For SFT’s current activities and campaigns, as well as information on how you can get involved, please visit www.studentsforafreetibet.org

Jacob Blumenfeld delivered what was arguably the most courageous performance by a San Diegan at the recent Beijing Olympics. And he didn’t compete in swimming, track and field, or gymnastics but in the far more dangerous game of international protest politics.

Like hundreds of thousands of international tourists, Blumenfeld, who grew up in Del Cerro and the College Area and attended San Diego Jewish Academy and Patrick Henry High School, flew to Beijing during the Olympics. He looked forward to seeing the bustling capital and to sampling food from its street vendors. He was disappointed. “I didn’t see any poor people or vendors in the streets,” he says. “They’d all been pushed out of the city for the Olympics.”

But street food wasn’t Blumenfeld’s real reason to visit China. On August 19, at 11:48 p.m., he and four collaborators displayed a banner in the plaza outside the Beijing National Stadium, better known as the Bird’s Nest. It wasn’t just any banner. The canvas sign stretched 15 feet from end to end and stood about 4 feet tall. The 3-foot English lettering, done in hundreds of blue light-emitting diodes, spelled out “FREE TIBET.” The right side of the banner bore the same message in Chinese characters.

In a video of the event, posted at freetibet2008.org, Blumenfeld’s silhouette can be seen holding up the right side of the banner. In the background stands the illuminated Bird’s Nest. Above the center of the banner looms a three-pillared tower capped by the Olympic rings. The video is only 20 seconds long because that’s all the time it took for Chinese authorities to show up, tear down the banner, and arrest Blumenfeld and his associates. (The cameraman, who was filming without lights from 50 or so feet away, escaped detection by the authorities.)

“We didn’t expect to hold it for very long,” Blumenfeld, now a doctoral student in New York City, says, “but we didn’t think it would be that short either. But the point was that we would get it up and there would be a photographer who would take the photo so that the message ‘Free Tibet’ could get out to press globally and then to Tibetans who are trying to make it.”

Their protest broken up, Blumenfeld and his coprotesters, all members of a group called Students for a Free Tibet, weren’t allowed to leave. “They took our banner down,” Blumenfeld recalls, “and they kept us on that spot. It was pretty late, so they cleared the park of anyone that wasn’t police. And they had tons of people taking pictures of us — police photographers, I think. So we just sat there. We had a phone on us, so we used it. We were talking to the media and our organization. We were doing interviews on what we were doing and why we were doing it, talking about Tibet and China. And they let us do that for about 30 minutes while they were calling their superiors. After about half an hour to 45 minutes, they put us in a van and took us away. They took us to this building nearby the Bird’s Nest. I couldn’t really read the name, but it was some kind of university research building or something. It had some kind of astrophysics name on it. They took us into this building, and that is where they did the interrogations on us.”

The thought of interrogations by the Communist Chinese government inside a research facility is enough to make a man nervous. And Blumenfeld confesses to being a little scared. “But the fear was that they wouldn’t tell us what was going to happen to us. We didn’t know if we would be there for a week, ten days, or more.”

Blumenfeld’s fears were allayed by the fact that six groups of pro-Tibet protestors had already been arrested in Beijing, “and almost all of them were deported within a day. But there was a group that got grabbed the same day as us; they stayed for five days.”

The university building the group was brought to, Blumenfeld says, “wasn’t a cell, it wasn’t a police building, it was just some building that wasn’t being used at night. When we got there, we stayed together for a while, and they filmed us a lot more. Then they separated us, and they did interrogations of each person for about an hour each.”

The questions were along the lines of “ ‘Who are you? Where do you live? What work do you do? Have you been in China before?’ They had one guy questioning me, and then three guys next to me, and one guy filming. Three of them were in blue police uniforms. I don’t know if they were local police or federal police. The guy who was the head guy, he was wearing a polo shirt, and he was smoking. He didn’t speak any English, but I felt like he was the authority in the room. One guy was asking me questions in English, very bad English. And he would handwrite everything that he would ask me.”

One question was so simple that Blumenfeld didn’t quite know how to answer it. “He asked, ‘Where did you get this slogan, “Free Tibet”?’ It was hard to understand what he meant by the question. A lot of times, I said, ‘I am here because I care about Tibet and I think that Tibet should be free and so do a lot of other people.’ But I never went into any details about our action really.”

Blumenfeld says the interrogation was not the classic bright-light-in-the-face scene one sees in movies. “For us it wasn’t that bad, but some other people did get that. The group that protested after us, they got some really bad treatment. They were tied to chairs, and they were interrogated for, like, ten hours at a time.”

The Chinese officials seemed to assume that a bunch of activists in their 20s — Blumenfeld is 26 — couldn’t be acting on its own initiative. “They asked who was our leader, who organized this, if we got paid to do this, did the government send us. They thought someone must have paid us or that we were just tools of the Dalai Lama or something.”

