Tibetans to mark traditional New Year with symbolic protests

(TibetanReview.net, Feb07, 2010) Tibetans are marking their traditional New Year, Losar, which falls on Feb 14 this time, with symbolic protests and other forms of campaign actions designed to highlight the repression in their country under Chinese occupation rule.

Reports suggest that in many parts of Tibet, including areas incorporated into Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, people are boycotting celebrations altogether. For many of them, the immediate purpose is to continue mourning for the fellow Tibetans killed, arrested or otherwise unaccounted for after the brutal Chinese crackdown on the Tibetan protests of Mar-Apr’08 and thereafter.

For the same reason, Tibetans in exile are restricting themselves to observing the customary religious ceremonies, avoiding festivities, parties and bursting of firecrackers in compliance with a call given Jan 4 by their exile government at Dharamsala. The exile government said it was issuing the call in view of the continuing repression in Tibet and the suffering of the Tibetan people there.

Students for a Free Tibet, headquartered in New York, is observing the occasion somewhat differently, with an “I am a Tibetan” campaign. Calling Losar “a time for change, hope, and renewal,” and “because we are Tibetan,” the group said its Tibetan members and supporters “will speak Tibetan language, wear Tibetan dress, and observe Tibetan customs, thus strengthening our identity and our spirit.”

And it has asked Tibetans and supporters around the world to light butter lamps and candles on their altars and windows on Feb14 to “honor the courage of the Tibetan people in Tibet who continue to resist the Chinese government's illegal occupation of their homeland.”

As happened last year, China is expected to persuade through offering of gifts or otherwise coerce Tibetans to mark Losar with overt shows of traditional pomp and ceremony, ensuring that these are then widely publicized through the official media.

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