SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TIBETANS AND TIBET SUPPORTERS CALL FOR A BOYCOTT OF THE EXHIBIT, “TIBET: TREASURES FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD” CURRENTLY AT BOWERS MUSEUM IN SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA
Santa Ana, California, February 21, 2004: — Today, Tibetan New Year’s Day, is traditionally the biggest day in the Tibetan calendar for celebration with family and friends. Instead, local Tibetans and Tibet supporters are gathering in protest in front of Bowers Museum of Cultural Arts in Santa Ana. Repeated requests for a face-to-face meeting between Tibetan community leaders and Museum officials to address issues of concern surrounding the current exhibit, “TIBET: TREASURES FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD,” have been refused.
Museum officials have claimed that they want to avoid politics, yet they have done nothing but engage in politics by acting in accordance with wishes of the authorities from the People’s Republic of China. They have done everything in their power not to offend the Chinese government, which currently rules Tibet, by presenting the exhibit without the context of complete Tibetan history. The selection of objects and captions are designed to create the impression that dynasties that ruled China also ruled Tibet for centuries. This is in keeping with Chinese government efforts to rewrite Tibetan history by dating Tibetan art by Chinese dynastic periods.
For example, caving in to Chinese pressure, there is zero mention in the exhibit of the last owner and occupant of the Potala, even though many of the pieces came from the residence of the 14th Dalai Lama, still living in exile. There is also no mention that the exhibit represents the few that survived the massive destruction, in the last 50 years, of countless other treasures.
Museum officials have gone so far as to direct Tibetan monks (that they had invited) to remove a picture of the 14th Dalai Lama while a TV crew was filming the creation of a mandala, a religious ceremony. This act has saddened many Tibetan Americans that Beijing’s reach is such as to be able to exercise influence on a cultural institution in the United States, where freedom of worship is a constitutional right.
Museum officials played politics by first obtaining a letter of support from the 14th Dalai Lama and using it to gain support from Tibetans and Tibet supporters, but later refusing to display that letter in public because the Dalai Lama had asked to explain the objects on exhibit in their proper historical and religious context.
The past four months has demonstrated that the exhibit has become another propaganda tool in China’s arsenal to support its claim to Tibet and Bowers Museum is its witting or unwitting agent. Therefore, Tibetan Association of Southern California, Los Angeles Friends of Tibet and Orange County Friends of Tibet regret that we have no choice but to call for a boycott of the exhibit, “TIBET: TREASURES FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD,” which is going on a two-year tour of the United State.
CO-SPONSORS
Tibetan Association of Southern California, Los Angeles Friends of Tibet, Orange County Friends of Tibet
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS
Tibet Justice Center, Students for Free a Tibet, UC Santa Barbara Students for Free
CONTACTS:
Nawang Lhautara (909)224-0744 Tenzing Dhamcho (310) 528-7014
Tseten Phanucharas (310) 968-8831