After the interrogations, the interrogators attempted to reeducate Blumenfeld and his friends on the subject of Tibet. “After we did the interrogations, we just stayed in this room for, like, six hours trying to sleep. And then this one guy just kept talking to us. He was trying to befriend us, and he told us all these crazy things about the Dalai Lama. How he is a big murderer and how the Tibetans kill people — just a whole lot of crazy things. After a while we were on friendly terms and we weren’t scared anymore, so we just told him, ‘That is not true.’ ”

After a night spent intermittently sleeping and listening to Chinese propaganda regarding Tibet, Blumenfeld and associates were put in a van and driven to the airport, where they were flown to New York at the expense of the Chinese government. “They put us on an Air China flight. They walked us all the way to the gate. It was funny, as we were at the airport, there were almost always 10 to 20 police around us, but all in plain clothes. We ran into another group of people being deported at the airport. It was two British guys. We ended up walking to the same terminal, and we noticed that they had all these people circling them, and they said, ‘Oh, yeah, we are getting deported too — for scalping tickets.’ ”

By John Paul Titlow
Philadelphia Weekly

Eowyn Rieke was asleep in her West Philly apartment when she got the text message from her husband: “In jail. All fine.”

It would be morning before Rieke, then 31 weeks pregnant, would read the message. By then the world was already aware of her husband’s arrest and detainment in Beijing, news of which broke in the blogosphere and spread to mainstream outlets in a matter of hours.

Brian Conley, 28, a Philadelphia-based independent journalist and founder of the popular video blog Alive in Baghdad, was feeling ill and resting in his room at the Bo Tai Hotel in Beijing on Aug. 19 when he heard an aggressive knock on the door.

“Hang on,” he said, assuming it was his suitemate and friend Jeffrey Rae.

“Sir, please open up,” said a Chinese-accented voice after a third knock. “It’s the police.”

Conley let the officers in, and they quickly confiscated his camera equipment and phone. He was driven to the Dong Chen Hotel, where he was interrogated for 22 hours about his visit to China. He was then taken to the Chong Wen District detention center.

The van pulled up to the building in the middle of the night. “It could’ve been a college dorm,” says Conley. “It was nondescript.” He was put into a holding cell with about 11 other inmates, each of whom had a wooden bed.

Conley was one of six Americans arrested on Aug. 19 for recording and uploading images of pro-Tibet demonstrations outside the Olympic games. The group of detainees—Conley; Jeffrey Rae of Wayne, Pa.; and New Yorkers James Powderly, Michael Liss, Tom Grant and Jeff Goldin—was quickly branded the “Beijing 6” on pro-Tibet activist blogs. They were all sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention for “upsetting public order.”

“I’m not sure how they knew where to find Brian,” says Rae, who was already in police custody when Conley was apprehended. “But most likely they saw he was staying in the same room as me.”

Pro-Tibet protestors lock bikes in Ethnic Park, Beijing, China on Aug. 13, 2008. (Photo by Jeffrey Rae)

Once in custody, the six were aggressively questioned about their activities and reasons for being in China. Their cell phones, laptops and photographic equipment were seized, except for those of Rae, who refused to give them his passwords. He even lied, telling them iPhones don’t have SIM cards in the U.S.

Other non-Chinese people were arrested for protest-related activities during the Olympics as well, but most of them were released or immediately deported. Conley asked Chinese authorities why he and his fellow citizen journalists received a harsher punishment.

“They told me it was because I was responsible for distributing images that were damaging to China’s image around the world,” he says. “The other people just expressed their opinion.”

After settling in at the detention center Conley was given back his cell phone, which he was told to put in his pocket. But when the guard watching him fell asleep, he took out his phone, quickly typed the text message to his wife and posted to the micro-blogging website Twitter to let his friends know he’d been jailed.

After they got word, Rieke and other relatives of the detainees began spreading the news via blogs and email, urging friends and supporters to contact the U.S. Embassy, State Department and appropriate legislative representatives.

Rae and Conley had prepared well for their detainment. It wasn’t the first time. In 2006 they were arrested in Oaxaca, Mexico, while documenting protests demanding higher wages for teachers. Before leaving for China, Rae gave his father a list of email addresses of people to contact should anything happen, and he asked a friend to log onto his MySpace and Facebook sites to post bulletins.

By 11 a.m. EST on Aug. 19, the story had been picked up by the popular technology blog BoingBoing. The next day Agence France-Presse reported that the U.S. government was urging China to respect freedom of speech after learning of the arrests.

A protestor is led away by Beijing police. (Photo by Jeffrey Rae)

The story made its way to The Washington Post and The New York Times over the weekend. The State Department got involved and pressure continued to mount on the Chinese government.

By this time, a dedicated website had been set up to provide updates, and a Facebook group called “Free the Beijing Six” boasted more than 600 members.

On Aug. 24 Conley and the other five Americans were led from their cells and told they were being released early (they weren’t told why).

“I think we were let go because there was political pressure on the Chinese government,” says Rae. “There’s no other explanation.”

