[IMC-Editorial] PDXAUDIOTibetan photo project on Radio
Query from Tibetan Photo Project
tibetanphotoproject2 at hotmail.com
Thu Mar 4 19:13:09 PST 2004
•FOR RADIO PRODUCERS: AN interview on the Tibetan Photo Project Co-founder
Joe Mickey with Monique Fuller can be heard at
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=8597 where it can be picked up for
broadcast. At no charge. length 7min, 54 sec
The Tibetan Photo Project offers the first photos taken by Tibetan monks
living in exile, images of the Dalai Lama, informational texts and rare 1932
pictures of Tibet.
The perspective provided from the modern history of Tibet and China reveals
a great deal about the nature of China's future leadership. The lessons have
become even more relevant with the rise to power by Hu Jintao, China's
former hardline secretary to Tibet.
Please also read "Tibet at the Edge of Extinction"
http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com/tibet2.html
Visit http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com & please consider adding a link to
the project
•We offer slide show / lecture presentations for
groups and organizations.
(See National and regional
reviews below)
•FOR EDITORS: We offer a complete and colorful feature on the Tibetan Photo
Project. Drop us an email for a disc.
•FOR RADIO PRODUCERS: AN interview on the Tibetan Photo Project Co-founder
Joe Mickey with Monique Fuller can be heard at
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=8597 where it can be picked up for
broadcast. At no charge. length 7min, 54 sec
The power of one frame of
film
The combined circulation of publications that have told some portion of
Tibet’s tragedy through the Tibetan Photo Project is over 20 million.
• Linked by Harvard Asia Center for the Dalai
Lama's 2003 visit.•
•Linked by Africa & Asia studies,
University of London•
•Linked by the University
of Virginia•
•National media reviews on the Tibetan Photo Project
“REWARDING”
-Parade Magazine
Seen by 16 million readers, resulting in 40,000 hits to
http:/tibetanphotoproject.com
“Their work precisely captures with insight and enthusiasm the life of
exiled Tibetans.”
-Bobbie Liegh, Art & Antiques Magazine
•Regional Reviews
"Audiences leave seeing China's treatment of Tibet as a microcosm of how the
communist country deals with the world." -The Slice, Colorado Springs
"Tibetan Photo Project is a magic view into a world no Westerner has seen.
These unique photographs were created by Tibetan Monks themselves and give
voice to their story and culture."
-Scribe, UCCS student newspaper
"Insightful...touching." -GO!
For a brief education at the site, http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com, read
"Tibet at the Edge of Extinction." & "Save Tibet...Why?"
Please have a look at http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com
Visually and Respectfully, Joe Mickey & Sazzy Varga
The story of The Tibetan Photo Project
The Story of the Tibetan Photo Project Photos by Joe Mickey & Sazzy Varga /
founders of the Tibetan Photo Project
All copyrights the Tibetan Photo Project
• China's takeover of Tibet began in 1949.
• Beijing's brutal policies remain intact. In a population of 6 million
Tibetans, Chinese government forces have caused the deaths of 1.2 million
Tibetans by execution, torture, starvation, forced labor and imprisonment.
Of 6,000 monasteries only 13 remain.
• In 1989 the exiled leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace
Prize He accepted on behalf of the Tibetan people and their efforts to find
a peaceful solution to China's brutal occupation of Tibet. The Dalai Lama
was among the first with a $30k donation to victims of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks in New York. The complete text of his letter to President
Bush on the attack on the World Trade Center can be found at www.tibet.com.
• Over 135,000 Tibetans live in exile with between 1,500 and 3,500 escaping
into Nepal and India each year.
• Tibet's exile community offers great insight into the nature of the
Chinese leaders at a time when Beijing1s role on the stage of world events
is expanding rapidly.
My contact with the Tibetan monks began on the Mendocino stop of their 1999
American cultural tour. I had the privilege of a photo-op and an interview
with a Lama.
At that time, I was beginning a great deal of research on the Tibetan
accusations of abuse at the hands of the Chinese government. In "Tears of
Blood - A Cry for Tibet" by Mary Craig and "In Exile From the Land of Snows"
by John Avedon, I had read the accounts of terrible atrocities suffered at
the hands of the Chinese government forces told by Tibetans who had escaped
to India.
