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Tibet 2008
Protests and Repercussions
2008 was a turbulent year for the Tibetans both inside and outside of Tibet. Tibetans and exileTibetan supporters had looked forward to the year in anticipation of the Olympic Games thatwere to take place in Beijing despite protests and concerns over China’s infamous record of human rights abuses and the occupation of Tibet. Many were hoping and planning forincreased attention on Tibet including the International Tibet Support Network (ITSN) withmore than 150 member organisations that planned and carried out a large internationalOlympics Campaign. Despite increased focus on Tibet everybody seemed to be taken bysurprise by the protests that started in Lhasa around the 10
th
of March, the Tibetan NationalUprising Day. For weeks on end international media showed protesting Tibetans, burning shopsand cars and other unlikely images from a place that normally sees little in way of publicprotest due to the strict political control and high police and military presence. The protestsquickly spread to other parts of Tibet, including Eastern Tibet.Protests apparently began with the peaceful demonstration of monks from the Drepungmonastery near Lhasa. Around 300 monks demanded that 8 monks who had been imprisonedbecause they celebrated the bestowing of the US congressional gold medal to the Dalai Lama.It was soon to be followed by many other seemingly independent protests.As the protests abated more than 125 protests had taken place at at least 50 differentlocations, most of them peaceful. Hundreds of Tibetans had disappeared or were arrested.Foreign media and human rights observers were denied access despite numerous requestsfrom organisations, human rights advocates and politicians around the world, including the UNHigh Commissioner for Human Rights and the Dalai Lama who on the 28
th
of March sent anappeal to the Chinese people to help ‘dispel the misunderstanding between our twocommunities’. He asked for the sending of an independent international body to investigate theunrest and the underlying causes as well as to allow the media and an international medicalteam to visit the affected areas. Their presence would not only instil reassurance in the Tibetanpeople but also exercise a restraining influence on the Chinese authorities. This was denied.The sealing off of Tibet to the outside world is one reason why reliable information about whatactually happened during and following the protests was and is hard to come by and verify.Almost simultaneously with the protests in Tibet demonstrations against the Olympic torch thatwas to be carried through a number of cities around the world drew the attention of the worldespecially the demonstrations in London and Paris, while in other cities control was so tightthat the event became a farce. Especially in the US Tibetan protesters clashed with Chinesesympathizers, who had come out in the hundreds to show their solidarity with the officialChina. In China itself foreign activists unfurled the Tibetan flag on the Great Wall and otherlocations and further increased the attention on Tibet that suddenly became top story in themedia and a matter of debate among experts, politicians and others. In Indian exile Tibetansengaged in a months’ long march towards the Tibetan border, solidarity demonstrations withthe victims in Tibet, and hunger strikes in an attempt to awaken the world to the situation inTibet. Unfortunately international media and public attention did not continue and Tibet andthe fate of the many Tibetans who had dared their lives in the protests were almost forgottenby august when the Olympic Games took place.Tibetans in Nepal faced increased control by the Nepalese authorities that are under severepressure by the Chinese government to prevent the around 20.000 Tibetans in Nepal fromshowing their discontent with the situation in Tibet. During this year’s protests many Tibetansolidarity protesters were arrested and though most were released soon after a large number
 
is considered illegal immigrants with no rights and under threat of expulsion. The usualnumber of around 2000 Tibetan refugees that normally cross the Himalayas in order to reachexile has dramatically decreased due to strict border control.
Increase in Human Rights Abuses
According to the Annual Report 2008 of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy(TCHRD) 2008 witnessed ‘unprecedented violations of Tibetan human rights and freedoms’,ruthless crackdown and the highest number of deaths from torture. The Centre receivedinformation on more than 120 known Tibetans who were killed and more than 1200 woundedin the protests. There were reports of Tibetans having been beaten to death or shot solely forraising slogans in support for the Dalai Lama while others committed suicide due to repressionand torture.
 
