The Call for 'No Losar'

During my last weeks in Dharamsala, the community had been preparing for ‘No Losar’. Taking their cue from their brothers and sisters inside Tibet, Tibetans in exile decided that they would not be celebrating their new year this month. Tibetans traditionally do not celebrate Losar when there has been a death in the family. There is no drinking and visiting friends and family, no new clothes or jewels, and for the children, no pocket money. None of these Losar customs will happen this year, in commemoration of the hundreds – if not thousands – of Tibetans who died during the Uprising last year.

My support for this campaign was not immediate. To me, Losar is an event for Tibetans to celebrate their Tibetanness, and to differentiate themselves from their Chinese oppressors. The two cultures have different New Year dates, which are celebrated with different customs. This call for no Losar seemed to be taking away the one time of year Tibetans get to publicly and proudly celebrate their culture.

But Tibetans’ calls are becoming more courageous and resolute. In the last several days, it has been reported that Tibetans in Ngaba County, Amdo (Chinese province of Sichuan), have posted the following message in their towns:

To the Tibetans of the three provinces, monks, nuns, lay men and women,

Let us unite our strength, and let us not surrender to this evasive system of repression. Let us hold our hands across all three provinces, and share our joys and sorrows.

We must never forget that those killed did not die fighting for their own interests. They died fighting for our just and noble cause and for the freedom of the land of snows.

For that matter we must not celebrate Losar this year.

So long as you are Tibetan, you must not celebrate this Losar.

Do you want to be reunited with your guru? Do you want Tibet to be free?
If yes, then you should cancel Losar celebrations as a political act.

Dear brothers and sisters, do not despair.

(Listen to the message on Students for a Free Tibet’s online daily news show, Our Nation.)

With the idea of no Losar spreading in Tibet and in Tibetan communities worldwide, the Chinese government in Tibet has begun scrambling to assure that Losar celebrations will be held as usual. There have been reports that Chinese officials are offering money for Tibetan families to buy firecrackers for New Year celebrations. The Chinese government knows that the cancellation of Losar will go against their propaganda that Tibetans are happy under their rule. But their domineering attempts to control Tibetans’ lives have only led to the increased politicization of the Losar boycott.

In the last three days, there have been as many protests by Tibetans in Lithang County, Kardze (Sichuan Province). At all three protests, the monks and laypeople called for Independence, the return of the Dalai Lama, and no Losar celebrations. These 21 people were severely beaten and are being held in detention. One of the protesters is now missing. (For more details, visit TCHRD’s website.)

With Tibetans inside Tibet risking their lives to call for the political boycott of Losar, they have won my support. This truly is an amazing and inspiring phase of Tibetan resistance. It may be organic, but it is widespread. It is also very difficult for the Chinese government to control without resorting to brute military force. And as it was during the Uprising of last year, Tibetans inside Tibet and around the world stand united in this latest form of resistance.

Here in Montreal, we will be holding a candlelight vigil to commemorate those who have and continue to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of the Tibetan people. Please join us for this ‘No Losar’ vigil, on Wednesday, February 25th at 5:30pm. We will be gathering at the Place des Arts (near the steps on Saint Catherine street).

For more inspiring stories of courageous resistance, see Students for a Free Tibet’s "Profiles in Courage" countdown to March 10th, the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising.

Fun with Wordle

Wordle is a web-app that takes text and turns it into word clouds—the more often a word is used the bigger it is. This is what my blog looks like:



How this applies to anthropology is beyond me. But it's a fun distraction :)

The Special Meeting and Journey of a Dream

Tsundue was the bearer of the good news. He sat translating for me at the public discussion of the Special Meeting, wearing a traditional Tibetan shirt and blue chuba over his usual jeans and old sneakers, more happy than I have seen him in months. In between peoples’ questions and the panellists’ answers, Tsundue filled me in on the final recommendations of the meeting that was anxiously watched by Tibetans and their supporters around the world.

