Liu Xiaobo: “Han Chinese Have No Freedom, Tibetans Have No Autonomy” By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on October 13, 2010 in Lhasa and posted on her blog on October 18, 2010.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on October 8, 2010, created international headline news. In this article from her blog, Woeser congratulates Liu Xiaobo and recounts his articles and views on Tibet. As she notes in her article, Woeser has known both Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, for several years and, as noted before on High Peaks Pure Earth, Woeser was the only Tibetan amongst the original signatories of Charter 08.

Tibetan Students in Beijing Protest for Tibetan Language; Tibetan Netizens Show Support Online

High Peaks Pure Earth has noticed a lot of online activity by Tibetans over the last few days related to Tibetan language. As reported by international media, Tibetan students in Rebkong and Chabcha in Amdo (Qinghai province) and Tawu in Kham (Sichuan province) have been protesting over plans to restrict the use of Tibetan language in classrooms.

Now the protests have spread to Beijing where over 500 Tibetan students from the Tibetan Studies department of Minzu University of China (formerly known as the Central University for Nationalities) held a protest on the campus today (October 22, 2010) at noon. Tibetans on popular social networking sites such as RenRen and MyBudala have been posting photos and status updates about the protests.

The above status update in Tibetan says: "Today at 12, over 500 students protested at Minzu University of China about freedom of language."

Woeser's Acceptance Speech: International Women's Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, 2010

High Peaks Pure Earth is re-posting Woeser's acceptance speech that was sent to the International Women's Media Foundation on the occasion of being awarded their Courage in Journalism Award, 2010. 


Woeser posted the speech on her blog on October 20, 2010, a day after the awards ceremony took place in New York. As reported by the media, Woeser was unable to attend the ceremony as the Chinese government refuses to grant her a passport. 


Woeser's acceptance speech was translated into English by A. E. Clark of Ragged Banner. For those who have not yet read Woeser's poetry, High Peaks Pure Earth recommends the volume published by Ragged Banner titled "Tibet's True Heart".

"On 'National Day' -Three Tibetan Writers Recently Arrested" By Woeser

This is a translation of a blogpost by Woeser that was posted on her blog on China's "National Day", October 1st and documents the recent arrests of three Tibetan writers.

Although the detentions are fairly recent, the essays and articles by the three writers have been in circulation in Tibetan since 2008. Quite a few of the writings have been translated into English and published by International Campaign for Tibet in their reports "A Great Mountain Burned by Fire" (2009) and "A Raging Storm" (2010), including two of the articles by Buddha and Garmi mentioned below.

From Woeser's Blog - "Latest news: Tagyal (Shogdung) Released on Bail and Returned Home!"

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a short blogpost by Woeser that was posted on her blog earlier today, October 15, 2010.

To see our blogpost on Shogdung's detention earlier this year, go to this link: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/04/earthquake-in-tibet-leading-tibetan.html

The photo shows well-known Tibetan writer Tagyal (Shogdung) who was arrested this year in April in Xining

"Tradition of Protest" - Woeser's Article for Index on Censorship's Music Issue

Cover of "Index on Censorship"
Issue dedicated to freedom of musical expression

Those Giving Voice to "Scorching Sun of Tibet" By Woeser