A Special Report by Jeffrey Kaloustian, ICMHHR Co-founder, for the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
“The greatest mental suffering of Tibetans is not that there is no place to complain about their sufferings but that they are not allowed to complain.”– Jailed Tibetan essayist Nyen (the “Wild One”).
The year 2008 marked the largest series of protests against Chinese rule in Tibet since 1959. A vibrant literary and cultural resurgence has emerged in Tibet in the wake of the 2008 Uprising, and feelings of Tibetan nationalism have perhaps never been so strong. Led by writers, intellectuals, musicians, artists, students, and environmentalists, Tibetans are boldly rising to express their views and to challenge the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) narrative of the causes and consequences of the 2008 Uprising.
In response to the increase in Tibetan dissident activity, the CPC has markedly expanded its authoritarian strategy to maintain “social stability” in Tibet. Authorities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are using the 2008 Uprising to justify attacking the universally guaranteed free speech rights of Tibetan intellectuals and cultural figures. Over 60 such individuals have been subject to harassment, arrest, interrogation, inhumane treatment, and imprisonment. In most cases, the “crimes” of which they are accused consist of merely posting an article to a blog, writing an essay, editing a magazine, sending information by text message, or singing songs that express the suffering of the Tibetan people. Virtually any expression of Tibetan identity is being branded “splittist” (a threat to the Motherland) and severely punished under China’s labyrinthine “endangering state security” laws.
Highlighting the current crackdown in Tibet through detailed case studies and legal analysis, Dissenting Voices exposes how domestic practices in the PRC fall far short of internationally recognized norms and standards on national security, freedom of expression, and access to information.
Mr. Kaloustian would like to thank The Forgotten International for sponsoring his 2010 post-graduate fellowship at TCHRD in Dharamsala,India.