Kate Saunders
At this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, where China was the Guest of Honor, writers in the official delegation had handlers, and some books on the Chinese stand were marked with a green sticker stating: “Any claim denying the One-China Principle in this book will be rejected.” The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), a nonprofit organization promoting human rights for the Tibetan people, was initially banned from disseminating fliers about its literary salon, which featured readings of works by contemporary Tibetan writers. Fair organizers told ICT that distribution of leaflets about the event would lead to “discussions between dissenting persons,” which could cause a threat to maintaining security in the halls of the book fair. All ICT activities at the book fair would thus have to be confined to the organization’s official stand and its public readings, the book fair management said. However, after the story was covered in the German media, the decision was quickly reversed.
At the fair, an exiled Tibetan friend of mine started a conversation with a Tibetan who was part of the “official” Chinese delegation of writers, artists, government representatives, and Party leaders. The two discussed their homeland, and how they both passionately missed tsampa, a traditional Tibetan meal of roasted barley. As they chatted in Tibetan, the delegate’s Chinese escort scowled at us and another Chinese official put his newspaper down and stared. My friend—not wanting to cause any problems for the delegate—ended the conversation and we walked away.
Later, a German Tibet activist told me that she had privately asked a Tibetan who was there as an officially-recognized writer what he thought of the human rights situation in Tibet. The Tibetan was accompanied by a Chinese handler. The Tibetan said nothing and started visibly shaking.
With these experiences to inspire us, ICT felt that there should be a space for silenced Tibetan voices at the fair, so we hosted a reading of writings which are banned in Tibet or published anonymously on blogs. The German actor and activist Hannes Jaenicke and Tibetan scholar Lamajabb appeared before a packed audience to read a selection of work from ICT’s new book, Like Gold that Fears no Fire: New Writing from Tibet, a collection of Tibetan writings translated into English and focused on Tibetan experiences of the protests and crackdown since March 2008.
In an exclusive essay for the collection, Tibet’s most well-known writer, Woeser, talked about the importance of Tibetans telling their own stories:
In the past half century and more, looking at practically all of the stories about Tibet in official discourse, Tibet is either being “introduced” or misrepresented. In this attempt to forever control Tibet by deleting and revising history and reality, the truth is stifled, the terror is hidden, and the Tibetan people remain silent.
