Tibetan Uprising

Gedun Gyatso, 27, grew up in the idyllic village of Podma in the Kham province of Tibet. He would spend his summers at the top of a mountain with five others young men protecting the village yaks from wolves and foxes with stones and slings. Gedun learned about Tibetan culture and history from his grandfather who had one relative killed and another imprisoned by the Chinese. Gedun grew up filled with anger at the Chinese and used his sling to break out the windows of Chinese military vehicles as they entered Tibet with soldiers and left with timber.

At 13, he fulfilled his childhood dream and entered the Podma Monastery near his village. After protests for independence at the nearby Sevo Monastery, the government intensified their “patriotic reeducation” campaign with the monks, stressing:

1. The monks should not follow the Dalai Lama.
2. They should not follow the Tibetan government-in-exile.
3. They must listen to Chinese officials.
4. The monks must love the People’s Republic of China.

When asked about these four premises by the police in the monastery, Gedun replied, “I will not abide by any law denouncing the Dalai Lama.” Soon after these meetings, late at night, Gedun pasted posters around the town and even put a homemade Tibetan flag on the main Chinese government building. The police soon came to his monastery to question the monks about the incident. They singled out Gedun and took him to a separate room. They made him change out of his monk robes and took him to Situthang Prison in Chamdo, Tibetan Autonomous Region. “I started thinking about what kind of tortures I would have to endure.”

At 16 years of age, Gedun’s first day of detention began with three guards interrogating him about who had masterminded the plot while four guards to beat him with thick rubber tubes. During his time in detention, the guards would bend Gedun’s head to slam an elbow into his neck and shocked him all over his body with electric batons. Sometimes he would be tied to a snooker table and beaten with hard tubes or long sticks with needles on the end. On the worst day of his torture, the guards handcuffed Gedun with his head near his knees in a metal room filled with a few inches of water. Suddenly, it felt like a giant hammer hit him and he blacked out. They had electrified the entire room; the water had amplified the electric shock sent through his body. Gedun woke up in a new room, unable to walk, talk or even see straight. He couldn’t care for himself for the next ten days. After three months of interrogation, Gedun’s answers hadn’t changed so he was sentenced to three years in Lojoso Prison. “When I look back, I feel no anger towards the guards because its their duty. Their orders came from the government. I also feel proud that I did something for my country.”

Once released, Gedun had no political rights and could not return to his monastery. He fled to India where he met His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “Since I had only seen photos of His Holiness, when I saw him in real life, I was speechless. I have so much reverence for His Holiness and I was so so happy.” Gedun went on to Sera Monastery where he heard about the March to Tibet. He signed up immediately. “I’m not scared at all to die for the Tibetan cause because I have experienced prison and its not only I who suffered under the oppression, thousands of Tibetans are suffering now. When we go to Tibet, I’m quite sure the Chinese military will kill me but at least I’m sacrificing my life for my country.”

Gedun’s message to the Tibetan people: “Under the precious leadership of His Holiness, we shouldn’t keep the pain in our heart. We must inform the people of the plight of Tibet. So far, Tibetans have suffered so much under the Chinese regime and kept the pain in their heart so now is the time to raise the issue to a greater platform and solve Tibet’s problems.”