Urgent Blogpost by Woeser; Lhasa Public Security Bureau Summon Her
High Peaks Pure Earth has translated an urgent blogpost by Woeser describing how she was summoned on the phone by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau. The blogpost was written approximately one hour ago.
“Urgent: Someone on the Phone Claiming to be from Lhasa City Public Security Bureau Summoned Me”
By Woeser
At 11:11am, mobile phone number 13989990059 called me on my mobile.
The caller claimed to be from Lhasa City Public Security Bureau and immediately summoned me to the Public Security Bureau.
I asked why I was being summoned.
He said that there was something he needed to discuss with me.
I said I would not go, I had no reason to go to the Public Security Bureau.
He said of course there is a reason, you know what you have done.
I said I had not done anything illegal. I said that if they wanted to come to see me that was fine but they had to follow the correct procedures.
He said yes, we will come and we will follow the correct procedures.
At this point I can’t get on Twitter.
Readers of my blog, please pass on this message and also put it on Twitter.
Thank you!
Woeser
November 1, 2010 11:40 AM
I request all readers of this blog to spread the word about this incident. Woser la is a tremendously brave Tibetan, but I am sure such a summon by the PBS would make anyone of us very nervous. Let us help her by letting the world know what is happening. JN
surely, that’s an outrageous assault on the dignity of a beloved tibetan writer, and blatant voilation of international law. PSB should be spanked 50 lashes on their arse by UNO, and restore the communist bully to justice.
I was deeply disturbed by the incident. Such a shame!
Fareed Zakharia; Host of of Global Public Square/CNN recently described the bosses of the Communist Party of China as ‘PRIMITIVE’ for CENSORING (china) his interview with premier Wen Jiabao that was aired to the Free world on 10/01/2010.
To all fellow Tibetans,our friends and supporters, I beseech you all to follow these developments closely. Be prepared to raise hell if anything ( and I mean ANYTHING) happens to Woserla. She is the most courageous and eloquent spokesperson for the plight of our brethren inside occupied Tibet and we must ensure that her voice is not muzzled by the thugs in the PSB. Call the UN, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, anyone. Also remember Hu Jintao is coming to NA soon, and he should be ready to face the consequences, if they so much as touch Woserla.
Jamyang la, I already posted the news on my facebook page.
me too!
Dear Jamyang la, I already published the news on my blog (www.freetibet.eu).
Piero
A twitter user named Yangpigui said today at around 1:00pm (Lhasa local time) s/he managed to talk to Woeser. Everything would be normal despite an Internet cutoff, and the call would have been an intimidation tactic in order to get Woeser out of Lhasa: http://bit.ly/dfqyFq
Hi guys, do not worry too much about Woeser, she will be fine. Please do not “ri bong gnam rdig gyi sdug bsngal” you have no idea that we inside Tibetans are more worry about those who are suffered in Chinese jals for their outspoke for the right of the Tibetan people, promotion of our culture,these people have the real impacts and influence among the ordinary Tibetan people in Tibet. It is the routine of chinese secret security to call and warn Tibetans including Woeser. Weoser’s case not special and she will be fine as loog as she is the wife of Wang lixiong and writes in Tibetan, so please pay more attention to what is happening for the Tibetan language, religion belief, and the life of the ordinary people in Tibet.Thanks.
Translation of tweet by @tengbiao http://bit.ly/acJBNk at around 4pm (Lhasa time): “Woeser who is in Lhasa at the moment is allowed to leave her house but is followed by security agents. Her internet is still down, Woeser has complained, the internet company says they are repairing her connection.”
this is very sad message and at the moment what we have to do is declare her stuation at Lhasa .
Translation of tweet by Woeser @degewa http://bit.ly/cttybk Dear friends on Twitter, I’m finally back online! Thanks to all of you who showed concern for me over the last 3 days, thank you to lawyer Li Fangping, thanks to the media for reporting, in brief, nobody came for me, my internet connection “broke and was repaired”, a car appeared from early morning till late at night outside my door, I was followed everywhere but it seems that nothing too bad has happened, thanks to all!
Yes, of course due to the technology power, we could get swift message from Woeser about her getting threatening call from somewhat call PSB. I think it is due to her popular in Tibetan community and outside world, she could boldly spread this incident in her twitter. I hope during her staying in Lhasa, she could get good and reliable and needy information to publish on her twitter, so that we, the outside people can hear it. Pray for her safety. Even one Tibetan in Tibet is important for us in exile Tibetan, whether he\she is popular or common one.