Rae and Conley partially credit the Internet and mobile technology for their early release.

“It was pretty huge,” says Conley. “The speed with which the story spread throughout the blogosphere was certainly influential.”

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Posted by Xeni Jardin on Boing Boing

The following diary was originally posted in Chinese and provides a glimpse into life in a remote Tibetan area as the Olympics were being celebrated in Beijing:

Today is Tuesday, July 22, 2008, and it is the tenth day since I came back to my hometown. Within these ten days, even when I refused to watch any TV and kept myself away from the internet, almost every day I could still hear about and see things concerning the Beijing Olympics in the home of a countryman in a remote area in Tibet. Therefore, today I decided to write a special diary - an Olympic Diary. I want to record all the details about how I felt about the Beijing Olympics in this remote place in Tibet when the Olympics were about to begin in Beijing, when I had no access to internet or TV.

July 22, 2008, Tuesday, The Olympics Blow against My Face

During breakfast my father, who had just come back from herding the cattle, said that there was a new bunker (diaobao) made up of sandbags at the end of the bridge over the big river, and fully armed soldiers were on duty. My father clicked his tongue in wonder and was amazed at the speed, saying “yesterday there was nothing, then this morning it suddenly appeared like this.” My family was discussing this while having breakfast. Though the old people could not remember the time when a bunker was built at the end of the bridge, no one was surprised at the appearance of the bunker. In addition, my family unanimously believes that this change was a preparatory measure taken by the government for the imminent Olympics. I was surprised to see my family’s natural and calm reaction to this event and their unanimous judgment concerning it, and I found out that they were accustomed to such things - such actions taken by the government, especially when the Olympics were about to begin.

At the dinner table, my father said that he heard that every county seat of the entire prefecture would be sealed off, all public transport would be stopped and no cars or people were allowed to travel between the county seats. I asked my father how was it possible to do this! He said to me everything was possible, and told me that at the time of the March 14 Incident they also did this. At that time, all the transportation stopped, and only some sedan cars were allowed to travel between counties after passing through many inspections. As soon as I heard my father’s words, I also felt it is possible to do this, and the government was capable of doing anything imaginable. As long as one could ensure there would be no incidents during the Olympics, and as long as one could report to one’s superiors on completing their tasks, then interfering with the normal living habits of the people and obstructing the normal social order would be considered to be minor issues. They do not even need to think about them, let alone provide explanations for their actions.

When I though about it further, I felt it was not good! If the county seat were to be sealed off in August, then what should I do with the present to ZH? Originally I had agreed to send it to him in late August, but if the county seat were to be sealed off, then it would be impossible for me to go to Chengdu. I pondered it over further, then I decided to send the present to my friend in Beijing.

In the afternoon, I went to the post office, and I saw many people were in front of the counters. For post offices in small towns, there are neither rules for people to wait for their number nor the habit to line up, thus, everybody was trying to push forward. After all the trouble for me to get to the front, and after a few Han Chinese male workers from other regions finished sending their money, the clerk asked me what I wanted to send, and told me that some things which we could usually send could not be sent during the Olympics. I was thinking to myself, “Olympics this and Olympics that, in the end would it allow people to live or not?” I said to the clerk, “Why can’t I send it? I am just sending a small present!” I should be grateful to the government for not listing this small toy in the list of the contraband. Though it took me a while, at long last, I sent the present.

Ah, I felt the flavor of the Olympics had already blown against my face.
July 23, 2008, Wednesday, Cordyceps, Pine Mushrooms and the Olympics

There are more and more pine mushrooms on the mountains now. In the small town of the county seat where common people’s income mainly comes from cordyceps and pine mushrooms, every family is analyzing the market price for them, and is preparing to welcome the arrival of the pine mushroom season.

In the afternoon, the husband of my mother’s sister came to our house to discuss with my uncle how to do this year’s business concerning pine mushrooms. I learned from their discussion that since last year there had been hearsay among the common people that a great number of foreigners and their leaders would come to Beijing during the Beijing Olympics, and at that time Beijing would buy a large amount of pine mushrooms and cordyceps to treat these foreigners. In addition, when these foreigners went home, they would also buy pine mushrooms and cordyceps, therefore, they believed that the prices for cordyceps and pine mushrooms during the Olympics would be very high, and they were filled with joy.

The price of cordyceps last year and at the beginning of this year was very high, but at the time when the season of cordyceps is about to end the price began to fall, and the average price fell one third of the original price. Since the common people have great expectations for the stimulation to the market brought by the arrival of the Olympics, many people have not even sold cordyceps collected last year. They have been waiting for the Olympics, and they have been planning to exchange them for more money during the Olympics. Unexpectedly, eventually the Olympics indeed brought great stimulation to the market, but the stimulation was negative. Now, before the arrival of the Olympics, the price of cordyceps has already hit the bottom.

