Related Research Articles
The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself on fire and burning to death. It is typically used for political or religious reasons, often as a form of non-violent protest or in acts of martyrdom. It has a centuries-long recognition as the most extreme form of protest possible by humankind.
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a non-profit advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans, ensure their human rights, and protect Tibetan culture and the environment. Founded in 1988, ICT is the world's largest Tibet-related NGO, with several thousand members and strong bases of support in North America and Europe. On March 15, 2018, the ICT completed 30 years of service to the Tibetan community and received a video message from the Dalai Lama. ICT also released its new logo. An event was also held in the United States Congress on March 6, 2018 to mark the event with Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Jim McGovern, ICT Chairman Richard Gere, Representative Ngodup Tsering and ICT Board Member Tempa Tsering making remarks.
Tsering Woeser is a Tibetan writer, activist, blogger, poet and essayist.
Terrorism in China refers to the use or threatened use of violence to effect political or ideological change in the People's Republic of China. The definition of terrorism differs among scholars, between international and national bodies and across time and there is no legally binding definition internationally. In the cultural setting of China, the term is relatively new and ambiguous.
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also referred to as the 2008 Tibetan uprising in Tibetan media, was a series of protests and demonstrations over the Chinese government's treatment and persecution of Tibetans. Protests in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, by monks and nuns on 10 March have been viewed as the start of the demonstrations. Numerous peaceful protests and demonstrations were held to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising Day, when the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet. The protests and demonstrations spread spontaneously to a number of monasteries and throughout the Tibetan plateau, including into counties located outside the designated Tibet Autonomous Region. The arrest of monks at Labrang Monastery increased the tension of the situation. Violence began when Chinese police and People's Liberation Army units used force on non-violent protests by monks and nuns, and spread when protesting Tibetans later clashed with security forces. Clashes also occurred between Tibetans and Chinese Han and Hui residents, resulting in Han and Hui stores and buildings being destroyed and numerous Chinese civilians being injured or killed.
Christina Chan is a political activist in Hong Kong, known for her stand on human rights, democracy and Tibetan independence. She is enrolled in a premaster's degree in philosophy in the University of Hong Kong.
Human rights in Tibet is a contentious issue. Even though the United States advocates the human rights of the Tibetan people and even though it once provided funds to the Dalai Lama's independence movement, the United States does not participate in the Tibetan sovereignty debate and as a result, it does not recognize Tibet's right to exist as a country. Reported abuses of human rights in Tibet include restricted freedom of religion, belief, and association; arbitrary arrest; maltreatment in custody, including torture; and forced abortion and sterilization. The status of religion, mainly as it relates to figures who are both religious and political, such as the exile of the 14th Dalai Lama, is a regular object of criticism. Additionally, freedom of the press in China is absent, with Tibet's media tightly controlled by the Chinese leadership, making it difficult to accurately determine the scope of human rights abuses.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is a Tibetan non-governmental nonprofit human rights organization.
The Phuntsog self-immolation incident occurred when a Tibetan Buddhist monk by the name of Rigzin Phuntsog self-immolated on March 16, 2011 in Ngawa County, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, People's Republic of China. This was followed by another self-immolation incident on September 26, 2011. By March 2012, more than thirty other Tibetans had self-immolated as a protest against Chinese rule of Tibet.
Kirti Gompa, is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery founded in 1472 and located in Ngawa, Sichuan province, in China, but traditionally part of Amdo region. Numerous other associated Kirti monasteries and nunneries are located nearby. As of March 2011, the Kirti Gompa was said to house 2,500 monks. Between 2008 and 2011, mass arrests and patriotic re-education programs by Chinese authorities have targeted the monks, reducing the population substantially to 600 monks. The wave of Tibetan self-immolations began at Kirti Gompa.
Protests and uprisings in Tibet against the government of the People's Republic of China have occurred since 1950, and include the 1959 uprising, the 2008 uprising, and the subsequent self-immolation protests.
The Monument to the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet stands in the southern part of the Potala square in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region just outside the protective zone and buffer zone of the World Heritage Site. It celebrates what the People's Republic of China calls the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet by the People's Liberation Army, or what the exiled Tibetan government calls the invasion and annexation of Tibet. The foundation stone was laid on July 18, 2001 by Hu Jintao, China's vice-president at the time. The monument was unveiled on May 22, 2002.
As of May 2022, 160 monks, nuns, and ordinary people have self-immolated in Tibet since 27 February 2009, when Tapey, a young monk from Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in the marketplace in Ngawa City, Ngawa County, Sichuan. According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), "Chinese police have beaten, shot, isolated, and disappeared self-immolators who survived."
