吾坚嘉：我们需要改变

以上图示皆由流亡藏人吾坚嘉记录、绘制，点击显示大图。

图1、为38位自焚的境内、境外藏人的简历表，其中包括1998年自焚牺牲的流亡藏人Thupten Ngodup（图登欧珠）、2006年自焚受伤的流亡藏人Lhakpa Tsering（拉巴茨仁）。
图2、为1998年4月29日图登欧珠自焚之后，38位自焚藏人的生死状况之图示。其中有27人牺牲。
图3、为2011年3月以来境内外藏人自焚事件之图示。

我们需要改变

作者：吾坚嘉（流亡印度的藏人）
来源：脸书等。
译者：朱瑞
编辑：唯色

这个洛萨（藏语，藏历新年）的早晨，我醒得很早。在没有重要的事情时，醒得这么早还没有过。跟往常不同，我花了更长的时间，全心地祈祷了一个多小时。黎明还是没有到来。我走到外面，天地漆黑，于是又进屋。接着，又出去，又进来，这样重复了几次。我坐在门前的台阶上，没有任何睡意，而面对墙壁，我感到窒息，也更加苦恼。终于，我决定出去，却不知走向哪里。我孤独地、漫无目的地走着，迷失了一样。我只是为了行走而行走。我恨这个宁静而和平的城市。想分散心思，分散，从那燃烧着火焰的生命中分散出来。这时，我突然意识到，已走出了两公里，并接近了一个湖泊。我坐在湖边，面对湖泊，我哭了，大声地哭了。

在我的生命中，还从来没有一个洛萨，这样不像节日。记得以前的几个洛萨到来时，即使周围没有藏人，我也出去和非藏人朋友们享受盛宴，并为朋友们祈愿。2009年，虽然也没有欢庆洛萨，但我的忧伤和烦恼，并没有像今年这样强烈。今年，我感到任何的喜庆和欢乐都是不负责任的，因此，我既不想为他人祈愿，也不想接受他人的祈愿，以及热情的问候。下午，从西藏境内打来了一个电话，对方含畜地把中国政府称为“他们”。他说：“他们想干什么？不是说需要和平、和谐吗？在我看来恰好相反！”

按照通告的要求，在洛萨期间，我禁食。但是到了夜里，饥饿开始了。不过，我没有理会，仍然浏览网络。关于西藏境内的危机，互联网是我仅有的信息来源。这些天，我始终守着网络。从境内不断传出大规模抗议、枪杀和镇压，以及频繁、惊人的自焚事件的消息。但是，流亡社会这边并没有相称的回应，只是发表声明、谴责中国政府、呼吁联合国、抗议游行、绝食、集会、烛光守夜、祈祷、禁食、不过洛萨等等。我守着这些公共新闻网站、博客、脸书、推特，甚至海外华人异议网站，期待着出现更有价值的声音。然而，自从去年10月18日，嘉央诺布啦发表了《点燃独立的火种》、《我必须做什么？》 之后，我一直都在问，我们的知识分子哪里去了？

在流亡社会，即使我们具备所有需要的资源，我们得到的所有信息，都在显示一个事实：境内藏人在引导着我们抗争。尽管他们没有自由， 他们中许多知识分子还在被监禁，寺院被围困，人们被严密监视，即使和平抗议也可能付出生命的代价。然而，连自焚、拉嘎（星期三“西藏日”）、不合作运动（如“罢耕”）等，这些新的、有效的民间抗争战略，也都是他们走在了我们的前面 。事实上，我们这边有流亡政府（2011年更名为藏人行政中央，但我还是喜欢这样称呼），有不同职能的非政府组织，有学者，最重要的是我们还有自由，我们本来应该引导他们，反而被他们引导。

境内藏人越来越无所畏惧。仅阿坝， 就有20多起自焚事件，并且声明，如果镇压不停止，甚至会出现更多的自焚。随后，甘孜也出现了自焚，并迅速蔓延到安多和康的其他地区，如果洛、昌都、玉树、玛曲、天峻、热贡等地，当然，还有更多的地方随时都会揭竿而起。当他们为了我们共同的自由事业而献身时，我们甚至不能花一点时间撰文和思考：是否有比这种付出更小而收效更大的抗争方式，从而也可留住更多的生命？