My uncle said that this year’s pine mushroom market was rather slow. In former years, before pine mushrooms even started to grow, the Chinese businessmen from inland China, both the big and the small, would have rushed here. But this year pine mushrooms had already started to grow, yet only a few businessmen had come, and the price was much lower than that of last year. For the past few years, due to the fact that the transportation has become more and more convenient, the form of pine mushrooms sold changed from being boiled to being frozen to be sent directly to Inland China and abroad. In addition, some people also cut pine mushrooms into pieces, then dried them, and finally sold them as dry pieces. My uncle said that if the county seat was to be sealed off, or even now when the county seat had not been sealed off, it had already been rather troublesome for Tibetans to travel between inland China and Tibetan areas. On their way there were many checkpoints, and when they arrived at inland China, it was not convenient for them to stay in hotels. Usually the hotels would refuse to allow you to register to stay there because you were Tibetan. If the government restricted or stopped cars or people from travelling between cities, it would be a fatal strike against the pine mushroom market.

My uncle said with a forced smile, “I originally thought that the Olympics would bring us common people some good luck, but I never expected it would be like this. If the situation continues, it will be impossible for us to do anything. It seems that during the Olympics I can only stay home and watch the Olympics.”

July 26, 2008, Saturday The Olympic Syndrome

In the morning my younger brother got a call from a friend in the same village. A few of his friends had quarreled with the patrol group (known as 110 in China) after drinking, as a result, they were severely beaten and locked up. He called my brother, hoping that he would ask our relatives working at the Public Security Bureau to intercede on their behalf and release them. As soon as my brother told us about it, this immediately caused my father to lecture him. My father said to my brother, “Now it is the special period of the Olympics, you must be very cautious and should not go out as you please. In the event that any incidents happen, then the patrolling group will exaggeratedly label you as somebody who attempts to sabotage the stability of the society during the Olympics, then you will bite off more than you can chew.” My father said that if it were not the special period of the Olympics, these drunkards would have been released earlier on, thus, my brother also had to be cautious.

At noon I received a call from a friend, telling me that a British friend of mine who had been working in Beijing had been deported. My British friend, a second generation Tibetan from Britain, grew up abroad and is a graduate from a world famous university. She is well versed in a few languages, and had been teaching in Beijing. She and I have a lot of common things to talk about, and we frequently discuss the different hobbies, likings and viewpoints between Tibetans in Tibet and abroad. When I left Beijing, I pleaded with her to be cautious and to take good care of herself. I reminded her that during the Olympics she had to be particularly careful because even if one had not done anything which merited their attention, the government was in an extremely sensitive and intense state. As a Tibetan and as a Tibetan in Beijing, especially as an overseas Tibetan in Beijing, I believe that all her actions were under the government’s surveillance. Since I do not have access to internet or do not watch TV, it is impossible for me to know the details about her deportation. I learned some through this phone call. I heard that she was suddenly taken away when she was at home, and after a few hours’ interrogation, she was directly taken to a plane heading for Britain. The spokesman for the Foreign Ministry later said that she was a core member of the Tibetan Youth Congress, but at that time she thought that she had not done anything which violated the Chinese law; furthermore her visa had not yet expired, thus, she was very angry. When she asked those Public Security officers to show her the evidence, those people told her that she knew clearly what she had done. I know when she came back to Beijing from Britain in April, she was interrogated for over two hours at the airport, and it was because she was a Tibetan. Now, it is very likely that her identity started all the “trouble”.

I remember that this time it is the Olympics which granted me the chance to come home and have a rather long vacation. As early as June, or after the March 14 Incident, the life of Tibetans in Beijing was not very easy. I arrived in Beijing from Lhasa in May. On the train, the policemen recorded my I.D. number several times. After arriving in Beijing, I learned from Tibetans in Beijing that the Public Security Bureau of every Tibetan area had sent local policemen to interrogate and examine Tibetans from the various Tibetan areas, and they would not leave until the Olympics was over. Many Tibetans working in Beijing left for home one after another, and are planning to come back after the Olympics. I should also be counted as one of them.

When I was having a meal with some foreign tourists in a Tibetan area, they said that all the Chinese have the “Olympics Syndrome.” Indeed, all the Chinese have the “Olympics Syndrome” and display different symptoms. Some are excited, others are scared. While some people are looking forward to it, others hate it. For some people, the Olympics are just like a holiday, but to others they are like a nightmare. That foreign tourist said that he could feel that the Olympics had already become the object of cursing among the common Tibetans.

The Olympics has indeed already become a “sickness”, an illness like SARS, at least for Tibetan areas and Tibetan people. Tibetans like me fled Beijing to avoid the Olympics as if we have were trying to avoid SARS. However, after I came back to the Tibetan area, I saw that the local government was in combat readiness, and even though it is not SARS, yet it is more like SARS because of the checkpoints at all the intersections and the fact that the county seat is going to be sealed off shortly.

