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<td><span id="gmail-_ctl1_lblSource" class="gmail-newsSource">Phayul</span><span id="gmail-_ctl1_lblDate" class="gmail-newsDate">[Thursday, May 24, 2018 19:52]</span></td>
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<td id="gmail-_ctl1_story" class="gmail-newsStory"><div style="padding-top:5px"><div style="text-align:center"><div class="gmail-newsPhoto" style="float:left;width:260px;clear:both;padding:5px 5px 5px 0px;margin:auto"><a href="http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=Tibetan+rights+group+condemns+sentencing+of+language+rights+crusader&id=40463#" title="Click to enlarge"><img src="http://www.phayul.com/images/thumb.aspx?src=180524075526P7.jpg" alt="Photo: NY Times" style="border: 0px none;" width="250"></a><div class="gmail-newsPhotoCaption" style="text-align:center;padding:0px 5px 5px">Photo: NY Times</div></div></div>DHARAMSHALA,
May 24: The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), the
only rights group run by Tibetans that monitors human rights situation
inside Tibet, has condemned “in strongest terms” the sentencing of
Tibetan language rights activist Tashi Wangchuk by a Chinese court. <br><br>“The
verdict against Tashi Wangchuk makes a mockery of Chinese Constitution
and Regional National Autonomy Law both of which contain provisions for
Tibetan nationalities to protect and promote their language,” said
TCHRD. The TCHRD said despite provisions for minority languages in
Chinese law, Chinese authorities have accelerated the use of Mandarin
Chinese in government and education sectors of Tibet in recent years.
“The gaps between minority language policy and practice demonstrate that
minority language rights become meaningless when they are seen as
detrimental to ‘national stability’ and ‘national unity’.”<br><br>The
rights group called on the Chinese authorities to release Tashi Wangchuk
and all other Tibetans imprisoned for protecting and promoting Tibetan
language and culture. “China’s assimilationist policy has increased
alienation and sense of exclusion among Tibetans. It has become a major
cause of instability and protests in Tibet. The 2008 and 2009 uprisings
in Tibetan and Uyghur areas, followed by 2010 Tibetan students’ protests
and numerous other protests including self-immolations have called for
language freedom as one of their main demands.”<br><br>Chinese
authorities have long expanded efforts to ‘unify’ People’s Republic of
China (PRC) with the so-called minority regions by imposing
nationalistic ideas throughout the education system, according to TCHRD.
One method of promoting nationalism, the TCHRD said, is “reflected in
the government’s renewed emphasis on standard Chinese as a common,
national language and its decreasing attention to the development, or
sometimes even the maintenance, of bilingual and other forms of
education in minority languages”.<br><br>The rights group said Beijing
has sent a “worrying signal” that it will continue to implement the
counter-productive policy of discrimination and hostility against all
expressions of Tibetan cultural identity. “Equally concerning is the
dominant view among the Chinese leadership that PRC’s stability and
unity can only be achieved through the eventual annihilation of distinct
national and cultural identities of Tibetans and other so-called
minority nationalities.”<br><br>Tibetan language right activist Tashi
Wangchuk was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on May 22 by Yushu
Intermediate People’s Court, in Jyekundo County in the Kham region of
Tibet. Tashi Wangchuk, a 33 year old Tibetan E commerce entrepreneur has
been in jail for over two years on what Tibetan exiles call
“politically motivated charges” of inciting separatism” following his
pursuit to fight for Tibetan people’s right to Tibetan language
education. <br><br>Tashi was arrested on 27 January 2016 after a New
York Times news article and a video report came out, documenting Tashi’s
mission to file a formal complaint against Chinese officials for
failing to support Tibetans’ right to Tibetan language education. <br><br>Tashi
ran an online business on Alibaba, major Chinese internet e-commerce
site, and featured in a promotional video in 2014 for Alibaba as an
example of entrepreneurial success.<br><br>Yushu, called Gyegu in
Tibetan, is one of the predominantly Tibetan areas under Chinese
occupation. The government has encouraged increasing use of Chinese
language in schools and official settings across these areas.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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