与中国打交道的五十多年来，我们的呼吁和让步，都没有任何结果。这让每个人沮丧和愤怒。这一波自焚热浪，被认为是来之不易的、剧烈的抗争方式，因此，没有人敢阻止，任何人敢阻止都将被视为妨碍抗争。我也一样，在最初的几起自焚事件发生后，认为对中国的抗争终于有效了，并思忖，但愿不要有人出来阻止。甚至我们的政府，也开始说既不鼓励，也不阻止。然而，自焚在继续 ，没有停止的迹象。可是，我们流亡社会这边，还在重复已经证明了的无效作法。

虽然我始终是让赞（藏语，独立）的坚定支持者，但看到火焰无休止地吞噬生命的非常景象——那为了我们共同的事业而奔跑和呐喊时，我开始祈望如果有个方法可以突破这种抗争，同时也能拯救那些正在排队等待自焚的同胞的生命，那么我的立场暂时也可以动摇。因为，任何形式的突破，事实上对让赞和乌麦朗木（藏语，中间道路），都是有意义的。那么，为什么不能以乌麦朗木做为突破的起点？在一个民主自由的世界里，作为一个普通个人，我不在乎被指责为表里不一的“变相独立者”，我珍惜我的言论自由。

自从第九轮会谈没有结果、尊者达赖喇嘛移交政治权力，以及让流亡政府萎缩得如同一个非政府组织的草案修改事件，还有近期在西藏境内激增的抗议和自焚，都使拒绝乌麦朗木的声音变得响亮了。非常清楚，是我们外交的失败导致了这些愤怒，并使得年轻人充满了受挫的情绪。我们的领导人也承认这个失败，不过，在中国政府始终气焰嚣张的情况下，他们仍然不愿替换另外的抗争方式，甚至连一个可能改变的暗示都没有。两派之间过去的立场分歧，现在却延伸到了抗争方式的分歧。为乌麦朗木辩护的“更务实”、“更容易”的说法，已不再令人信服。另外对中国政府失去信心后，转向与中国人对话的战略，也让我们看到，即使花上几百年也未必唤醒一半的中国人口。

西绕次多（Sherab Tsedor）、博楚（Bhutuk），尤其是江白益西（Jampa Yeshi）的自焚，说明燃烧西藏的火焰已蔓延到了流亡社区。即使联合国已被敦促，议员们被游说，中国被谴责，那又怎么样？甚至联合国派考察团进入西藏（虽然不太可能，因为过去我们也得到过这样的承诺），他们想解决的，也是西藏正在发生的问题，而我们更深远的期望还是会被忽略。另外，即使没有考察团入藏发现真相，那真相也已经被发现，每个人都知道那里有自焚和镇压。那些同情我们的政治家们，可能会在他们的议会里扩大西藏问题的影响，甚至通过决议。但是，对于我们的长远目标是不会有实质性帮助的。谴责中国政府有什么用呢？（我不是说中国政府不该受到谴责）其实，中国政府比我们更清楚地知道，他们自己就是西藏危机的制造者。一个用八千万中国人的鲜血换来的政权，一个可以对自己的学生进行大屠杀，一个使他的军人穿上僧服、诱导和平示威的藏人转为打砸抢烧，并以此为借口来实行镇压的政府，即使国际社会向其施压，我们又能指望什么呢？

我们一直幻想别人的帮助。2010年，潘基文访问中国时，甚至没有提到西藏，而奥巴马只提到了一点点，却承认西藏是中国不可分割的一部分。连我们的东道国印度在关涉中国时也一样，如不久前因胡锦涛来访，正在开讨论会的藏人们尽管没有违反法律，却被以防止抗议为由遭到数日的拘捕。更不用提尼泊尔，已经成了中国的一个省份！我们是多么孤独！房子被抢劫和掠夺，家人被屠杀，自己在逃难，留下的人被奴役着，而逃难的人，在租借他人的房子时，房主也是滥用他们的权力……这是多么悲惨的命运！

