Repression in Tibet has been forgotten

Audio 03:31

By: Heike Schmidt

While the entire planet is watching the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the repression suffered by ethnic and religious minorities in many parts of the world continues and may go unnoticed. Like Tibet, this autonomous Chinese region is ruled with an iron fist by Beijing. Buddhist monks are expelled from their monasteries there and forced to become "good communists".

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A bulldozer knocks down a freshly erected wall under the eyes of monks ... this amateur video only lasts seven seconds, but the person who dared to film the scene took the risk of being arrested or even tortured. Rarely do such images come out of the confines of Tibet, says Kate Saunders, a longtime observer. This clandestine video was filmed in a small isolated monastery, located about 3,000 meters above sea level, in Chamdo, in the east of the autonomous region of Tibet:

“  On April 1, the authorities came to give orders to stop the construction of new dormitories. The next day, the police razed the building. The abbot was beaten, two monks were threatened with prison. All were expelled. This demolition shows the control of the Chinese state over even the smallest monasteries, the smallest centers of Tibetan Buddhism . "

Will the twenty or so monks expelled from this monastery suffer the same fate as the religious who studied Buddhism at Yachen Gar and Larung Gar, these two great monastic cities in the Tibetan part of Sichuan? NGOs estimate that some seven thousand monks and nuns have been chased since 2016 from Larung Gar and more than 5,000 from Yarchen since 2019, their homes destroyed.

Why is Beijing attacking Buddhists? Response with the Tibetologist Katia Buffetrille author of the book The Golden Age of Tibet  : “  The religious who are at the head of these monastic cities are extremely charismatic and have spiritual power over many Tibetans and also Chinese. Which is unbearable for the Communist Party which sees it as a competition. As we know, it is not admitted that there is any power other than the Communist Party.  "

Instead of studying Buddhist writings, praying and meditating, monks and nuns are forced to learn how to become good communists: " Buddhism, like any other religion, must be sinised, that is, 'He must put himself at the service of socialism with Chinese characteristics. All religious leaders are asked to become party propagandists ! We saw videos that were taken in an internment camp where nuns sang patriotic songs ! This is rehabilitation, it is brainwashing . "

This video published in 2017 by the NGO Human Rights Watch shows a group of women with shaved hair. Dressed in military jackets, standing and in a row, they sing in chorus to the glory of the motherland. Forced re-education out of sight. And the coronavirus epidemic has further strengthened the repression, says Kate Saunders: "  China considers Tibetan religion and cultural identity to be a 'dangerous virus'. Now that a real deadly virus is rife, the Chinese state is imposing complete control over Tibet. "

Tibet: an ideal laboratory to test and perfect the tools of mass surveillance, then deployed throughout China.

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