By Jamyang Norbu Saturday May 3, 2008

The Tibetan writer Woeser, now under house arrest in Beijing, has been constantly writing and updating the world about the recent events in Tibet. She has posted five reports titled Tibet Update 1, Tibet Update 2 , Tibet Update 3, Tibet Update 4, and just yesterday, Tibet Update May 1st.

One of the few Tibetans writing fulltime in Chinese, she was removed in 2004 from her position in the Tibet Cultural Association and kicked out of her work unit in Lhasa because her writings contained “political errors”. Her book Notes on Tibet was officially banned. She moved to Beijing and started blogging, setting new standards for frank discussions on issues as AIDS in Tibet, the Tibet railway, The Cultural Revolution in Tibet, and the March 10th Uprising, which are not only highly sensitive but dangerous to even think about. Two of her blogs Maroon Map (visited largely by Tibetan readers) and Oser’s blog (visited by Chinese readers) were shut down by Beijing. Her website, woeser.middle-way.net, was recently hacked.

The woman is fearless. She gave an interview on the Channel 4 documentary Preparing Tibet For the Olympics and described China’s rule in Tibet as colonialism – which I thought was smart. The word “colonialism” does have the negative connotation of a foreign power conquering and exploiting a separate and distinct country or people, but probably does not raise red flags at the Ministry of Truth in Beijing because of its regular usage in Communist propaganda against Japan and Western nations.

Last year she was awarded the Freedom of Expression Prize 2007, by the Norwegian Authors Union.

Woeser’s Tibet Updates provide invaluable detailed information on all that has happened and is happening in Tibet now. Her writing provides a stark immediacy to events and brings them up-close and personal as no report by foreign journalists or “experts” can, not even the scribblings of exile writers like myself. The excerpt below is from Tibet Update 3:

“The human rights situation in Tibetan areas, including Lhasa, is very poor, in Lhasa alone, over 150 Tibetans were killed during March 14 Incident. It is learned that up to now since March 14, when some Tibetans in Lhasa passed away, and their relatives took the corpse of the dead to the Sky Burial site (i.e. the Drigungthil sky burial platform), the wrapped corpses would be open and checked by the military police who set up checkpoints on the way. They were checking to see whether they were victims shot during March 14 Incident. This is the greatest disrespect and an act of profanity toward the deceased.”

This following on the trial of the 30 Tibetan protesters is from Tibet Update 4:

“The trial process was simple. There were no lawyers to defend the defendants; neither were any statements allowed to be made by the defendants. The normal procedure was reduced. Due to the fact that the judge’s speech in Chinese needed to be translated into Tibetan, and many mistakes were made in the translation, those attending the court hearing frequently broke into laughter. It is said that judging from the laughter, it seemed that people were venting their resentment. Otherwise, how could people laugh at such an occasion. But the defendants could only put up with this in silence.”

I liked the observation about the laughter in the courthouse. In earlier writings Woeser noted the Lhasa people’s capacity for humour and satire. I guess there isn’t much to laugh about in Beijing now. Even with cellphones and the internet, it must be God awful lonely to be a Tibetan in that ocean of inhumanity.

Other Posts by this Author

• A LETTER FROM LHASA by Jamyang Norbu - May 11th, 2008
• A PRAYER SONG FOR THE MARCH TO TIBET - May 11th, 2008
• NEGOTIATION NIGHTMARE - May 8th, 2008
• Nurturing the Embers of Rangzen - May 1st, 2008
• WAS IT VIOLENCE? - April 25th, 2008
• GRAB THAT TORCH! - Jamyang Norbu - April 15th, 2008
• Don’t Stop the Revolution! - April 5th, 2008

Posted: 05|3|08 at 1:27 pm. Filed under: Free Tibet Blog.
Comment | Trackback