In fact, what we are trying to avoid is not the Olympics. If we Tibetans did not enjoy the identity of being “second class citizens” in China or we were not suspected of being ‘terrorists” as long as we are Tibetans, most of us would probably welcome the world’s great sport gathering, and most of us would probably stay in Beijing to watch the Olympic games.

The Olympics is just like a mirror, which shows the situation of Tibetans in China

July 29, 2008, Tuesday The Olympics Are Very Odd

I have met many fellow villagers. They asked me why I did not stay in Beijing to watch the Olympic Games, I could only smile and tell them that there were too many people in Beijing, so I came back to watch the Olympics.

At night I saw the lights of police cars flashing, and many people gathering together. I learned from my friend who is a policeman that since this evening the Public Security Bureau is going to formally carry out one task, that is every day they are going to check and register all outsiders, especially Tibetans. My friend said that this is one of the measures taken by the local public security forces to welcome the Olympics.

As a matter of fact, the activities by the Public Security Bureau of the county to welcome the Olympics started a long time ago. On the street whose main road is no longer than two kilometers the police have already installed monitors, and there are also monitors filling the areas near the local monasteries. It is said that the monitors in the monasteries are being directly controlled by the Public Security Bureau of the prefecture.

My policeman friend was assigned to guard the intersection near the county seat. He loves fun and games, and he often rides his motorcycle to visit us. When we were taking a walk along the street, because he was afraid that his colleagues sitting in front of the monitors would find him with us on the street, whenever we arrived at a place where the monitor was, he would always hide behind us or take a detour around it. Luckily he himself is a policeman and he is familiar with where the monitors have been installed. As for us common people, even if we want to elude the monitors, we will not be able to do so. I was thinking to myself at that time if we calculate the proportion between the number of monitors and population, even London, which allegedly has the most densely distributed monitors, will definitely have fewer monitors than the small county seat in the Tibetan area.

In this sense, the Olympics has pushed the modernization of the Tibetan areas forward a great stride.

In the afternoon my friend who is teaching in the countryside went back to his working unit. The county government required each working unit to have people on duty 24 hours a day, including the schools already on vacation. The county authorities call this the task of “welcoming the Olympics and safeguarding stability.”

On local streets there are police cars patrolling 24 hours a day, and the fully armed soldiers are guarding the main roads with weapons in their hands. The county government acts as if they were confronting a mortal enemy, and their propaganda has always emphasized “stability”… The tense facial expression of people who are working for the government institutions is a charming contrast to the big red banner with the words “Happily welcoming the Olympics” hanging on the streets.

The Olympics are very odd.

July 31, 2008 Thursday What on Earth Are We Doing?

In the morning my sister who is in the primary school said to me, “Brother, the Olympics will start in eight days.” Yesterday I even saw the mayor of Beijing crying on TV. I asked why he cried, my sister said he might be too happy.

In the afternoon I saw some pictures displayed at the public square. On one side of the square one sees the publicity pictures introducing the history of the Olympics and the preparatory works for the Beijing Olympics, but on the other side of the square one sees the pictures revealing the darkness of the serfdom in old Tibetan society, what they call the “despicable deeds” of the “Dalai clique” and the “earth-shaking” changes in Tibetan areas after the founding of the New China.

When the torch relay met with demonstrations abroad, the Chinese government sternly criticized others saying that one should not politicize the Olympics; however, when the same torch burned in front of the Potala Palace, the Chinese government claimed that TAR party secretary Zhang’s rebuking of the Dalai Lama is only expressing his personal view. Now when that torch is going to be ignited in Beijing, even when a small county seat like this is publicizing the Olympics, it is still criticizing the Dalai Lama. May I ask who is politicizing the Olympics?

My friend who works in the propaganda department was dispatched to teach the local Tibetan dialect to the troops stationed in the area. He told me that they needed to teach the soldiers how to say “Stop”, “Don’t move”, “Tibetans and the Chinese belong to the same family,” etc.

He told me that the soldiers asked him, “We heard that the monks in the monasteries are very strong and they are very good at fighting. Is that so?”

My friend said that when he was teaching the soldiers these contradictory and extremely hypocritical words such as “stop”, “do not move” and “Tibetans and Chinese belong to the same family,” it was already hard for him to bear. Then when he heard the questions these soldiers asked, and when he saw these fully armed soldiers considered the monasteries and monks we respect the most as imagined enemies, he shuddered, and was at a loss for words.

He lowered his head, and repeatedly said the following sentences, “We are providing assistance to those outsiders who are employed to fight the war, and their objects of war are monks we respect the most and our compatriots. What are we doing?”, “What on earth are we doing?”

August 1, 2008 Friday The Holiday

Today is Army Day. The local government organized an art performance entitled “Welcoming the Olympics and celebrating August 1st.” The main performers are the officers and soldiers who began to be stationed in the region after the “March 14 Incident” and the art troupe formed by retired cadres.

There were many policemen on duty near the site of the performance, and all the leaders of the county came to watch the performance. The soldiers and militias were watching the performance, and many common people also came to join the fun.

