AnarWiki/markdown/Tibetan_Student_Movement_(2010).md

The **Tibetan Student Movement of 2010** was a
[indigenist](Indigenism "wikilink") [student
movement](Student_Uprisings "wikilink") in [Tibet](Tibet "wikilink")
(occupied by [China](China "wikilink")) in
[2010](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Eastern_Asia "wikilink").

## Background

Too long to explain properly. But basically Tibet is a territory
occupied by China and it represses much of the population. This movement
was caused by a government move to change Mandarin to the default
language in schools in Tibet.

## Events

Protests began as Tibetan students aged 14 to 20 protested the reforms
in school uniforms, filling the streets beginning at 7 AM and shouted
slogans like “Equality of ethnicities, freedom of language”
(translations vary) and demanded “greater equality and expanded use of
Tibetan language”. They marched through the streets and Buddhist monks
are reported to have joined protests as well. Other slogans included
“Return the authority of the Tibetan language.” Police vehicles
surrounded the protestors, but took no further action. The protestors
gathered at the People’s Government Building in Rebkong. The government
agreed to meet with the leaders, but threatened some students with
expulsions.

The next day, these students were reported to be back in classes, but
about 2,000 students in Chabcha County, Tsolho, protested in the streets
from 6-10 AM, again in school uniforms, demanding the return the
authority of the Tibetan language, Equality Among Nationalities and a
expansion of the use of Tibetan language. The students, aged 11 to 18,
carried banners in Tibetan and Chinese that read “Equality Among
Nationalities” and “Expand the Use of the Tibetan Language”. St

On October 23, twenty students from the Tibetan Middle School in Chabcha
were arrested after attempting to escape from security forces. The next
day, several hundred high school students and teachers from Chentsa,
Malho County took to the streets to protest and voice support for the
continued use of Tibetan in classrooms. The same day, a group of Tibetan
former Chinese government officials and educationalists from Qinghai
sent an extensively detailed petition to the provincial education
department that argued against the language reforms. The letter pointed
out that the laws that officials were using to support the reforms had
explicit provisions against eliminating minority languages and that
enacting the reforms would be “in serious contempt of the authority of
the nation’s laws.” (The text of the letter is available here:
<http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/retired-chinese-g>....)
On October 26, approximately 300 students staged a protest in Themchen
Tsongon, and students at a Tibetan school in Tsayi, Sangchu County,
Labrang voiced support for the student protest. A report released by
International Campaign for Tibet dated October 26 cited reports from
Tibetans in the area that students in Chabcha were possibly detained in
their schools, that security was tighter in areas where protests
occurred, and that students involved in some of the protests were being
investigated by authorities.

On October 26, more than 300 Tibetan high school and middle school
teachers in Qinghai sent a formal letter to the Qinghai authorities
stating that “in order to raise the quality of teaching and education
and to amply reveal a person’s intelligence, we should use a language of
instruction most easily understood by the students”. The letter had been
written after a government-mandated conference from October 11-16. In
the letter, the teachers listed reasons for maintaining Tibetan language
as the teaching language and encouraged the gradual introduction of
Chinese into classrooms in a manner more suitable to the needs of the
students. It was signed by all the teachers and some Tibetan students.
(The letter is available at
http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/tibetan-teachers-....)

Supporters of the Tibetan students’ protests staged solidarity protests
and actions throughout the world through organizations such as Students
for a Free Tibet, beginning shortly after the protests began and
continuing until December.

China issued a statement on November 18, 2010 assuring the world that
Qinghai authorities had met with citizens to “publicize the State’s
minority education policy, listening extensively to the views and
opinions of teachers, principals and students” and claiming that “Today
the matter has been resolved satisfactorily, and the situation in the
schools has quickly returned to normal.” The statement did not mention
the letter from the Tibetan teachers or the increased number of troops
in areas where the protests had taken place.

The students stopped protesting after October 26 because they were told
by school administrators that more Tibetan language instruction would
take place in schools. A few days after the protests ended, the Qinghai
director of education stated that “in places where conditions are not
ripe, the authorities won't forcefully push the reforms.” However, in
interviews, students reported that Mandarin continued to be the primary
language in classrooms and that Tibetan language usage had not
increased. Therefore, the researcher believes that the goals of the
student protestors were not reached.

The researcher notes that similar protests occurred again in March 2012.