I had few expectations from this meeting. An important moment in the history of Tibet, I hoped that it would not add to divisions within the movement or discourage the passionate freedom fighters that surround me.

A lot of media coverage focused on how Tibetans decided to stick to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Middle Path approach. However, the resolutions, as I heard them, were a lot more nuanced. The majority of participants at the meeting did in fact agree to continue with the Middle Path but they remain open to the option of independence if there are no concrete results from negotiations with China in the near future. While no one has put a definite time limit on the Middle Path, I find it a definite step in the right direction. But I wonder how naïve it is to believe that China will now be forced to sincerely approach the negotiations, as some have argued. I think that the only way China will ever take the negotiations seriously is if there would be a third-party moderator. Which raises the question: is there any country or third-party that the Chinese leadership trusts enough, who would actually be an unbiased moderator?

There hasn’t been much response from China since the meeting. However, there has been some joking around town that perhaps the Mumbai terrorist attacks this week were China’s response. Interesting considering that the last bombs used in Delhi were proven to be made in China, and that it is well known that China supplies arms to Pakistan.

I was somewhat distracted during the Special Meeting because I was acting as a production coordinator for a friend from Canada who was in town filming a documentary film called Journey of a Dream (check out the teaser). It was perfect timing for Shenpenn and the crew to get some interviews with people who were attending the meeting, some meat for the more political tones of the film. Interviewing Lobsang Sangye and T.C. Tethong outside the meeting, we all felt that we were witnessing history in the making.

On a personal level, it was kind of strange to be an injie girl showing Tibetan friends around town, introducing them to people, organizing trips and interviews. But it was a great experience to see how films are made, and a pleasure to spend my days with such an awesome crew. I can’t wait to see the finished film in 2010!!

The Unwinking Gaze

On the opening day of the Special Meeting, I finally sat down to watch The Unwinking Gaze, a moving documentary about the Dalai Lama and his envoys who are engaged in the negotiations with China.

The film opens with His Holiness in Canada, a visit during which I – and several dozen Tibet activists – was blessed to receive an audience with the Dalai Lama. The feeling the Dalai Lama evoked in all of us in that meeting, as in the auditorium full of tens of thousands of people, is palpable throughout the hour-long documentary that stirs up one’s faith, one’s sadness, and one’s dedication to this movement.

At one of the most touching parts of the film, after explaining His reasons for pursuing negotiations with the seemingly unwilling China, His Holiness is asked if he ever doubts this policy. He simply and matter-of-factly says, “No.” While I am confident of His certainty at that point in time, it is sadly no longer the case. His Holiness has blatantly said that his faith in the negotiations is getting “thinner, thinner”, to the point where He found it necessary to call this week’s Special Meeting to discuss His policy and the future of the movement. If a man such as the Dalai Lama has swayed in his resoluteness that negotiations were the way to a peaceful and lasting solution to the Tibet issue, the situation must indeed be as dire as we have all felt.

There are many hopes leading into this meeting (for some opinions and discussions, check out Phayul). Mine are that the discussions are fruitful and will leave the movement rejuvenated. And I hope with all my heart that His Holiness’ words will ring true:

“The Tibetan nation will not die.”

Life as a Holiday

I’ve been back in India for two and a half months and can’t help but wonder where all the time has gone. I guess the adage “time flies when you’re having fun” is true.

My life has consisted mostly of hanging out in a coffee shop; drinking, smoking and eating too much; trying to avoid fights at Excite, the only “club” in town; learning to appreciate sappy Indian, Tibetan and Western music; embarking on too many bus trips to and from Delhi (some way too much fun and others extremely lonely); crashing an Indian wedding; learning to write in Tibetan; and reading a pile books.

My intention to write more often completely flew out the window. But it is not dead. With the approach of the Special Meeting called by the Dalai Lama to discuss the future of the Tibet movement and my initial research into Masters programs, I have felt stirrings of inspiration again…