The increased media focus on what China is doing inside of Tibet and how Tibetans are responding to the crackdown continues to in the New York Times:

The increased forces have been seen in at least four crucial areas of the vast Tibetan region: Lhasa, the capital; Xiahe, a town in Gansu Province that is home to a large and restive monastery; Tongren, a monastery town in Qinghai Province; and Lithang, a town in Sichuan Province that has been locked down this week. …
On Tuesday, the government ordered shops and hotels to shut down for three days, several residents said by telephone. A young woman, who asked not to be named for her safety, said, “Shops have all closed, and people do not dare to go out.”

Local security officers declined to comment when asked about the episode over the telephone.

The campaign for the boycott of Losar, the Tibetan New Year, has spread via text and e-mail messages and fliers. The holiday begins next Wednesday.

Last March, Tibetans angry over China’s policies in Tibet and the suppression of peaceful protests rioted in Lhasa, leading to widespread damage and the deaths of at least 18 civilians and one police officer, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Protests flared up in other regions, and exile groups said hundreds of Tibetans were killed in the ensuing crackdown.

The call for a boycott began several months ago and has gained traction among younger Tibetans as well as intellectuals and dissidents. It has been endorsed by overseas Tibetans, including the government in exile in Dharamsala, India.

“It’s deeply connected with Tibetan culture, the idea that after such a horrible year filled with death, how can we celebrate?” Woeser, a popular Tibetan blogger, said in an interview. “Instead, it should be a memorial.”

The Times goes on to report on how last spring’s national uprising is continuing to reverberate in Tibet. Recent reports from inside Tibet say that contrary to reports from China and the Tibetan Government in Exile, thousands of Tibetans were murdered by Chinese forces during the exile. Additionally thousands more languish in jail and other thousands have simply disappeared.  Those who have been released from prison are barred from returning to monasteries (if they were monks) and their is intense surveillance on Tibetans by the Chinese government.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said last week that “the situation in Tibet is stable.” But a monk from Lhasa, reached by phone, said, “There are a lot of soldiers and People’s Armed Police in the streets,” referring to China’s main paramilitary force. Like almost all the people interviewed for this article, the monk agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

The monk said he, like thousands of other monks, had not been allowed to return to his monastery after being imprisoned for several months last year after the March uprising. Many of the main monasteries are being emptied out, he said. There are only about 400 monks now in the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, he said, a small fraction of the number before the uprising.

The monks are still being forced to take “patriotic education” classes that have been going on in many monasteries since the March protests, he added. As a result, the monks study Chinese law rather than Buddhist scriptures and are told to denounce the Dalai Lama.

Monks no longer in the monasteries are barred from wearing their robes in public, the monk said, and the police check on the monks at home, at times hauling some off to prison. The monk said Tibetan policemen came to his home three times a month.

“They ask, ‘Where have you been?’ ” he said. “ ‘Have you been out? What are Tibetans talking about in the society? Have you met with friends who are in prison?’ ”

The monk said many Tibetans in Lhasa were talking of joining the boycott. But he said that Chinese officials were urging the Tibetans to carry on with festivities and were even offering them money to do so.

This is a truly chilling report. China is cracking down not only on Tibetans who have spoken out for independence, but the entire populace. Towns and cities are turned to prisons, as the ramped up Chinese military presence has created a climate of fear. Chinese forces are trying to buy cooperation from Tibetans, yet the desire for freedom remains unabated in Tibet.
Generally speaking I don’t like to simply quote long passages from news stories. Or at least, it’s not my preferred style of blogging. But it’s incredibly important that the few pieces of journalism about what is going on inside Tibet are shared and amplified so more people see the truth about China’s ongoing military occupation of Tibet and the continue Tibetan spirit of defiance in the face of Chinese brutality.

Free Tibet Campaign is reporting that hundreds of Tibetans in Lithang (eastern Tibet) have taken part in protests:

Tibetan monks, laypeople and nomads have staged the largest protest (1) to have taken place in Tibet since last Spring, according to reports received by Free Tibet. The protests, which involved hundreds of Tibetans. took place in Lithang county in eastern Tibet yesterday and on Sunday and were prompted by the arrest of a Tibetan who had publicly called for Tibetans not to celebrate the traditional new year holiday of Losar. At least 24 Tibetans have been reported to have been detained as a result of the protests.

The Washington Post is also covering the protests and is now reporting that all of Lithang is on lockdown by Chinese security forces. Lithang, while part of Tibet, is in Sichuan province. That is, it’s part of Tibet that China has defined outside of their definition of Tibet. That said, it’s nearly all Tibetan and as the lockdown and protests show, is an area that is distinctly not part of China.

Tim Johnson of McClatchy News also has a piece today that looks at how Tibetans inside Tibet are currently thinking about last year’s national uprising and the Chinese response.

Scratch only a little bit, and Dorje, a Tibetan nomad, lets loose with a tirade at the people he simply calls “the Chinese,” the majority Han who he says will get no respite from Tibetan frustration this year – or for generations.

