High Peaks Pure Earth has translated reports from the Tibetan blogosphere that Shogdung, a leading Tibetan writer and intellectual, has been arrested by the Chinese government shortly following the Jyekundo earthquake. Shogdung was taken from his home in the middle of the night, standard practice for totalitarian regimes worldwide, and his family has been unable to see or visit him in jail since. As to the reason for his detention, High Peaks Pure Earth reports:

Just three days after the earthquake, on April 17, a group of prominent Tibetan intellectuals based in Qinghai’s Xining province had written an open letter of condolence to the victims of the disaster. Shogdung was one of the signatories of this open letter (in his real name Tagyal) and it was published on his blog.

The open letter expresses condolences and at the same time is critical of the Chinese government in their handling of the earthquake relief efforts. Other signatories of this open letter include well known Tibetan writer and singer Jamyang Kyi and other members of the group known as the New School of Thought. The New School is a group of progressive writers who are critical of the past and argue for the need for internal reform and change in Tibetan tradition. They are highly critical of the negative aspects of Tibetan Buddhism.

There is a great deal of attention paid by those of us in the Tibetan independence movement to the various policies that the Chinese government has used and continues to use to crush the Tibetan culture. From forcibly moving nomads into shoddily-built concrete homes (which caused still untold death in Jyekundo), to moving Han Chinese settlers into Tibet on a scale such as to make Tibetans a minority in their home land, to not offering high school education in Tibetan language, the Chinese government has put forward a series of policies that amount to cultural genocide. But the crackdown over the last few years, including the arrest and detention of a number of prominent Tibetan writers, intellectuals and film makers is another front the Chinese government is waging in their ongoing colonization and repression of Tibet.

A Tibetan friend writes in an email:

While Shogdung’s uniqueness is indeed noteworthy, it is important to also see his arrest in the context of a larger trend of arrests of prominent Tibetan writers, artists and educators. As mentioned in the news story, Shogdung’s arrest should not be surprising because other Tibetan intellectuals from Northwest Nationalities University like Therang (Tashi Rabten) and Shokjang (Druklo) were also arrested. And these arrests seem to fit into a still larger trend of arresting prominent Tibetan artists, musicians and writers. Considering the fact that it will not take much effort for the Chinese government to identify, arrest and silence the handful of these note-worthy Tibetans, it is really grave (excuse the pun) to imagine how devastating it will be for Tibetan society.

It is generally rare for our society to produce independent thinkers who reflect critically issues of identity, history, culture and larger power-politics. It took years (decades) of Chinese occupation and “education” to produce the “first generation of Tibetan writer-intellectuals” like the late Palden Gyal and Dhondrup Gyal who wrote between 1979-1989. Shogdung and his compatriots who became popular with their writings published between 1989-2000 are highly regarded as “the second generation of writer-intellectuals” by the present (third) generation of writers. All these intellectuals are popular among Tibetan high school and college students. For those of us who care for the future of Tibet, the value of the continuity of this secular Tibetan intellectual heritage cannot be underestimated.

Secular leadership is a huge component in the evolution of Tibetan identity towards resistance to colonization. Clearly the Chinese government does not want Tibetan intellectualism, especially when it is influential towards the thinking of Tibetans inside of Tibet, to exist. The continued crackdown on dissidents and intellectuals can only be seen in the frame of a desire to stop the Tibetan culture and society from continuing to exist as distinct from Han-colonized Tibet.

The South China Morning Post (subscription link) is reporting that the Chinese government has ordered Tibetan monks who voluntarily provided aid and helped rescue victims of the Kyigudo earthquake in Kham last week cease their activities. Monks have been the backbone of rescue and support efforts, spending time rescue and helping Tibetans and Tibetan residential areas while official Chinese rescue resources focused on Party elites and government buildings. The SCMP quotes Woeser with more details:

Tserang Woeser, a Beijing-based Tibetan activist and blogger, said the decision to ask the monks to leave would not go down well with the deeply religious quake survivors in Yushu.

“A lot of Tibetans in Yushu trust the monks more than the rescuers sent by the government,” she said. “There are more people lining up for help at relief delivery spots set up by the monks than those set up by the PLA soldiers.”

Tserang Woeser said the heads of many monasteries based outside Yushu had received orders to pull out. “Blocks have been set up on roads leading to Yushu and monks are no longer allowed to enter Yushu,” she said.

The Chinese government seems to be more concerned with maintaining the propaganda story of the PLA and official government resources helping quake victims, as Andrew Jacobs reported last week. But Tibetans will likely see the truth as being the monks have provided the bulk of the relief, rescue, and support efforts, while the PLA was focused on saving Party elites. Little thought has been paid to the welfare of Tibetans affected by this disaster, though a great deal of attention is paid to propaganda and what the citizenry in China is shown on TV.