The first program was the song “ the daughters of one mother” sang in chorus by the art troupe. Next they performed a few other programs with either singing or dancing. The content of their performances was simply either praising the motherland or the Communist Party. These people have worked within the system of the Communist Party for their whole life, but they are not resting after their retirement, and they are still contributing to “the communist cause.” As a member of the group who has benefited from the system, they have enough time and energy to rehearse these programs to be performed specifically for the leaders, and they do not need to busy themselves for their living like most of the Tibetan people. As people who have benefited after the Communist Party entered Tibet, they certainly have ample reason and fervour to praise the party who brought new life for them.

The host of the show called the troops stationed in the area after “March 14 Incident” “the troops stationed and patrolling the area.” But their performance was completely another style which I do not think of as performance, but it is a kind of intimidation, which makes people feel horrified and disgusted. They “performed” the Chinese martial arts, various fistfights, using the various parts of one’s body to break sticks, putting a few bricks on their bodies and smashing them with hammers and other various ways to subdue “bad guys” with shiny daggers… Their performances like these made the common people who came to watch them excited and scared as well. Every time when they performed an action which showed that their bodies were suffering, the spectators off the platform began to scream, and they were all worrying whether their bodies would be hurt or injured by the sticks. An old woman next to me prayed repeatedly and said, “Do not do this, why bother to do these things? It must hurt a lot. The Three Jewels bless these poor children.” After the performance was over, the common people repeatedly wondered at the skills of these soldiers, and they, to some degree, held these soldiers in awe.

Ah, my compatriots, I am wondering whether you know that the cruel actions they performed on the stage today were specially “prepared” for us. My kind-hearted compatriots, when others were wantonly displaying the various means to torture us in our land, we not only did not feel it was intimidation or provocation; on the contrary, we worry about them, and appreciated it as an outstanding performance. My compatriots, the people who are really pitiful are ourselves.

Throughout the entire performance, those leaders were smiling. I do not know whether they did so to pose before the video cameras so as to serve as a foil to the ardent festival atmosphere or they were really satisfied with the performance today.

They should be satisfied that their performance achieved the effect that they were hoping for.

When I carefully pondered over such a program which would be performed in every place in Tibetan areas and every holiday, and was a very common and very normal activity in Tibetan areas, I found that it reflected such a truth: On the big stage of Tibetan areas, most Tibetans who should be the main characters have passively become bystanders, but the directors and the main characters are a minority of Tibetans who represent the interest group who have benefited from the current system and the army and the government who represented the strong ruler from outside. The design of the stage, the arrangement of the content of the programs, the timing of the programs and the choice of the place are determined by these people. These two groups of people co-ordinated so well on the stage, and they praised and flattered each other. It seems that their relations are perfect, and they truly consider themselves to be main characters!

But, how about most of our Tibetan compatriots? Though we are not able to speak with our own voice in the main home field, we are marginalized in our land, we have become bystanders on the stage which should belong to us, and we have become a powerless group in our own home, yet most of our people still do not feel anything at all, and are still muddleheaded. Even if some of them are aware of something, they are not willing to ponder the issue. Under the circumstances, don’t they feel that they have no ability to save the desperate situation? Do they think it is better to feel the pleasant sensation when they are raped rather then resisting? Is it possible that they even fell in love with the rapist after being raped several times? Or isn’t it that we have not plunged to the most pitiful situation yet? Or is it possible that our kind-hearted and compassionate hearts deceived our ability to think rationally?

During the entire performance, I have not heard anybody saying one Tibetan line on the stage, including the host, the actors and actresses.

I saw the Tibetans onstage in Tibetan robes decorated with tiger skins singing the so-called Tibetan songs in Chinese.

The performers were trying their best, the audience was having a great time, the leaders were satisfied with the performance, thus, everybody was happy.

I looked at them, then looked at myself. At that moment I wanted to cry.

August 5, 2008, Tuesday The Torch in Chengdu and the Torch in Tibet

I heard that in Xinjiang there were incidents in which the troops were ambushed, and my family all thought that these were done by the “Xinjiang separatists” to stop the Olympics. My kind-hearted mother sighed and said, “ The government has taken great pains in preparing for it for a long time, and they must want the Olympics to go smoothly. What are those people who sabotage it doing? The government is trying so hard, they should help the government to achieve their goal. If they want to stir up trouble, they can do so later. The government is rather pitiful.” My kind mother has the virtue of helping others to fulfill their wish, which is intrinsic to all Tibetans, but she does not know that the so-called “separatists” were risking their lives to fight for the basic qualifications to be a human.

My uncle said that today the torch relay had been held in Chengdu. When he saw on TV the exaggerated postures of those people carrying the torch, he really felt those people did not have any conscience, “We should think how long ago the earthquake just ended. They must be without any conscience, otherwise how can they make those exaggerated and arrogant actions? These Chengdu people are indeed exaggerated and doing things without taking the situation into consideration.” My uncle appeared to be very angry.

