Tibetan Protests

As some of you may have heard, people are taking to the streets in Kathmandu to protest the recent killing and suppression of Tibetan protestors in Lhasa, Tibet. At least ten people were hurt in clashes between the police and protestors at what was initially a peaceful demonstration (candlelit march) in front of the United Nations building in the center of the city. Tibetan protestors were there to submit a memorandum to the UN to put international pressure on China against the violent crackdowns in Lhasa. Police resorted to baton charges and tear gas shelling- they also arrested 48 people including several nuns and monks. Last week another protest turned violent in the prodominately buddhist section of the city.


I was not at either protest, but it has been widely reported that the police used excessive force and even the United Nations Office of the High Commisioner for Human Rights expressed concern over their actions. The pictures coming out in the paper and on the internet are very graphic- I have posted some in another blog. Seeing the Nepali police in action, I am not surprised that they took liberaties with the protestors rights to peaceful assembly. Most of the protestors look to be either women, nuns or monks- are they that scary and overpowering that the police must spray them with tear gas and beat them with batons? It is disconcerting because most internal human rights organizations in Nepal are run by people whose ideological inclination is by and large towards Communist Party Nepal- Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML)- a party which advocates communism and a one-China policy.

This is all so crazy to me because about a week ago I sat at my friend's house and watched a video he made while walking down the streets of Lhasa, Tibet. He was there just three weeks ago and in the video the city looked so peaceful and full of love. Children were smiling and playing around and everyone was with family praying or in devotion. In the next morning's news paper I saw picutres of Lhasa literally burning and the streets filled with smoke and violence. It was unrecognizable from what I saw on the video. In the article the first line was, "as tanks approached the city streets in Lhasa.." Tanks, or any other mechanism of violence or aggression should never be in the same sentence as the Lhasa I saw in those pictures- or the Lhasa I have always imagined in my mind.

The defense of human rights, in princple and practice, has no geographical boundaries. I hope the international community actually takes a stand against what is happening throughout Tibet right now and even here in Kathmandu. It hits home because it is now in my backyard and I can not ignore it or say that it doesn't effect me. I have lots of Tibetan friends and I can see the hurt this has caused them and the negativity is has brought to their cause. Hopefully the violence and volations will end soon, but as China likes to sensor the media and block reporters from accounting truth, I imagine we will never be able to see what is really happening.