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New Video Reveals China's Repression in Tibet
Friday, 25 September 2009, 3:07 p.m.
Dharamshala: Fresh testimonies of Tibetans living in Golog, Tibet's Amdo Province (incorporated into Qinghai Province) in a new video interview, detailing “China's repression on every aspect of Tibet's identity for the last five decades of its rule”, made its way to the outside world.
Notwithstanding imminent danger to their lives under the security clampdown that followed the Chinese government's brutal suppression of peaceful protest of Tibetans in 2008, courageous Tibetans spoke about China's policy of repression and discrimination of Tibetans in social, economic and political spheres.
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Ven. Golog Rinchen Sangpo speaking on the making of his documentary
in Tibet during a press conference organised by Department of Information
and International Relations, Dharamsala, on 25 September 2009
. Photo: TibetNet/Sangay Kep
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The video interview was conducted by Rinchen Sangpo, a Tibetan monk of Tongkyab Monastery in Golog, encouraged by his conviction after experiencing and witnessing decades of repression, economic marginalisation and ecological negligence of Tibetan areas.
Rinchen Sangpo interviewed a large number of Tibetans from all walks of life in Machen (Chinese:Maqin) County and Gade (Chinese: Gande) County in Golog TAP, throughout October 2008. He sought the views of the interviewees on three issues – 1) What was the old world look like? 2) What sufferings they endured under the current Chinese government? 3) What actually happened in 1958?
The interviewees said the people of Tibet enjoyed complete freedom under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama prior to Chinese invasion, following which the situation badly deteriorated. In the name economic development, the Chinese government is carrying out systematic destruction of Tibet's unique culture, language, religion and natural resources, they lamented.
They recounted untold misery, including deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans due to torture, starvation and suicides following the repression and occupation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China.
They spoke very critically about China's propaganda on Tibet, particularly the campaign of denouncing His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
They said the ultimate objective and hope of the Tibetans inside Tibet is that they are eagerly awaiting reunion with their compatriots in exile and the day when His Holiness the Dalai Lama will return to Tibet.
Rinchen Sangpo could not complete his interview programme after the Chinese government became aware of it and issued an arrest warrant against him. He escaped into exile in India with whatever little work that he could accomplish in Tibet. He arrived in India at the end of December 2008.
Rinchen Sangpo was born in Akyong, village in Golog, Amdo. In 1965, he went to the village primary school as a child. At 14, he was ordained as a monk at the Tongkyab Monastery and remained there until 2008.
Rinchen Sangpo is credited with setting up two primary schools in Tibet's Amdo Province.
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