Tibetan Students in Beijing Protest for Tibetan Language; Tibetan Netizens Show Support Online

High Peaks Pure Earth has noticed a lot of online activity by Tibetans over the last few days related to Tibetan language. As reported by international media, Tibetan students in Rebkong and Chabcha in Amdo (Qinghai province) and Tawu in Kham (Sichuan province) have been protesting over plans to restrict the use of Tibetan language in classrooms.

Now the protests have spread to Beijing where over 500 Tibetan students from the Tibetan Studies department of Minzu University of China (formerly known as the Central University for Nationalities) held a protest on the campus today (October 22, 2010) at noon. Tibetans on popular social networking sites such as RenRen and MyBudala have been posting photos and status updates about the protests.

The above status update in Tibetan says: “Today at 12, over 500 students protested at Minzu University of China about freedom of language.”

This is the first protest by Tibetan students of Minzu University of China since a vigil was held on March 17, 2008, in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the protests of March 2008. The following photos of the protest in Beijing were posted on RenRen by a Tibetan student:

[*This photo was added to this blogpost on October 23]

The slogan “Equality of nationality, Freedom of language” that was widely used by Tibetan student protesters in Amdo is being posted online by Tibetan netizens as their status update, see below for example:

“Equality of nationality, Freedom of language”

Photo albums of the protests in Amdo are being shared by the users of these social networking sites and are posted with messages of support. The photo album being shared below is titled “Peaceful Protest” and the comment below reads, “This is very good”. The same user has added another comment directly below saying, “Haha, how’s it going? I expected a day like this to come, keep it up, we will be successful”.

4 Comments

HansInDhyana
October 23, 2010 at 8:32 pm · Reply

It reminds me of the school childrens protests in Soweto, South Africa, 1976, over being forced to use the oppressors language in school. That proved to be a crucial mark in the downfall of apartheid!
Anonymous
November 5, 2010 at 2:59 am · Reply

Out of chaos and breaking down can come a breakthrough. By holding the vision for a peaceful world of tolerance and diversity, harmony and compassion, we bring forth the possibility for it to manifest. For the sake of the Tibetan people and so many pockets of suffering in the human and natural world, let us hold that vision with purest intention of loving kindness for the highest good of all sentient beings.
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