Uyghur and Tibetan Voices Project
Anonymous Tibetan #1
This Tibetan refugee, who now lives in Southern California, shares his perspective on the effects of China’s take over in Tibet and the deliberate push to eradicate the Tibetan identity, spanning language, culture, and religion. He speaks of the specific disruption to religious norms, symbolized by the destruction of monasteries, statues, and scriptures, as well as the forced exile and of the Dalia Lama and the resulting separation between the Tibetans and their spiritual leader. These stories reveal the aggressive attacks on the Tibetan way of life and the desperation to raise awareness of the inhumanities, most notably by the over 160 Tibetans who have taken the most extreme action of setting themselves on fire over the last decade.
Impacts To Tibetan Way Of Life
"The Chinese just wanted to grab land, grab all the resources because Tibet is [strategic for] military strength…After they took over Tibet they basically wanted to wipe out any identity of existence of Tibet language, culture, religion…in the last 34 years they have been…doing that…treating the Tibetans in their own country as second class citizens…all the good jobs are given to the Chinese, the Tibetans are discriminated badly against their own country… they have transferred millions of Chinese into Tibet to come and live there. So basically they're turning Tibet into part of China in terms of language, culture, everything they just want to wipe out…so eventually there is nothing left of Tibet…"
"After they took over the country, they started demolishing all the monasteries, all the nunneries, and…they destroyed all the statues, all the scriptures that are in these monasteries and memories. So it's a sense of a huge loss for all the Tibetans…And you know the Dalai Lama. Has not been able to go back to that, the Tibetans in Tibet would give their life just get a glimpse of the land. And they are not able to do that. They cannot freely come out of Tibet. To go see him in India and he is not able to return to Tibet…so it's really sad that people for all their lives long to see a spiritual leader that they have so much reverence for, and they cannot. They cannot get a glimpse of them in their lifetime."
Provoking Extreme Response
"Some 160 odd people that have self-immolated in the last 10 years…noteworthy incident...they've gone to the extreme of setting themselves on fire and dying just to bring awareness to their conditions…."
How Can We Help?
"Just spread awareness…the US thankfully has been very supportive of this Tibetan cause. The government, a lot of independent organizations that are putting efforts working towards spreading awareness and getting as many people involved in in the cause of Tibet as much as possible. So the people can help by write to their to their representatives, to always support the Tibetan cause, and thank them for their for their support and keep supporting and make this make this an important issue….let them know that this is this is important. You know, not just for Tibetan itself, for, humanity for freedom loving people."