Yak Horns and Yellow Stars                                                                                  By Bhuchung D. Sonam

Review of LIKE GOLD THAT FEARS NO FIRE − New Writing From TibetPublisher: International Campaign for TibetYear: 2009Price: —             
Jamyang Kyi hastily brushed her teeth, put on her clothes and dashed
out of her house without having breakfast. Before exiting the door she
called to her niece, “Prepare some vegetables for lunch.” It was just
another working day.            Once inside her office, a group
of policemen in civilian dress arrested her. She was escorted to an
unmarked vehicle and driven away to the local police station. On the
way a Chinese officer lectured, “Under the special policy of the
government, Tibet has undergone transformational development, and the
construction goes on with massive infusions of funding every year.
Official salaries are much higher than in other provinces. How can
[you] they be so ungrateful?”             This fittingly sums
up the fundamental problem that Beijing has with Tibet and Tibetan
people. They utterly fail to understand that what we need is not money
but freedom − freedom to ride our yaks, plough our fields, grow our
barley and decide who are our leaders. What we need is not bullets
exploding from the PLA’s guns, but to let our words soar freely in the
wide blue sky. But of course, Beijing does not allow Tibetans to just
be − because being Tibetan is being anti-Motherland; a crime big enough
for you to be arrested on your way to work.          The fifty
years of PRC occupation − and propaganda about astounding material
development − has not changed the basic balance between the Chinese
ruler and the ruled Tibetans. The half-truths dressed in quotable
socialist maxims have brought Tibetans neither the promised socialist
paradise nor the basic rights based on which some semblance of their
lives can be built.           Thus, from her exile in Beijing,
this was the response of our iconic writer, Woeser, to China’s massive
military crackdown on the 2008 peaceful protests inside Tibet. “Tibet
is no longer the Tibet of the past, and the Tibetan people are no
longer the Tibetan people of the past – everything has undergone a
genuine transformation. If one pretends to be aloof and indifferent and
thinks that blood can just be washed away and that the truth can be
covered over; or that atrocities will not be condemned and suffering
will not be pondered; if one acts as though nothing ever happened and
thinks life goes on as before, and the sun will rise as ever, this is
just self deception… Tibetans are breaking through the silence.”          
From Amdo, a young Tibetan, Kunga Tsangyang − a popular writer, blogger
and photographer − writes that “the portrayal of Tibetans in Chinese
official media this year has left an image of Tibetans as enemies,” and
that “Tibetans are driven to a desperate position because of them being
accused of doing things, which they never did, and small incidents were
exaggerated and paraded before the world.”           Dolma Kyab, another young Tibetan writer, who is serving ten and a half years in prison for authoring The Restless  Himalayas,
wrote that “it should be known that understanding the realm and range
of Tibet, and understanding that Tibet was formerly a viable
independent nation before being colonized by China, is of great benefit
to all Tibetan people in understanding ourselves,” and that “… it is
only when we understand ourselves that we then have the power to
understand this land that belongs to us.”            These are some of the powerful voices from Like Gold That Fears No Fire: New Writing From Tibet.
It is a compilation of hard, unrepentant, creative voices with total
authority to speak for their silenced brothers and sisters. All the
writers have either faced persecution, exile, imprisonment or
disappearance. Kunga Tsangyang’s whereabouts is unknown; Dolma Kyab is
being incarcerated in Chushur high-security prison; Woeser is in exile
in Beijing and Jamyang Kyi is being surveilled every day by watchful
eyes after paying a huge sum for her release. Many others are
restricted in their locality by the heavily-armed PLA and the dreaded
PSB personnel.          The battle between people’s desire for
freedom − and the regime’s appetite to crack down − rages on. This
fight is between a roaming band of unarmed yaks and armoured tanks with
red flags and yellow stars. As happened in Vietnam and the Soviet
Union, the men with weapons of chemical dust are not destined to win in
the end.             As a Tibetan, I will never give up the struggle for the rights of my people      As a religious person, I will never criticize the leader of my religion      As a writer, I am committed to the power of truth and reality     This is the pledge I make to my fellow Tibetans with my own life    
   The words are from Gartse Jigme. This reflects the spirit of a
younger generation of Tibetans who have not experienced the terrible
death and destruction of the Cultural Revolution. But they are well
aware about the denial of basic rights and freedom. Until and unless
Tibetans will achieve these, one generation of Tibetans will be
followed by another who will creatively resist the Chinese occupation
with the same determination as their predecessors.         Like Gold That Fears No Fire
is a thoroughly inspiring compilation of current writing by Tibetans.
Just as the Dalai Lama so often stresses the importance of education
and intellectual exercise, these writers are clearly showing that the
power of words is as enduring as the Himalayan mountains and more
powerful than the barrel of a gun.        International
Campaign for Tibet deserves a firm pat on its back for putting together
this essential book. It comes at the right time with the right message.
As we have known all along, the Tibetan issue is not only about
religious freedom, cultural preservation or improvement in human rights
situations. It is about the survival of a nation and self-determination
of a people. This book will go a long way in proving to the world that
people inside Tibet and in exile will neither compromise nor give up in
their struggle for an independent Tibet.