'Talk Tibet': A weekend public forum which aims to bring the people of Dharamasala together – to Talk – about Tibet. It is a space for news to be dispersed, experiences to be shared, and opinions to be formed and reformulated. The people who gather together every weekend are mainly Tibetan, but they could be Indian, and very often there are just like Me; tourists, travellers, volunteers, yogis, outsiders trying to see through the eyes of the insiders.
This weekend a recently filmed documentary was shown which was shot by Tibetans, of Tibetans and filmed inside Tibet. The aim of the film was to ask 'ordinary' Tibetans what they really felt about the Dalai Lama, China, and the Beijing Olympic Games. The mixed audience totally reflected the public forum as a space for the voices of Tibetans to be heard by exiled Tibetans.
The documentary was called Leaving Fear Behind (or Jigdrel in Tibetan) and it was precluded by a eight minute radio interview with the film makers wife, Lhamo. The radio broadcast began with a description of the “a petit woman, who shaved her head in solidarity with the March 2008 protests in Tibet, and who wakes at one o'clock every morning to bake bread in order to support her family.” From the description I immediately knew the woman. I turned around to see Lhamotso sitting behind me. I pass Lhamo every morning as I walk to yoga and she walks to the market. As I walk to feel the energy of life, she walked to preserve it: carrying her massive basket of bread by passing a rope around her forehead and then over the basket. She attracts my attention because her head is not bald enough to be that of a nuns and neither it is long enough to be a lay woman's.
On the radio interview Lhamo spoke about her frustration at having to bring up her children without a father. She spoke about her support for her husband. She pleaded to all listeners to fight for his release because just days after her husband, Dhondup Wangchen, had finished filming Leaving Fear Behind, he was detained by Chinese security authorities. Dhondup was held in Ershilipu Detention Center in Xining for three months and before her was moved to another detention center, and then another, and then the news stopped coming. His assistant, Jigme Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, was also detained, and has also 'disappeared'.
One hundred and eight Tibetans were interviewed for the documentary and all insisted that their identity should not be hidden, but that their faces are shown. Although not all of the footage was included in the final film many have since been identified by the Chinese authorities and also detained. It could be argued that Dhondup was irresponsible by not taking measures to protect his interviewees; that he purposefully interviewed 'ordinary Tibetans' who were uneducated or nomads and who may not have realised the full implications of their testimonies nor the ease at which their identity could have been disguised. However, as Dhondup himself explains in Leaving Fear Behind, the 'ordinary Tibetans' felt their messages to be more powerful than fear and too important to be disguised. The 'ordinary Tibetans' wanted this opportunity to talk to people outside of Tibet – face to face.
The faces without fear spoke of their objection to the Olympic Games, which to they argued should represent Freedom and Independence: Two ideals which China is denying not only them and other minorities, but to the Chinese people. The faces without fear spoke of their fear of losing their Tibetan identity – in Tibet. They spoke of their resistance to the Chinese aim of 'modernisation' which included the eradication of their culture: The 'banning' of religion, the denial of their spiritual leader, the forced resettlement of nomads, the massive drive to repopulate Tibet with Chinese nationals, the replacement of the Tibetan language with the Chinese language, and the spreading of the Chinese 'mentality' through both child and adult (re)education. Tibetan parents even spoke of their refusal to send their children to Chinese schools, feeling that this would eradicate their 'Tibetan-ness'.
The faces without fear spoke of their undercover projects to keep all which they felt threatened alive. I looked around and saw the faces in the audience; the women dressed in traditional dress, the translators working non stop to translate the 'Tibetan' words of the Tibetan participants into English. Ironically and in contrast to the thriving reactionary Tibetan culture here in India, the faces without fear spoke about how mobile educators are now traveling around Tibet to set up undercover Tibetan language classes for Tibetan children.
The faces without fear spoke of their wishes to see the Dalai Lama before they died and their eternal loyalty to his government in exile – not the government of their occupiers. Dhondup even showed a group of nomads a video clip of the Dalai Lama receiving the Congressional Award from President Bush; which was an incredible risk to take considering that even a passport sized photograph of the Dalai Lama is forbidden inside Tibet. However, what was extraordinary was the spontaneous reaction of the nomads, who all immediately stood to their feet and began prostrating towards the television set. It is clear that the interviewees were all united in their reverence for their spiritual and exiled leader.
