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All those who were critical about the decision to invite China as the Guest of Honour at Frankfurt Book Fair 2009 should reconsider. I must admit that I was skeptical as well, but by the end of the fair I’ve changed my mind. What turned it around for me was witnessing the mass of people who gathered in Hall 6.1 this afternoon, at an event called ‘The Forbidden Reading – Tibetan Political Literature’. The benches were all occupied, the floors covered with sitting people, and those that stood spilled over into the Malasysia Pavilion adjacent to the Forum Dialog. Everyone assembled listened intently to works – read by German actor, Hannes Jaenicke, and Tibetan literature scholar at Oxford, Lhamajab – that told of repression, of issues of identity and of the ground realities of life in Tibet.
The audience claps enthusiastically at the end of every piece, as if to say they stand in solidarity with the people of Tibet. Just below in Hall 6.0, at the official China exhibit, the aisles are more or less desolate. It appears that giving this platform to China has turned the spotlight onto things - unpleasant and uncomfortable things - that the Chinese government is keen on sweeping under the carpet.
The event opened with a short film showing the activities of the International Campaign for Tibet, which works to promote human rights and democratic freedoms for the people of Tibet. Since protest against Chinese rule was reignited across Tibet on March 10, 2008 the Chinese government has responded by adopting a systematic and harsh approach to silencing and suppressing “reactionary” writers. Many of whom have been detained or have simply ‘disappeared’. Despite the terror and the fear, a stream of defiant work has continued to flow; resisting oppression and remaining hopeful that change will come.
A new collection of writings by Tibetans inside Tibet, including extracts from books that are banned by the Chinese government and work by writers now in prison, was launched at the end. The new book, ‘Like Gold that Fears No Fire: New Writing from Tibet’ features stories of imprisonment, interrogation, death and loss, as well as perspectives on a better future that reveal an unquenchable spirit and deeply-felt Tibetan identity.
Lhamajab (extreme left) and Hannes Jaenicke (extreme right)
The first poem read out is Tsering Woeser’s ‘A Sheet of Paper Can Become a Knife’ and a rather sharp one at that too. It hasn’t drawn blood yet, but it’s a knife nevertheless and it cuts to the point. Much of the literature chosen for the reading are blog posts. The internet has become a powerful tool in the hands of Tibetan writers to spread political literature and the voice of dissent. It is a medium in which lost voices can be found and can communicate with each other; a battleground in which hegemonic and subversive forces fight it out.
Ironically, many of these blogs are written in Chinese. The Tibetan language and culture have been all but erased, with ‘colonial’ education being the only education available in Tibet (the Tibetan government in exile in Dharmashala, India is headed by the 14th Dalai Lama, and runs centers to preserve cultural traditions). Make no mistake, these writers don’t bend down low to authority. They have appropriated the language to their own ends. It doesn’t hurt, either, that the people of China can read them in the original. They may not want to, because of the fear of falling into the net of a government that closely monitors those surfing onto forbidden sites. Two months ago, 19-year-old Passang Norbu opened a page, at an internet café in Lhasa, with pictures of the Dalai Lama and was arrested on the spot. Where he is now and what has happened to him, remains a mystery.
One blog entitled ‘What human rights do we have over our bodies?’ beseeches truthful eyes around the world to look their way and recognize the brutalities committed against Tibetan people in the name of law. And for a brief moment it appeared to me that the audience joined in remembering and memorializing, louder than the gun fire.
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