Opinions

I absolutely respect the Tibetan self-immolators. Whether they had clear visions, their intentions being achievable and realistic or not, their collective actions have inspired the courage of a nation.

Proponents of the Middle Way policy have recently been placing increased hope on Chinese law. Exhibit A in this argument is Article 31 of the Chinese Constitution, which allows for the creation of Special Administrative Regions such as Hong Kong. The claim is that Chinese law already provides for the type of autonomy that Tibetans demand, and what’s missing is only political will from China to implement its own law.

The Yiddish word “chutzpah”, pronounced “huspa”, has the exact same meaning as the Tibetan word “hamba”, and even shares a passing tonal quality to it. Leo Rosten, the humorist, defined chutzpah as “that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.”

In the video, she stands still in a street as a car goes by. Then, like the wick of an offering lamp, her body is hardly distinguishable from the fire burning up from her. The only thing clearly visible under the burning bonfire is her unmoving feet and the end of her robe. 



peaking in Paris on November 26, 2011, the Kalon Tripa, Lobsang Sangay, commented that the first 100 days of his administration has been "one of the busiest Kashag [cabinets] in recent memory". The Tibetan Political Review posted a low-key commemoration of this 100 day mark on the actual date – November 16 – but we believed that the American custom

ike most children, I was a rebel too, more inclined to do things that were opposed to our Buddhist values. My friends and I enjoyed catching fish and crabs in the ponds. We often tracked down birds’ nests and followed Indians hunting wild deer and pigs in the jungles of tribal Orissa.

These days whenever the Dalai Lama is received by any world leader or celebrity with a modicum of civility, Tibetans understandably become enormously pleased and gratified. In our somewhat desperate situation all publicity is regarded as good publicity.

In 2009, Kunga Tsayang — the imprisoned writer and environmentalist — wrote a bold essay titled Who are the Real Separatists? “China Television, Lhasa TV and others, while ignoring the truth, have excessively branded all Tibetans as separatists.

Leaving Lhasa for Beijing one month ago, I was relieved to no longer be living under martial law, with soldiers and police everywhere. But for Tibetans the pain follows wherever we go: The news that another Tibetan has set fire to herself arrives.

No lie is too big or small for the paid posters of Chinese propaganda, especially when it comes to attacking His Holiness the Dalai Lama and discrediting the peaceful nature of the Tibetan freedom movement.