By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 30: If a video circulating on social media platforms is anything to go by, Tibetan nuns who were forced to leave their residents at Larung Gar Institute by Chinese authorities are now subjected to go through ‘patriotic re-education’, a form of forced ideological indoctrination used by China on dissidents.
A video shot most probably from a mobile phone shows clean shaven Tibetan women wearing military attire and singing what some say is a patriotic song composed by propaganda machineries of the communist party translated as, “Tibetans and Chinese are daughters of the same mother, her name is great China.” Nuns in neat rows in a room with Chinese flags and communist party emblem can be seen in the video which is over a minute long.
A voice over in the video mentions that the group of women are evicted nuns from the Larung Gar monastic institution subjected to patriotic reeducation by Chinese authorities recently, although the date and the authenticity of the video could not be verified independently.
Patriotic re-education as a policy was officially launched in Tibet in the mid 90’s under the “strike hard” campaign by China wherein monastic as well as members of laity who do not conform to party ideals are subjected to forced concepts of unity between Tibet and China. Dharamshala based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy has earlier mentioned that patriotic reeducation campaigns were employed well before the official implementation in Tibet.
Larung Gar’s demolition which began in July saw many of its residents, majority of which are monastic, being forcefully evicted and their quarters demolished by Chinese authorities even as rights groups raise objection.
Sources say that more than few thousand monks, nuns and lay scholars have been evicted since the demolitions began with many still due to be evicted. In addition to bus loads of nuns being taken away from the Buddhist learning center, three Tibetan nuns have committed suicide as a direct result of the demolitions at Larung Gar till date.
Sources also say that the Chinese government’s demolition drive is aimed at cutting the center’s strength to 5,000 by 2017. Larung Gar is considered one of the most prominent Buddhist learning centers in Tibet. It was founded by the late Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok in 1980 in Serthar County in Eastern Tibet.
