Tibetan Headlines
Sep 11: Tibetan Film Wins
Jinpa, the Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden’s latest feature, has won the Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in Italy. "This is a film about awakening. Once we are awakened, we can step onto the road towards the future”, said Tseden and continued, “Through Jinpa, I hope the audience can understand more about the emotions and situations of individual Tibetans”.
Sep 10: Bon Leader Enthroned
Geshe Dawa Dhargye, the 34th Kyabje Menri Trizin and spiritual head of the Bon tradition, has been enthroned at Menri Monastery in Dolanji in northern India at a two day ceremony from September 6 – 7, organised by the Yung Drung Bon Monastic Centre Society. The ceremony also commemorated a year since the passing of the 33rd Menri Trizin. The selection process, or Tagdril, took place in December last year.
Sep 7: Lack of Freedom
The European Parliament’s Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance (FoRB & RT) has published its 2018 Annual Report, Signs of Hope, which ranks China among the lowest in the world for religious freedom. The report mentions Tibet and Xinjiang as suffering a lack of religious freedom and crackdown on religious beliefs, as well as a “deteriorating situation”.
Sep 6: Kailash Mansarovar Yatra
Rahul Gandhi, 48, the Indian Congress President, is embarking on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, the 12-day pilgrimage to Tibet’s holy mountain. Mount Kailash is 21,778 feet high and it, and the nearby Mansarovar lake, has religious significance to Buddhists, Hindus and Jains. The pilgrimage takes place every year between June and September.
Sep 5: Raising the Flag
Over 80 people gathered in Waltham Forest in East London, England, to raise the Tibetan national flag outside their town hall for the first time in the history. The Mayor, together with councillors joined the UK Tibetan community and supporters for the flag raising, which was to celebrate the remarkable success of the democratic process adopted by Tibetans over their last six decades of living in exile.
Sep 4: Winning Team!
The Team Tibet New York Football Club has won the Gyalyum Chenmo Memorial Gold Cup North America, beating the defending champions by three goals to nil in the final. The final was attended by Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjee who is in New York. The GCMGC was started two years ago by the Tibetan National Sports Association to provide a footballing platform for Tibetan youth in west.
Sep 3: Land Security
Tibetans living in Dhondhenling Tibetan settlement in Chamarajanagar – or Kollegal, in Karnataka are to benefit from the RTC (Rights, Tenency and Crops) record which gives them the right to apply for crop loans, incentives on agriculture equipment and farm loans. After living and farming there for four decades their land will now be leased in their own name, albeit not directly, but via the Central Tibetan Relief Committee.
Sep 3: Report From Tibet
Radio Free Asia has published a first-hand witness account of life in Tibet as told by a Tibetan man who lives in exile and recently made his first visit to Lhasa – and who returned home to India earlier than planned. He reported heavy armed security in Lhasa, and searches of all pilgrims visiting the holy sites there, and said his ID confiscated on arrival.
Aug 31: Four-point Call
The Gu Chu Sum Movement of Tibet – the organisation for former Tibetan political prisoners – has marked International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances with a four-point call to China, demanding they end their legalised practice of subjecting Tibetans to enforced disappearance – including the kidnapped 11th Panchen Lama who disappeared in 1995 – and for China to honour its commitments to the Human Rights Council.
Aug 28: Umaylam Training
A three-day training for trainers: Empowering Champions of Dialogue is underway for members of Tibetan non-government organisations across India. 30 people are attending the course which is organised by the Central Tibetan Administration equip trainers to spearhead the awareness campaign about the Middle Way Approach (Umaylam) in the Tibetan community.
Aug 27: Military Training
Reports are coming in that children in Tibet are being subjected to mandatory military training by the ruling Chinese regime. Voice of Tibet radio has reported that a four-week training began on August 18 at a Lhasa city school, with children as young as nine years old taking part. The training includes handling of firearms and is taking place at schools across Tibet.
Aug 24: Tashi’s Sentence Upheld
The five year prison sentence served in May to Tibetan language rights advocate Tashi Wangchuk was upheld on 13 August despite international campaigns for his release. Tashi’s lawyer, Liang Xiaojun, tweeted yesterday that “both the argument from Tashi Wangchuk himself and the defending statement from the lawyers were not accepted at all.” Tashi has become one of Tibet’s most high-profile prisoners.
Aug 23: Visas Refused – Again
The United States Embassy in Delhi has denied visas for the Tibetan Women’s National Soccer Team to take part in the Gyalyum Chenmo Memorial Gold Cup (GCMGC) 2018 in New York and New Jersey. The team had planned matches in Chicago, Madison, New York, and Washington DC in the US and Toronto in Canada. The team was refused visas last year to compete in the Dallas Cup tournament.
Aug 23: Tomb Raiders Arrested
Sixteen people have been arrested in Lhasa’s Dhagze district on charges of robbing tombs and stealing relics from the ruins of temples in Lhasa. The gang is said to have taken advantage of the destruction of old buildings to make way for commercial development, and robbed the tombs and monasteries which are known to hold valuable antiques. 53 cultural relics have now been recovered from those arrested.
Aug 21: Advice from His Holiness
HH the Dalai Lama addressed the young Tibetans participating in the 5-50 Youth Forum currently underway in Dharamshala saying, “the Nalanda tradition is a valuable treasure for today’s world […] My main advice or message is for all of you youths, irrespective of whether you are men or women, monk or nun, to take ownership of this rich tradition”.