It’s great to hear that things may not be as serious for Woeser as they might be. Speaking of internet connections, though, I have not been able to connect to Phayul.com for the past three days. Does anyone know if they are having a problem, or is it on my end? Thanks.
Phayul is still on D.O.S attack.
Dave
I have just been able to get back on Phayul after 3 days. I asked on my facebook if it was under cyber attack and Tashi la said it was and Voice of Tibet was too. Maybe just a coincidence that these cyber attacks coincided with Woeser la trying to get word out that she was being heavied.
BTW: The message I got on my computer when it could not connect with Phayul was that heavy traffic was preventing connection with the server. I take it that is consistent with a cyber attack.
Thanks, THENORBU & BILLK. I also just tried to get back on Phayul but can’t yet. As you suggest, it is interesting that these attacks happen when Woeser is trying to get her story out.
wats DOS?
@18,
Denial of Service
Speaking of Phayul.com again, just tried to access it & noticed at the bottom of my screen that Phayul switched to something called TangDynastyTimes.com and then to some “blogspot” site, so I cancelled. Don’t know what this is, but I wonder if someone is trying to connect Phayul readers to some malicious site now.
Ganchenba,
I hear you. We will not forget the ordinary tibetan men and women who do extraordinary things expecting nothing in return. They are really heroes. My prayers are with Woeserla and all of them.
Hi Jamyang-la
I believe you went to school in North Point, Darjeeling. Over the years, many alumni have been re-connecting and we have had several reunions all over the world. Perhaps next time you are down in California, we can organize a mini-reunion of North Pointers in Los Angeles. Also, you will find many of your Darjeeling North Point friends on http://www.npalumni.org/Listings.htm. My email address is ashok@asmara.com.
Thanks and best regards
Ashok Sadhwani
NP ’64-’71
Thank you JN-la for posting Woeser-la’s message here in English.I think,I saw the same on facebook and remember writing a comment on there too.
My reminder to all our brothers and sisters in exile,that,we should always take any thing and every thing happening around our activist brothers and sisters in Tibet very,very seriously, though Gangchenba says otherwise.I can also understand his/her concern too.We all are.
Writers like Woeser-la are Tibetan activists who are internationally famous, well known and very well respected.Likes of her keep us well informed of the situations in Tibet,and watch out for our brothers and sisters in the prisons in Tibet too.
Thank God,every thing seems to be okay with her as of now.I was,like every body else,very worried about her.Still am.
Thank you Jamyang Norbu La for the alarm, we should always give special attention to the Tibetans inside tibet who might one day slap Chinese Government so hard. They murdered 10the Penchen Lama silently. This could happen to any important Tibetans…
It seems to me that Chinese government has become more noticeably crazed in the past few months, even more in the past weeks.
The anti-Tibetan language moves (usually conducted subtly, but now it seems publicly, in a brazen fashion), the steep increase in censorship (Liu Xiaobo discussions, Wen’s speech, the shutting down of blogs, arrests of Liu’s family/friends, threats against Woeser).
Tibetan website forums are down (Phayul), there are many reports of DDoS attacks including nearly the entire nation of Burma; even the trash sites like YouTube are suddenly flooded with wumaodang activity.
Does anyone have any theories? Is this a nationalist tantrum, in reaction to Liu or the islands or whatever, or a calculated hardening of policy in general? Is the Xi Jinping Clique already starting to call some shots, maybe early, to head off any “Wen Jiabao democracy effect?” Do the hardliners really think that becoming increasingly totalitarian, in a modern world, is going to bring anything but chaos?
A father whose son attends school in Tongren was quoted 9 hours ago as saying, “We are Tibetans, it’s not right for us to not be able to study the Tibetan language. If this continues, we won’t listen to the government anymore.”
I can’t remember the last time a Tibetan in Tibet was quoted saying something quite like that.
Woesser is actually half Han, I think from her father’s side, so she shud be called a Han writer.