I asked him whether he watched the TV broadcast of the torch relay in Lhasa, but he said he did not. The county seat under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Province has the word “Tibetan” and “Autonomous” in front of its name, yet even under the Chinese Communist Party’s policy of stultifying the masses and assimilation, even in the eyes of a young Tibetan intellectual, Chengdu will be the center in real life, rather than Lhasa. Thus, he would not watch the torch relay in Lhasa, but he would watch the torch relay in Chengdu very carefully.

When the torch relay reached Lhasa, Lhasa just experienced a “political earthquake” as well, unlike the torch relay in Chengdu where there were no traces left by the earthquake except a few minutes of standing in silent tribute. In the process of the torch relay in Lhasa one could feel everywhere that the impact of this political earthquake was far from fading away.

Even though the Lhasa authorities would like to try their best to display the enthusiastic scenes of the Tibetan people welcoming the arrival of the Olympic torch relay in Lhasa, one could still see the tense situation and anxiety of the holy city even in the TV broadcasts with skillful filming. One saw the armed police and troops guarding the area all the way as the torch relay went through as well as the torch bearers who functioned as political symbols. Except the starting point and the ending point where one would see some people, in other places along the way of the torch relay it was desolate without many people. In particular, the political speech full of provocations made by the Party Secretary Zhang show that the Lhasa people did not really welcome the torch relay, and even if they welcomed the torch relay, they did so with fear.

It is said that on the day when the torch relay took place in Lhasa, the common people were notified they were not allowed to go outdoors as they pleased. The groups of people on both sides of the streets welcoming the torch relay, as appeared on TV, were actually painstakingly arranged by the authorities. Those people were selected through much investigation many days in advance, then they were gathered together one day before the torch relay and were arranged to stay in designated hotels. The authorities checked the number of people and their names three times. On the day when the torch relay took place, at 4:00 am they were gathered together. After countless checks, they put on their robes and held the red flags in their hands as they were required to do so, then they were transported to the streets through which the torch relay would go, and would wait for the arrival of the torch relay under the supervision of the Chinese troops. Their task was to show the excitement and happiness of the Lhasa people in front of the Chinese people when the torch relay and the video cameras arrived.

If the torch bearers in Chengdu were to be criticized for having no conscience, then we should have more sympathy and feel more distressed for the Lhasa people.

The psychological and political “earthquake” will have greater damage than the geographical earthquake, and its impact will last longer.

I do not know whether the authorities thought of this.

August 9, 2008 Saturday The Opening Ceremony of the Olympics Tells the World: China Has only one Nationality - the Han Nationality

First

The Olympics started, and it seems that Chinese could eventually relax after they had held their breath for a long time.

Second

The scene of the Opening ceremony was magnificent with an impressive display of power. The Chinese are best at making large-scale things, and what they like most is to make everything grand. The current system also provides the vital support for large scale performance like the opening ceremony. What the Communist Party provides is not just money, personnel, facilities and the unconditional co-operation of the various departments, but more importantly, the conditions of its despotic rule. Even if such activities harass people, waste money, were time-consuming and strenuous, as long as they can achieve the Communist party’s goal, then all these issues which make the governments of the democratic countries rack their brains to take them into consideration will became the least important things in China.

Third

All the vehicles symbolizing Chinese culture appeared in the opening ceremony. They include Chinese drums, Chinese paintings, the writer’s four essentials - brush, ink stick, ink slab and paper, the Chinese characters, Confucius, the Great Wall of China, traditional operas, the Silk Road, rites and music and the Supreme Ultimate etc. During the few hours of the performance, the “fifty-five flowers” (the minority nationalities) among the “fifty-six flowers” only flashed by twice, and each time their appearance could be counted in seconds.

The host said that the opening ceremony shows the profoundness of the Chinese traditional culture.

China indeed has a long history and profound culture, but one needs to understand that there are fifty-six nationalities in China, not just Han Chinese. Among the fifty-six nationalities, it is not just Han Chinese who have a history and culture to be shown off to the world. But through this Olympics, the Chinese government is telling the world that China equals the Han nationality, and Chinese history equals Han Chinese history.

I originally had some expectations for the opening ceremony of the Olympics, because I thought it should be a formal overall performance in the presence of the people of the entire world, but after I finished watching the opening ceremony, I was deeply disappointed.

When I saw 2008 people performing and wearing the ancient Han Chinese costumes and citing sayings of Confucius; when I saw the Great Wall of China which is called “the symbol of the Chinese nation,” but in fact which was used to defend against the ancestors of us minorities; and when I saw the so-called Chinese culture fill the scene - actually the culture of the Han nationality alone, I felt a sort of familiar strangeness.

