Episode 12 of “Our Nation” includes a discussion of today’s New York Times front page piece by Edward Wong, which talks about the No Losar movement and the security crackdown on Tibetans by the Chinese government during Tibetan New Year. Wong’s piece is incredibly well written and it does a great job of showing the committed defiance of Tibetans inside Tibet. I agree with Lhadon and Tendor that this is one of the best recent articles on Tibet.

An informal grass-roots boycott is under way. Tibetans are forsaking dancing and dinner parties for vigils with yak-butter candles and the chanting of prayers. The Losar campaign signifies the discontent that many of China’s six million Tibetans still feel toward domination by the ethnic Han Chinese. They are resisting pressure by Chinese officials to celebrate and forget.

“It’s a conscious awakening of an entire people,” said Woeser, a popular Tibetan blogger.

…

Nevertheless, the monks have put photographs of the Dalai Lama back up in prayer halls and in their bedrooms. One monk held up an amulet of the Dalai Lama dangling from his neck.

“The Chinese say this is all one country,” he said. “What do we think? You don’t know what’s in our hearts. They don’t know what’s in our hearts.” The monk tapped his chest. …

To try to maintain calm in the monastery, government officials meet regularly with a council of eight older monks. In early February, they had a frank discussion with the council, a senior monk said.

“They said they don’t want any trouble from us,” he said. “They said they punished us last year by putting us in jail. This year, the punishment will be this — ” The monk held up a thumb and index finger in the shape of a pistol.

Both the Wong piece and Woeser’s recent writing on Tibet do more to correct the incorrect notion that the No Losar Movement started by Tibetan’s in exile. In reality, it originated in Tibet and spread outward. The coverage surrounding the movement is a testament to the power it has had.  The Western press, other than during the nationanl uprising last year and during the Olympics, hasn’t shown a tremendous interest in covering Tibet nor the Chinese government crackdown against Tibetans’ pursuit of rights and freedom. The No Losar movement has changed that in a big way.

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blog post by Tibet’s most famous and influential blogger, Woeser, on the Losar moratorium as an active of civil disobedience by Tibetans inside Tibet. It’s titled, “I Took to the Streets, and What I Want is Freedom and Rights.” The whole post is worth a close reading, but I wanted to highlight this passage, as it speaks to the power of the No Losar movement inside of Tibet.

Various state media have attributed this “Not celebrating Losar” to the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Tibetan Youth Congress. In reality, “Not celebrating Losar” was first proposed by Tibetans in Tibet and originated out of spontaneous wishes. Nobody organized Tibetans “Not celebrating Losar”; nobody called on Tibetans “not to celebrate Losar”, no, no. However, the impact is tremendous, everyone is aware of this great ‘civil disobedience’ all over Tibet.

Some say that this kind of “civil disobedience” is only at a low-level, that it is merely not celebrating and nothing more. They maintain that it is a safe action which ends on the individual level, is short-term and does not entail much great risk. In fact, this is not true. Over the past year, the military might all over Tibet has been so great that all Tibetan areas have become prison-like. In today when you could even be arrested for listening to music, “not to celebrate Losar” has been regarded as a serious “separatist” activity, so much so that some Tibetans have been accused of spreading “not to celebrate Losar” rumours and been arrested. In fact, ‘civil disobedience’ in Tibetan areas is even more difficult to carry out than in other places, therefore any kind of result obtained is worth paying attention to.

This is protest, protest for Tibetan rights and freedom. It is done by Tibetans who know fully well that not celebrating or talking to their friends and family about not celebrating Losar could land them in prison or worse.

Woeser goes on to tell stories of how Tibetans have found hope through coming together to speak out for their rights. She identifies and writes in honor of the undying Tibetan pursuit of freedom in the face of inhuman treatment by the Chinese government lasting more than half a century. Read Woeser’s full post here.

Lhadon Tethong, reporting from Hong Kong, and Tenzin Dorjee talk about the latest news from inside Tibet and Western media coverage of China’s military buildup inside Tibet to stop any protests for freedom. Additionally, the video focuses on photos that have just come out through the Free Tibet Campaign from Labrang of massive Chinese military, paramilitary, and police presence in the streets and outside monasteries. The photos are powerful and show the visibile presence of an occupation force on the streets intimidating Tibetans.

Another installment of Lhadon Tethong and Tenzin Dorjee of Students for a Free Tibet, speaking about the latest news from inside Tibet and the coverage Western media outlets are doing of the crackdown inside Tibet. Also, Lhadon and Tendor talk about recent news coming out from inside Tibet through anonymous sources.

Adding to the growing Western media coverage of China’s crackdown in Tibet and the push inside Tibet for a moratorium on Losar celebrations, the Los Angeles Times has a story on what’s going on. Included in it is this gem about the Chinese government and government institutions forcing Tibetans to celebrate Losar:

At Beijing’s Central University for Nationalities, Tibetan students who had applied last year for permission to hold a Losar celebration informed the university recently that they wished to cancel. But the university told them that the party must go on, said a university source who asked not to be quoted by name.

“Celebrating is compulsory,” he said.

Yes, Tibetans will “celebrate” and all will be well. The Chinese government should really keep telling itself that.

This passage also stood out:

Reports say that as many as 20,000 additional soldiers and paramilitary troops have been deployed in Tibetan areas and that in Qinghai province, village leaders were threatened with arrest if they urged people not to celebrate the holiday.

By comparison, the US is engaged in an active war in Afghanistan. President Obama recently announced the deployment of an additional 12-17,000 US troops to Afghanistan. The Chinese government, on the other hand, is using their military to stifle dissent while maintaining an occupation of Tibet