Cultural Proof (small) – Ex-political prisoner shares his story

A few nights ago we went to hear a Tibetan ex-political prisoner tell his story. He had recently come from Tibet after being imprisoned by the Chinese government for several years. I feel like we’ve already heard so many of these kinds of stories, but they have usually been told through a film or second-hand accounts, and are stories that took place more than 20 years ago. This however, was a chance to hear of something more recent and to hear it first hand.
I regret to say that it was a little hard to pay attention at times because there were a lot of people in a small room, sitting on a hard floor for about an hour and a half. I don’t mean to complain, because after hearing what this man went through, sitting on a hard floor sounds more like a reward. I just mean to say that at times I was distracted, and so I apologize that my notes are not a perfect representation of all that was said.
Despite my temporary distractions, what I did hear and take note of was enough to finally secure in my mind the reality of the injustice being done in Tibet through China’s occupation.
This man was arrested for holding up a Tibetan flag in a protest. Yes, it was a protest, but from what he told us, it was peaceful. Others have been arrested just for putting up pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (not even as part of a protest). And for this man being arrested wasn’t just being held in jail for a while and then let go with a warning not to protest anymore; it was being was being beaten, interrogated, and beaten again day after day. It was standing naked with the other prisoners in front of the police. It was being forced in the cold Tibetan winter to stand outside barefoot and barelegged on a patch of ice for hours at a time. It was years in jail. And it was watching his friend’s limp body, after being beaten to death, as it was dragged down the jail stairs to be disposed of…

Before hearing this man’s story, I had questioned a little bit what the situation really is like in Tibet. I don’t know for sure why… it’s not that I didn’t believe what I had heard, or that I doubted an injustice was being done against Tibetan’s human rights, but I think that because most of what I had heard was through films and second-hand sources, and always from the point-of-view of Tibetans, I suspected that there could be some exaggeration as I know there often is in any kind of passed down story. But for some reason it’s the sorrow stories that I have the hardest time believing freely. Maybe it’s a protection against people trying to make me pity them in order to take advantage of me, or maybe it’s because
I like to hear both sides of a story before I take a definite side, but I had only ever heard Tibet’s side of the story. Maybe it's a combination of all those things, but when comes down to it, I think I have basically been a little insensitive towards the issue. However, after hearing this man’s personal story and knowing that he experienced it and not someone else, it kind of clicked for me that this really is a huge problem and it’s going on right now. Whether China thinks they are helping Tibet or not, they did not help this man or his friends.

I wish there was more I could do to help the situation, but at least for now, Tibet has my sympathy. I am grateful that they have received kindness and freedom in India, and that is a large part of what I want to explore with my documentary. But I have also seen how much the people miss their country and how much they long to one day go back. So I hope and pray that one day they will be able to do this.