Dozens of Tibetans and supporters were out at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco this passed Saturday, cutting short their weekend break, to protest against the three months’ long show, “Tibet: The Roof of the World”. The show is put up by the museum with direct collaboration with the Chinese authority of occupied Tibet. As such it is clear that the show is propaganda not just in mere name but in every sense.
In fact, during a preliminary discussion, the museum authority rejected the Tibetan proposal to display a portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the show, thus disregarding the Tibetan sentiment. Dawa, a university student belief this act of censorship an organized campaign to clamp down on the spirit of Tibet even in the free world while in Tibet the Chinese authority have already forbidden Tibetans from displaying portrait of His Holiness. He said, “We must not forget that His Holiness is the true living treasure of Tibet, who embodies the essence of Tibetan culture – compassion. Setting him aside is a total disregard to the heart of the Tibetan culture”. When asked for a reason behind the rejection, the museum authority said, “It’s political in nature.” If that is the case, why is the museum bowing to Chinese wish of letting go the show without giving any historical context of the enormous cultural destruction in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution in China?
The truth is that the museum has not given any mention about the history of such destructions carried out by the Chinese Red Guard for a period of ten years, 1966-1976, razing to ground more than 6000 Buddhist monasteries and persecution of thousands of monks and nuns. One senior Tibetan argued, “The very motivation of taking such immense destruction of Tibetan culture as “political” is intolerable. This is a cold-hearted statement devoid of any regard for the truth of a people.” As one activist, Topden Tsering rightly said, “The very reason of not mentioning about the cultural destruction is a mere act of favoring the Chinese political goal of destroying the Tibetan culture; it is a disservice rather than a service. The rest of the world needs to know the truth about Tibet”.
Activists and supporters have been outraged about the show since the moment it kicked off from the Bower’s Museum, Orange County. protest has lasted for the longest in the history of activism. Tenzin Wangchuk, the president of San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress pointed, “We are concluding the three months’ persistent protest at the museum today as the show itself ends this weekend. But, we will continue to non-violently resist the Chinese government’s attempt to distort our Tibetan history. We will not surrender to the claim that our unique Tibetan heritage is a part of “the great motherland”. Tibet is an occupied country; the Dalai Lama is our leader and the ultimate (living) treasure from the roof of the world, as such will never bow to Chinese propaganda. With total faith shedding light of the truth, Tibetans and supporters will counter wherever such open lies are to be spread by the Chinese government in the world.”
