Hold Fast

High Peaks Pure Earth has posted translations of two popular Tibetan songs about unity by prominent Tibetan musicians. Here’s a piece of the analysis:
Both songs share the same topic of unity amongst Tibetans but are markedly different in style. Whilst these two songs indicate that Tibetan identity and unity amongst all Tibetans were themes in […]

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This first broke earlier this week on Phayul, but Radio Free Asia now has more details. Chinese security forces opened fire on a crowd of Tibetans who were peacefully protesting in Palyul county. The Tibetans were protesting ” the expansion of a gold mining operation they say is harming the environment.” The shooting took place […]

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Ellen Bork, the Foreign Policy Initiative’s Director of Democracy and Human Rights has a really great piece on how the Obama administration is failing to pursue a clear Tibet policy, to the detriment of Tibet and possibly in violation of statute. Of note from the piece, which should be read in its entirety:
The administration’s downplaying […]

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This is interesting:
With over 600,000 people, including hundreds of Chinese, following him on networking site Twitter, the Dalai Lama has said the non-resolution of the Tibet issue is making the voices of those seeking independence of Tibet from China grow stronger.
Answering questions from his Chinese followers on Twitter, which he joined last month, the […]

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My friend Josh Schrei happened to be traveling in Ladakh, a historically Tibetan region in northern India, when the area was hit by uncharacteristic rain storms that prompted massive flooding and mudslides. It is likely that over 1,000 people were killed in the landslides, which fundamentally changed the region. The quotes that follow from Josh […]

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The Times UK (subscription link) is reporting that Dorje Tashi, believed to be the wealthiest Tibetan in Tibet, has been sentenced to life in prison by the Chinese government. No charges have been disclosed, though it is suspected that Dorje Tashi is being targeted for political activities. His trial lasted only three days and his […]

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It hasn’t been widely reported in the US media, but late last week there was massive flooding which caused a landslide in Drugchu, Amdo, Tibet (Chinese: Zhouqu, Gansu Province). Drugchu is in north eastern Tibet; the Tibet Action mapping project is keeping track of incoming reports (as well as of recent flooding in Ladakh, a […]

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As has always been the case in human history, being an apologist for the colonizing activities of empires is a desirable and rewarding business. One notable China apologist posing as an academic in Hong Kong is Barry Sautman, who recently has published a number of essays and even a PowerPoint presentation in which he puts […]

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I’m just getting word that Tibetan environmental activist Karma Samdrup has been sentenced to 15 years over bogus charges of political activities that defy even the cynical standards of the Chinese government’s crackdown in Tibet.
Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times had a great piece on Karma Samdrup and his brothers, as well as other […]

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Uttam Kumar Sinha has an op-ed in the Washington Post today about Tibet and its importance has the watershed for most of Asia. Sinha makes the case that the Chinese government should not be the only stakeholder deciding policies that determine what happens to water originating in Tibet. Sinha writes:
China’s moves to encroach on Tibet’s […]

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