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27 October 2011
ATC’s Communications & Government Relations Manager Tsering Kyinzom Dhongdue
For the past few weeks, I’ve been struggling to come to terms with the tragic developments in eastern Tibet. On Tuesday, another young monk, this time from Kardze which is not too far from Ngaba, became the eighth young Tibetan in the past one month to set fire himself on fire. The monk reportedly called for the unification of all Tibetans - inside and outside Tibet. Amid all the news reports from Tibet, I witnessed something powerful in Dharamsala yesterday. Sitting in my Sydney office and watching online the work of an ingenious young Tibetan artist, I celebrated a historic moment in the life of exile Tibetans.
Under a bright and blue October sky, residents and visitors to the Tibetan exile capital walked on a big patch of soil smuggled from Tibet. The Tibetans touched the soil and rubbed it in their hands. Some smelled the soil while others grabbed a handful and threw it in the air as an offering. For the many born in exile, it was the first time to step a foot on Tibetan soil. And for those who escaped to India as refugees five decades ago or in the more recent past, it was an emotional moment of reconnecting with one’s own land. Quite a few, including young kids, walked up to the stage and burst into songs.
I am talking about the art project by Tenzin Rigdol, an artist born in Nepal and currently living in New York. He brought 20 tonnes of soil from Tibet, and yesterday installed an art piece made of this soil at the playground of Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharamsala, his former school. A photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan national flag were erected as the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, inaugurated the art exhibit. It was aptly called “Our Land, Our People”.
Dharamsala is a special place. Having grown up in the Tibetan Children’s Village there, it is quite natural to feel this way.
Dharamsala is also a very important place because this is where the legitimacy of the Tibetan government thrives and young Tibetans like Tenzin Rigdol are educated. I was there a fortnight ago to attend my first meeting of the International Tibet Network, a coalition of Tibet support groups from across the world. Going back for the first time since moving to Australia six years ago brought back many old memories, one of which was a bit sad. My maverick father, an activist who has spent many years in Dharamsala, was no longer there. He and I had gone on many long walks together and shared many meals at the restaurants in Mcleod Ganj.
At the Tibet Network meeting over three days, I and my colleagues in the Tibet movement shared ideas, workshopped, strategised on campaigns and briefed each other on the work we do in our respective countries. Each of us was able to bring our share of knowledge from our own experiences. Whilst workshopping on a particular campaign topic, we were analysing our strengths as a movement.
As our trainer - the awesome Ali Reynolds of the Tibet Network, was making a list on the board, I mentioned the two biggest strengths of the movement - the spirit of resistance by the Tibetans inside Tibet and the young Tibetans in exile. An older Tibetan present there did not take my emphasis on the “young” Tibetans kindly, but he too had to agree with me. I owe my deepest gratitude to Tibet’s older generation for all their guidance, wisdom and inspiration. What I meant was that the young Tibetans today are making the best use of the modern education that many of our parents did not have access to.
So we have young Tibetans in exile harnessing our skills in various fields - whether in the fields of arts, activism, technology and so on. This is a real threat to the Chinese Communist Party. Check out a cool music video that has just come out. Karma Emchi’s first rap song on a Tibetan meat pastry, Shapale, had to be banned in Tibet.
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