The Independent
By Simon Denyer
31 October 2012
Empty original: China powerless to prevent rise in Tibetan self-immolations
PHOTO: A woman cries next to Tibetan exiles, while holding a photograph of a young Tibet oriental that the 29 September allegedly burned in protest against the Chinese government, During a vigil with candles in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, he 30 September 2012. Twenty -seven years Yungdung
While the Communist Party of China prepares for the transition from its leadership, A wave of autoimmbolitions has spread and accelerated throughout the Tibet, In the most sustained protests against the Beijing government there, In five decades.
Most of those who have set fire are around twenty years, The activists said. Tibetan political and academic leaders in exile described actions as an emphatic rejection of economic development and material profits that China is offering the Tibetan people and an anguishing called for independence and return of the religious leader of the region, the Dalai Lama.
"Almost all of them were born after the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the Cultural Revolution", He said about the authors Lobsang Sangay, the political leader of the government in the exile of the refugee community in India. "They have grown up in the Chinese system, They received Chinese education. They are the first beneficiaries of whatever the Chinese government has given them. They are saying 'this is not what we want'”.
Just last week, Seven people doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire in Eastern Tibet, including two cousins of around 20 years, those who asked for “freedom for Tibet” before setting himself on fire in front of a government building. At least 62 people have set fire to themselves inside Tibet since February 2009, all but nine have died, says the Free Tibet group.
It is not certain that the latest acceleration of protests is timed to send a signal to the Communist Party Congress, that meets the 8 November to install new leadership in Beijing.
However, The protests appear to have embarrassed the Chinese leadership, which has responded by intensifying its repression, say activists and academics.
China says it rescued Tibetan people from medieval servitude under theocratic rule of the Dalai Lama, when he took over 1950 and that in recent years has poured money into the region to build roads, a high-speed railway and projects such as rural electrification.
Blame the self-immolations on the old regime's attempts to separate the country. “This is a shame and should be condemned.”” said the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hong her, at a press conference last week.
But it seems that many Tibetans see the authors as heroes, sometimes trying to prevent the Chinese police from removing their bodies, leaving ceremonial scarves at protest sites, or paying tribute to their families.
“Tibetans are responding to China's repressive policies, seeing your neighbors, friends and family attacked, harassed, beaten and imprisoned” said Lhadon Tethong, director of the Tibet Action Institute. “Self-immolations are a response to the repressive escalation, to which China responds with more repression, And so we are in this vicious circle.”.
In the moments leading up to the Beijing Olympic Games 2008, Tibet was engulfed in protests and riots that saw hundreds dead and thousands arrested. Since then, China has tightened its control over the high plateau, in what many Tibetans have described as an attack on their language, to their religion and their culture.
Self-immolations spread from a major monastery in the eastern Tibetan city of Aba, taking the form of protest since March of last year. Most of the initial protesters were monks or former monks, but most of the newer ones are secular, among them, farmers, students, and a writer.
Protests spread throughout eastern Tibet and even to Lhasa, the main city of the region, which led to renewed repression there, activists say. Foreign tourists are already prevented from visiting Tibet, but now Tibetans from outside the city are not allowed to travel there without a residence document, in an attempt to stop future incidents, activists say.
In other areas where self-immolations have taken place, Internet access and phones have been cut off, sometimes for months.
Recently the police in one region issued fliers offering rewards of about 8 thousand dollars for clues about planned self-immolations and more than 30 thousand dollars for information about the “black hands” who allegedly organized four such events in the area.
“Local authorities are under pressure from central government to put an end to this”, said Elliot Sperling., a Tibet expert from Indiana University. “But this is a form of protest that does not need a conspiracy, it only takes one person. These flyers seem somewhat desperate to me”.
Protests have spread because the “tactic is resonating”, Sperling said., although some activists said the recent outbreak could be linked to the impending meeting of the Communist Party Congress.
“One of the men who set himself on fire last week, “He called a friend the day before and asked him when the congress would take place.”, said Kate Sanders of the International Campaign for Tibet in London, adding that he had complained that the Chinese government had done nothing to improve conditions inside Tibet.
“This is the first direct evidence that we have had that Tibetans are taking this into consideration to commit self-immolation close to the Party Congress”.
As Sangay renews his call to Tibetans not to take such “drastic action”, The Dalai Lama has taken a more neutral line on what he said was a “very political issue.”, “very delicate”.
"Now, The reality is that if I say something positive, “Then the Chinese immediately blame me.”, he told India's Hindu newspaper, In July. “If I say something negative, then the relatives of those people feel very sad. They sacrificed their own lives. It's not easy. That's why I don't want to create some kind of impression that this is wrong.".
In September, the American ambassador to China, Gary Locke, paid a rare visit to Aba, the troubled area where many of the self-immolations have taken place, and visited monasteries. He described the incidents as “very deplorable.”.
"We implore the Chinese to actually meet with representatives of the Tibetan people to try and reexamine some of the policies that have led to some of the restrictions and the violence and the self-immolations."” Locke said in an online forum on Monday. “We strongly believe that the culture and religion of the Tibetan people should be respected., as well as their language.”-
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