“After I die,” the 53-year-old grizzled herder says, “my sons and grandsons will remember. They will hate the government.”

On the cusp of the first anniversary of a mass revolt on the Tibetan Plateau that marked the worst ethnic unrest in China in nearly two decades, many Tibetans still seethe at living under China’s thumb. Some engage in small-scale civil disobedience. Others, including monks, brazenly display photographs of the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader they revere as a God-king but that China maligns as a “beast.” Nearly all gripe about a lack of religious and political freedom.

Clearly the protests in Lithang are an instantiation of the anger that Tibetans still hold for China’s ongoing military occupation of Tibet. It’s good that major Western news outlets like the Washington Post and McClatchy are paying attention to what is happening in Tibet and how Tibetans continue to struggle for freedom.

My good friend Tom Grant is the producer for the Oscar-nominated documentary short, “The Final Inch.” He was also detained during the Beijing Olympics and sentenced to ten days in jail for filming protests by Tibet activists during the Games. He’s interviewed by TrustMovies about the film and his actions around the Olympics. I’ll be pulling for “The Final Inch” this Sunday.

If you’re in DC, all the Oscar-nominated short documentaries will be shown at the National Archives this Sunday at noon. Click here for more information on the screenings.

Tibetans inside Tibet have been working on a campaign for civil disobedience when it comes to Losar (Tibetan New Year) this year. Instead of celebrating in normal fashion, countless Tibetans will be in mourning for the thousands killed by the Chinese military in the national uprising last spring and the untold thousands more who are languishing in prison or have been disappeared.

China has closed Tibet to foreign visitors and the media – not just the T.A.R. but eastern Tibetan regions that are incorporated into Chinese provinces. Time’s China Blog reports on the closures and the Losar boycott:

Whatever the truth, it’s what the ordinary Tibetans believe–and the rage it inspires– that counts. The boycott infuriated the Chinese authorities, but more on that later when we’ll have a story about what seems to have been a wide scale act of civil disobedience. That could be repetaed [sic] in the Tibet Autonomous Region proper from February 25th onwards when the official Tibetan new year begins. (Tibetans outside the TAR don’t much choice but to celebrate according to the Chinese lunar calendar).

…

Update: the government has now announced that all Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces are closed to foreigners, so it looks as though we got in just in time

China is locking down Tibet at a time when there are widely circulating plans for civil disobedience. The Chinese government is setting up the conditions for a massive crackdown with no international witnesses or media to report on their actions. That the action of cutting off 30% of the land controlled by the Chinese government from all foreign tourists and press isn’t drawing international outrage and attention is a bad statement about the willingness of the global community to criticize the Chinese government for their reprehensible behavior.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be making her first trip to China next week. Today’s New York Times previews some of the issues under consideration and the potential pitfalls they see as facing the Obama administration in their dealings with China. While the title of the Times piece is “US Prepares to Broach Hard Issues With China,” it only skirts past human rights and China’s ongoing military occupation of Tibet. It seems the challenges these days is how can the US make sure that China doesn’t shut off the money spigot during tough economic times. As a result, the Times’ Mark Landler gives the distinct impression that Clinton will be disinclined from pressing on human rights issues. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know, but it certainly makes for good Conventional Wisdom.

Clinton and Obama have a unique opportunity to put human rights and freedom above and aside other economic issues. Challenging China to improve the lot of their people and to end their occupations of Tibet, East Turkestan, and Inner Mongolia — as well as relaxing tensions with Taiwa — is the morally right thing to do. And in these economic times, it’s also the hard thing to do. But we elected President Obama because we need leadership that is more comfortable doing what is right than doing what is easy. Secretary of State Clinton’s trip to China is the first real opportunity for President Obama to show that he has the mettle to lead America back to a place of respected, moral greatness. This is an opportunity not muddled by partisan fighting nor cable news bickering, but one that can be made following study and evaluation about what is right and what America’s President and Secretary of State can achieve with the power of their words. They should seize this opportunity and call for a release of political prisoners, relaxation of military presence in Tibet, and the beginning of meaningful negotiations about the future of Tibet with the Tibetan Government in Exile.

Imagine if the American government had censored the Minneapolis bridge collapse in the summer of 2007? Or the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11? Somewhere in between the importance of those two events lies the fire which destroyed the brand new Chinese Central TV building, which includes the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The CCTV building was one of China’s much-touted construction projects that went along with their massive expenditures in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics. The building, in central Beijing and one of the largest landmarks in the capital, was destroyed, yet that destruction was censored by government propaganda officials and not reported in the press.

There were no pictures on the front page of The Beijing News. The home page of Xinhua, the official news agency, featured a photo from another tragedy: a stampede in South Korea that left four people dead. Throughout the morning, CCTV’s brief bulletins about the blaze omitted footage of the burning tower.

Even before the flames had been extinguished early Tuesday, pcitures of the burning hotel had been removed from the country’s main Internet portals. By afternoon, the story had been largely buried.

