Watch: “The Dialogue,” A Documentary Film About Han-Tibetan-Uyghur Relations

The Dialogue
Posted just last week to Vimeo (password duihua), The Dialogue is a film by Wang Wo that looks at the Chinese government’s increasingly restrictive policies toward non-governmental contact between minority groups (specifically Tibetan and Uyghur) and Han Chinese. The film centers on an attempt by Chinese intellectuals and human rights lawyers to make contact with the Dalai Lama.

Spain Is Calling For The Arrest Of Jiang Zemin For Alleged Genocide In Tibet

Jiang Zemin
Spain, which recognizes universal justice -- meaning its court magistrates walk eternally with backs bowed under the burden of universal injustice, the weight of sadness -- issued a warrant on Tuesday for the arrest of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and four others "as part of a probe into alleged genocide in Tibet," reports AP and Al Jazeera.

So, Dalai Lama, Which Team Do You Really Support?

Dalai Lama and sports
Via Deadspin, "The Dalai Lama Is A Giant Bandwagoner": Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai Lama, the latest in a long line of reincarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva embodiment of compassion. He's also an insufferable homer who loves free hats.

Perhaps, finally, an understanding that setting oneself on fire solves nothing

The East is Read
This could well be a headline from the Onion, but it’s from Time: Tibetans Turn to Alternative Protest as Self-Immolations Prove Futile What other forms of protest, one asks? The story begins anecdotally with Norbu Jorden, a young man who tried to kill himself with fire but failed. Now Jorden is expressing his dissent differently. On a... Read more »

Report: Tibet has its 100th self-immolation

The East is Read
Tragic, depressing, infuriating. Via AFP: A Tibetan monk doused himself in petrol in a Kathmandu restaurant on Wednesday and set himself on fire, marking the 100th self-immolation bid in a wave of protests against Chinese rule since 2009. Police in the Nepalese capital told AFP that the exile had burned himself in an eatery near... Read more »

The Double Tragedy Of The Cultural Revolution In Tibet

Tibet during the Cultural Revolution 1
In Foreign Policy’s introduction to its latest slideshow of rare photos from Tibet during the Cultural Revolution, the line that jumps out to me is the last one: “This installment of FP’s Once Upon a Time series shows the Land of Snows from a long-forgotten period, when Tibet’s enemy wasn’t China, but itself.” The line, I’m sure,... Read more »

Chinese State TV Airs Tibetan Self-Immolation “Documentary” [UPDATE: You Can Watch It Here]

CCTV on Tibetan self-immolations
State media is reporting that state media aired a documentary on Tibetan self-immolations on Sunday. Here are the opening paragraphs of Xinhua’s story about China Central Television: National broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) has released a documentary on self-immolation in the country’s Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Chinese Supreme Court Says Self-Immolation Is Murder

Self-immolation
Government-run Gannan Daily reported Monday that China’s supreme court, top prosecution body, and police jointly issued the legal opinion that those who incite or abet self-immolations should be charged with “intentional murder.” In an article that reeks of Chinese media, it states (translation made available yesterday by San Francisco-based Duihua Foundation): So that the recent... Read more »