Tibetan independence movement
By M.SU
The Autonomous Region of Tibet or commonly known as just ‘Tibet’ is located in the south west of China. The region sits on top of the Himalaya plateau, thus it is also referred to as the 'roof of the world'. Tibet has been traditionally occupied by an ethnic minority known as the ‘Tibetan people’. According to various historical records, Tibet’s independent status was interrupted by the mainland Chinese government in different time periods. In 1951 following the Chinese civil war, Tibet was incorporated to the CCP government through a treaty known as Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet. Since then, Tibet has been a part of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The agreement has been suffering controversy as some Tibetans including the 14th Dalai Lama Tianzin Gyatzo claimed that the agreement was "thrust upon Tibetan Government and people by the threat of arms." Furthermore, CCP soon broke the treaty by implementing mass socialist reforms in Tibet. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tibetans' lives were forced to make way for mining and urban developments. In 1987, the CCP responded to the Five Point Peace Plan with a clear rejection. But little did the CCP or international observers predict that mass protests would instantly break out in reaction to the rejection. Various mass protests were sparked in different regions of Tibet. Some protests included traditional forms of nonviolent resistance: hunger strikes, silence strikes and marches. Roadblocks were put down by Tibetans in main roads to inconvenient incoming security forces. Some monks used religious themed methods such as ‘Khorra’ (circumambulation) - circling temples or objects as protest. Other monks chose to do less risky forms of protest - ‘devotional prostrations,' which includes monks bowing their body to the floor. Different monasteries were used as resistance networks before and after each act of protest. Ordinary Tibetan citizens also practiced ‘Lhakar’(White Wednsday) as a form of peaceful resistance: during each Wednesday of the week, Tibetans would only shop in Tibetan businesses, eat Tibetan food and wear Tibetan traditional clothes. Even under tighter control later on, Tibetans still found ways to resist nonviolently. Some youth rebels when asked to write confession papers for the protest, folded the confession paper to paper airplanes instead. Tibetan artists in their pop songs used subtle lyrics to reference the brutality of the CCP and the support for the Dalai Lama. Websites were set up in foreign countries to broadcast the movement and gather international support. In the 2000s, large numbersof Tibetans used self-immolation - the act of setting themselves on fire to show their determination for independence.
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"Worst of all, I felt I was losing control of my own people. In the east they were being driven to barbarism. In central Tibet they were growing more determined to resort to violence; and I felt that I would not be able to stop them much longer, even though I could not approve of violence and did not believe it could possibly help us." - Dalai Lama in My Land My People
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