Tibetan groups and allies demonstrated in Taipei today to mark the 66th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day.
Though the actual anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day is tomorrow, March 10th, a demonstration march was held today. The march occurs yearly, starting from outside the SOGO Department Store near the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT.
Each year, the march begins with a series of talks, held using a speaker truck. After the formal start of the demonstration, the march moves eastward on Zhongxiao East Road. Passing by the Taipei Dome, the march then moves south past the Bank of China. In lieu of any official representative office by the Chinese government in Taiwan, protests are usually directed at the Bank of China building. Finally, the march finishes in a public square near Taipei 101, with the singing of the Tibetan National Anthem.
This was no different this year, with the march proceeding as in past years. When the march neared the Taipei Dome, a moment of silence was held for Tibetans who had died as part of the struggle for freedom, with participants laying on the ground to pay respects. Outside of the Bank of China, an “action theater” skit was held symbolizing how the Panchen Lama was kidnapped by the Chinese government as a child, with a child acting out being dragged away by two men dressed in People’s Liberation Army uniforms.
As in past years, the march brought out many of the stalwarts of Taiwanese civil society, as well as groups that focus on Tibet. This includes groups such as the Human Rights Network for Taiwan and Tibet, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Covenants Watch, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, the New School for Democracy, and Hong Kong Outlanders.
Hsieh Pei-fen was among the speakers, representing the DPP. Other political parties that were represented or spoke included the Green Party, Taiwan Statebuilding Party, Obasan Alliance, and New Power Party. The protest organizers emphasized that all major political parties in Taiwan had been invited to participate in the event, seeing as that from the standpoint of advocating for Tibetan asylum seekers, it is necessary to secure bipartisan support from Taiwan’s political parties. Nevertheless, pan-Blue political parties such as the KMT or the TPP did not send any representatives. For the first time, the National Human Rights Commission NHRC) participated in this year’s march emphasizing that work to support human rights would continue even with the pan-Blue camp having cut the budget of the Control Yuan, which the NHRC is under, by 90%.
Indeed, groups representing Tibetans, Hongkongers, and Uyghurs were all present. A number of the comments reflected on how Tibetans, Hongkongers, and Uyghurs, as well as southern Mongolians, all face the same issues facing self-determination. Consequently, chants includes “Free Tibet,” “Free Hong Kong,” “Free East Turkestan,” “Keep Taiwan Free,” and etc., as well as chants that emphasized that Tibets, Hongkongers, Uyghurs, and southern Mongolians should be allowed to decide their own future, as in “Tibet belongs to Tibetans” or “Hong Kong belongs to Hongkongers.”, in line with principles of self-determination.” The Chinese government was criticized for its frequent claim that places such as Taiwan, Tibet, or East Turkestan have been integral Chinese territory since time immemorial.
At the same time, one chant was that China belongs to the Chinese people, with the emphasis that Chinese people have not been allowed to decide their future, and the land is instead controlled by the Chinese Communist Party—rather than the people. Tibetan speakers frequently raised that they did not have any grudge against the Chinese people.
In comments, Tibetan speakers discussed their own experiences, in that some were born in exile and had never experienced their homeland. Other speakers, such as Tashi Tsering, reflected on the strides that Tibetan advocacy in Taiwan had taken in past decades, starting with commemorations of Tibetan Uprising Day that only had seven participants. China was criticized for its colonial policy directed toward Tibetans, as in the use of boarding schools aimed at destroying Tibetan culture and language by educating young people to think of Tibetan culture as backward. China, too, was criticized for its destruction of Tibetan temples as part of such efforts to eradicate Tibetan culture. The Chinese collection of the DNA of Tibetans, as well as ecological destruction from dam construction, were further raised as showing the danger of the Chinese government’s actions. Tibetan speakers spoke of the folly of accepting Chinese claims to seek a peace agreement, in that this served as a means of undermining sovereignty in Tibet, while calling for Chinese troops to leave Tibet.
Taiwanese speakers frequently drew comparisons between Taiwan’s historical experience and that of Tibet. This included an Indigenous speaker, who compared actions in China aimed at eradicating Tibetan culture to educational and cultural policy in Taiwan targeting Indigenous culture, raising the critique of how Indigenous territory has been appropriated for colonial tourism. Others spoke of the political persecution that existed during the White Terror, including fines imposed on speaking Taiwanese Hokkien or Hakka.
Commemorations of Tibetan Uprising Day continue in Taiwan, then. Tomorrow night, on the actual date of Tibetan Uprising Day, a vigil will be held in Liberty Plaza at 7 PM.
Brian Hioe is a freelance journalist, translator, and one of the founding editors of New Bloom.
This article originally appeared in New Bloom, an online magazine featuring radical perspectives on Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific.
Other English language articles on Tibet on this blog.