Translated by J. T. Nubkhang
[This is a work of translation of an interview by Beijing based Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser with Iham Tohti on 5th September 2009, a few days before he was accused by the government of China of secession and the 12th tribunal of Urumqi city Interim Court sentenced him to life imprisonment and confiscated all his personal property. The original Chinese interview is in Tsering Woeser’s book无间空白，雪域出版社，民107.02; between pages 185 and 187. Ilham Tohti, apart from being Tsering Woeser’s personal friend, was a Uyghur rights activist and Associate Professor of Economics at the Minzu University of China before his arrest. The title is the translator’s creation.]
Right now, even though life is very hard for Uyghurs and we receive less support compared to Tibetans, still I am relatively optimistic about our future. But in the long run, I actually believe Tibetan people’s crisis seems far more serious.
One thing that Uyghurs have is perseverance. Uyghur people’s culture, economy, etc. will survive even after Chinese people (leave our land); Uyghurs can count on ourselves and survive in perpetuity. For example, Uyghur language, music, food, etc. are all intact, original. We even have our own cosmetics.
But Tibetans are not like this. Even though Tibetans and Uyghurs face the same dictator and colonizer, yet Tibetan people’s attitude and response are different (from ours). Tibetans are letting go of themselves, though some reluctantly, but some of their relinquishments are voluntary. For example, in Tibetan people’s everyday conversations they use many Chinese words and phrases, and the food they consume are increasingly Chinese. Tibetans not only sing songs in Chinese, but also compose music imitating popular Chinese songs. Chinese experts and scholars like to incorporate Tibetan culture into Chinese culture. While they are carrying out so-called researches in Tibetan culture, they simultaneously employ their techniques to interpret and rewrite Tibetan culture, yet Tibetan intellectuals seem to go along and agree (with their narratives) consciously and unconsciously. Consequently, there are a lot of things that are not their own mixed in their culture, but they don’t seem to know this.
Tibetan people’s self-abandonment is extremely tragic; the consequences will manifest themselves in the future. The most important thing is one’s own culture; if one fails to hold on to culture, it will disappear easily.
In addition, Tibetans mostly intermarry with Chinese. In the Central Nationalities University there are many Tibetan teachers, and most of them are either intermarried to Chinese or haven’t given birth to children. Giving birth, actually, is one important factor. I have two children, and my wife is pregnant with another child. Having many children may be a little exhausting, but this much one has to sacrifice. I always tell Uyghurs that if they can’t do anything for our people, they can at least give birth to children; even bearing only one child is a contribution. Because of my persuasion, my Uyghur friends, they are all intellectuals, who had just one child earlier now all have a second child.
But Tibetans seem sluggish even in giving birth to children. Among Tibetan intellectuals it seems there are many who do not want children.
Tibetan youngsters, though many have national consciousness, know very little about their own religion and culture; it is even hard to say if they have religious belief. Those Tibetan Middle Schools across China are assimilating Tibetan children effectively; this can be seen in various reports.
In regard to culture, I think Tibetans should align themselves closer to those countries that have similar beliefs like India, Thailand, etc. Looking at the current situation, Tibetan culture is becoming more and more like Chinese culture, and there are real possibilities that it would be assimilated or superseded. But Uyghurs align themselves culturally with Central Asian countries; the mutual feeling of affinity and identification between Uyghurs and the peoples of these countries are based on the same foundation. Even in regard to language and other things, Uyghurs would keep distance from Chinese culture.
Furthermore, Tibetan people’s complete reliance on the Dalai Lama is also a problem. One day in the future if he passes away, Tibetans will have nobody to rely on. What should they do then?
The translator is an Assistant Librarian at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamshala.
One Response
Ilham Tohti’s assement of the condition in occupied Tibet is truly grave! It is true that the older generation of Tibetans may be more religious but the younger generation of Tibetans have been deliberately brought up as non-believers by the Chinese communists in order to destroy Tibetan Buddhism once and for all! Today, one million Tibetan children have been forcibly removed from their families to be stripped of their culture, religion, language and identity. They are transformed into Chinese! Tibetans are forced to marry Chinese man, most of them Chinese PLA men who are settled in occupied Tibet as part of colonising agenda after they are discharged from duty. I myself have come across Tibetan woman having brought Chinese PLA fathered child into exile way back in the early 1970s. The CCP policy has been to encourage or even coerce intermarriage between Chinese and Tibetans to dilute the Tibetan population. They promise special treatment of the mixed marriage children to be recognised as Han Chinese who are then given preferential treatment in education and jobs. Many Tibetans would have fallen into this trap!
