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INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
PROTESTS IN TIBET SINCE MARCH 10, 2008
“I thought that this [the uprising] was the right thing to do. I participated in the
protests and was among the protestors in the area of Ramoche monastery [in Lhasa]
for about two hours [on March 14]. I knew that the protests were expressions of Tibetan
despair over Chinese oppression in our own country.”
— a Tibetan participant in the March 14 protests, testimony to ICT
“It could be that they [the protestors, particularly referring to the monks] could not take
oppression any more. The fact that the Chinese are forcing Tibetans to denounce His
Holiness the Dalai Lama everyday makes Tibetans put their lives on the line and protest.”
— a Tibetan source who witnessed a protest in Kardze on March 18,
speaking to the Tibetan newspaper in exile Bod Kyi Bang Chen
“I think the main issue [behind the protests] was getting China to allow the Dalai Lama
to come back to Tibet, as well as human rights. [...] I think these were defensive protests,
concerning questions of national identity.”
— Professor Tsering Shakya, New Left Review 51, May–June 2008.
THIS NEW LIST OF PROTESTS prepared by ICT and the map showing their geographical
distribution shows the rapidity and intensity with which unrest
spread through eastern and far eastern regions of the plateau following the
events in Lhasa on March 10–14. These are predominantly rural areas, most of which
have not seen nationalist uprisings since the 1950s, and some of which enjoy the
highest levels of economic development and educational opportunity of all Tibetan
regions of the PRC.
If it were true that the majority of rural Tibetans are reconciled with Communist Chinese
rule and prospering under recent economic policies, Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture (Chinese: Gannan TAP) in Gansu province and eastern Qinghai,
the most affluent Tibetan regions, in closest proximity to urbanising centres in mainland
China, should provide the most evidence of this. Instead, they were at the forefront
of the uprising. This was not just in relatively politicised monastic centres like
Labrang (Chinese: Xiahe) in Kanlho TAP and Rebkong (Chinese: Tongren) in Malho
TAP in Qinghai province: March 2008 brought the names of places like Machu (Chinese:
Maqu) in Kanlho TAP, Amchok Bora in Chone (Chinese: Zhuoni) in Kanlho TAP,
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