The Prague Post
May 9th, 2008
Reader's Survey     Endowment Fund     Book of Lists ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Home » Archives » News

A call for peace

As Czechs denounce Chinese violence in Tibet, officials are split over Olympics attendance

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 26th, 2008 issue

Approximately 500 people rallied March 16 to deliver a letter to Chinese officials, urging them to halt the violence in Tibet.
enlarge
Václav Havel stood among the hundreds of demonstrators outside the Chinese Embassy March 19.
enlarge
Ostrava resident and Tibetan language professor Jigme Tenzin belongs to one of the smallest émigré communities in the country. In 1959, his parents left for India during the National Uprising, when 80,000 Tibetans and their leader, the Dalai Lama, fled their country amid violent clashes with the Chinese government, which annexed the autonomous Tibetan region in 1951.

As one of approximately 111,170 exiled Tibetans in the world — four of which reside in the Czech Republic — Tenzin recently watched with trepidation as violence erupted in his homeland once again.

The conflicts began March 10, when Chinese authorities stormed Buddhist temples and arrested monks in an effort to suppress a string of peaceful demonstrations commemorating the 49th anniversary of the National Uprising.
Since then, reports of mass arrests, beatings and the deaths of as many as 90 Tibetans have intensified international criticism of Chinese intervention in the region.
“We are monitoring the developments in Tibet, which have claimed a number of lives and injuries, with deep disquietude,” said Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalová, of the local reaction to the unrest. She added that the ministry denounced the “violence
committed against peaceful and unarmed demonstrators who wished to freely express their views.”
Foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg and former President Václav Havel personally backed these sentiments by signing a March 21 statement from human rights group Forum 2000, urging the international community to use “every possible means” to pressure the Chinese goverment regarding violence in Tibet.
Since March 10, all tourists and independent media have been ordered to leave the region, so unbiased news from Tibet has been scarce.
“I cannot tell what is true and what is not from what they have said on the radio,” Tenzin said. “In Beijing, when Tibet comes on the news, the screen goes black.”
By expelling journalists and confiscating recording equipment from tourists, the Chinese government is now in control of all mainstream communication channels in the region, according to media reports. “The news that we are getting now is from ordinary Tibetans who are making phone calls to their relatives abroad,” said Lubomír Sklenka, the founder of Lungta, a Prague civic organization to raise Tibetan awareness.
Although sporadic, reports compiled by the Tibetan Government in Exile paint a chaotic, warlike scenario.
In the capital Lhasa, “suppression continues with tanks and military vehicles patrolling every corner of the city,” a March 18 report stated. “Former political prisoners and [other active Tibetans] are being arbitrarily arrested in the ongoing house-by-house raid by Chinese security forces. … During the protest in Machu county … People’s Armed Police (PAP) shot dead 19 peaceful protesters.”
Enraged by the situation, the demonstrators themselves have reportedly resorted to violence, destroying cars, breaking shop windows and attacking Chinese civilians.
“The [Chinese] government is trying very much to get the situation under control, but I think something’s going wrong,” Tenzin said. “The demonstrations started out as peaceful, but when you have this kind of oppressive situation, violence is bound to happen.” He added that the current protests are taking place on an unprecedented scale. “It is one of the biggest protests since the 1959 uprising,” he said.
In the past, demonstrations against the Chinese government had been principally organized by the Buddhist nuns and monks leading Tibetan dissent. This time, however, reports of monks killed by Chinese police have mobilized secular Tibetans, who are now participating in regional protests by the thousands.
“For the first time since 1987,” said Sklenka, “villagers and herdsmen are joining the demonstrations in the cities — the entire area is affected.”
According to Tenzin, this widespread discontent is nothing new. Jaded by decades of discrimination and cultural oppression, Tibetans have long harbored animosity toward China, whose government policy aims to integrate the region into the rest of the country. “In Tibet, there is strong resentment of the Chinese government,” he said. “All the jobs are dominated by Chinese people — Tibetans do not have the same opportunities as the Chinese.”
Although unwilling to speculate on their outcome, Sklenka conceded that the widespread nature of the protests could make them difficult to suppress. “At this point, no one can know how this will end,” he said. “It is quite possible that the Chinese will mute the unrest — they are sending more and more armed units. But Tibet is a vast, segmented, fairly inaccessible region, so stomping out all of the pockets of resistance could very well prove impossible.”
Show of support
The recent unrest has brought the Tibetan issue to the forefront of Czech politics. Building on the country’s reputation as an avid defender of human rights, a number of leading Czech politicians have joined a series of protests criticizing Chinese government practices. On March 16, about 500 demonstrators congregated in front of the Chinese Embassy in Prague. Attended by Green Party leaders Martin Bursík and Kateřina Jacques, as well as Havel, the aim of the protest was to deliver a letter urging Chinese officials to halt violence in the region.
Three days later, 700 people reassembled in front of the embassy, calling on the Chinese government to support the Dalai Lama’s proposal to form an international committee investigating the alleged crimes committed by both the Chinese and the Tibetan side during the unrest.
Meanwhile, Green Party Chairman Bursík and Prague Mayor Pavel Bém issued separate statements in which they pledged to boycott this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing.
“I’ve been following the situation in Tibet since 1988, when I was there illegally. It’s a sensitive topic that is close to my heart,” Bursík said in the statement. “Even 20 years ago, I knew that if the Olympics were ever held in China, I would not go.”
But not all politicians are keen on forfeiting their Olympic accreditation. While denouncing the government’s violent suppression of Tibetan protests, both President Václav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek said they plan to attend the games this summer. “As far as I’ve gathered from his statements, the Dalai Lama is opposed to the blocking of the Olympics in China, because it could make the current situation worse, not better,” Topolánek told journalists March 19. “I think we still have time to react accordingly.”
While a number of Olympic athletes, including Czech javelin thrower Barbora Špotáková, have voiced their concern over the recent events in Tibet, the International Olympic Committee is attempting to quiet such criticism by referring to a section in the Olympic charter banning athletes from making political statements.
With Olympic attendance becoming a contentious issue for Czech athletes and politicians alike, Sklenka weighed in on what the sporting event could mean for the future of Tibetan-Chinese relations. “China says the Olympics should not be ideological. On the other hand, hosting the games is being presented as a great success for Chinese leadership and society,” he said. “My hope is that the Olympics will draw a crowd of international tourists who will venture beyond the capital and realize that the real China doesn’t fit the descriptions of the Chinese government — that there are still profound problems there.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


Help us improve The Prague Post - fill out our Reader's Survey.

Other articles in News (26/03/2008):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Book of Lists

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.