因此，到了我们停止做梦、开始行动的时候了。我们有了抗争最重要的资源：境内藏人已经觉醒，为了自由，他们准备好了做任何事；他们拥有抗争需要的最大勇气，以及我们拥有的通讯技术。他们仅仅在等待，一旦有了我们的呼吁，就会立刻行动。

现在，我们只有两个选择，或者是继续浪费时间，或者是承认我们的失败，并采取新的战略来使用这些宝贵的资源，以进行有实效的抗争。而这两种选择，对让赞和乌麦朗木的坚持者都有效。肯定有人会说，西藏问题的国际化就是一个成果。但是，我们真正需要的不是道义和口头上的支持，而是对我们渴求的自由提供实质帮助。那么，哪些帮助，真正地帮助了我们吗？

因而，花时间，尽最大的努力，改革出一个新的、有效的和务实的抗争方法是此时的迫切需求。我们所有的人，从领导人到普通百姓，从老年人到年轻人，以及来自各行各业的人们，为了这个新的抗争方式，都要思考、交流和辨论。自由西藏学生运动组织已开始探索中国政府的薄弱环节，如果我们每个人都这样做，肯定会找到适合于我们的机会。

中国学者和藏学家王力雄已找到了这样一个方法，他提出的“村庄自治模式”击准了中共的要害之处，这是一个代价小而收效大的战略，且是合法的，有先例。像广东的乌坎村，对我们来说，就是一个例子。他指出，流亡西藏政府追求的真正自治，可以先从村庄自治开始，替代被动的等待领导人之间那种徒劳的、无休止的谈判。村民自己，就是实现村庄自治的主动参与者，是这个进程的一部分。每个村庄选出村长，多个村长组成村委会以及由此选出乡长，多个乡长选出县长，一步步地，最终实现民族区域自治。

这个战略的独特之处是每个人都在行动，成为抗争的参与者。那么，中国政府会抓捕每个藏人吗？不会。会抓起民选的村长吗？那么，我们还会选出新的。这个战略的另外一个特点是，村庄自治不需要任何人批准，村民自己说了算。只要他们坚持住，当局能做的只有妥协。另外，这个战略也不需要到街上抗议遭到镇压，不必付出巨大的代价，只需不合作，不服从，这也是非暴力战略的经典模式。

当然，就此产生的质疑，从不同的角度都可能出现。一种明显的说法是在西藏境内，那样严密的防范和监视下，怎能调动藏人为争取自治而抗争？但我认为，和中国人民不同，境内藏人民众在政治上，已足够醒悟到了被组织起来的程度。在西藏，不管什么地方发生了什么事，很快地就会传到流亡社区，如庆祝、谈论噶伦赤巴的选举，几乎遍布境内的每个角落。另一个更好的例子是，尊者达赖喇嘛只是简单地提到不要穿濒临灭绝的动物皮衣，藏人们不仅不再穿，而且把那豪华、昂贵的衣服烧为灰烬。因此，流亡政府这边只要发出呼吁，毫无疑问，在西藏境内，大多数人都会行动起来。另外一个可能出现的质疑是，汉人能做的事，我们不能做，否则就会被扣上“分裂主义”的帽子，并加以镇压。这方面，王力雄的回答是：“连自焚都不怕，还怕什么？”

这是一条可能通向乌麦朗木的新路。但是，如果我们认真地尝试改革和建设，也许还会探索出一条对两种目标都有启发的新路。说到这里，在有可能被看做一个表里不一的人之前，我要澄清，这并不意味着我已改变立场，实际上直至恢复让赞，我是不会罢休的。我们的愤怒和失望，之所以在近期更为加强，恰恰是因为没有任何形式的突破。而让赞和乌麦朗木之间在认识上的分歧，并不是最近才出现的，它一直存在。

