Tibetan monks played a key role in the response to China’s earthquake, but their efforts were “airbrushed” by a government that views them as a political threat, activists said yesterday.
Buddhist monks in the quake zone and from neighboring communities began rescuing survivors and distributing food donations to victims — nearly all of them ethnic Tibetans — shortly after the April 14 quake.
They even handled the grisly task of cremating hundreds of dead as the official response to the magnitude 6.9 quake in remote Qinghai Province, which has killed nearly 2,200 people, was still lurching into life, but their efforts have been passed over by a government still smarting from bloody anti-Chinese unrest in Tibetan regions in 2008 and fearful over the high profile and influence of the Buddhist elite, Tibetan activist Woeser said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The government’s attitude is that the Lamas are an unstable element, this is especially so following the unrest in March 2008,” said Woeser, a Tibetan poet, blogger and leading rights activist.
Since the quake, state media have lavished attention on a government disaster response that officials have admitted was slow-starting because of the region’s remoteness, bad weather and altitude sickness hitting rescuers, but while foreign journalists have been allowed unfettered access to the hardest-hit areas, official coverage of the contributions by monks who were unaffected by the 4,000m heights has been virtually nil.
The task of cremating hundreds of dead, a key step to reduce disease risks that monks and lamas performed in a Buddhist ceremony, was barely mentioned.
If shown at all on state television, monks were mostly seen applauding the efforts of the Communist government as state media lavished attention on visits to the region by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶).
The region’s allegiance to the exiled Dalai Lama — the Tibetan spiritual leader who China insists is bent on independence for his homeland — is likely the main reason state media has largely ignored the monk’s heroism, Woeser said.
The Dalai Lama called on Saturday for permission to visit earthquake victims in Qinghai, where he was born almost 75 years ago, stirred hopes among Tibetans and added to Beijing’s concerns, she added.
China has not responded.
The Dalai Lama has not set foot in China since 1959, when he fled after a failed anti-Chinese uprising. He denies China’s accusations against him.
The London-based group Free Tibet said the Chinese government’s portrayal of the disaster exploited the tragedy for political aims.
“China’s determination to colonize even Tibet’s tragedy is depressingly all too unsurprising,” it said in a statement that added the government was “air-brushing” the Tibetan response from the picture.
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