A directive sent out by propaganda officials made it clear that the authorities were eager to reduce public attention to the blaze, a colossal embarrassment that many people believe augurs poorly for the new year. “No photos, no video clips, no in-depth reports,” read the memo, which instructed all media outlets to use only Xinhua’s dispatches. “The news should be put on news areas only and the comments posting areas should be closed.”

It’s hard to comprehend this whitewashing in the Chinese “press” but there it is. Because this fire is an incredible embarrassment to the Chinese government, it is being hidden from the public.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a government so petrified of its people.

The Times Online is reporting Chinese security forces are rounding up Tibetans who they believe are organizing a boycott of Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebrations.

Police in Lhasa have arrested dozens of Tibetans suspected of supporting a campaign against celebrating the Tibetan New Year. The protest has been organised to commemorate last year’s anti-Chinese demonstrations.

Witnesses told The Times that uniformed and plainclothes police and members of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police were involved in the sweep, which began on Monday. They raided tea houses, which are popular with young Tibetans, and picked up people of all ages in the street.

Many of those detained were accused of “spreading rumours”, sources in the Tibetan capital said.

The sweep appeared to have begun in the district around the Ramoche temple in the old city, where peaceful demonstrations in support of the exiled Dalai Lama burst into violence on March 14 last year, with protesters rampaging through the streets, setting fire to shops and offices. At least 18 people died in the violence and, over the next few days, dozens of demonstrations swept neighbouring provinces and troops opened fire on protesters.

Tibetans campaigning against celebration of the New Year, or Losar, on February 25, say that the day should be a time of remembrance. They have issued appeals on the internet and sent text messages putting their case.

One text message says: “To mourn those Tibetans who died in 2008, those many heroes who gave their lives, to show sympathy for all Tibetans, we should have no New Year and join hands to show our solidarity.”

Hand-made posters have been pasted on walls in ethnic Tibetan areas of western China urging people not to celebrate. One reads: “One thousand people have been arrested, 1,000 people have disappeared. We others, Tibetans who are living safely, if you have a good heart please do these two things. Do not sing, dance or play and do not set off fireworks. These two actions only. Let us remember the dead and pray for the living.”

I recently received an emailed translation of the poster referenced above. I received a copy of the posters that are being put up and circulated in Ngaba, Amdo. A copy of the poster was received by Kirti Monastery in Dharamsala on January 27th, 2009, which is translated below:

“To the Tibetans of the three provinces; monks, nuns, lay men and women:
Let us unite our strength and let us not surrender to this invasive system of oppression.
Let us hold our hands across all three provinces and share our joys and sorrows.
We must never forget that those killed (in the uprising) did not die fighting for their own interests;
They died fighting for our just and noble cause and for the freedom of the Land of Snows.
For that matter, we must not celebrate Losar this year.
So long as you are Tibetan, you must not celebrate this Losar.
Do you want to be reunited with your guru?
Do you want Tibet to be free?
If yes, then you should cancel Losar celebrations, as a political act.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not despair.”

These are powerful words, distributed by Tibetan patriots who knew they actions could lead to detention and imprisonment by Chinese forces. After all, expressions of desire for Tibetan independence are thought crimes in occupied Tibet.

The Washington Post reports that Tibet is still not free and Tibetans still live under the crushing weight of China’s ongoing military occupation:

Chinese authorities carrying out a “strike hard” campaign in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa have raided thousands of homes and businesses, run checks on 5,766 suspects and detained at least 81 people, including two for having reactionary music on their cellphones, according to official reports and news accounts.

The Lhasa Evening News adds that two of the people detained “had reactionary opinions.” Not only is some music banned in Tibet, some opinions are illegal.

It’s pretty hard to overstate how brutal China’s rule in Tibet is. The ubiquitous police and military presence isn’t merely aimed at maintaining physical control of the population. Rather it is a tool to break the spirit of Tibetans, to silence dissent and even thoughts and songs that scare the ruling Chinese government.

The continued silence by the global community is truly disheartening. I hope the Obama administration and the State Department under Hillary Clinton seriously evaluate how the US can shift our policy towards China regarding Tibet. I think there are a few substantive steps that could be made and I would hope to see including:

• At least double the size of the State Department staff dedicated to Tibet;
• Have President Obama host the Dalai Lama on a state visit, including a meeting in the Oval Office;
• Include demands for the release of all Tibetan political prisoners on Secretary of State Clinton’s first visit to China or the first visit by a Chinese head of state to the US, whichever comes first;
• Demand immediate information about the whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama;
•  Set strict policies for the conditions in which American companies – including mining, internet technology, security/surveillance, tourism, and rail – can do business with China inside of Tibet; and
• if and when the Tibetan Government in Exile shifts their demands from autonomy to independence, as is a distinct possibility in the next four years, have President Obama offer to host the first round of meaningful, substantive negotiations on the path towards Tibetan independence.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but each step would facilitate a march towards freedom for Tibet. China must pay a price for their ongoing occupation of Tibet – be it socially, economically, or politically. These steps make it harder for China to continue their illegal occupation and thus bring Tibetans closer to their birthright.