因此，我们对别人的乐观，现在应该结束了。作为有信仰的民族，我们在道德和伦理上对中国政府和西方的期望，使得我们应以自己的奋斗结出的果实迟迟未果。是我们对现实政治的天真无知，造成了目前的这种危机。现在，应该认识到，我们是孤独的。那些想帮助我们的人却没有能力，而有能力的人，却不会帮助我们。一切都要靠我们自己。

我们真的需要改变！

写于2012年4月4日

We Need to Change

By 吾坚嘉

This losar morning, I woke up early, I had never woken up this early without important works. After an unusually more comprehensive morning prayer-session of more than an hour, daybreak was yet not around the corner. I went out, it was dark, came back in, out and again in, repeatedly, sat on the door-steps, tried to sleep, all in vain, suffocation by the walls made me more worried and finally decided to go out, though did not know where. Walking alone in the streets, aimless and lost, all I wanted was somewhere to go, something that I could keep walking on. I hated that quiet and peaceful city, I wanted to be distracted, distracted away from the flames of burning lives. A flash of consciousness made me realize that I had already reached the Lake by walking more than two kilometers, I sat on a bench facing the lake, I cried, cried loudly.

Never in my life had a losar been so infestive, even those few losars that came when I was the only Tibetan around, I still wished people and got wished and went out for feasts with my non-Tibetan friends. Though 2009 was too announced a No Losar year but feeling of sadness and anxiety was not this intense. But this losar, instead of being happy for being wished, I felt those festive and cheerful people irresponsible and thus neither wished anybody, nor replied to anybody’s wishing and greeting messages. In the afternoon, I got a call from Tibet and he was confused, “Aren’t peace and harmony what they want? But they appear to want exactly the opposite.” As announced, I fasted on losar. Only at midnight, hunger started calling but ignored and kept browsing.

Internet has been my only source of information about the crisis in Tibet and I have been surviving on the net all these days. News of self-immolations and mass protests with alarming frequencies in Tibet, consequent shootings and repressions have kept coming out, but in exile, nothing spectacular has come in response except those which we have always been doing – issuing statements, condemning the Chinese government, appealing the UN, protest marches, hunger strikes, rallies, candle-light vigils, praying, fasting, No Losar, etc. I have been guarding those common news portals, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, even the Chinese dissidents’ websites and waiting eagerly for something note-worthy to appear. After Jamyang Norbu la’s “Igniting the Embers of Independence” and “What Must I Do?” posted on October 18 last year, nothing came. I wonder where our intelligentsia have gone!

With all the resources we have in exile, Tibetans in Tibet seem leading us in our struggle even though they have no freedom – their intellectuals are mostly imprisoned, monasteries are besieged, people are kept under close surveillance, even peaceful protests could mean fatal and cost lives. Even in terms of innovating new ideas for the struggle, they are ahead of us – self-immolations, Lhakar, non-cooperation movements such as non-farming program, are all effective home-grown tactics of struggle. We have our exile government (I still prefer calling it this way), different NGOs, scholars, most importantly freedom, yet instead of leading, being led.

Besides, the Tibetans in Tibet have turned fearless. Ngaba alone had more than 20 cases of self-immolations and many more were said to come if the severe repressions would not cease. Kardze soon followed the trend which swiftly spread to other regions of Amdo and Kham – Golok, Chamdo, Yulshul, Machu, Themchen, Rebkong, and many more will definitely follow. When they can sacrifice their lives for the cause, we cannot even spend some time to think and write something; spend some time to think if there are less risky and cost-effective ways of struggle so that more lives can be saved. Yielding no result whatsoever with more than five decades of appealing and dealing with China has made everybody frustrated and furious and thus this fiery wave of self-immolations is considered to be hard-earned severe ways of protesting and so nobody dares to stop them, anybody dares would be considered obstructing the struggle. I too, during the initial few self-immolations, was very hopeful of something effective had finally begun and wished nobody stopping it. Even our government, unlike earlier, has started saying that it would neither encourage, nor discourage them. However, self-immolations went on and on endlessly with no corresponding effort from our side except repeating those activities which have already been proven ineffective.