Who is Confucius? What is the Great Wall of China? As a member of the minority nationality, and as a member of a nationality who has a completely different culture, history and psychological quality from those of the Han nationality, in my opinion, Confucius is just an intellectual of an alien race. Though he made certain contributions to mankind, yet I have never been or will never be proud of him as my ancestor. In my eyes, the Great Wall of China is only a building displaying the wisdom and hard work of mankind in the history of mankind, and in fact it was built to defend against what they called “barbarians”, our ancestors, thus, is there any possibility that we minorities will find a sense of pride in the Great wall of China?

In the future, please do not nag me with such phrases as the “Chinese nation” and such hypocritical and disgusting words as “We are all descendants of Yan Di and Huang Di, and we are all children of the Chinese nation.” The Han nationality who is already holding power told the world and 100 million minorities in China that it is China, and its history is the history of China.

Fourth

What makes one sadder is that Beijing is in revelry and the entire Tibetan area is shrouded in terror. Even though the precautions taken by the government are strict and the atmosphere is tense, it is fortunate that the sealing off of the town has not happened yet. Isn’t this something we should feel fortunate for?

But, at the time when the entire country is celebrating, we are going so far as to feel so fortunate that we have not been segregated collectively by the country to which we are supposed to belong. This again is such an absurd thing!

If all belongs to the Chinese nation, then should it be like this? Is it reasonable to go so far as it is now?

On one hand the Chinese government, in the name of sports, kidnapped the appeals for democracy and freedom, and shamelessly criticized those appeals for “politicizing the Olympics”; on the other hand they are pushing the whole world into the trap of a carnival named “The world’s sports,” with hopes of strengthening the basis for their autocracy so as to realize their aim of long-term political despotic rule.

Such a contemptible action is just their style.

August 25, 2008
Jane Macartney in Beijing

Tibet’s most famous woman writer and blogger has been questioned by police for eight hours, accused of taking photographs on the street, after she returned home briefly to the capital, Lhasa.

The detention of Woeser, who like many Tibetans goes by a single name, underscores the nervousness of the authorities in the Himalayan city, where Tibetans restive under Beijing rule rioted in the streets in March, killing 22 people and setting fire to hundreds of offices and businesses.

Eight police arrived at the home of Woeser’s mother on Thursday and presented her with a summons to accompany them for questioning. Her husband, the author Wang Lixiong, said: “They had used the wrong name on the document so I insisted that they correct the name before they could take her away. I reminded them that they had to bring her home within the stipulated 12 hours.”

She was held for questioning by several officers who said that they were acting on a tip-off from a member of the public, who had seen her taking photographs of army and police positions in Lhasa from inside a taxi.

Mr Wang, who spoke on behalf of his wife because he was worried for her safety, told The Times: “She told them that it was not illegal to take photographs in a public place and she had not visited any secret areas or military installations. They had no legal basis for holding her.” The police searched her mother’s home and removed several documents as well as Mr Wang’s computer.

They hacked his password, checked all documents on the laptop and required Woeser to erase every photograph that showed a policeman or army officer on the streets of Lhasa or in Tibetan areas they had visited.

Mr Wang said: “I can’t say whether their intention was to intimidate. But if they can do this to an influential writer who has done nothing more than take photographs, then one can only imagine the kind of threat that ordinary people in Tibet must feel every day.”

The couple decided to return home to Beijing as soon as they could get flights, but first organised a reunion party with Woeser’s many family and friends in the city. However, many did not attend, apparently afraid of possible consequences after her encounter with the police. The couple flew back to Beijing on Saturday, less than 48 hours after her summons and six days into a planned month-long visit to Lhasa.

Woeser has become one of the best-known Tibetan personalities, first as a poet whose works were approved by the Government and then as a dissident author after her first book of prose was banned in 2003. She has since not been allowed to publish in China, but the restrictions have failed to deter her.

She was forced to place the blog that she began in 2005 on a server outside China after it was repeatedly hacked and closed. Her current blog - woeser.middle-way.net - is the most popular site for many Tibetans and has recorded three million hits since she launched it on an overseas server early last year. The Tibetan capital remains under lockdown. The city is patrolled by police and paramilitary forces, many deployed around the Jokhang Temple, the holiest shrine in Tibetan Buddhism in the heart of the Old City. On the pilgrim route that circles the temple, at least four teams of paramilitary police are on guard around the clock.

Each comprises five men carrying automatic rifles who patrol a section of the route. Buddhist faithful twirling prayer wheels, telling rosaries and performing prostrations wend their way among the armed men. Some of the teams, dressed in camouflage, have recently been replaced by patrols carrying what appear to be teargas launchers in tubes on their backs. Paramilitary officers stand at bus stops, while police borad buses at each stop to check for anyone suspicious. Armed police in camouflage, some helmeted, others carrying riot shields and electric batons, are deployed at road junctions. They stand in groups, facing out to scan the street.

Once night falls, lorries filled with paramilitaries drive through the streets at barely more than a walking pace. These patrols and the police presence are limited almost entirely to the Old City. In the newer areas of Lhasa, where most ethnic Han Chinese live, there is little sign of increased security.

(Photo: Jack Hill)