The build-up to conclaves like the BRICS summit underway now in New Delhi usually generates lofty rhetoric about the shifting of global power and the emergence of a new world order. The geo-political grouping, which brings …
dalai lama
Must-Reads from Around the World: March 23, 2012
Non-cooperation – The Jerusalem Post reveals Israel will not cooperate with an international probe into the effects of settlements on Palestinian human rights, after a 36 to 1 U.N. Rights Council vote in favor of the fact-finding mission Thursday. The U.S. was the only country to vote against it. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu labeled …
Chinese Premier Again Calls for Political Reform, But Will Anyone Listen?
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s three-hour press conference at the close of the National People’s Congress, China’s annual Communist Party-controlled parliament, was his last before he is expected to step down next year. The content …
As Tibetans Mark ‘National Uprising Day,’ Tensions Simmer on the High Plateau
It’s known as National Uprising Day to the Tibetans: on March 10, 1959, Tibetans, who had watched Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops march in less than a decade before, rebelled against communist rule on the high …
As Another Tibetan Monk Self-Immolates, China Declares “War” on Tibetan Protesters
The flames of discontent show no sign of fading. On Feb. 8, another Tibetan monk lit himself on fire to protest Chinese rule, this time in the heavily ethnic Tibetan province of Qinghai, or the northern swathe of a region …
An Unhappy Chinese New Year: Chinese Forces Shoot Tibetan Protesters, with At Least One Dead
Chinese New Year is a raucous time, with celebrants detonating firecrackers late into the night to scare off evil spirits. But in the remote Tibetan-dominated reaches of Sichuan province, in China’s far west, the crackles …
China Grumbles as the U.S. Expresses Concern over Self-Immolations in Tibetan Regions
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has some advice for its U.S. counterpart: Stop meddling in Tibetan affairs. Earlier this week, a U.S. State Department spokesperson expressed “serious concern” over a series of self-immolations in …
Indian Police Charge a Tibetan Spiritual Leader with Financial Conspiracy
The waiting room in the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in northern India is unremarkable, save for the small signs pasted on the wall: “Kindly do not make any offerings in foreign currency.” Many of the pilgrims who have come to …
Another Tibetan Nun Goes Up in Flames, While Chinese Tourists Holiday on the High Plateau
And now, it’s 11. On Nov. 3, a Tibetan nun set herself on fire in a remote Tibetan-inhabited county of China’s Sichuan province called Tawu (or Daofu in Chinese), according to exile Tibetan groups. Nine Tibetan monks (or former monks) and two nuns have self-immolated this year, the despairing acts of a people who contend their …
Another Tibetan Monk Sets Himself Ablaze—and the Karmapa’s Take on the Fiery Protests
Kham is on fire. This year, five Tibetan monks have set themselves ablaze in the ethnically Tibetan-dominated region of China’s Sichuan province that is part of an area called Kham in Tibetan. The most recent self-immolation was on Oct. 3 in a market in the town of Aba (in Mandarin) or Ngaba (in Tibetan), according to exile Tibetan …
From the Magazine: Tibet’s Next Incarnation
He has never been to Tibet, never breathed the thin air of the high plateau, nor spun a prayer wheel in the shadow of the great Buddhist monasteries. Yet on Aug. 8, 43-year-old Lobsang Sangay was sworn in as the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Born in a refugee camp in India and educated in the U.S., Sangay holds no passport or …
The Dalai Lama Promises To Clarify His Succession—When He’s Around 90
All will be clear when the Dalai Lama is around 90 years old. That was the message from the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader over the weekend, as he convened a conference of various Tibetan Buddhist sects in the Indian hill station of Dharamsala. Although the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 76, is in good health, the issue of what will …
Tibetans in Exile Mourn Monk Who Set Himself Aflame
The Tibetan National Martyrs’ Memorial is a black obelisk in Dharamsala, the Indian hill station that serves as the headquarters of exiled Tibetans who have fled their Chinese-ruled homeland. Usually the slender monument is surrounded by a colorful tangle of Tibetan prayer flags. But on August 16, the base of the memorial was …