05/07/2018
Jessica Martorell
Beijing, 5 jul (EFE).- China continues to slowly suffocate the identity of Tibet, imprisoning anyone who raises their voice to defend their culture and imposing Mandarin in schools to instill a single national identity in which the Tibetan language has no place..
Uno de los golpes más recientes fue la condena a cinco años de prisión para el educador tibetano Tashi Wangchuk el pasado mayo por un delito de "incitación al separatismo", despite the fact that the UN, The European Union and several NGOs had requested his release considering that he was detained for promoting human rights..
Before being arrested, Wangchuk expressed concern that many Tibetan children cannot speak their native language fluently., what is contributing to the progressive extinction of Tibetan culture.
"El Gobierno chino trata de hacer desaparecer nuestra lengua y nuestra rica cultura para matar la esencia del pueblo tibetano", the Tibetan filmmaker explains to Efe by email, Dhondup Wangchen, exiled in the US after spending six years imprisoned in China.
Aunque la Constitución china contempla que "todas las nacionalidades tienen la libertad de usar y desarrollar su propia lengua escrita y hablada", the reality is very different.
In Tibetan cities, shops and offices are labeled in both languages, But Dhondup Wangchen says the authorities are removing the Tibetan language from the school curriculum and are not giving permits to local residents to build daycare centers..
"Hay cada vez más maestros chinos en las escuelas tibetanas y están dando malos consejos e influyendo en los niños tibetanos, telling them that they will have no future if they learn Tibetan, pero que si estudian chino tendrán un futuro brillante", account.
China sabe que la lengua "es la identidad de uno mismo", dice, por lo que "está tratando de hacerla desaparecer para matar la esencia del pueblo tibetano".
Another strategy to suffocate their identity is the Neidixizang schools., many of them in Beijing, where thousands of students from among are sent every year 11 and 15 years so that they study away from their families.
En este periodo de "mayor vulnerabilidad" for children, intentan "influir o forzar una cultura que no les resulta familiar y es muy opuesta a la que nacieron", assures the Tibetan exile.
Incluso organizaciones como Human Rights Watch han alertado de este tipo de medidas "agresivas" para "imponer una única identidad nacional y promover el uso del mandarín entre los tibetanos".
The filmmaker fears that in the coming years the situation will worsen in Tibet, "un país hermoso" from which he was forced to flee and to which foreign journalists and NGO researchers have been practically prohibited from accessing for years.
He confesses that he would like to return, "pero no con el clima político actual", because the situation has gotten much worse since he was released from prison.
"Hay más militares y policía patrullando el vecindario" and if anyone dares to get involved in political activities or other issues that Beijing considers sensitive, "te dificultan la vida, when going to the hospital, abrir una cuenta bancaria o viajar".
The conviction of Tashi Wangchuk is not an isolated case and other intellectuals and religious people remain imprisoned for defending the identity of the Tibetan people.
Writer Jo Lobsang Jamyang was sentenced in May 2016 to seven and a half years in prison and, although the reasons for his arrest are still a mystery, It is suspected that it may be due to his writings criticizing Chinese policies., as explained to Efe Free Tibet.
This organization also remembers the cases of Yeshe Choedron, Sonam Lhatso, Khenpo Pagah, Geshe Orgyen o Thardod Gyaltsen, imprisoned for defending their cultural identity.
Intimidation does not end with release from prison either. Although Dhondup Wangchen was released in 2014, He continued to undergo strict surveillance of the authorities, and it was not until the end of last year when he managed to flee China and seek refuge in the United States., where his wife and children had achieved political asylum.
Su delito fue filmar el documental "Dejando el miedo atrás", in which he interviewed a hundred Tibetans without official approval and then distributed it to foreign journalists during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. EFE
