Robert Barnett heads the Modern Tibet Studies Program at Columbia University in New York. He says the protests in the Tibetan plateau have changed in recent months.

“It’s now involving significant numbers of people,” Barnett tells CBS News. “It’s spreading gradually from a core area to a slightly wider area of the Tibetan plateau, and it’s spreading among social classes. It is no longer just monks and nuns. It’s now spreading to villagers, to older people, to students who are protesting.”

Tenzin says resentment has built up in Tibetan communities as reforms implemented by the government in Beijing encourage Tibetans to forget their language, history and culture. He says the ethnic Han Chinese newcomers fail to understand or respect the Tibetans’ connection to the land.

Instead of lessons about Rebkong’s rich local history, he says students are taught “propaganda” about the Communist Party. “As a result we have become brainwashed. We are becoming less brave and less willing to tell the truth.”

In an example of the curriculum Tenzin is referring to, the South China Morning Post recently reported that the government had kicked off a campaign in Tibetan schools to teach children “awareness of national territory”:

Local authorities in Tibet have kicked off a campaign aimed at boosting public “awareness of national territory and education”, holding a celebratory event at a Lhasa primary school, state media reported earlier this week.

Photos of the event published by the Xinhua News Agency showed young students saluting the Chinese national flag during a flag-raising ceremony in the school’s courtyard.

“This is Tibet, this is Hong Kong and this is Taiwan,” the China News quoted a group of young students as they studied a map of China and learnt about its “proper usage” during a class.

According to the reports, the campaign hopes to strengthen awareness amongst students, the community and the media regarding affairs of national territory and identity.

Authorities are also taking harsher measures against self-immolators and their supporters. MaryKay Magistad reports for The World:

Read more about recent self-immolations via CDT.

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In confirmed reports received by Phayul, Lubum Gyal, 18, set himself ablaze in Dowa town of Rebkong, eastern Tibet at around 4:20 pm (local time) in an apparent protest against China’s continued occupation of Tibet.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency also reported on the incident, confirming that the self-immolator (Libong Tsering) succumbed to his injuries.

“Lubum Gyal set himself on fire in protest against the Chinese government in Dowa town,” Sonam, an exile Tibetan with close contacts in the region told Phayul. “Soon, a large number of Tibetans gathered and rescued his body from falling into the hands of Chinese authorities.”

[…] The Chinese officials were reportedly implementing the five-point notification issued by the Malho Prefectural office and Malho People’s government on November 14 giving stern orders to local officials “to punish self-immolators and their families; even those who had offered condolences and prayers to the bereaved family members and relatives.”

CNN reported more broadly on the self-immolations on Thursday. The network’s Paul Armstrong suggested that the difficulty of verifying news of the protests with journalists and independent monitors barred from the region has suppressed the level of media coverage abroad:

When a downtrodden Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire in protest after his vegetable cart was confiscated by officials, this desperate act of self-sacrifice was seen as a catalyst for a revolution that became known as the Arab Spring.

Contrast this with China, where almost 80 people — men and women — have self-immolated since 2009 in protest against Beijing’s poor treatment of Tibet, according to rights groups. Yet details of these cases are often sketchy and difficult to verify, such is the stranglehold China has over the region.

As a result the issue has yet to gain real traction internationally.

At Global Voices Online, Oiwan Lam translated messages left behind by 19 of the self-immolators, originally compiled in Chinese by Woeser. Two of the 19 were from Tongren:

Nyankar Tashi (娘尕扎西), 24 years old, self-immolated on November [12], 2012 in Tongren County, Qinghai Province. He left a letter to Dalai and Panchen Lama as well as to six million Tibetans:

Tibet needs freedom and independence. Release Panchen and let Dalai return home. I self-immolate to protest against the Chinese government! Father, please don’t be disheartened because of me. I follow the Buddha and Goodness. My wish is that six million Tibetans will learn their mother tongue, wear Tibetan clothes and be united.

Tingzin (丹珍措), 23-year-old herdswoman living with her parents and her six-year-old son, self-immolated on November 7, 2012 before the 18th National Chinese Communist Party Congress in Tongren […]. She left her last words to her father:

Father, being a Tibetan is so difficult. We can’t even say our prayer to Dalai Lama’s portrait. We have no freedom at all…

Nyankar Tashi’s message, like that of 18-year-old Nya Drul, stresses the importance of language and dress as defiant expressions of Tibetan identity. The widespread fear, both within Tibet and in exile, that such identity will be extinguished has given rise to the ‘Lhakar’ movement. From Lhakar Diaries:

Lhakar, meaning ‘White Wednesday,’ (the Dalai Lama’s ‘soul day’) is about resisting China’s occupation and the pressure to become sinicized by making the effort each Wednesday to speak the Tibetan language, wear Tibetan clothes, eat Tibetan food and shop at Tibetan merchants. Lhakar is about being Tibetan.

