lamas stormed into a briefing by a temple
administrator to cause chaos," Xinhua reported, adding, "The media
tour soon resumed."

The reporters were also shown a detention center, which housed some of
the rioters, and an assistance center for those who lost homes or
businesses in the violence.

At the assistance center, Li Kunjian, a small-scale businessman from
outside Chongqing in central China, told reporters he took out a
120,000 yuan (US$17,200; euro11,000) bank loan last year to move to
Lhasa with his wife to open a store.

On the night of March 15, he said a crowd of up to 200 Tibetan men and
women rampaged through his neighborhood and set his small shop on
fire. Li and his wife were forced to jump to safety from the second
floor of the building.

"We never thought this kind of thing would happen and leave us with
nothing," he said.

Interviews at the detention center were closely monitored, as police
acted as interpreters for Tibetan prisoners who spoke little Mandarin.

Luoya, who like many Tibetans uses just one name, admitted burning
down a motorcycle shop in Dazhi county, just east of Lhasa.

"All my friends were setting fires so I joined them," the 25-year-old
said. He was arrested about five days after the rioting, but he did
not say how he was caught.

He said he hoped for greater leniency by talking to reporters.

Reporters spoke to Luoya through bars of his cell as a policeman stood
behind him. The deputy head of the Lhasa Public Security Bureau was
also in the room.

When asked about relations between Tibetans and Chinese in Lhasa,
Luoya said: "There are no relations."

EDITOR'S NOTE -- Charles Hutzler, Beijing bureau chief for The
Associated Press, was among a group of foreign journalists who were
taken on a government-arranged trip to the Tibetan city of Lhasa.

[Chris Kelley]

If you can't make it on Friday, there's a lecture on Monday you won't want to miss.

You're inited to a discussion at Columbia:

"Unrest in Tibet: A Conversation on Causes and Prospects"

With

Tashi Rabgey, University of Virginia
Robert Barnett, Columbia University
A. Tom Grunfeld, Empire State College, SUNY

Monday, March 31, 2008
12pm-130 pm

School of International and Public Affairs,
Room 918 IAB,
420 West 118th St, Manhattan

Sponsored by the Modern Tibetan Studies Program and
the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

[Buhay Petiks]

Here's an interesting Chinese article (written in English ofcourse) about the Dalai Lama being accused of provoking religious conflict.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/09/content_4527524.htm

[Buy Me Domains]

Also read about the strong resistance of the Tibet people recently against the passing of the Olympic Torch last week.

Poor people. I think the US should do an Iraq on Tibet except there's really no oil to covet in Tibet.

http://buymedomains.com