And what was the central message of the documentary? Well the question was put to the Tibetans in the audience, and one of the opinions was this courage in publicly voicing their discontent, and of using the public forum to show their frustration was a relatively new phenomenon. One Tibetan took the microphone and simply said; “The World must know of the responsibility of Tibetans inside Tibet are taking to let the World know of their struggle.” This brought back the theme of communication, represented by the public forum itself and work of the Tibetans in exile in order to keep information coming out of Tibet. The embodiment of which is reflected by the massive sacrifice Dhondup took - of his family and freedom - in order to produce the documentary and give 'ordinary Tibetans' a stage to speak.
Since the March 2008 demonstrations only five new refugees have managed to make the journey out of occupied Tibet to Dharamsala; all communication with friends and family inside Tibet has been locked down, with all phone calls now filtered through Chinese Security. This means that there are now approximately six million Tibetans in Tibet who are unable to speak. As a Tibetan member of the audience stressed: “This is not development; the Chinese drive for modernisation is not for Tibet or for Tibetans. Only once we are free to speak can we even begin to talk about development.”
Alternatively, the Tibetans in the audience spoke of the need for their own intellectual development. The spoke of the importance of learning to read and write both Tibetan and English, to study Law and to use these tools to fight for their freedoms with words rather than the weapons which they do not possess.
The discussion ended with a live interview with Lhamo. She sat in front of our mixed group and spoke of the need to tell the world about her husband's work and his arrest. She explained that free copies of Leaving Fear Behind were available for distribution, and they were free because it was her husband's wishes that as many people as possible here the voices of the faces without fear. She pleaded for us to take a copy, and to show it to as many people as possible. She spoke as she cried, from the heart, with conviction and so much courage.
I passed Lhamo this morning. She had already reached the market and was squatting on the pavement selling her freshly baked bread which was piled onto of her massive bamboo basket. I smiled – in Solidarity and with Respect.
You can download a copy of Leaving Fear Behind from the website
http://www.leavingfearbehind.com/
This weekend a recently filmed documentary was shown which was shot by Tibetans, of Tibetans and filmed inside Tibet. The aim of the film was to ask 'ordinary' Tibetans what they really felt about the Dalai Lama, China, and the Beijing Olympic Games. The mixed audience totally reflected the public forum as a space for the voices of Tibetans to be heard by exiled Tibetans.
The documentary was called Leaving Fear Behind (or Jigdrel in Tibetan) and it was precluded by a eight minute radio interview with the film makers wife, Lhamo. The radio broadcast began with a description of the “a petit woman, who shaved her head in solidarity with the March 2008 protests in Tibet, and who wakes at one o'clock every morning to bake bread in order to support her family.” From the description I immediately knew the woman. I turned around to see Lhamotso sitting behind me. I pass Lhamo every morning as I walk to yoga and she walks to the market. As I walk to feel the energy of life, she walked to preserve it: carrying her massive basket of bread by passing a rope around her forehead and then over the basket. She attracts my attention because her head is not bald enough to be that of a nuns and neither it is long enough to be a lay woman's.
On the radio interview Lhamo spoke about her frustration at having to bring up her children without a father. She spoke about her support for her husband. She pleaded to all listeners to fight for his release because just days after her husband, Dhondup Wangchen, had finished filming Leaving Fear Behind, he was detained by Chinese security authorities. Dhondup was held in Ershilipu Detention Center in Xining for three months and before her was moved to another detention center, and then another, and then the news stopped coming. His assistant, Jigme Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, was also detained, and has also 'disappeared'.