More than 6700 Tibetans were arrested or disappeared and the whereabouts of approximately1000 people remain unknown. This includes 80 monks from Drepung monastery, a youngtourist guide who had just returned from studies in India and many others. Tibetans accusedof having cooperated with Tibetan organisations in exile were given long prison sentenceswhile the film makers of the film “Leaving Fear Behind” that was taken secretly in Tibet andconsists of interviews with local Tibetans
were arrested and disappeared.
The best known Tibetanwriter Woeser was taken into custody and interrogated during a visit to Lhasa in augustaccused of having taken photos in the street. She was forced to delete all photos showingmilitary or policemen. 7 Tibetans are known to have been sentenced to life imprisonment while90 were sentenced to 10 years or more for their participation in the protests.Control of monasteries was strengthened immediately after the beginning of the protests. Insome areas in Eastern Tibet it was declared that each monastery was to have a police stationby the end of 2008.One American journalist who was one of the first to visit Tibet after it had been almostcompletely sealed off to the world describes the situation in the heavily controlled Lhasa: ‘Onthose armed policemen’s faces what one sees is nothing but hostility. My beautiful land of Tibetans has actually become like a prison’ while another reported from Kardze in august thatthere ‘is good reason that foreigners aren’t allowed in these places. It looks like a war zone’. Itis also reported that in many areas numerous new police stations have been built to deterprotesters. In November the UN Committee for the Elimination of Torture reported about a ‘climate of fear’ in Tibet with hundreds of arrests. Racism and discrimination also seem to havegrown. According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) report “Tibet at a TurningPoint”, that describes the protests in details, Chinese taxis and hotels avoid to take Tibetans.There still was no information on the 11
th
Panchen Lama and his family who have been missingfor 13 years and there were numerous examples of increasing political control. As an example,July was set as the final two months ultimatum for Tibetan Party members to bring back theirchildren whom they had sent to school in India. The measures ordering their return alsorequired returned children to confess to any participation in ‘splittist activities abroad’.As a result of the protests tourism was almost stopped and did not reach the height of 2007.Non Chinese foreign tourists were denied access during and after the unrests. Those who camein later in the year told about extremely visible and increased military presence andmonasteries that were closed to the public..
Reasons behind
Analysts have various explanations for the sudden outburst of protests after 20 years of relative calm or as ICT calls it in its report the ‘most significant uprising against Chinese rule inalmost 50 years’ with ‘untold political significance for China and Tibet’.
 
 While the official China tends to put the protests down to the influence of the Dalai Lama andhis ‘international clique’ Tibet researcher Andrew Fisher argues that they are the result of longtime growing social and political tensions between Tibetans and Chinese because of theChinese migration into and control of Tibet aggravated in the Eastern Tibetan areas by the factthat the Tibetans there believe that the whole of Tibet and not only TAR is occupied and sufferthe same repression and lack of self determination. He and many others argue that thisproblem will not disappear no matter how much China emphasizes that Tibetans are Chinesecitizens. The rapid economic growth in Tibetan areas that increases social and economicinequality contribute to further marginalization of the majority of Tibetans. As a result of loweducation, lack of fluent Chinese and discrimination around 86% of young Tibetans face greatdifficulties in being integrated into the rapid economic growth in Tibetan cities. They are forcedto compete with Chinese immigrants for jobs including examinations in Chinese forgovernment jobs. Chinese immigrants receive subsidies and other encouragements to migrateto Tibet and develop their businesses. The term ‘floating population’ is regarded by theChinese government as a means to ensure stability and growth in the region. Despite the factthat the wide scale immigration of Chinese into Tibet is definitely a reason for tensions theChinese government continues to encourage Chinese to settle in Tibet in an attempt to furtherassimilate the region. For example, China plans to expand Lhasa by 60% in the coming years.The increase in population will almost certainly come from China. ICT’s report ‘Tracking theSteel Dragon’ shows the alarming impact of the railway on Tibet’s land and people.The growing political control especially of the monasteries has undoubtedly also contributed tothe frustration of Tibetans and resentment against the Chinese as has the continuous massiveresettlement of nomads that deprives them of their traditional life styles and in many cases of their only means of subsistence. Sichuan Province is, for example, expected to spend morethan 700 million USD over the next 4 years to resettle 470.000 nomads in the region inpermanent brick houses. The nomads have no say in this development. The Chineseauthorities launched a two months ‘Patriotic Education Campaign’ in April directed at all partsof Tibetan society. A large number of Tibetans were according to TCHRD arrested because theyopposed the campaign and refused denouncing the Dalai Lama.Mining and infrastructure development continued at a high pace and without popular control orbenefit, partly with the involvement of non Chinese foreign companies. The official Chinesenews agency Xinhua announced that the Chinese government plans to invest 3.1 billion USD ina number of infrastructure projects until 2013 including the extension of the railway. Newpotentials for the extraction of Tibet’s large mineral reserve were identified and severalprojects initiated.
Political developments
The year also saw two meetings between representatives of the Tibetan Government in Exileand the Chinese Government. The initial optimism that many Tibetans felt during the protestsgave way to wide spread pessimism. The meetings did nothing to instil hope as they as in thepast gave no reason for belief in a solution to the continuously aggravated situation in Tibet.Some observers argue that the Chinese government does not want a genuine dialogue butrather to draw out the process until the Dalai Lama dies. Even the Dalai Lama himself seemedto loose hope. In November he called for a meeting of exile Tibetans to discuss hisgovernment’s future strategy and his Middle Way Approach that, though widely acclaimed, hasfailed.In December the Dalai Lama was invited to speak in the European Parliament. He said that “
My maxim has always been to hope for the best and to prepare for the worst”. In view of thesituation that Tibetans find themselves in this is probably the wisest they can do. The widespread
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