More importantly, as we have seen repeatedly since early 2008 (if not sooner), the Tibetans of Kham and Amdo in particular are acutely aware of the political realities of being a colony of China. From forced resettlement of nomeds into shoddy cinder block homes, most of which are now in rubble and responsible for untold death, to the violent crackdown in response to peaceful protests, to increased pressure on monasteries, there is plenty for Tibetans to be aware of. And ordering the cessation of rescue efforts lead by monks from outside of Yushu is likely going to be another potential flashpoint, as it will undoubtedly mean fewer people rescued from the rubble and a slower spread of food and medical supplies to victims.

Why is the Chinese government stopping the admirable and critical efforts by monks to save human lives? They are scared of the influence monks have over lay Tibetans. They are scared that the monks will be perceived as being the main architects of the rescue operation and provider of care in the earthquake’s aftermath.

Of course, rather than being worried about the political fallout of the monks being recognized by lay Tibetans for their great work, the Chinese government could instead provide world-class care, resources, and rescue capacity to save Tibetan lives.  Rather than deal in the abstract world of political perceptions, the Chinese government could be dealing in the real world, defined by life and death, injury and treatment, shelter and homelessness, clean water and fresh food or starvation and slow death. The answer as all too clear, though. The Chinese government just does not care about Tibetans beyond the extent to which they may create political instability for the CCP. The tragedy of this is that people will die as a result…and there’s a pretty good chance that the Chinese government won’t even count them among their official toll of the dead.

The Times of India:

Officials put the death toll from the 7.1 magnitude quake at 1,944 and the injured at 12,135. Official Xinhua news agency said out of the injured, 1,434 are in serious condition.

The official death toll started at 600 and was raised to 700 about a day after the Kyigudo quake. It stayed pegged in that general area for a while, as it is very rare for the Chinese government to revise their initial death tolls upwards. Bizarrely the worse a natural disaster is, the worse it is for the Chinese government politically. This is likewise why they moved the rating of the earthquake size from 6.9, which was confirmed by foreign scientific agencies, to 7.1, which has not been verified independently. The reasoning? Buildings that collapsed were rated to withstand quakes of 6.9 on the Richter scale, but not 7.1 While this was a natural disaster, the size of the devastation and the loss of life was exacerbated by Chinese government policies of forced relocation of Tibetan nomads into cinder block houses in cities and the shoddy construction that went into construction tens of thousands of “homes” in short order.

While the official Chinese government death toll continues to rise dramatically, the Tibetan Youth Congress has put out a statement reporting a death toll between 10,000 and 40,000.  Whatever the actual number of the dead is, I am certain that the Chinese government will not continue to upwardly revise their public assessment, and most certainly not as far as into a five-digit death toll.

High Peaks, Pure Earth continues to be an invaluable source for translation of blog posts from inside Tibet on the earthquake and how Tibetans are responding.  This post shows how angry Tibetans are at the Chinese government for the lack of notice or preparedness for this quake striking. This passage about shoddy building construction and a lack of government preparedness following the Sichuan quake which killed hundreds is particularly cutting:

After many school dormitories collapsed during the Sichuan earthquake, how come the Yushu prefecture didn’t take any notice? Don’t you know that Yushu is on the seismic belt? The school dormitories were not renovated-isn’t it possible to reconstruct? Apart from natural disasters, where is the responsibility of the related persons? What lessons can we learn from this experience? How is it that in the Prefecture headquarters area all the people’s houses are of such poor quality that they have broken like eggs? If these houses that could not withstand earthquakes are built privately, then shouldn’t the government issue some advice or policy regarding this? Likewise, in Yushu, why is it that in the aftermath of the earthquake, there is such a big difference to be seen between the people’s houses and government offices? Why is it that during a 7.1 Richter scale earthquake, the first was shown to be so poor and the second was so strong? I saw an electricity pole that had fallen at a 45 degree angle and behind that I saw people’s houses that had totally collapsed. This was almost satirical. If people say that these people’s houses had been built a long time ago, then how do you explain the new houses that farmers and nomads have moved into which are now in ruins? This is something to turn your stomach.

People are asking for accountability, for transparency, and for regulation to help prevent future natural disasters from being compounded by governmental errors as to make them true human calamities. These are not unreasonable requests in the slightest, but the Chinese government has never shown an inclination to be responsive to peoples’ needs at times when the Chinese Communist Party might be perceived as culpable. And when such requests come from Tibetans, the normal response from the PRC government has been to deploy even more soldiers and paramilitary police. With that in mind, I can’t say the chances of Tibetans getting the kind of response they want is likely.

