Official commemoration of 57th Tibetan Democracy day marred by low public turnout/ENG

2017. szeptember 3./Phayul.com/TibetPress

eredeti cikk

By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 2: The seat of the exile Tibetan polity here today celebrated one of its landmark occasion; the 57th edition of the ‘Tibetan Democracy Day’ but the proceedings were marred by the abysmally low public turnout.

The exile Tibetans have always announced proudly that unlike most, the devolution of power in the Tibetan context had been both voluntary and without struggle.

Democracy is synonymous with being a gift in the popular Tibetan exile narrative, yet here at the epicenter of the Tibetan exile struggle, only a few have decided to join in the celebrations. The Tsuglakhang courtyard was laden haphazardly with a crowd of less than two hundred consisting mostly of elderly Tibetans, apart from the school children. Half of the venue was deserted during the official function of the much touted ‘mangtso duechen’, Tibetan for democracy day.

Tenzin Deden who was born and brought up in the town feels Tibetans and especially Dharamshala Tibetans have come to develop a sense of complacency when it comes to events like these. “There are so many of these functions and so may be they have grown to just get on with their lives here,” Deden told Phayul on enquiry.

“And it’s not just official functions, I was in school when they brought the remains of Pawo Thupten Ngodup and there were thousands of Tibetan people, we were pushing our way through the crowd just to get a glimpse of the passing funeral procession but the latest self immolation that happened here, the number of people that came to pay their respects has fallen drastically,” he adds.

Statistically, among the Tibetan exile diaspora of close to 1.3 lakh people (CTA survey from 2009) in the Indian sub-continent and in the west, the voter turn-out for the 2016 Tibetan general elections was less than 60 thousand; more than half exile Tibetans did not vote.

It is an unquantifiable assessment to say if there is a direct correlation between the fervor of people and level of mass participation during public events but many would think, simplistically, that lack of participation is indeed lack of interest. On the other hand, individual form of protests such as self immolation in exile has risen sharply in the last two years with three Tibetans burning themselves to death, the last two happening as recent as last month.

The attending non-Tibetan guests, state Cabinet minister Shri Kaul Sing Thakur and Swedish MP Carl Shlyter spoke on their hopes of a freer Tibet. The highlight of officiating President (Sikyong) Ven Karma Gelek Yuthok’s remarks were that, “While the Kashag empathizes with the intention of the self-immolators, but we believe that the life of every Tibetan is precious and that we must be alive to fight for our cause. Therefore, the Kashag appeals to every Tibetan inside and outside Tibet to refrain from resorting to drastic actions such as self-immolation.”

Till date in exile, five Tibetans have fatally self-immolated, one died after jumping into a river while five have attempted to burn themselves.