Despite being always a staunch advocate of Rangzen, with endless coming out of extremely graphic images and footages of lives engulfed with flames, yet running and shouting for the common cause, I too feel like compromising my stance for the time being in case a new and effective idea comes up that can lead to a breakthrough of any sort which can save the lives that are expectedly in the queue, because any breakthrough with any nature and magnitude would mean breakthrough to both the ideology groups of Rangzen and Ume-lam, why cannot a breakthrough achieved by one group be used as a stepping stone by another? Being a common individual of no importance with democratic freedom, I do not care being blamed for “independence in disguise”, I cherish my freedom of expression.

Since the fruitless ninth round of talks, devolution of His Holiness’ political authority, charter amendment that shrank our exile government to an NGO and especially the recent surge of intensified and extreme ways of protests in Tibet, voices of opposition have turned louder and vocal repudiations of the middle-way stance is often seen. These are clear indications of our diplomatic failure that has led to this anger and frustration among the youngsters. Even our leaders recognize the failure, but still reluctant to switch to other options and resorts, even a hint of possible change if China persists with its arrogance is not seen. Past disagreement from the Rangzen advocates in terms of stance has now become an opposition to the futile way of pursuing the goal itself. Claims of being “more pragmatic” and “easier” have been proven unconvincing. The new strategy of engaging with Chinese people after losing trust with Chinese government too will take centuries to awaken even half of the Chinese population.

With Serab Tsedor, Bhutuk and especially Jamphel Yeshi setting themselves on fire, flames of burning Tibet have already reached in exile, but we are yet lost – UN has been urged, politicians lobbied, China condemned, so what? Even though the UN will send a fact-finding delegation into Tibet (though very unlikely as we got such promises in the past too), it will raise the currently ongoing crisis but our end goal of national struggle will be forgotten, even if it will not send a delegation to find the facts, facts have already been found, everybody knows there is crisis, there are self-immolations and there is crack-down. The lobbied politicians may raise our issue in their parliaments and even if resolutions get passed, nothing big will come to our main struggle. What difference will it make to condemn the Chinese government (I do not mean it should not be condemned)? Chinese government knows better than us that they themselves are responsible for the crisis in Tibet. A government that has come to power by claiming the lives of 80 million people, one that massacres its own students and one that disguises its own troops with monks’ robes to lead the Tibetan peaceful protests turn violent with arson, looting and killing so as to justify crack-downs (we have all seen this evidence of distributing robes among the soldiers in 2008 pan-Tibet protests), even if pressurized by the international community, that does not matter much.

We have always been in the illusion of others doing something for us – Ban Ki Moon did not even mention Tibet when he visited China in 2010; Obama barely mentioned a bit but said Tibet being an integral part of China; even our host country India, when it comes to China, does anything at its will – rounding up our activists even at the mid of addressing the penal discussion without charges as preventive measures to Hu’s visit; and of course Nepal has almost turned a Chinese province. How lonely we are! Our house has been looted and plundered, family members slaughtered, made flee and the rest enslaved, those fled stay in rented houses but are too subject to abuses by their landlords at their wills. Such is our miserable fate!

Therefore, it is high time we should stop dreaming and start doing. We already have the most important resources our struggle requires: The Tibetans in Tibet are fully awakened and ready to do anything for the cause, they have the maximum courage the fight requires and all modes of communication technologies are at our disposal to organize them into disciplined fighters. They are just waiting for us to give them a call and they are ever ready to oblige.

Now we have only two options – are we going to persist with what we have been doing to keep wasting time or admit our failure and employ new strategies to make use of these afore-said precious resources to have a result-oriented struggle? These two options are valid both for Ume-lam and Rangzen believers. A very expected argument here is the internationalization of Tibetan issue being an achievement, but then what we need is not moral and verbal support but support that helps us getting freedom and acquiring identity. All helps are but not necessarily helpful.

