65 years after the Tibetan uprising and the escape of the Dalai Lama (March 10, 1959), the Tibetan people are still trying to resist the colonial rule of the Communist Party of China (CPC) – as reported by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP): “The ongoing protests against a dam project in Sichuan Province show that the Tibetan people’s desire for independence remains unbroken – despite decades of repression and indoctrination,” stated Hanno Schedler, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, in Göttingen on Friday. “The Chinese government’s answer to the peaceful protests follows a well-rehearsed pattern: More than 1,000 Tibetans were arrested, and violence is used during interrogations.” If the mega dam project were to be implemented, several Tibetan villages and Buddhist monasteries would be flooded.

Since the invasion of Tibet in 1949/1950, the CPC has committee countless crimes against the Tibetan people. With the so-called 17-Point Agreement in 1951, Tibet lost its independence. Initially, the Chinese government pledged to respect Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan culture – but the destruction began just a few years later. “To date, thousands of monasteries have been destroyed, there is evidence of ongoing torture of Buddhist nuns and monks, and they are sent to labor camps and politically indoctrinated,” Schedler added. “Under state and party leader Xi Jinping, the CPC has become even more radicalized over the last few years. At his order, the same methods are used against the people of Tibet as in the genocide crimes against the Uyghur people of Xinjiang.” Thus, the CPC relies on a system of compulsory boarding schools for Tibetan children, as a means to accelerate their assimilation into the Han majority. In the boarding schools, the children are forced to speak Mandarin – but they aren’t taught anything about the Tibetan language, history, or culture. Thus, Tibetan children become disconnected from their own community. This method is a clear violation of international human rights standards. “The CPC is increasingly using the Chinese word ‘Xizang’ for the autonomous region of Tibet, in order to enforce the colonization on a linguistic level as well,” Schedler said. 

Since 2016, the Chinese government has also been working towards the destruction of the two major Buddhist Institutes Larung Gar and Yachen Gar.  Larung Gar was once one of the world’s largest institutes of Tibetan Buddhism. Half of the monks, nuns, and students living there were expelled, and there are now only about 5,000 remaining.

On Sunday, March 10, 2024, the Society for Threatened Peoples will take part in a vigil in Berlin on the occasion of the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising – organized by the Tibet Initiative Deutschland and the Association of Tibetans in Germany. The protest march under the Motto Für Freiheit statt Angst (“For Freedom Instead of Fear”) will start at the Brandenburg Gate at 2 pm, then on to the Foreign Office and the Chinese Embassy.