01 Feb 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Several Tibetan-language blogs hosted in China are reported to have gone offline today, amid a period of severe unrest. AmdoTibet’s blog section has been temporarily shut down, a message on the site reads, “due to some of the blog users not publishing in accordance with the goal of this site.” Tense events of recent weeks have included a stream of self-immolations in Tibet protesting against Chinese rule, and more recently, deadly clashes between officials and demonstrators.
05 Jan 12 | Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
A Tibetan writer has been sentenced to four years in jail by a Chinese court in eastern Tibet. Kalsang Tsultim, also known as Gyitsang Takmik, was first arrested in July 2010 for committing what the Chinese authorities termed “political error.” He had widely circulated a Video Compact Disc (VCD) in which he urges the international community to “act swiftly on behalf of the Tibetan people” to end repression in the tense region, while calling for the return of the Dalai Lama from exile.
14 Nov 11 | Asia and Pacific, China
The long arm of Chinese soft power has reached Bollywood.
Indian censors have ordered the makers of Rockstar to cut or blur scenes showing images of the Tibetan national flag, which features in one of the film’s song and dance numbers. The movie opened last Friday with the required cuts.
The controversial sequence was a crowd scene filmed at Mcleod Ganj, a hill station town in northern India and home of the Dalai Lama since he fled Lhasa in exile in 1959.
Tibetans in exile naturally are incensed and have been staging rallies. It is not clear why the flag has been banned from the romantic musical, but Indian media speculated that India is bowing to pressure from China.
Kunsang Kelden, New-York based Tibetan activist and former board member of Students for a Free Tibet, told us: “It is outrageous that a vibrant democracy such as India, with an equally vibrant film industry, should bow down to Chinese pressure, violate free speech and censor the Tibetan flag.”
Rockstar’s director Imtiaz Ali may have the last laugh though.
According to Indian media his next film will be about the Tibetan independence movement.
“Reliable sources say that the movie will have political turmoil as one of the aspects along with love brewing between a Tibetan and a multi-millionaire Indian boy,” reports The Times of India.
It will be interesting to see how the censors deal with that.
18 Jul 11 | Index Index, minipost
Three nuns have each been jailed for three year after they staged a peaceful street protest, chanting “Free Tibet” and “long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama”, on 15 June. The women, aged between 21 and 31, are part of the Gyemadrak Nunnery in Tibet and were arrested by Chinese authorites hours after the protest began. The nuns have been named as Jampa Choedon, Sheh Lhamo and Tashi Choetso.