See more on Tibet and the self-immolations there via CDT.

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Tamding Tso, a 23-year-old mother who self-immolated on November 7.

Since 2009, a growing number of Tibetans have self-immolated in protest of Chinese rule. Tongren (Rebkong), a county in Qinghai Province, saw five self-immolations last week and two more today. Radio Free Asia reports:

Some Tibetan groups believe that recent Tibetan self-immolation protests have been timed to coincide with the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress in Beijing, and to send a powerful message of Tibetan discontent with Chinese policies to the new leadership.

It appears the authorities sensed this coming. On Tuesday, Tibetan writer and activist Tsering Woeser posted this announcement of heightened security in a Tongren market to her blog:

Public Announcement

To create a harmonious and stable social and cultural environment for the success of 18th Party Congress, based on the requirements of Article 2 of “Eliminate Obscenity and Strike Illegal Publications” [2012] and Article 88 of the document printed and distributed by the Tongren County People’s Government Office, a special clean-up campaign will be carried out in the Longwu Regional Culture Market as follows:

(1) Cultural businesses are strictly prohibited from selling pictures of the 14th Dalai Lama, as well as any audio, pictures, books, articles, pendants, etc. that incite the split of the country, promote “free Tibet,” or are obscene, pornographic, or vulgar.

Click to view image at full size.

(2) All Internet cafe managers must strictly implement Internet cafe management and regulations. Juveniles are prohibited from entering Internet cafes. Verify Internet users’ ID cards according to regulation. Put a stop to providing public ID cards or ID numbers to Internet users and running business past closing time with the doors and windows closed. Strengthen safety awareness, promptly remind consumers not to surf the Internet excessively, and strictly prevent the sudden deaths of consumers.

(3) All game centers, karaoke bars, and other entertainment places must not admit juveniles except on national holidays, or set up entertainment activities which include violence or gambling. Pay attention to fire safety and eliminate hidden dangers.

In the next few days, the Culture Market Law Enforcement Alliance of Tongren County will carry out random inspections. All business owners should closely cooperate with and accept inspection, listen to suggestions, and reinforce corrections. Meanwhile, we will coordinate with the Administration of Industry and Commerce as well as the police force to severely punish those who are operating illegally and who refuse to correct their ways despite repeated admonition. Those who violate the law will be turned over to judicial organs for severe punishment.

We hereby make this announcement.

Culture Market Management Office of Tongren County

September 17, 2012

通告

为了给党的十八大胜利召开营造和谐稳定的社会文化环境，根据州扫黄打非[2012]2号文、同办发[2012]88号文件要求，决定对隆务地区文化市场进行文化市场专项清理整治行动，特通知如下：

一、各文化经营单位严禁销售十四世达赖照片及煽动分裂国家、宣扬“藏独”淫秽色情及低俗的音像制品，图片、图书、文字、挂件等。特别是盗印此类图文情况。

二、各网吧经营户要严格落实网吧管理和各项规定，禁止未成年人进入网吧，按规定核对上网人员身份证，杜绝为上网人员提供公卡或身份证号、超时营业并锁门闭窗等情况，强化安全意识，及时提醒消费者注意上网时长，严防消费者猝死等事件发生。

三、各游艺、歌舞等娱乐场所，不得在非国家法定节假日接纳未成年人以及游艺娱乐设置含有暴力、赌博内容的游戏娱乐活动。注重消防安全，以及排除安全隐患。

近期同仁县文化市场联合执法人员将进行随时检查，各经营户要密切配合接受检查，听取意见、建议加强整改，同时在此次行动中将对存在违法经营行为，屡教不改者，联合工商、公安进行严厉打击，触犯法律的移交司法机关依法严肃处理。

特此通知

同仁县文化市场管理领导小组办公室

2012年9月17日

Via Tsering Woeser. Translation by Mengyu Dong.

Note: Rather than check ID, Internet cafes will sometimes provide a “public ID card” to customers. Back.

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As many as 6,000 people demonstrated against the government Thursday afternoon in Tongren, a monastery town in Qinghai province, after two self-immolations — a 23-year-old woman on Wednesday and a young former monk on Thursday, exile groups reported.

“The situation there is very tense as Chinese armed forces have placed severe restrictions on movement in the town and are now closing in on the protesters,” a member of the Tibetan parliament in exile told the Tibetan news service Phayul.

“We have heard that 2,000 to 6,000 people demonstrated, which are plausible numbers given that there have been protests of that size before,” said Harriet Beaumont, a spokeswoman for the London-based group Free Tibet.