Even though the official propaganda is Tibetans are exempted from the one child policy, in reality, they didn’t spare the Tibetans and many Tibetan women were forced to abort their child and many Tibetan women were sterilised without their consent! Since, children are forbade from celebrating Buddhist holy days or even visit monasteries and see the monks, it’s only natural that the young Tibetans growing up in occupied Tibet have become irreligious. Bringing up children in an atheist atmosphere was practised by the Eastern European communists as well and from my own experience it seems to have had a devastating impact on the children’s total apathy as far as their religious life is concerned. They have no aptitude for religion at all when they grow up into adults! Tibetan children are most likely to suffer the same consequences in their life under Chinese colonial occupation.
In exile, HH The Dalai Lama’s presence has made a phenomenal difference with most children having an inkling of their religious heritage. They are not devout like the older generation but at least they have a very positive outlook on their religion by virtue of the Dalai Lama’s influence! Even though Tibetans are free to marry any one they wish but they should also take cognisance of the threat of Chinese assimilation policy and should marry among Tibetans themselves but it has not happened! Many Tibetan men including Rinpoches have gone out of their way to marry foreigners such as Indians, Nepalese, westerners, Chinese and Taiwanese. Switzerland has a significant population of Tibetans who are married to Swiss people. It has become so normalised that It has become a taboo to talk negatively in public about mixed marriage in Switzerland!
The children of mixed marriage with few exceptions are the lost children of Tibet. They can’t speak the Tibetan language and thus they have no affinity with Tibet or the Tibetan people. This phenomenon is happening even to children born to Tibetan parents. The parents complain that once the children attends school, they speak the Swiss Deutsche among themselves even at home and thus impossible for them to speak Tibetan. The result is these children have no interest in attending Tibetan gatherings such as Tibetan New Year or the Dalai Lama’s birthday! So, they become estranged from the Tibetan community! In occupied Tibet when children from different regions gather together, they are unable to understand each other’s dialect. The Kham and Amdo people can’t understand the Lhasa dialect while the Lhasans can’t understand the Kham and Amdo dialect so they speak in mandarin! This happened even in exile at Suja College in Northern India among Tibetan students coming from occupied Tibet. In occupied Tibet there seems an awareness about preserving the Tibetan language among certain people according social media but majority of Tibetans speak mandarin since the CCP has imposed one language for all schools and society as a whole.
Until now, thanks to the Dalai Lama, Tibetans in exile have kept their religious heritage intact but once the Dalai Lama is not on the scene, things will become even more grave. We are living in different countries and so it becomes indispensable to speak the language of our host country in order to get a job! So, the emphasis is on a foreign language rather than ours. Since life is hard and Tibetans don’t have skills like the locals, Tibetans struggle to make ends meet! In such vulnerable situations often, they are lured by Christian missionaries under the guise of helping them to convert to Christianity. This can be applied to other religions as Tibetans meet different people with different faiths at their work places. Matrimonial connections are also occur at work places, high schools and colleges. There has been case where a Tibetan girl was impregnated by a Turkish boy. When Tibetan parents tried to prevent the conjugal relationship between the two, the relationship between the parents and girl broke down and the girl drifted away! So, it’s very hard to shepherd children in an environment which is not conducive for the flourishing our own culture. It is going to be extremely challenging for the future to preserve our religion, language and culture unless, every parent inculcate in their children our values that are derived from Tibetan Buddhism, our language that is unique from any other language which is the heartbeat of the Tibetan people as a distinct race! Every Tibetan from high Lamas to ordinary folks have a huge responsibility to preserve the sanctity of the Tibetan race by avoiding intermarriages. Every child should be taught our language right from the time of its birth and the seeds of Dharma inculcated when they are young and impressionable. REMEMBER: WE ARE A THREATENED PEOPLE SO WE CAN’T ENJOY THE LIBERTY OTHER PEOPLE FROM FREE NATIONS ARE ENTITLED TO ENJOY! WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER TO SAVE OURSELVES FROM VIRTUAL EXTINCTION!