Still from footage of torture in Tibet

By protesting the video put out by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile that shows Tibetans being beaten and tortured in Tibet last year, and then blocking YouTube to make sure that nobody in China’s borders sees the footage, the Chinese government made international headlines and ensured that millions more people will see and hear about the footage.

BBC: China says Tibet video is ‘a lie’
Associated Press: China blasts video claiming to show Tibet violence
Telegraph: China says Tibet torture video is ‘a fake’ as it blocks YouTube
CNN: YouTube blocked in China
New York Times: YouTube Being Blocked in China
Reuters: “Unafraid” China apparently fears YouTube
Wall St Journal: China’s YouTube Block: A Tibet Connection?

This is the beauty of a lying, paranoid force like that of our friends in Beijing - they just can’t help themselves. It’s like my friend said to me the other day: “They’ve already lost, it’s just a matter of time.”

Click here if the embedded video does not work.

Tibet is under de-facto martial law. The plateau has been virtually sealed off from the outside world, and Chinese troops and security forces are in the streets everywhere. All communication is strictly monitored, and in some places mobile phone service has been shut down completely.

As Tibetans mark the 50th anniversary of the March 10th, 1959 Uprising that led to the escape of the Dalai Lama into exile, the Chinese government is doing everything it its power to intimidate Tibetans into silence and prevent the world from witnessing the extreme and brutal measures they have taken to enforce this silence.

But despite the intense repression in Tibet at this time, Tibetans refuse to give up. In spite of the troops, tanks and snipers, in spite of the the beatings, arrests and disappearances – Tibetans continue to resist.

Tibetan monks, nuns, and lay people, both young and old, continue to go into the streets to voice their opposition to Chinese rule. Sometimes it’s one person, other times it’s a handful. This past weekend in a remote town in eastern Tibet, it was more than a thousand.

Tashi Sangpo in Tibet.

The protest in Ragya started after a young monk, 28-year old Tashi Sangpo, jumped into the Machu river (Yellow river). When he jumped, Tashi had just escaped from police custody. He was being held for reportedly raising the banned Tibetan flag atop the main prayer hall at Ragya monastery and distributing pro-independence leaflets on March 10th.

We don’t know if Tashi was trying to escape from his captors or if he was trying to take his life. Witnesses saw his body pulled under the water and swept away. And although Tashi remains missing, Tibetans from Ragya say it is unlikely he survived.

The footage of the protest, though shaky and unclear, gives us a sense of the local people’s reaction to Tashi’s desperate act. They gathered together, sounding the traditional rallying cry, raised their fists and shouted slogans like “Bod Gyalo” and “Lha Gyalo,” or “Victory to Tibet” and “Victory to the Gods,” and marched on the local police station.

Reports indicate that some in the crowd threw stones, and at least one official was badly beaten. The last we heard on Saturday was that the area was flooded with troops and Ragya monastery was surrounded by military. But we can’t get any more information now because the phones are monitored and people are fearful of retaliation by the authorities. It’s a serious crime to pass information to the outside world. Recently, 30-year old Norzin Wangmo was sentenced to five years in prison for sending information out about the situation in Tibet by phone and internet.

Officially, the Chinese state-run media is saying that the Ragya protest was nothing more than a violent riot where Tibetans attacked the police station. They say the Tibetans were “deceived by rumors” about Tashi, a prisoner who escaped from the police station and “went missing” after swimming across the Yellow River.

So now it’s our word against theirs. But at least this time we have some proof of what happened.

If you ask any Tibetan what would have compelled Tashi to jump into a rushing river, what punishment could be so bad that this was the better option, they will likely sigh and shake their head in sadness. Tashi was in detention for suspicion of engaging in an act of protest, and every Tibetan knows what that means – he would undoubtedly be tortured and imprisoned. That’s just how it goes in Tibet these days.

But our people keep on fighting.

WARNING: This video includes extremely graphic footage.

Click here to watch the video.

We’ve heard so many accounts about the terrible violence the authorities have used against Tibetans in the past year, but this is the first video footage that has made it out. It’s very hard to watch, but it is our truth and nothing China does can hide this from the world.

Here’s Students for a Free Tibet’s statement in response to the footage.

I wanted to pull out a  few good lines from this China Daily article: Hole’s in Dalai’s Story (Not even going there on the title) but I just couldn’t decide. Please read and see for yourselves. If nothing else, it’s good for a laugh.

Your Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama:

You are worried. Or so you told the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau the other day.

Worried that fellow Tibetans are getting impatient about your peaceful approach.

Worried that those advocating non-peaceful ways may “fall into the trap set by the Han people” and lend the latter the coveted excuse to justify “violent suppression”.

Worried that the Han people are “denigrating” the Tibet of your days.

Worried that the Han people have a “long-term strategy” to “eliminate” Tibetan language and culture.

What a compassionate spokes-person and spiritual leader you are for your fellow Tibetans. How can one stay unmoved by such sentimental accounts by someone whose denied request is just “genuine autonomy” for his victimized ethnic group?

You are no ordinary publicist. No doubt about it. You know when to say what to which audience. That is why your apparent innocence and sensational stories of Tibet’s past and present have sold so well - to some audiences.

But a quick note to Your Holi-ness - a little more respect for the truth , the real truth - may do tremendous good to your personal credibility.

Not everyone in your audience is as ignorant about Tibet as a piece of white paper, where you can doodle as you wish.

