DHARAMSHALA, November 15: Exile Tibetans here remembered the Tibetan writers jailed by China for expressing views through their literary works on the 33rd PEN Internationals’ Day of Imprisoned Writer.
Kirti Rinpoche, the exiled head of Kirti monasteries, joined an exiled Chinese journalist and columnist, along with guests including Tibetan legislators, representative of various organizations, schools and monasteries.
Chang wrote about politically sensitive topics like democracy, media censorship, the failures of Chinese government policy and Tibet while working as a news director at Southern Weekend and deputy editor of Southern Metropolis Weekly in Guangzhou. Mr Chang’s 2008 commentary that carried the headline “Tibet: Nationalist Sentiment and the Truth” enraged Chinese nationalists who supported their government’s violent crackdown on the so-called separatist activities in Tibet. Chang, 45, lives in exile in Germany with his wife and daughter.
Adressing the gathering, Kirti Rinpoche said that the exile Tibetans living in free countries must help the voice of the suppressed Tibetans in Tibet by honoring and paying tribute to them. “I feel that the Tibetans in exile and those in Tibet must use their literary skills to express their views and the truth about the situation inside Tibet. I express my gratitude to all those who have been jailed for their literary works,” said Kirti Rinpoche.
The event was jointly organized by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy and PEN Tibetan Writers Abroad to highlight the fate of imprisoned writers in Tibet who are punished for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and thought.
Four publications were released at the event: two by PEN Tibetan center, Jigme Gyatso’s “Diaries of Hardship and Struggle” and Jado Rinchen’s “The Power of Justice” and two by TCHRD, “Who are the Real Splittists?” and “Resettlement is Displacement: A Rights-based Perspective on the Internally Displaced in Tibet”. The PEN Tibetan publications are in Tibetan language and TCHRD publications in Chinese and English. “Who are the Real Splittists?” is a collection of writings by Tibetan writers in Tibet and translated into Chinese.
“We feel it is very important for the Chinese public in mainland China to know the real aspirations and sufferings of the Tibetans inside Tibet which for them is an exotic tourist location where every thing is fine. But that’s not the real case as is shown by the works of those jailed Tibetan writers including Jigme Gyatso and Jado Rinchen,” said Woser of PEN Tibetan Writers Abroad.
150 PEN Writers associations around the world are commemorating Nov. 15 as Day of Imprisoned Writer, and organize events and campaigns including seminars about the issue of jailed writers. This year, the day is dedicated to journalist Azimjon Askarov of Krgystan, journalist Gao Yu from China, poet and teacher Mahvas Sabet from Iran, poet and activist Enoh Meyomese from Cameroon, and Nelson Aguilera from Paraguay.
