To read something insightful about this terrible tragedy, and also respectful of Tibetan history and culture, readers should to go to http://www.rangzen.net/2010/04/16/to-die-with-dignity-in-your-own-land/ Webmaster Christophe also compiled a high-resolution satellite image of Jyekundo City prior to the earthquake of April 14, 2010, from around one hundred Google maps screenshots. This image of 12212 x 5596 pixels …
Cult of Victimhood: Two Studies
From the Gaza strip to Dharamshala, the cult of victimhood is embraced from a shortsighted perception of the advantages it seemingly confers on weaker parties in their disputes with more powerful foes
Waiting for Mangtso III
ONE SMALL STEP FOR DEMOCRACY… . Some of you may have noticed. One reader pointed it out in a comment on Phayul.com. The title of this three-part essay was borrowed (and tweaked) from Samuel Becket’s famous play, Waiting for Godot – probably the ur script in the theatre of the absurd. A quick summary of …
Independent Tibet – the Facts
This is a considerably revised and expanded version of the document, Losar Gift for Rangzen Activists, that I posted on Feb 25, 2009. This version has new information and illustrations. Last year when I was in India I gave a talk and powerpoint presentation based on this essay…
The Happy Light Bioscope Theatre & Other Stories (Part 2)
From their first encounter with the modern world Tibetans appear to have taken to such inventions as photography with relative insouciance – considering Tibet’s reputation as a “forbidden land”. We hear of a Tibetan using a camera, and even compiling a photography manual, around 1881-82. The cine-camera, of course, came a bit later.
The Happy Light Bioscope Theatre & Other Stories (Part 1)
In old Hollywood films of intrepid white explorers encountering savages in darkest Africa (or tribals in benighted Afghanistan) there is usually a decisive moment in the story when the bwanas (or sahibs) are captured and it appears they are done for.
Deconstructing Ngabo (In 1980)
When the Kashag issued its effusive eulogy of the late Ngabo Ngawang Jigme – within twenty four hours of his death (a record time for any official response to anything to date) – some people expressed surprise, even dismay at Dharamshala’s action. What such people failed to take into account in their reasoning was the …
Dipping a Donkey-Ear in Butter-Tea
Most Tibetans, it seems, want to celebrate Losar this year. I agree that a modest observance of our most important cultural holiday would not come amiss right now, no matter how grim our current situation…..
Unleashing the “R” Word
I may be getting paranoid but it seems to me that in most academic discussions and scholarly forums on Tibet, these days, a conscious effort is being made all round to avoid mentioning the word “rangzen”. Sometimes, of course, it happens that the term just has to be used and there is no judicious way …
High Sanctuary
WILDLIFE AND NATURE CONSERVANCY IN OLD TIBET . One evening at McLeod Ganj, in the late ‘90s, a couple of my sarjor (new arrival) friends from Lhasa brought Taktra Rimpoche over to my house. He was the incarnation of the last regent of Tibet who died in 1951, or thereabouts. Rimpoche had been a small …
