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Tibetan writer Jamyang Norbu launches ‘High Asia Research Center’ in NY

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The founder of High Asia Research Center in New York city during the launch (Photo/Facebook)

By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, March 21: Well known Tibetan writer and vocal Rangzen activist Jamyang Norbu launched the much-awaited ‘High Asia Research Center’ at Jackson Heights in New York on Saturday. The library cum centre for research is an attempt by the writer to create a space for academic rigour for all generations from Tibetan and High-Asia communities.

The Crossword Book Award recipient told the audience at the launch, “The High Asia concept started as a new reference library here and meeting point for developing news and others who are interested in having a civilized and informed debate on issues relating to Tibet but also issues related to other denizens of high Asia, including Mustang, Sikkim, Bhutan, Xinjiang and also from Kazakhstan.”

The author of ‘The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes’ said that the idea of a research center was first formed eight or nine years ago, along with noted peers including late Prof. Eliot Sperling and life-long Tibet supporter and Peter Brown among others. “We don’t just live in a sort of academic daydream, we are thinking in terms of what we could do to promote the Tibetan struggle and the Tibetan cause, and to provide information to the world,” activist Norbu further remarked. The influx of a growing number of Tibetans in the US also compelled the scholar to revisit his long-time goal for an academic space where young Tibetans, students or otherwise, could join the contemporary discussions on Tibet.

“We have the Tibetan Youth Congress, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibetan Women’s Association, Tibetan National Congress, and Chushi Gangdruk and a number of other organizations that are strenuous in their advocacy for Tibet. But one of the things I think they all lack in some ways is exact information on what we are fighting for, who we are speaking for, and that is profoundly important if you want to do something that is effective,” Jamyang Norbu explained while emphasizing the need for adapting knowledge into action, as he invoked Russian and Chinese communist revolutions as examples of what ordinary people can do with the sea of information available to all.

Jamyang Norbu has been called a “radical Tibetan separatist” by the Chinese government media mouthpiece People’s Daily. The activist has been a vocal critic of the Middle Way Approach (Umaylam) which is the official policy of the Tibetan government-in-exile, known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). He also co-founded the well-known Amnye Machen Institute at Dharamshala along with noted scholars Tashi Tsering, Pema Bhum and Lhasang Tsering in 1992. Norbu’s writings, including essays available on his blog Shadow Tibet, are read widely both inside Tibet and in exile.

3 Responses

  1. Jamyang Norbu has been rocking since the 70s, before some of us were even born. His name was very familiar to me even before I set my foot in Dharamsala. I might have seen his name in Tibetan Review I used to pick up from the store once in a while. In the late 90s, I remember seeing him give a talk alongside late Dawa Norbu at DIIR hall. As soon as the new millennium struck, he surprised us with his Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, which won the Crossword Award, purported to be India’s Booker. People say good things about his Illusion & Reality, but I equally enjoyed his Khampa Warriors: Story of Aten. We see the George Orwell side of him in that book. Holding my breath for his next, War & Peace in Tibet.

  2. It is heartening that a HIGH ASIA RESEARCH CENTRE has been established by award winning author and Rangzen activist Jamyang Norbu. Jamyang Norbu has been the most influential writer in the English language among Tibetan exiles in the last sixty odd years. His writings in the Tibetan Review during the crucial period of the exile’s effort to present the Tibetan narrative to the outside world has been commendable. There are few Tibetans who write in the English language and we can count them on our fingers. Even though it’s been more than six decades in exile, very few Tibetans have learnt good English let alone write in the language. Jamyang Norbu is undoubtedly the most prolific and most influential of them all.
    Prof Dawa Norbu was a writer in English too but he has not been as critical as JN on the atrocities of the CCP regime in occupied Tibet. Dawa Norbu wrote about Tibet as a scholar and not as an activist. There is no passion in his writings about Tibet. JN, on the other hand is also a rabid anti-communist which made his writings hard hitting and full of disdain for communist China and its leaders. On the other hand Dawa Norbu was influenced by Indian communists at St Stephens College and seem to have a soft heart for Marxism. This is evident in his book “red flag over Tibet”.
    Both writers were subjected to the harsh reality of Tibetan religious fanaticism and suffered alienation and ostracism in the community. Dawa Norbu was viciously attacked after his editorial in the Tibetan Review suggested that Tibetans should not be beholden to one single leader and that anyone who has the ability should be considered. He had to run for his life from Dharamsala to escape a lynch mob who were baying for his blood! There were many such lynch mobs and there was one in Kathmandu too. Kalon Wangdu Dorje was dispatched to calm ruffled feathers there. I saw nothing wrong with DN’s statement and spoke in favour of his stand at a meeting in Ganden Khangsar, then the Office of the Representative in Nepal. I was spat upon after the meeting!
    For his good fortune, DN got the backing of the Dalai Lama himself! It was amazing when a short note was circulated which said DN’s statement was like a blossoming flowers! མེ་ཏོག་བཞེད་པ་ལྟ་བུ་ in other words, the young minds of Tibet were opening up the new frontiers of progressive thinking. I felt vindicated and wanted to meet him when I went to Kalimpong in 1973. But my host and school mate would have none of it! So, I had to swallow a bitter pill.
    Likewise, JN has suffered even more than DN. His stand on independence for Tibet and his mild criticism of the Middle Way didn’t sit well with the religious bigots. They interpreted the criticism of Middle Way as criticizing the person of Dalai Lama even though they themselves make a differentiation that criticism of Chinese policy in Tibet is not the same as criticizing the Chinese people! JN and other independence advocates air their opinions which doesn’t endorse the Middle Way. However, that is not a personal criticism of the Dalai Lama but rather, they are using their democratic right of freedom of speech to speak ones own mind. Those who chastise such differing opinions are the enemies of democracy and enemies of free speech! It is to the detriment of the democratic institution that Tibetans are building in exile. The sycophants have weaponized the Dalai Lama to cast aspersions about the loyalty of JN to the Dalai Lama and smear him in order to destroy him. He is the only Tibetan writer who has won a significant award for his writing and even the CCP took notice of his writing campaign and called him a “radical Tibetan separatist”. This goes to show the damage he inflicted on the CCP’s narrative about Tibet. No other ordinary Tibetan except the TYC has left any impression on the CCP. Despite, public disenchantment and relentless campaign to reduce him to a pariah, HH The Dalai Lama called him personally and gave a private audience lasting quite a long time. Whether it’s with the late Prof DN or JN, the Dalai Lama saw the importance of their ideas and showed genuine respect and tried to understand their point of view. This demonstrates His belief in the democratic ideals of critical analysis and critical thinking based on intellectual honesty. Even though HH has accommodated him and resurrected him, programs like ཁ་བའི་མི་སྣ་by Radio Free Asia have never put him on their program! It goes to show their bias and vengeance against him. Since, it’s a public broadcaster, I would have thought every Tibetan who have made significant contributions would have been included!!!
    The Research Centre is a big step for those who pursue a life in intellectual quest but sadly, there are very few Tibetans who have any interest in such pursuit. Most Tibetans are after ཀུན་དགའ་དོན་འགྲུབ་ Their thinking is if you can make money, you are great! With such attitude among most Tibetans, it will be mostly used by western intellectuals and Tibetologists rather than Tibetans themselves.

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