Josh Schrei has an important piece up at Huffington Post in response to yesterday’s earthquake in Jyekundo, Kham, Tibet. Schrei details the history of Kham and Yushu, making clear it’s a part of Tibet, occupied by Tibetans. More importantly, Josh then explains what is happening now and the potential for this earthquake to challenge political stability of Chinese control in Kham.

A tragedy is, of course, a tragedy, beyond any political and historical squabbling. But the political and historical backdrop to this horrible quake is important, as it informs how events will take shape over the days to come. As Lindsey Hilsum reported on World News Blog, the fact that this disaster took place in historic Tibet makes it not just a disaster, but an issue of extreme political sensitivity for China. This is a region that does not look favorably on Chinese rule. It is a region that saw widespread independence protests in 2008, including thetakeover a Chinese police station by Tibetan protesters mounted on horseback. And the last thing the Chinese government wants is to bring any international attention to this restive area or give the local people any further reason to protest.

Public gatherings are banned in this part of Tibet, and from all on the ground reports it is already clear that the Chinese soldiers that have been trucked in Jyekundo are there to serve two purposes. They are there to help remove victims from the rubble, and they are also there to make sure that Tibetans — homeless and freezing and distraught — do not begin to demonstrate or make political statements. Wen Jiaobao, when outlining the plan for disaster relief yesterday, made sure to mention that efforts were being made to “safeguard social stability.” In other disaster areas, this would translate as preventing looting and crime. In Jyekundo, it means preventing the locals from political agitation. As of yesterday, Tibetan monks and PLA soldiers were unified in their efforts to rescue schoolchildren from the quake’s rubble; but more monks are on the way from neighboring monasteries, and the more days go by in which Tibetans are forced by circumstance to live in miserable conditions under the watchful eye of the PLA soldiers whom they already despise, it is highly likely Jyekundo will turn into a powder keg. And that’s when China will kill the switch on any shred of media openness.

That’s the political reality now. But what of the Tibetans who lost their live in a disaster in which the world denies who they are and where the quake took place?

This amounts to a second tragedy to this tragedy — the death of the true story. Quite simply, the people of Jyekundo are not Chinese. They are Tibetan. And the Tibetans that died in Jyekundo had the right to die as Tibetans and not Chinese. They had — and have — the right to have their story told correctly and justly. It is a story of a fiercely independent people, of nomads and warriors, herders and farmers, tradesmen and monks, and artisans and craftsmen. It is a story of a people invaded — not liberated — by an occupying force and of two generations under foreign occupation. It is a story of a people who struggled to maintain their Buddhist faith and their cultural traditions during the horror and mass starvation of the cultural revolution, who picked up arms and then were silenced, and who have borne the weight and humiliation of occupation with what can only be called grace. The victims of Jyekundo were and are a distinct people. They are not Chinese, they are Tibetan, and they had a right to die with dignity, in their own land.

This is exactly correct.

A large earthquake has hit Kyegundo in Kham, which is part of Tibet. Western media sources have reported this as taking place in “northwest China” or “Qinghai,” and described the affected area as “inhabited by ethnic Tibetans” or “part of the Tibetan plateau.” This is not accurate – Kham is part of Tibet and is, as such, inhabited by Tibetans.

It’s being reported that the earthquake has  claimed 400 lives and injured 10,000 people. The entire surrounding county only has a population of around 90,000 and Xinhua is reporting that 85% of homes have collapsed. The devastation must be unimaginable.

High Peaks Pure Earth has compiled and translated some early response from the Tibetan internet, including blogs and social media platforms.  Included in the clips is a poem from a Tibetan netizen in response to the earthquake.

My Loved Ones

Dears, my only relatives
You are my everything, in this world, my everything
It’s only because of you that I live
It’s only because of you that I can feel joy, sorrow
Before I get there, you mustn’t leave me
Before I rescue the lost lambs
You mustn’t abandon me
You are all my guardian spirits — my everything
I will always serve and revere you
Dears
Promise me, you won’t leave me so soon
Promise me, you won’t leave me alone
Promise me, that I will still be able to see your bright smiles in my dreams
Promise me, your hands will stay warm like the sun’s rays
I will always pray for you, my brethren, my loved ones.
You all must stay alive.

One thing that is deeply worrying is that many of the casualties seem to be connected to the concrete block residences and buildings the Chinese government has built and forcibly moved Tibetan nomads into. Free Tibet Campaign in the UK has a statement out that suggests traditional Tibetan wooden homes may have fared better during the quake, though I think it’s likely too early to tell these things.

These concrete buildings and homes have been part of a long-standing Chinese government policy to forcibly move Tibetan nomads and herders into set places and non-traditional Tibetan houses. It’d be a cruel twist if the homes that the Chinese government forced Tibetan nomads into against their will became literal death traps in this disaster.