La causa tibetana

Dharamsala es una ciudad al norte de la India. En la parte alta, llamada McLeod Ganj viven la mayor parte de los refugiados tibetanos. Por esa razón se la llama la pequeña Lhasa.  Tibet fue invadida por los chinos (que consideran que Tibet es una provincia de China) y la situación para los tibetanos se volvió peligrosa ya que los chinos intentan borrar su cultura y su religión. Cuando el 14º Dalai Lama abandonó Tibet , el primer ministro indio, Jawaharlal Nehru,  lo autorizó junto con sus acompañanates y seguidores a establecer un Gobierno Tibetano en el exilio en Dharamsala en 1960. Desde allí, denuncian la opresión y persecución a la que son sometidos los tibetanos y los movimientos que hace el gobierno chino para construir "una nueva provincia socialista" en Tibet. El 23 de enero el Centro Tibetano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia  denunció las últimas embestidas contra los tibetanos.

Artículo aparecido en The Tribune en esa fecha

Report: Tibet rights situation worsens  Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, January 23
The human rights situation in Tibet has deteriorated as the Chinese government has “increased its repressive policies towards the political, religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people”.
These allegations have been levelled in a 108-page annual report of the Tibetan Centre of Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), an NGO based at Dharamsala, which was released here today.
The report says the Chinese government follows highly repressive policies in ethnic minority areas such as Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
The situation throughout Tibet remained tense in 2011 following a massive crackdown on protests that swept the plateau in 2008. The Chinese security forces maintain a heavy presence and the authorities continue to restrict access and travel to Tibetan areas, particularly for journalists and foreign visitors, the report says.
The report further alleges that the Chinese government continues to build a “new socialist countryside” by relocating the Tibet population, including nomads.
Briefing mediapersons today on the situation inside Tibet, executive director of the TCHRD Tsering Tsomo and assistant director and researcher Jampa Monlam said 2011 witnessed increasing tension in Tibet.
They alleged that religious education was heavily proscribed in Tibet. Monks and nuns were unable to travel, making it difficult for them to seek education in Buddhist concepts which was not available at their home monasteries. All but three monasteries had undergone the strict patriotic re-education programme, which forced monks and nuns to denounce the Dalai Lama, they alleged.
They further alleged that the educational atmosphere fostered by the government stifled critical thinking, innovation and opportunities for learning. It closely monitored activities in schools and universities, and limited the use of the Tibetan language as a medium of education.
Chinese was already being introduced in rural pre-schools in an attempt to relegate the Tibetan language to a mere subject. The Tibetan culture was one step closer to extinction if its language was rendered irrelevant.
On the economic development in Tibet, the reports says that while economic indicators in Tibet sometimes look good, the benefits have largely been pocketed by Chinese migrants and Chinese companies and not Tibetans, who are being increasingly marginalised in their own land.
The report describes the forcible relocation of Tibetan nomads as a trick and says it ignores the fact that since ages nomads have been an integral part of the natural environment.
The report says that 12 Tibetans set themselves on fire within a span of nine months in 2011. The incidents of self-immolation are symptomatic of the greater plight that Tibetans find themselves in throughout the Tibetan plateau. The report says that China refuses to take any responsibility for the incidents of self-immolation. It has instead increased oppression in Tibet and continues to violate its international human rights obligation.


Durante nuestra visita, pudimos participar en una marcha de denuncia. Los tibetanos, entre ellos muchísimos monjes, bajaron desde la parte más alta de Mc Leod Ganj llevando velas y el cartel que figura más arriba. Marcharon hasta el lugar donde está el monumento a los mártires de Tibet. Este se encuentra ubicado en la entrada hacia la vivienda del Dalai Lama y los dos templos budistas donde da sus enseñanzas. 

La procesión se hizo después de la caída del sol. El acto fue conmovedor. Afortunadamente, después del discurso en tibetano, dieron la versión en inglés lo que nos permitió enterarnos de lo que había sucedido. Frente al monumento colocaron la bandera de Tibet Burning que está más arriba y sobre una mesita armaron un pequeño altar donde cada uno puso la velita que llevaba y algunos también colocaron una "kata", bufanda blanca que se presenta como ofrenda y que es bendecida por los lamas. En muchos lugares hay pequeños lugares con la foto del Dalai Lama, una kata alrededor de la foto y a veces una velita.