We understand your frustration regarding the designation of a Serfs’ Liberation Day. Neither do we really love to see those bloody pictures and horrifying footage from Tibet of your days. Those are truly unseemly images.

But please do not worry. Nobody is identifying that with Tibetan culture, or your religion. So displaying those pictures, as we see it, has nothing to do with humiliating, or insulting (was that what you mean?) Tibetan culture. Instead, they are supposed to illustrate the serfs’ real lives in old Tibet. OK. Now we know you do not like them. But are they not true? You told the Germans: “They (the Chinese) even claim that Tibetans were very gladly embracing a new era in history at that time (you mean when Tibet was peacefully liberated, right? Though we know you dislike the word liberation).”

But was that just a claim anyway? We do see from historical footage and many other records that they were happy. Do you mean all those smiling faces and wild dances were feigned? It is a pity we have to date never heard Your Holiness giving a wholesome account of what things were like in those days. If the Han people are making them up, how we wish Your Holiness speak up and lay it bare.

By the way, you mentioned the human skull thing. On that, too, you have worried too much. We have no idea who told that National Geographic reporter that horrible story that Your Holiness used a human skull to drink. Whoever it was, he or she needed lessons on Tibetan culture and religion. Please rest assured. So far as we know, the authorities here have not resorted to such far-fetched association to denigrate Tibet, its culture, or religion.

And finally, may we suggest that Your Holiness use a little more evidence when dealing with the press? Your Holiness must know the media are thirsty for sensation. So please do not be shy to be more specific next time around.

Your Holiness told the Germans the Han people have a “long-term, more important strategy” to uproot your language and culture. But facts, figures and evidence on the ground show how well the Tibetan language and culture has been preserved and promoted.

We think there are holes in Your Holiness’ argument.

Tibetans and supporters march in London on March 8

I am constantly moved by the incredible support that Tibetans receive from people of conscience all over the world. If it were up to the people, Tibet would have been freed a long time ago.

And, in times like these, when Tibetans inside Tibet are being so viciously terrorized by the Chinese authorities, global solidarity actions are like a light in the darkness - giving us all the morale boost we need to keep moving forward.

Already today, hundreds of people held an emotional rally at the Chinese embassy in Canberra while monks across Japan held prayer ceremonies and vigils for Tibetans suffering under Chinese rule. And Tibet Initiative Deutschland in Germany reported that 996 mayors will raise the Tibetan flag. They said last year the number was 922. This year, 11 dropped out due to Chinese government pressure but 85 new ones joined.

Taking Tibetan advocacy to a new level, Tibetans and supporters in many countries participated in the first-ever coordinated Tibet lobbying effort in their nations’ capitals. 150 Tibetans and supporters from across the U.S. had meetings with senators and congressional representatives from 24 states on Capitol Hill. And on Parliament Hill in Canada, around 60 Canadians met with members of parliament, senators and even officials in the Prime Minister’s office.

We understand that Chinese government officials have been hard at work behind the scenes trying to lobby government officials not to participate in these meetings or attend March 10th events.

In Washington, DC, a Member of Congress said that he’d been visited by Chinese officials and asked not to meet with his constituents about Tibet. And apparently Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has arrived in DC and will hold his own Tibet lobby day on March 11th.

In Australia, the Chinese Ambassador requested Michael Danby, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet, not to attend the March 10th event in Canberra. Danby had this to say:

“I think the ambassador made a mistake. This is not exactly … diplomatic in an open society like Australia.”

And I’ve just read that Beijing has responded to a non-binding resolution proposed by the U.S. Congress to be passed on March 10th. AFP is reporting that foreign ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu said this to reporters:

“We express serious concern over this… we believe the US Congress resolution proposed by a few anti-China representatives disregards the history and reality of Tibet…We request relevant US representatives to… stop pushing the Tibet bill.”

But luckily, it doesn’t work that way. China doesn’t get to tell the world what to do, especially not free and democratic societies where the government actually represents the people.

All that you have lost and all that they have stolen, we will never forget.

For all these years, through all their madness, you have survived.

For all this time and through all this distance, we remain as one.

Our heart is the same, though we may speak in different tongues in different lands.

One flag.

One leader.

One spirit.

We will never forget.

We will never give up.

Tibet will be free.

1) China denies that Oasis was banned because of Tibet
2) China denies protests in Ngaba and claims the Sey monastery protests were actually celebrations
3) Chinese leaders endorse the handling of the Tibet unrest and call for more of the same
4) “Tibet’s Unlikely Defender” by Rebecca Novick for the Huffington Post

Chinese officials now admit that Tape self-immolated in Ngaba on February 27th.

Xinhua: “He attempted to set himself alight using inflammables while holding a portrait of the Dalai Lama and a “snow lion flag” in token of “Tibet independence” on a street in the Aba county seat at about 1:38 p.m. Friday.”

They still deny that they shot him.

China Daily: “The local government yesterday refuted a claim by “Tibet independence” groups that police had shot a young Tibetan who attempted to set himself on fire on Friday in Sichuan province.”

They say instead that they tried to help.

“Police immediately doused the fire and took the young man to hospital, where he is said to be in a stable condition.”

But they still won’t admit that there were any protests.

BBC: “There were no such riots as some foreign media have reported,” state media quoted Wu Zegang, head of Aba prefecture in Sichuan, as saying.”

So close, yet so far away…