Sunday 25 August 2013

Who is banned from China for their association with Tibet

I had a thought the other day - who has been banned from China?  Well I'm going to start a list
and I'll start with Brad...

Brad
Pitt
An actor and producer known as much for his versatility as he is for his handsome face, Golden Globe-winning actor Brad Pitt's most widely recognized role may be Tyler Durden in Fight Club. But his portrayals of Billy Beane in Moneyball, and Rusty Ryan in the remake of Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, also loom large in his filmography...
“ Banned in China for his movie “7 Years In Tibet.”

Ranked #32 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. [1997]

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Tibetan monk dies in Nepal after setting self on fire

Phayul[Tuesday, August 06, 2013 10:43]
this picture taken from a cellphone shows the body of the self immolator, minutes after the fire was doused
this picture taken from a cellphone shows the body of the self immolator, minutes after the fire was doused
A Tibetan monk died minutes after setting himself ablaze near Boudhanath stupa in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu earlier today (0730 hrs local time). The monk has been identified as Karma Nyedon Gyatso. Karma was from Damshung in Tibet and had arrived at the Kathmandu Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre on 30th January 2012. 

An eye witness told phayul that the monk, probably in his thirties, was sitting crosslegged when she saw his lap on fire. "I thought he accidentally caught fire while lighting butter lamps. Then I saw him pour a bottle of fluid, petrol maybe, over his head and went up in flames right before my eyes."

"He was silent as far as I could hear. I began to shout for help. He kneeled over in a crouched position, with a contorted face but he didn't cry out or scream at all.

"After about two minutes a passerby splashed a bucket of water over the monk and doused the fire. Another guy came with a fire extinguisher. The lama's robes were completely burned off."

After 15 minutes the police arrived at the scene following which they took away the body wrapped in a red cloth. 


At the moment no details about the monk are available.

This is the second self immolation by a Tibetan this year in Nepal which in recent years has increasingly clamped down on the cultural and political expression of its Tibetan community numbering over 20,000. 

The country’s increasing dependence on China for financial aid has come at the cost of the Tibetan refugees' freedom. Several Tibetans caught trying to escape Tibet through Nepal have been repatriated in recent years.

China denies US claim on deteriorating human rights

Phayul[Monday, August 05, 2013 09:44]
China has rejected US claim that human rights situation in China is deteriorating. China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday that the Chinese are enjoying unprecedented rights but added the rights must be exercised within China's law. The two countries met on July 30 and 31 in Kunming in Yunnan province for the 18th US – China human rights talks. 

The US side led by Uzra Zeya, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, has said the overall human rights situation in China is deteriorating. The US has also asked China to engage in substantive dialogue with the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama or his representatives without any preconditions.

In some cases, we were able to receive some information," Zeya said, but "overall, it fell short of our expectations." 

“We also expressed deep concern about China’s stepped-up attempts to silence dissent and tighten controls over Tibetans and Uighurs, emphasizing that policies ostensibly designed to maintain stability are counterproductive when they deny Chinese citizens their universal human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Since 2009, as many as 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in Tibet calling for freedom in Tibet and return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

The US – China human rights talks is the first since the new Chinese leaders, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, assumed power. The two nations started the annual human rights dialogue in the wake of China’s 1989 clampdown on demonstrations in Tiananmen Square though China refused to talk from 2002 till 2008. 

Earlier, the Human Rights Watch has said the US must demand concrete public commitments to change policies and practices that violate human rights. “The US government should press the Chinese government to adopt concrete and clear benchmarks, and evaluate the progress in subsequent dialogues,” HRW said. “Without these benchmarks, the human rights dialogue risks serving as a perfunctory diplomatic exercise, rather than a genuinely useful advocacy tool.”

On Friday, a Chinese journalist, Xiaoshu, was forcibly arrested for his public support of Xu Zhiyong, the Chinese activist who champions building a stronger civil society through his New Citizens Movement. 

China shut down monastery in Nagchu, ban religious activities

Phayul
The Chinese authorities in Nagchu County have banned all religious activities at the Shag Rongpo Ganden Dhargyeling monastery and expelled all the monks on July 30, 2013. The situation in Nagchu is tense as the authorities have shut down the monastery and deployed armed security personnel in the monastery campus. 

A Tibetan source said the authorities took the decision following an incident that they call 'the 2010 May 20 incident'. The incident refers to the arrest and eventual sentencing of the monastery’s senior figure Lama Dawa to 7 years’ imprisonment for alleged links with the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama regarding the reincarnation of the monastery’s patron Rongpo Choejey on May 20, 2010.

Chinese security personnel in the monastery campus/photo obtained by the source
Chinese security personnel in the monastery campus/photo obtained by the source
The ailing Lama Dawa, 78, is currently recieving medical treatment at a hospital in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, and has been restricted to have any contact with his monastery. He is being constantly watched upon by the authorities in Lhasa, said the same source.

"Ngawang Gyatso, 75, an elderly monk of the monastery commited suicide following harrasment by the Chinese authorities who forced monks to denounce the Dalai Lama and Rongpo Choejey. Two senior monk administrators of the monastery were arrested and charged with political crimes," said the source.

All religious activities of the monastery including the famous ‘Rongpo Gutor’ have been banned.

Local Tibetans have appealed the Chinese authorities to reopen the monastery and reinstate the monks who have been released from prison. However, the authorities said they will respond in 7 days but nothing has come out as yet. 

Some Tibetans have also been involved in arguments with soldiers and officers permanenty stationed at the monastery, the source added.

More than 300 years old Shak Rongpo Dhargyeling monastery was built by Drupthop Lobsang Thinley under instructions from the great fifth Dalai Lama.