One hundred and eight Tibetans were interviewed for the documentary and all insisted that their identity should not be hidden, but that their faces are shown. Although not all of the footage was included in the final film many have since been identified by the Chinese authorities and also detained. It could be argued that Dhondup was irresponsible by not taking measures to protect his interviewees; that he purposefully interviewed 'ordinary Tibetans' who were uneducated or nomads and who may not have realised the full implications of their testimonies nor the ease at which their identity could have been disguised. However, as Dhondup himself explains in Leaving Fear Behind, the 'ordinary Tibetans' felt their messages to be more powerful than fear and too important to be disguised. The 'ordinary Tibetans' wanted this opportunity to talk to people outside of Tibet – face to face.
The faces without fear spoke of their objection to the Olympic Games, which to they argued should represent Freedom and Independence: Two ideals which China is denying not only them and other minorities, but to the Chinese people. The faces without fear spoke of their fear of losing their Tibetan identity – in Tibet. They spoke of their resistance to the Chinese aim of 'modernisation' which included the eradication of their culture: The 'banning' of religion, the denial of their spiritual leader, the forced resettlement of nomads, the massive drive to repopulate Tibet with Chinese nationals, the replacement of the Tibetan language with the Chinese language, and the spreading of the Chinese 'mentality' through both child and adult (re)education. Tibetan parents even spoke of their refusal to send their children to Chinese schools, feeling that this would eradicate their 'Tibetan-ness'.
The faces without fear spoke of their undercover projects to keep all which they felt threatened alive. I looked around and saw the faces in the audience; the women dressed in traditional dress, the translators working non stop to translate the 'Tibetan' words of the Tibetan participants into English. Ironically and in contrast to the thriving reactionary Tibetan culture here in India, the faces without fear spoke about how mobile educators are now traveling around Tibet to set up undercover Tibetan language classes for Tibetan children.
The faces without fear spoke of their wishes to see the Dalai Lama before they died and their eternal loyalty to his government in exile – not the government of their occupiers. Dhondup even showed a group of nomads a video clip of the Dalai Lama receiving the Congressional Award from President Bush; which was an incredible risk to take considering that even a passport sized photograph of the Dalai Lama is forbidden inside Tibet. However, what was extraordinary was the spontaneous reaction of the nomads, who all immediately stood to their feet and began prostrating towards the television set. It is clear that the interviewees were all united in their reverence for their spiritual and exiled leader.
And what was the central message of the documentary? Well the question was put to the Tibetans in the audience, and one of the opinions was this courage in publicly voicing their discontent, and of using the public forum to show their frustration was a relatively new phenomenon. One Tibetan took the microphone and simply said; “The World must know of the responsibility of Tibetans inside Tibet are taking to let the World know of their struggle.” This brought back the theme of communication, represented by the public forum itself and work of the Tibetans in exile in order to keep information coming out of Tibet. The embodiment of which is reflected by the massive sacrifice Dhondup took - of his family and freedom - in order to produce the documentary and give 'ordinary Tibetans' a stage to speak.
Since the March 2008 demonstrations only five new refugees have managed to make the journey out of occupied Tibet to Dharamsala; all communication with friends and family inside Tibet has been locked down, with all phone calls now filtered through Chinese Security. This means that there are now approximately six million Tibetans in Tibet who are unable to speak. As a Tibetan member of the audience stressed: “This is not development; the Chinese drive for modernisation is not for Tibet or for Tibetans. Only once we are free to speak can we even begin to talk about development.”
Alternatively, the Tibetans in the audience spoke of the need for their own intellectual development. The spoke of the importance of learning to read and write both Tibetan and English, to study Law and to use these tools to fight for their freedoms with words rather than the weapons which they do not possess.
The discussion ended with a live interview with Lhamo. She sat in front of our mixed group and spoke of the need to tell the world about her husband's work and his arrest. She explained that free copies of Leaving Fear Behind were available for distribution, and they were free because it was her husband's wishes that as many people as possible here the voices of the faces without fear. She pleaded for us to take a copy, and to show it to as many people as possible. She spoke as she cried, from the heart, with conviction and so much courage.
I passed Lhamo this morning. She had already reached the market and was squatting on the pavement selling her freshly baked bread which was piled onto of her massive bamboo basket. I smiled – in Solidarity and with Respect.
You can download a copy of Leaving Fear Behind from the website
http://www.leavingfearbehind.com/
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