Exiled Tibetans feeling their homeland's pain
DURING THE height of the recent protests in Tibet, a 49-year-old Tibetan American living in Medford called his mother in Tibet. He asked, "How are you?" She said, "Not good." When asked why, she replied, "Two of your siblings have been taken to the hospital." The son asked, "Was this because of an old disease or a new disease?" The mother said, "An old disease but the doctor said the prognosis is not good." Then she said, "Son, don't call me for a while." And then she hung up.
The mother was communicating that two of his siblings had been taken to prison. The son was asking whether it was for protests they were involved in recently or a long time ago. The mother said they were taken because of the old protests; they had not participated in the recent ones. The Chinese police had told the mother that her children will be detained for sometime. And sadly, the mother warned her son that she would be endangered by his future calls.
This case is not unusual. Amnesty International reports that more than 1,000 Tibetans have disappeared and more than 200 deaths have been reported by the Tibetan Solidarity Committee.
The Chinese media allege that Tibetan protesters living in exile have no connection with or understanding of Tibet. Curiously a few specialists on Tibet offer this line as well. However, their depictions are misleading. The exodus of Tibetans to India that began in 1959 has never stopped. Every month, hundreds make the hazardous trek across the Himalayan Mountains. Those who avoid being shot at by Chinese border guards end up in India.
The new influx of refugees from Tibet makes up a sizable portion of a Tibetan diaspora spread over 29 countries. Most notably, in India, about 23,000 nuns and monks, and 12,000 students in the Tibetan Children's Village (including many children of Tibetan Communist Party cadres) have made this treacherous personal journey from Tibet.
Recent refugees are important leaders of the exile movement. A native-born Tibetan is one of the three top secretaries to the Dalai Lama. Eleven of the 43 members of the Parliament are recent refugees. Others include the secretary-general of the Tibetan Youth Congress, the editors of the two largest weekly Tibetan newspapers, and many Chinese University graduates who are now on the staff of the Tibetan services of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.
When the uprising in Tibet unfolded, recent refugees led the demonstrations in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, by hunger-striking and marching in the streets. Many school children and monks stopped studying to protest. The participants were emotional; some fainted and others were hospitalized. The uprising took a heavy toll on them because they were worried about their families back home being arbitrarily arrested and detained, as was reported by Human Rights Watch.
This familial bond exists across geographical lines, and was present in every protest outside Tibet and China, from candlelight vigils in Boston and Dharamsala, to the Olympics torch protests in Delhi, London, Paris, San Francisco and Seoul. Clearly, recent arrivals strengthen the ranks of the protesters.
The united cry of Tibetans during the recent uprising in Tibet - "Long Live the Dalai Lama" and "Tibet Belongs to Tibetans" - is echoed around the world not because exiled Tibetans are uninformed agents of Western governments but because Tibetans share inextricable connections with Tibetans inside Tibet.
Hopefully, the recently restarted dialogue between Chinese and Tibetan representatives will make it possible for that Medford Tibetan to call his mother without fear. Unlike the past six meetings, hopefully this time the desperate cry and prayers of Tibetans for the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet will be realized.
Until then, at least the Chinese media and some Tibet experts should not disdain exiled Tibetans by saying they know nothing about Tibet. A very real connection exists.
Dr. Lobsang Sangay is a research associate at the East Asian Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School.
