[Buddha-l] Tibet: Open Letter from Concerned Tibetan Studies Scholars

[Christopher Fynn]

<http://www.tibetopenletter.org/>

A STATEMENT BY CONCERNED TIBETAN STUDIES SCHOLARS ON THE CURRENT CRISIS IN TIBET 
ADDRESSED TO PRESIDENT HU JINTAO AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF 
CHINA

President Hu Jintao
People’s Republic of China
Zhongnanhai, Xichengqu, Beijing City
People’s Republic of China

Dear Mr. President,

Over the course of the last two weeks the world has witnessed an outbreak of 
protests across the Tibetan plateau, followed in most instances by a harsh, 
violent repression. In the majority of cases these protests have been peaceful. 
The result has been an unknown number of arrests and the loss of numerous lives, 
which have been overwhelmingly Tibetan. This has understandably triggered 
widespread concern and anguish across the globe. As scholars engaged in Tibetan 
Studies, we are especially disturbed by what has been happening. The 
civilization we study is not simply a subject of academic enquiry: it is the 
heritage and fabric of a living people and one of the world’s great cultural 
legacies. We express our deep sorrow at the horrible deaths of the innocent, 
including Chinese as well as Tibetans. Life has been altered for the worse in 
places with which we are well acquainted; tragedy has entered the lives of a 
people we know well. At the time this statement is being written, continued 
arrests and shootings are being reported even of those involved in peaceful 
protest, the accused are being subjected to summary justice without due process 
and basic rights, and countless others are being forced to repeat political 
slogans and denunciations of their religious leader.

Silence in the face of what is happening in Tibet is no longer an option. At 
this moment the suppression of political dissent appears to be the primary goal 
of authorities across all the Tibetan areas within China, which have been 
isolated from the rest of China and the outside world. But such actions will not 
eliminate the underlying sense of grievance to which Tibetans are giving voice. 
As scholars we have a vested interest in freedom of expression. The violation of 
that basic freedom and the criminalization of those sentiments that the Chinese 
government finds difficult to hear are counterproductive. They will contribute 
to instability and tension, not lessen them.

It cannot be that the problem lies in the refusal of Tibetans to live within 
restrictions on speech and expression that none of us would accept in our own 
lives. It is not a question of what Tibetans are saying: it is a question of how 
they are being heard and answered. The attribution of the current unrest to the 
Dalai Lama represents a reluctance on the part of the Chinese government to 
acknowledge and engage with policy failures that are surely the true cause of 
popular discontent. The government’s continuing demonization of the Dalai Lama, 
which falls far below any standard of discourse accepted by the international 
community, serves only to fuel Tibetan anger and alienation. A situation has 
been created which can only meet with the strongest protest from those of us who 
have dedicated our professional lives to understanding Tibet’s past and its 
present; its culture and its society. Indeed, the situation has generated 
widespread shock among peoples inside and outside China as well, and we write in 
full sympathy with the twelve-point petition submitted by a group of Chinese 
writers and intellectuals on 22 March.

Therefore, we call for an immediate end to the use of force against Tibetans 
within China. We call for an end to the suppression of Tibetan opinion, whatever 
form that suppression takes. And we call for the clear recognition that 
Tibetans, together with all citizens of China, are entitled to the full rights 
to free speech and expression guaranteed by international agreements and 
accepted human rights norms.

Jean-Luc Achard (Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, Paris)
Agata Bareja-Starzyńska (Warsaw University)
Robert Barnett (Columbia University)
Christopher Beckwith (Indiana University)
Yael Bentor (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Henk Blezer (Leiden University)
Anne-Marie Blondeau (École pratique des Hautes Études, Paris)
Benjamin Bogin (Georgetown University)
Jens Braarvig (University of Oslo)
Katia Buffetrille (École pratique des Hautes Études, Paris)
José Ignacio Cabezón (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Cathy Cantwell (University of Oxford)
Bryan J. Cuevas (Florida State University)
Jacob Dalton (Yale University)
Ronald Davidson (Fairfield University)
Karl Debreczeny (Independent Scholar)
Andreas Doctor (Kathmandu University)
Thierry Dodin (Bonn University)
Brandon Dotson (School of Oriental and African Studies, London)
Georges Dreyfus (Williams College)
Douglas S. Duckworth (University of North Carolina)
John Dunne (Emory University)
Johan Elverskog (Southern Methodist University)
Elena De Rossi Filibeck (University of Rome)
Carla Gianotti (Independent Scholar)
Maria Gruber (University of Applied Arts, Vienna)
Janet Gyatso (Harvard University)
Paul Harrison (Stanford University)
Lauran Hartley (Columbia University)
Mireille Helffer (Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, Paris)
Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy (Université Laval, Québec)
Toni Huber (Humboldt University , Berlin)
Ishihama Yumiko (Waseda University)
David Jackson (Rubin Museum of Art, New York)
Sarah Jacoby (Columbia University)
Marc des Jardins (Concordia University)
Matthew T. Kapstein (University of Chicago; École pratique des Hautes Études, Paris)
György Kara (Indiana University)
Samten Karmay (Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, Paris)
P. Christiaan Klieger (Oakland Museum, California)
Deborah Klimburg-Salter (University of Vienna)
Leonard van der Kuijp (Harvard University)
Per Kvaerne (University of Oslo)
Erberto Lo Bue (University of Bologna)
Donald Lopez (University of Michigan)
Christian Luczanits (University of Vienna)
Sara McClintock (Emory University)
Carole McGranahan (University of Colorado)
Ariane Macdonald-Spanien (École pratique des Hautes Études, Paris)
William Magee (Dharma Drum Buddhist College, Taiwan)
Lara Maconi (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris)
Dan Martin (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Rob Mayer (University of Oxford)
Fernand Meyer (École pratique des Hautes Études, Paris)
Eric D. Mortensen (Guilford College)
Paul Nietupski (John Carroll University)
Giacomella Orofino (Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale)
Ulrich Pagel (School of Oriental and African Studies, London)
Andrew Quintman (Princeton University)
Charles Ramble (University of Oxford)
Françoise Robin (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris)
Ulrike Roesler (University of Freiburg)
Geoffrey Samuel (Cardiff University)
Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia)
Cristina Scherrer-Schaub (University of Lausanne)
Peter Schwieger (Bonn University)
Tsering Shakya (University of British Columbia)
Nicolas Sihle (University of Virginia)
Elliot Sperling (Indiana University)
Heather Stoddard (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris)
Robert Thurman (Columbia University)
Takeuchi Tsuguhito (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies)
Gray Tuttle (Columbia University)
Emily Yeh (University of Colorado)
Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (University College, London)
Michael Zimmermann (University of Hamburg)


Signatures added online:

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