She said the protests were carried out in response to the heavy troop presence and other stifling security measures, intimidating footage on television and harsh sentences for involvement in a protest or disclosure about demonstrations to outsiders.

The International Campaign for Tibet has more details:

As Jinpa Gyatso set himself ablaze, he could be heard shouting for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, according to a Tibetan source in exile. His body was taken by local Tibetans to an area where high lamas are cremated. According to other exile sources, following the cremation, Tibetans began to gather at the square where Jinpa had died, and some shouted slogans calling for the Dalai Lama’s long life and his return to Tibet. The situation remains tense.

Tibetans responded with similarly strong emotion to the self-immolation yesterday (November 7) of Tamdrin Tso, a 23-year old mother of a six-year old boy. Tamdrin Tso set herself on fire and died in the center of the Drorong Po village in Dowa township in Rebkong (Chinese: Tongren). According to Tibetans sources in exile, local Tibetans had noticed Tamdrin Tso praying for Tibetans who had self-immolated: “She said Mani mantra [mantras associated with the Dalai Lama] and took vows about fasting and not drinking. Also she prayed and offered butter lamps in the monastery. Local people said that even though Tamdrin Tso did all of these things, in the end she could not bear it. And she set fire to herself.”

Following the protests, armed police were sent in to patrol the streets. AFP reports:

Armed police in paramilitary vehicles stepped up patrols in Tongren, in the northwestern province of Qinghai, after “thousands of protesters” gathered on the streets on Thursday, London-based Free Tibet said in a statement.

The protests came after six Tibetans set themselves on fire on Wednesday and Thursday, the rights group said.
Local residents in Tongren who were contacted by AFP said they witnessed no demonstrations but reported a stepped-up security presence.

“There are lots of police on the streets. They have increased their patrols and they stay out for 24 hours a day,” a shopowner in the town centre who refused to give her name told AFP by phone.

Tongren has seen other recent protests, including this past March following another self-immolation there. More than 60 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest since 2009. In 2010, Tongren students marched to protest government plans to supplant Tibetan language with Mandarin in schools. Because of a tight security presence in many Tibetan areas, it is difficult for journalists and others to gather firsthand information from the scene of these self-immolations and protests.

Photos allegedly of the Tongren protests are being widely distributed online:

(photo from: Right Now I/O)

@ajenglish Happening now:- thousands student and Tibetans gathered in amdo rabkung calling for freedom for Tibet twitter.com/lhuboom/status…

— བོདཿ་ཀླུ (@lhuboom) November 9, 2012

Just in: Situation ‘very tense’ in #Rebkong, Thousands continue to protest #Tibet buff.ly/VH8cEV twitter.com/rajdeeptechie0…

— ☸ Rajdeep Sarkar ☸ (@rajdeeptechie07) November 8, 2012

Protests in Rebkong which started at 5am this morning #Tibet twitter.com/shannonvansant…

— Shannon Van Sant (@shannonvansant) November 9, 2012

Thousands of monks and students protest “cultural genocide” in Repkong during China’s party congress twitter.com/shannonvansant…

— Shannon Van Sant (@shannonvansant) November 9, 2012

[Banner says: Tongren police beat the common people.]

Meanwhile, in Beijing, where the country’s highest leaders are gathering for the 18th Party Congress, Tiananmen Square is under tight security and dotted with teams of firemen stationed to prevent any protesters from self-immolating.

Photo by Tom Lasseter/McClatchy, used with permission.

Update: Footage of the protests has been posted online:

And from Voice of America’s Tibetan service:

Radio Free Asia has posted additional footage here.

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U.S. broadcaster Radio Free Asia said in an emailed statement that Sonam Thargyal, a 44-year-old farmer and father of four, fastened cotton padding to his body with iron wire and doused himself with kerosene before setting himself on fire Saturday in Tongren, a monastery town in western China’s Qinghai province. He also drank kerosene, the broadcaster said.

“The Tibetans who were at the scene attempted to put out the flames, but death was very fast because of the kerosene inside and outside the body,” RFA quoted Dorjee Wangchuk, a Tibetan exiled in Dharamsala, India, with close ties to the Tongren community, as saying.

Thargyal called out for an end to Chinese rule in Tibetan-populated areas, the return of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan language rights, RFA said.

As many as 7,000 Tibetans took part in Thargyal’s funeral and cremation ceremony, the broadcaster said.

An earlier report from the Financial Times (via CDT) had said that relations between Tibetans and Han authorities in Qinghai were more peaceful than those in Sichuan, where most of the self-immolations have been occurring. Dozens of Tibetans, both monks and lay people, have self-immolated in the past three years, with cases increasingly in frequency in recent months.

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