Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 24: A group of Tibetan youth activists in Bern, Switzerland, organised an independent light projection after the organizers of the annual “Rendez-vous Bundesplatz” show scrapped a planned Tibet segment following pressure from Swiss parliamentary authorities who deemed the imagery “too political.”
The Tibetan Youth Association in Europe (TYAE), which led the protest action, stated that the removal reflected growing self-censorship within Swiss institutions regarding issues concerning China. On the final night of the official show, which concluded on Nov. 22, the youth group displayed their own projection on a white screen that read “STOPP ZENSUR” (“Stop Censorship”) in bold white letters. The visual showed a stylized face being forcibly silenced by a red hand bearing yellow stars, a direct symbol of Chinese censorship.
“The decision to remove Tibet from the original concept of the light show is disappointing and worrying,” TYAE said. “If even the beautiful Tibetan landscape needs to be censored, it clearly shows that Switzerland is afraid of negative reactions from China and is erasing Tibet in advance to avoid upsetting Beijing.”
They added that Switzerland, home to one of Europe’s largest Tibetan exile communities, should show “more backbone” instead of “making Tibetans invisible in our own adopted homeland.”
The 15th edition of the “Rendez-vous Bundesplatz” light show, titled Voyage, originally included a sequence featuring Tibet’s scenic beauty. However, the Administrative Delegation of the Parliamentary Services intervened before the show’s premiere, instructing organizers to remove the segment because Tibet was linked to “political questions.” The projection was subsequently replaced with an image of a Thai Buddha.
Parliamentary authorities told Swiss broadcaster SRF that shows on the Federal Palace must remain free of “political intentions,” given the building’s symbolic importance. Brigitte Roux, the show’s artistic director, accepted the directive “without objection,” according to CH Media.
The decision triggered criticism from politicians and academics. Fabian Molina, National Councillor and co-chair of the Parliamentary Group for Tibet, denounced the move as “a capitulation of Parliament to China” and “a restriction of artistic freedom.”
Ralph Weber, a China expert at the University of Basel, described the removal as an act of “preemptive obedience,” noting that the original Tibet scene was purely aesthetic and not politically charged.
TYAE said its independent projection was a symbolic response to the erasure of Tibet from the public space. “When even symbolic mentions of Tibet are removed for fear of backlash, it shows how fragile freedom of expression and art has become in Switzerland,” the group stated.