The need of the time is, therefore, to invest our maximum effort in innovating new effective and pragmatic ideas for the struggle. Everyone of us, from leaders to common masses, old to young, people from different walks of life need to think, talk and debate on new strategies. SFT has started exploring the weak points of the Chinese government. If everybody does so, we will definitely find some loopholes to seize our opportunity.

The Chinese scholar and Tibetologist Wang Lixiong has found one – his Village Autonomy model hits at the CCP’s weak point – it is a cost-effective strategy that can be applied lawfully and also claims to be result-oriented too as Wukan village in Guangdong Province is already an example for us to follow. He opines that our government’s pursuit of genuine autonomy can start with fighting for village autonomy. Under this strategy, instead of passively waiting for the leaders to go through fruitlessly endless negotiations, the villagers themselves take part in the process and become active fighters of village autonomy. They collectively elect village heads to form village council and obey only them, not those appointed ones. In this way, many village councils come together to elect and achieve township committee, and then many township committees to realize district committee, layer by layer, until genuine autonomy is achieved.

What is unique about this strategy is that everybody is an active participant of the struggle. Will the Chinese government arrest every Tibetan? They cannot. Will they arrest the elected village heads? Let them, we will elect again. Another critical feature of this strategy is that this village autonomy does not need to be approved by anybody else but by the villagers themselves. As long as they can persist with their approval, authorities can do nothing but to compromise. Moreover, this strategy does not require protest in the open streets that justify suppression and thus cost-effective. By simply not cooperating with the appointed authorities and disobeying them, this is a classic model of nonviolent strategy expressed through non-cooperation and civil disobedient movements.

Different doubts may arise here – the most obvious one must be that with such tight securities and surveillance systems in Tibet, how can the Tibetans be organized to struggle for autonomy. I think unlike Chinese people, Tibetan people in Tibet are politically already awakened enough to be organized. Whatever happens anywhere in Tibet is soon known here in exile; the election of Kalon Tripa was celebrated and talked-about almost everywhere in Tibet; a perfect example is that a simple call from His Holiness to refrain from wearing skins of endangered animals prompted them to not only stop wearing, but also burning such luxurious and expensive clothes to ashes. So a call from exile will surely activate everyone in Tibet. Another doubt could be that what Chinese can do cannot be done by us, we would be labeled as separatists and cracked-down upon, to this, Wang Lixiong replies, “Not even scared of self-immolations, what else are to be scared of?”

This is one new path that will possibly lead to our set goal of Ume-lam, there might be other paths to be explored for our both the goals if we start trying seriously to be innovative and creative. Thus said, before being possibly labeled as a hypocrite, I should clarify it does not necessarily mean that I have switched my stance to Ume-lam, I will not rest until Rangzen is restored. Our recent intensified anger and frustration is just because we have not got any breakthrough of any kind, to any goal, with all these decades of effort, ideological difference is not a recent development, it has always been there.

Thus, our optimism towards anybody else should end now. Being spiritual people, our moralistic and ethical expectations from the Chinese regime and the west have postponed our struggle to yield result. Our naïve ignorance of the realpolitik has brought us to this present state of crisis. Now we should know we are all alone – those who want to help us are not capable of helping and those capable will not help. It is all on us, ourselves. WE REALLY NEED TO CHANGE!

以下图示也由吾坚嘉绘制，点击显示大图。

图4、为38位自焚藏人分布地区及性别之图示，在“流亡”中包括1998年自焚牺牲的流亡藏人Thupten Ngodup（图登欧珠）、2006年自焚受伤的流亡藏人Lhakpa Tsering（拉巴茨仁）、2011年11月4日自焚受伤的流亡藏人Sherab Tsedor（西绕次多）、2011年11月10日自焚受伤的流亡藏人Bhutuk（博楚）、2012年3月26日自焚牺牲的流亡藏人Jampa Yeshi（江白益西）。【注明：鉴于留言中有人质疑此图，虽然此图已将图登欧珠包括在“流亡”地区中，所以这种质疑是不必要的，但出于息事宁人，避免不必要的纷争，还是删去此图，保留说明。】

图5、为38位自焚藏人的年龄阶段之图示。