Chen Quanguo is a retiring Chinese politician and the current deputy head of the CCP Central Rural Work Leading Group. Between 2017 and 2022, he was a member of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and was previously the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region from 2011 to 2016 and of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2021, making him the only person to serve as the Party Secretary for both autonomous regions. Chen was also Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps concurrently with his position as Xinjiang Party Secretary.
Tibet on Fire: Self-Immolations Against Chinese Rule is a book written by Tsering Woeser, published by Verso Books in 2016. The book is a contemporary look at a major social and human rights problem caused by the forced integration of Tibetan and Chinese societies, and due to empirically repressive policies of the Chinese (PRC) government.
Antireligious campaigns in China refer to the Chinese Communist Party's official promotion of state atheism, coupled with its persecution of people with spiritual or religious beliefs, in the People's Republic of China. Antireligious campaigns were launched in 1949, after the Chinese Communist Revolution, and they continue to be waged against Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and members of other religious communities in the 21st century. State campaigns against religion have escalated since Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party on November 15, 2012. For Christians, government decrees have mandated the widespread removal of crosses from churches, and in some cases, they have also mandated the destruction of houses of worship, such as the Catholic Three Rivers Church in the city of Wenzhou. In Tibet, similar decrees have mandated the destruction of Tibetan Buddhist monastic centers, the destruction of sacred Buddhist sites, the destruction of monastic residences, the denial of the Tibetan people's right to freely access their cultural heritage, the ongoing persecution of high Buddhist lamas and the ongoing persecution of Buddhist nuns and monks. Reports which document the existence of forced re-education camps, arrests, beatings, rape, and the destruction of religious sites in Tibet are also being published with regard to the Uyghur people, who are being subjected to an ongoing genocide.
Secession in China refers to several secessionist movements in the People's Republic of China. Many current separatist movements in China arise from the country's ethnic issues. Some of the factors that have created these ethnic issues include history, nationalism, economic and political disparity, religion, and other factors. China has historically had tensions between the majority Han and other minority ethnic groups, particularly in rural and border regions. Historically other ruling ethnicities, such as the Manchu of the early-Qing dynasty, experienced ethnic issues as well.
Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar is a Tibetan politician, Member of Parliament and President of the Association of Former Tibetan Political Prisoners Gu-Chu-Sum Tibet Movement.
References
- ↑ Isabel Losada, For Tibet, With Love: A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World, 1er édition 2004, 2011, p. 103
- ↑ Kate Saunders, Eighteen Layers of Hell: Stories from the Chinese Gulag, 1996, p. 260 : "She is a founder of the Laogai Research Group in the UK and was active in the campaign for Harry Wu's release from Chinese custody"
- ↑ Biography of Kate Saunders Archived 2008-07-21 at the Wayback Machine , International Campaign for Tibet
- ↑ Kate Saunders, Huffington Post
- ↑ "Our Team - International Campaign for Tibet". web.savetibet.org. 15 November 2019. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- ↑ Teachers receive long prison sentences on espionage charges, Canada Tibet Committee (Transcript from Radio Australia Asia-Pacific), 11 June 2002 Archived link
- ↑ Jill McGivering, China's quandary over Tibet's futur, BBC News, 20 March 2008, China defends Tibet plans, 10 March 2003
- ↑ Tibetan self-immolation triggers clash in China, BBC News China, 14 January 2012
- ↑ Tibetans denounce China's plans for lama, BBC News, 9 August 2001
- ↑ Jonathan Green, Murder in the High Himalaya, PublicAffairs, 2010. ISBN 9781586487140, p. 178-181
- ↑ Tibet Speech In Hong Kong Postponed After China Complains-Organizers, EasyBourse.comMarch 18, 2009
- ↑ 2009.04.06 - FCC club lunch with Kate Saunders Archived 2014-11-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Using the Universal Jurisdiction Law to Hold China Accountable: The Tibet cases and Political Pressure in Spain Archived 2014-11-04 at the Wayback Machine , University of Westminster, 28 February 2014
- ↑ Comité de Apoyo al Tíbet, International Experts Testify in Spain's National Court as Tension Mounts and the Self-Immolations in Tibet, 27 December 2012
- ↑ Kate Saunders, Spain hears Tibet lawsuits, upholds universal jurisdiction, February 25, 2013
- ↑ ICT testifies in Spain’s National Court on Chinese leadership policies in Tibet, International Campaign for Tibet on December 30, 2012