Dorjee69,
Regarding Woeser’s origin, please read Rich’s comments http://bit.ly/ci2opK as well as Jamyang’s http://bit.ly/dBZH1v
“MAY THE DEITIES PROTECT THE SNOWLAND” BY WOESER
From High Peaks Pure Earth blog
A few days ago, the Norwegian magazine “Ny Tid” asked me if I would write an article about Liu Xiaobo. As is widely-known, on December 10, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee will bestow the Nobel Peace Prize on Chinese independent scholar Liu Xiaobo, this day is also International Human Rights Day. The media’s assessment is that this year’s award has definitely been bestowed by international civil society on an individual Liu Xiaobo to recognise, encourage and support all of those who have struggled for all these years for freedom, democracy and human rights in China and to defend universal values. This makes me think of all the Tibetans who share in the same pursuit at great cost and after thinking about this, I’d like to write an article about these Tibetans who, although not known, are equally worthy the world’s honour and attention, for example, Dolma Kyab.
This is a Tibetan from Amdo who taught history in a middle school in Lhasa and was imprisoned because he wrote an unpublished book “The Restless Himalayas” as well as essays on environmental protection, women’s rights and so on. In the winter of 2005, on grounds of “inciting state subversion”, the Lhasa court sentenced Dolma Kyab to ten and a half years in prison, just half a year less than Liu Xiaobo. At that time it was said that Dolma Kyab was transferred to a labour camp in Xining but recently it has been said that he is detained in Lhasa’s Chushur Prison, notorious as the place for imprisoning heavyweight political prisoners, a source said that the 34 year old Dolma Kyab was in poor physical health.
His book “The Restless Himalayas” discusses various topics such as the concepts of Tibet’s history and geography, the unity of Tibet’s three provinces, sovereignty, the birth of democracy, China’s political system, Tibet’s right to autonomy, colonialists, nationalism, Tibetans under Communism, rescued memories, the evil of politics, defeating the enemy to regain freedom, the responsibilities of Tibetan lamas, Tibet’s crisis and the way forward, the new generation of Tibetans and so on. Three years ago, after I read a digital version of his book, I sincerely recognised that Dolma Kyab was the true voice of Tibet. Writing like a Greek philosopher and with his unyielding national spirit, as well as now having to spend ten and half years in a harsh prison environment, he shows that he is able to enlighten the Tibetans, especially the Tibetans who were educated about Chinese culture. This will be engraved on the history book of Tibet, he is invigorated by the glory of the autonomy enjoyed by the Tibetan nation in the past, even though he is heavily hit with the pain of the loss of his own country at present, and to be saved in the future, to save his hopes and spirit, this is the most valuable thing!
After I read his book I felt moved to write: “He is truly a Boddhisattva as written about in ancient texts, compassionate and wrathful, these come in turns in his writings, there is self-redemption but he is also helping to save others! I can’t help but wonder why he wrote such things, he wrote alone, he was taken away alone, he sits alone in prison … I want to bow to Dolma Kyab, because I have never before seen a Tibetan inside Tibet using the language of the coloniser, using history and reality, especially all aspects of today’s reality, to tell us the facts about being colonised and the way out of being colonised. Also, there are so many of us writers, if in times like these we don’t write anything, don’t say anything, if in these extraordinary circumstances we don’t act to document in order not to forget, then what use are writers at all?”
Actually, our nationality does not only have one Dolma Kyab, we also have outstanding sons and daughters of the Snowland who are the same as him. According to our tradition, in our snow-mountain encircled land, there are protector deities who have the magical power to create miracles and defend our homeland. Although it may seem as though these recent decades of upheaval only protect the enemy, this is a way of thinking that lacks foresight.
Just as Dolma Kyab writes: “The last drops of the blood of our nationality are pulsating through our veins. Our flesh and bones are expanding with the rejuvenation of our nationality, our spirits are deeply guarding the homeland that we have lost. This is all about to ignite our land and illuminate our land. The heavens will bear witness, Buddha will bless us, we will struggle for ourselves and all of mankind.”
Yes it’s true, these kinds of talents are the real embodiments of the Snowland, in addition to Dolma Kyab, there is Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Bangri Rinpoche, Lobsang Tenzin, Runggye Adak, Dhondup Wangchen, Wangdu, Yeshi Choedon, Norzin Wangmo, Paljor Norbu, Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, Kunchok Tsephel, Kunga Tsayang, Tashi Rabten, Karma Samdrup, Rinchen Samdrup and so on, and even more Tibetans who are not known, may the deities honour and protect them!
Beijing, December 8, 2010