Once more, as if holding to a depressingly regular schedule, Tsering Woeser and Wang Lixiong have been placed under house arrest. This time it's in order to skew the reports that will emerge from a trip to Lhasa that has been organized for foreign journalists in China. Woeser has already met some of the journalists and the authorities seem concerned that her views will contradict the rosey picture that they want to present via an approved itinerary and scripted encounters meant to project an image of happy Tibetans living happy lives. The group is scheduled to leave for Lhasa on July 6 and to be in Tibet until the 13th. A trip for diplomats is also scheduled, possibly for late June. Woeser has tweeted that this time the steps taken were more ostentatious than before. On the afternoon of the 19th seven or eight police and State Security personnel surrounded them. They were picked up on Cuiwei Road in the Haidian District and taken to their home in Tongzhou, in the eastern part of greater Beijing. They were driven by police in their own car, while a vehicle with State Security officials followed them. They were not allowed to make any stops, even to get something to eat. Plainclothes police were placed outside the building and two were put on permanent watch by the elevator. For the moment it appears that this confinement will last at least until June 25 and possibly longer. In spite of optimistic sentiments coming from Dharamsala about China's new leadership, it seems that the state is as determined as before to stifle reporting from Tibet that doesn't put across the message that the government insists on. Tsering Woeser represents one of the rare, accessible dissenting voices on Tibet and the authorities want to make her inaccessible.
My prayers go out to Tibet. Just remember that peace is the real solution that the whole world needs. Now more than ever.
ReplyDelete