I tried something new today. Inspired by my interview with Amber Mac on WebNation, I interviewed Jamyang Norbu via skype. It worked ok besides the occasional feedback (sorry!) and this is the first of three parts.
Jamyang Norbu is an acclaimed Tibetan writer, thinker and activist. His novel, The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, won the Crossword Book Award - India’s highest literary prize. He has lived many lives in the Tibetan exile community including a brief stint in the Tibetan resistance. He served as Director of the Tibetan Institute of the Performing Arts (TIPA) and a founding member of the Tibetan Youth Congress. Jamyang’s many articles and commentaries on Tibetan society and politics have informed, inspired and sometimes even enraged countless Tibetans. The boldness of his voice, the clarity of his opinions, and the elegance of his language has challenged a generation of Tibetans to open their minds, and encouraged more than a few to pick up the pen and be courageous in their writing.
Jamyang is also my cousin. I remember when I was around 16 years old and he came to Victoria, BC on a speaking tour with Lhasang Tsering - former member of the Tibetan resistance force in Mustang, Nepal; two-term President of the Tibetan Youth Congress; and another giant in the Tibetan freedom struggle. We stayed up late that evening listening to Jamyang and Lhasang talk passionately about the Tibetan political situation. At one point Jamyang was speaking in such an animated way that his plate of food ended up flying from his lap and onto the floor. Little did I know what an important role Jamyang would play in helping to inform and shape my political understanding and activism for Tibet.
We were speaking on the phone today about the timeliness and importance of letting people know about the Boycott campaign - http://www.boycottmadeinchina.org/ - when I asked him if he would do a short interview for BeijingWideOpen. I know many young Tibetans want to hear his thoughts and opinions more, and I think others who are new to the Tibet issue would benefit from hearing his views. Jamyang has an incredible ability to take a seemingly muddled topic or debate and make things clear and simple by always focusing on the fundamental human desire for dignity and justice. You can never be sure of what he might say next but one thing is always certain - when it comes to taking on detractors of the Tibetan fight for independence, his words can be like daggers.
Daggers for sure! Can we have a JN special series on Youtube, a part of the SFT tv?
Lhadon la,
I must say it’s a great idea that you’re taking this Blog to the next level starting with your interview with Jamyang la. Great start! Well done & thanks a lot as always for what you’ve done so far for Tibet.
Free Tibet
Jamyang Norbula is an inspiration. Thanks for the interview. Looking forward to watching the next part.
Brilliant. Looking forward to part 2
Awesome! Looking forward to the part 2 and part 3!
hello ! I read the book “The mandala of Sherlock Holmes” years ago, wonderfull !!! Does exists some tibetan, popular, and not strictly religious litterature ?
While I was in Lhasa, I heard there’s an instructor at Tibet University writing romance novels. Someone I met in the market (near the Barkor) had one of them. There are actually a lot of books in Tibetan available in Tibet, but sadly I never took the time to browse too much. One I did skim through though was an illustrated history of all the great advancements of 20th century civilization. Quite tellingly, the Communist Revolution and the “Peaceful Liberation” were not mentioned whatsoever, while political and (moreso) scientific and technological revolutions elsewhere were.
Outside Tibet there seems to be a good deal of political works written in Tibetan. Palden Gyatso’s autobiography, Bagdro’s, HHDL’s books, …
And of course, let’s not forget Gedun Chopel.
Thanks for this information. I can’t imagine what sort of romance novel is published now in Tibet. I can’t imagine who should be interested in any official and allowed litterature.
About autobiographies, I read a few days ago Palden Gyatso’s and Tendzin Tcheudrak’s autobiographies.
Anybody in the world should read them.
I just read two Mystery Novels set in modern day Tibet. The author is Eliot Pattison, a westerner. These are old-fashioned detective stories - quite complex, with all the usual elements of the genre. I read them in English, not sure about translations.
There is LOTS of commentary about the political oppression in Tibet woven into the storyline. It pervades the story in profound ways. I live in California and have not been to Tibet, so I can’t vouch for the authenticity. But from what I have learned in thirty years of study and practice, it sounded about right to me. The censors must have missed these books, or maybe they just couldn’t touch them. I just revealed that I am not currently a student, but hey I used to be. Hope that’s okay here.
If any of you who are Tibetan ever read these books, I’d LOVE to get your opinion.
As an inji who has participated in the mvmt for rangzen for almost 10 years now, I completely agree with Jamyang-la. It is our role as allies to support the Tibetan leadership and Tibetan’s views not to go against them. I think we should share our skills to collaborate and strengthen the movement but it is not our place to critisize actions taken when it is clear that the majority of Tibetans are in favor of them and feel the actions are just and of benefit.
Jessica
Hello - just hope Mr.Jamyang Norbu would come one day to Helsinki and he could make a speech in public on the tibetan independence “issue”
tashi delek - rangzen
werner h. fischer - helsinki/finland