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Monks protest<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
One protest involved four monks from the local Dza Wonpo Ganden \nShedrub monastery who were detained after scattering leaflets. The \nsecond protest involved two young men who held a protest in solidarity \nwith the monks, both calling for Tibetan independence and expressing \nloyalty to the Dalai Lama. Given the already intense security \nrestrictions in the area, such protests have been increasingly rare \nsince 2008, when a wave of mostly peaceful protests spread across Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The monks, identified by Tibetan exile sources as Kunsal (20 years \nold), Tsultrim (18), Tamey (18), and Soeta (18), were seized by police \nin their rooms at Dza Wonpo monastery after they scattered leaflets in \nthe courtyard of the Chinese administrative office located across the \nroad from the monastery on Nov. 7. Police later detained the monks\u2019 \nreligious instructor, Shergyam Yang, a teacher at the monastery, but \nreleased him after 11 days, according to Jampa Yonten, a former monk \nfrom Dza Wonpo monastery who is now a monk in South India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Jampa Yonten, the leaflets called for independence for Tibet and for human rights and for rights of local people to be respected. The protest appeared to be a response to Chinese government efforts to coerce local nomadic people\u2014who were forced to vacate their land\u2014to display images of China\u2019s leaders, including Chairman Xi Jinping, and to praise the CCP in videos that state media could circulate. Those measures reflect a deepening anti-Dalai Lama campaign in the area, which has included raids on people\u2019s houses to check that they are not keeping any images of the Tibetan religious leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second protest<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Two weeks later on Nov. 21, two young Tibetan laymen named Choegyal \nand Yonten were arrested after they distributed leaflets in front of a \npolice station in Dza Wonpo village and expressed their solidarity with \nthe arrested monks in posts on the social media platform WeChat. The two\n young men recorded a video clip prior to the protest showing the Dalai \nLama and leaflets with \u201cBod Rangzen\u201d (\u201cIndependence for Tibet\u201d in \nTibetan) written repeatedly in red and black ink. The video was shared \nonline by Tibetan exile media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the same source, another monk named Nyimey, identified \nas the brother of Choegyal, was taken into custody on Nov. 18 after \nposting online expressions of support for the actions of those in \nprison. He was later released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chinese policies have caused deep suffering in Sershul, and from the \nresistance of the 1950s and \u201960s to the protests today, Tibetans in Kham\n are known for fiercely protecting their Tibetan identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Sershul area, Tibetan nomads have been forced to settle and to\n reduce their livestock, which has increased poverty as families are \nleft without a livelihood. Government subsidies are insufficient for \nliving costs. Compounding their distress, the local people have been \npressured by the Chinese government to demonstrate their loyalty to the \nCCP. They have been required to receive official delegations and make \nstatements to cameras for dissemination by official media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jampa Yonten said: \u201cThe pressure has been particularly intense since the 70th anniversary of the [founding of the People\u2019s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 2019], and settled nomads have also been required to display images of party leaders in their homes, just as they have across other areas of Kham and also in Amdo and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Every benefit they receive from the government is dependent upon this fake display, from raising Chinese flags to displaying images of Xi Jinping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to local sources, some nomads have refused to participate \nin these government propaganda exercises, creating divisions in the \ncommunity and endangering individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choegyal and Yonten, the two young laymen who protested with \nleaflets, also published online, under pen names, short verses \nexpressing their pride in their Tibetan identity and solidarity with \nothers who have made sacrifices for Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a translation<\/a>\n by Tibetan exile news outlet The Tibet Post, Yonten, known by his pen \nname Yangchenpa, wrote: \u201cHeroes who [have] sacrificed their lives for \nthe welfare of our nationals\/And the fighters who continue their \nstruggle for independence of Tibet\/I have had heard you were gone \nthrough the genocide, torture, and tyranny [sic] \/Because our \ncompatriots from Wongpo village are now fighting for freedom\/They were \nforcefully brought into the dark prison, I felt deeply saddened\/I will \nalso come up [arise] later, my compatriots!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choegyal, known by his pen name Drongdzi, wrote a verse entitled \n\u201cDiscourse\u201d: \u201cI have no knowledge of magnificent prosody\/I have no \nexquisite writing skills\/I also have no education of high-ability and \nknowledge\/But our national great pride lies on our shoulders\/Never give \nup!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the protests in November, Dza Wonpo has been under lockdown, \nwith an increased number of troops deployed and a large number of \nplainclothes police operating in the town, intensifying their \nsurveillance of people\u2019s everyday lives. This has led to distrust and \nfear, with many people staying in their homes. Images of the main street\n taken soon after the protest by Choegyal and Yonten show nearly \ndeserted streets in contrast to the usually busy roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the same sources, more aggressive sessions of \u201cpolitical\n education\u201d are underway at Dza Wonpo monastery, with certain monks \nforced to attend. As is common across monasteries in Tibet, a police \nstation is located inside the monastic complex, with additional \nsurveillance administered by the nearby local government headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2014, the International Campaign for Tibet has monitored a trend of peaceful solo protests in areas of eastern Tibet. This is particularly evident in Kardze, where the November protests occurred, and in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba), also in Sichuan. These areas have also been the site of numerous self-immolations. As a result, there appears to be a correlation between the occurrence of both peaceful protests and self-immolations in these two areas and high levels of securitization. In 2016, per capita domestic security expenses in Tibetan areas of Sichuan were nearly three times higher than for Sichuan province as a whole. Domestic security spending in Ngaba and Kardze grew by 295 percent<\/a> between 2007 and 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The peaceful November protests seem to reflect a wish by protestors to make a strong statement about freedom and loyalty to the Dalai Lama without undertaking the more extreme act of self-immolation, which Tibetans now know can lead to untold suffering for families and friends. The Chinese authorities have responded to the more than 150 self-immolations in Tibet with an intensified wave of repression and by punishing those allegedly \u2018associated\u2019 with those who set themselves on fire, including friends, families and entire communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dza Wonpo is an important monastery in the area that has a history of\n protest, resistance and crackdown, from the 1950s onwards. Jampa Yonten\n explains that it was taken over as a Communist Party headquarters in \nthe early years of China\u2019s occupation and was not returned to the \nmonastic community until the 1980s, following interventions on its \nbehalf by the 10th Panchen Lama, a major Tibetan Buddhist leader. The \nmonastery was rebuilt by local people during the period of relative \nliberalization that followed Chairman Mao\u2019s Cultural Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dza Wonpo was subject to a tight crackdown after the protests of \nMarch 2008. Eight monks from the monastery who were studying in Lhasa \nwere imprisoned, with one, Lodroe, finally released in 2018 after \nserving a 10-year sentence for participating in a protest. A Tibetan \nsource told Radio Free Asia:<\/a>\n \u201cHe had taken part in the March 2008 uprising in [Tibet\u2019s capital] \nLhasa, and was carrying the Tibetan national flag and calling out for \nfreedom for Tibet when he was arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crackdown in the area intensified further in 2012 when monks at \nthe monastery refused to hoist Chinese national flags, leading to scores\n of arrests and raids on people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/savetibet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/wonpo-600x337.jpg\")
Resistance and resilience in Sershul<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Expressions of solidarity by two protesters<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Town under lockdown since protests<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Crackdowns at Dza Wonpo monastery<\/h4>\n\n\n\n