The follow-up research consisted of reviewing news from major media sources
in print, broadcast and on the Web. I wanted to sort out any Tibetan
propaganda from the facts. I have developed a hard copy file that numbers
about 2,500 articles. They cover all aspects of recent developments in
China.
With regards to the Tibetans, the file confirms the claims of horrific
methods regularly employed by the Chinese government. China officially
labels torture as "Reeducation". Beijing labels accounts of torture "the
propaganda of splittists" and "internal matters", and of no concern for the
international community
During my meeting with the Tibetans I was introduced to a sponsorship
program for Tibetan monks living in one of the Buddhist monasteries they
have recreated in India. I send a small monthly amount (to a cause that I
have thoroughly researched) and enjoy a slow but rewarding correspondence
with Jam Yang Norbu.
There is no instant messenger or e-mail. This is all handled by regular
mail. When my letters arrive in India they wait at the monastery for
available translators. Norbu responds in an original Tibetan script that he
gives the translators and it is eventually typed up on a manual typewriter
and sent to me. The process of a single communication cycle can easily take
six to ten weeks.
I have been a photographer for over 30 years and I immediately began to
package up point-and-shoot cameras and added the basics rules of good
photography to my letters. From Jam Yang Norbu I learned that the camera was
a new concept for Tibetans dedicated to rebuilding and preserving their
culture.
The first roll of photos was processed in India and I received a set of
prints. From the start, Jam Yang Norbu and his friends paid great attention
to the basic lessons in photography and produced a series of well-lit but
posed images.
On the receiving end, this was still, nothing less than a magic view into
another world. More importantly, the view was not being provided by an
outsider looking in through a lens and preconceived notions. I was being
given the vantage point from the inside.
I immediately sent a small flood of cameras and film and in correspondence
we discussed how photography could be used as a tool in their efforts to
preserve Tibetan culture if he could record his friends living that culture
on film. Again, the monks have paid very good attention and I have been
given the gift of rare glimpses into the lives of some of the 2,500 monks of
the Drepung Monastery.
What has been revealed in the photos and the letters is a dedicated group of
men living and struggling and very often laughing through lives that have
very few needs or desires. They work with complete dedication to preserve
the best of Tibetan culture.
Conclusion
Belief in any religion is a matter of personal temperament and life history.
At best I classify myself as a skeptical agnostic. Tibetan Buddhism is based
in a moderate or balanced form of the practice. Studies have shown that
elements of Tibetan Buddhist mind training, meditation and prayer and
Tibetan medicines offer the potential for better mental and physical health.
What has captured my interest in the Tibetan struggle is the injustice of
China's occupation of Tibet. The strength of their peaceful struggle holds a
mirror for the world to see the reflection of the brutal nature of the
leadership in Beijing.
Tibetans are not all pacifists. Many would be happy to regain Tibet by
force, and while not a realistic possibility, that option for a solution is
as much a part of their collective thought as any other group of oppressed
people. But through my research and contact with Jam Yang Norbu, I have also
discovered the power of peaceful resolve of the human spirit that can only
be found in rare and great people, past and present.
Beyond the myths of Shangri-La, their culture and history has all the human
flaws but, as Tibetans stand at the edge of a violent forced extinction,
they have not given up the search for the soul, heart and true purpose
behind the gift of human existence. History says they will prevail. Over
2500 years, kingdoms, nations, and dynasties have fallen, while the simple
monks have walked a continuous path through the changing centuries. My
conclusion, which has grown stronger in light of recent events, We certainly
need their examples more than they need ours.
Over the past two years China has grown its economy between 7 and 8 percent.
Over the same period, Beijing has increased military spending at 12 and 17.
China is at the manufacturing end of the supply line for many weapons
purchased by countries that support terrorism. Two days before the attack on
the World Trade Center, the Chinese government issued a statement in support
of Yasser Arafat. News of China's controversial entry into the WTO was
overshadowed by the terrorist attack on New York. China has offered little
official response to the terrorists attacks in New York on Sept. 11.
(No endorsements or associations are made or implied. Research all
organizations before donating or supporting)
Visit http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com & please consider adding a link to
the project
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