Samphel connects the nationalism of Tibetan exiles in the Falling to resistance in Tibet in the 1980s when China had liberalized its policies. Under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, Tibetans were allowed to travel across the Himalayas for the first time to meet their families and relatives separated from them during the 1959 exodus. It is at this time that Tashi undertakes a journey in Tibet to find his missing comrade Tsering Migmar. The scenario inside Tibet is revealed through his diary that he hands over to Dhondup in Dharamsala, and also through Tsering’s experiences of hiding in a monastery for years after escaping the Chinese prison, which he narrates to Dhondup and Phuntsok upon reaching Dharamsala. In light of the intimidating and …show more content…
. . . The uprisings in Lhasa vindicated our exiled existence. We no longer felt that we were one people divided by the Himalayas. (279)
The recurrent protests in the 1980s united millions of Tibetans in Tibet and over one lac of them in exile as one national community, thus achieving the communitas, which Schwartz points out is another motive of ritualized protests (1994: 20). The motive of the Tibetan protests, which are by and large religious or ritualistic in their method, is not only millenarianism and communitas, but it is also to address the issue of Tibet’s occupation to the international audience. Schwartz’s firsthand experience in Tibet during these protests testifies to the nationalist sentiment among resident Tibetans, who sent letters and messages to the UN through tourists allowed for the first time in Tibet in the 1980s (21-2). He contends that the Tibetan protest is “communication delayed and displaced” because the ‘other’ it seeks to engage with is a “hypothetical fair arbitrator”—the United Nations—instead of the occupant Chinese government (21). Samphel’s Falling, however, suggests that even if the Chinese government is not the audience for the Tibetan protests because of its rigidity, the Chinese civilians who have also suffered under their totalitarian government makes a potential audience for a plea by the Tibetans. The narrator is surprised with the sheer number of demonstrators, “a million strong”, mainly Chinese students, who put up a brave protest in Beijing (Samphel 2008: 279). Even though the Chinese demonstrators like the Tibetans were eventually bullied down through martial law, they managed to express their growing resentment to the Chinese Communist Party. It is these disillusioned Chinese with whom it is possible for the Tibetans to enter into a
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
It states that “Tibet declared itself an independent republic in 1912.Although its status did not receive widespread recognition, Tibet functioned as an independent government until China sent troops to Tibet in 1950” (BBC News). The Tibetans feel as though their freedom is being retained and they are being dictated by China, which they did not approve of. China claims that Tibet is better with them leading them and insists that Tibet is there’s. The tension between them still exists today and is clearly shown in both books, by Xinran and Ma Jian. The concept of Sky Burial is inspired by a true story.
Many Tibetans are arrested and put through such treatment with little to no evidence supporting them as criminals. In a sudden “clampdown” that started in February of 1992, groups of ten Chinese raided Tibetan homes in Lhasa arresting more than 200 people. Those arrested were said to be in possession of “subversive materials, such as photographs, and tapes or books containing speeches or teachings of the Dalai Lama” (Kumar, 77).
Tung, R. J. (1980). A portrait of lost Tibet. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Rodney King a black man who lived in Las Vegas was severely beaten by four white police officers. The officers were brought into court and tried on charges of assault. The officers were acquitted of the assault charges. Immediately protestors took to the streets, to express their angry over the judge’s decision. Protestors found the ruling to be unfair and was fed up with the ill-treatment. The violent protest turned into a riot. A lot of damage occurred; over 50 people were killed, over 2,300 people injured, 8,000 arrests and estimated over $1 billion in property damage. The riots exposed the police abuse, poverty, and lack of economic opportunity. If it was not for the violent protestors no light would have been shed on the way black were being
The book is divided into four parts. Part one pertains to The Appeal of Mass Movements. Part two covers the Potential Converts. Part three involves United Action and Self-Sacrifice. And Part four is titled Beginning and End. Throughout these four sections the author covers many sub-categories.
Walder, Andrew G. The Beijing Red Guard Movement: Fractured Rebellion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
The Dalai Lama expresses the importance of publicity that has first been generated by the Tibetan Freedom Concert. Not only did it create awareness for the Chinese as the Dalai Lama suggested; it also created awareness around the world, especially in North America. Ask any North American teenager,"What they feel towards the idea of Tibetan oppression from the Chinese?", just ask him "Where Tibet is?" three years ago and he would probably look confused and answer by asking "Would you like fries with that?".<THIS MADE VERY LITTLE SENSE.> Ask that same teenager now, and he would likely give an educated response. The Tibetan Freedom Concert is just an example of how powerful modern media is if it can be used properly.
Rae Yang’s Memoir “Spider Eaters” is a poignant personal story of a girl growing up amidst the political upheaval during the establishment of People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong’s Communist leadership. Yang describes the fascinating journey of her life from her early years as the daughter of Chinese diplomats in Switzerland to a student in an elite middle school then a fanatic Red-guard and eventually a laborer in a pig farm. Her experiences through the revolution serve as an eye-opener and lead to her eventual disillusionment of the Communist revolution in China. There are many factors that contributed to her growing discontent with communism such as the anti-rightist movement which was an effort to rule out any criticism against the government, corruption and violence of the party leaders who abused their power and continued to exploit the peasants, the false claim of proletariat dictatorship used merely to eradicate bourgeoisie and further the interests of party members.
From the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the Civil Rights Movement and the Pro-Life Movement of the 1960s, to the Tea Party Movement and Occupy Wall Street Movement of current times, “those struggling against unjust laws have engaged in acts of deliberate, open disobedience to government power to uphold higher principles regarding human rights and social justice” (DeForrest, 1998, p. 653) through nonviolent protests. Perhaps the most well-known of the non-violent protests are those associated with the Civil Rights movement. The movement was felt across the south, yet Birmingham, Alabama was known for its unequal treatment of blacks and became the focus of the Civil Rights Movement. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, African-Americans in Birmingham, began daily demonstrations and sit-ins to protest discrimination at lunch counters and in public facilities. These demonstrations were organized to draw attention to the injustices in the city. The demonstrations resulted in the arrest of protesters, including Martin Luther King. After King was arrested in Birmingham for taking part in a peaceful march to draw attention to the way that African-Americans were being treated there, their lack of voter rights, and the extreme injustice they faced in Alabama he wrote his now famous “Letter from Birmingham.”
It has happened to most native peoples, they’re pushed out of their homelands by a big, foreign power. Peoples’ rights get violated, and they are treated as second class citizens. Native Americans, Africans, Siberians, Indians, it has happened to all of them. In Asia, a new superpower has risen up, communist China, and has gained a massive amount of influence, using the largest military in the world. The native peoples in the western borderlands have suffered the greatest, and most people have heard about the struggle of Tibet. Most of us, however, have not heard of another, more violent crackdown, on the Uyghur people. This paper will take you through all the inner workings of the conflict, from the background, to the reasons, to the violence.
Rinpoche, Samdhong. Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism in Today’s World; forward by 14th Dalai Lama. (Tibet: World Wisdom, 2006), 264.
[11] Trimondi, Victor and Victoria, The Shadow of the Dalai Lama, part I, section 2.
In Tibet one might use the words “religion” and “culture” almost as synonyms, especially for the arts—literature, drama, painting, and sculpture. Not only were they inspired by religion, but religion was their very raison d’être (Pal 18).
Rosenberg, William G., and Young, Marilyn B. Transforming Russia and China: Revolutionary Struggle in the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.