The Real Tibet--Dispatches: Undercover in Tibet-A BBC Report

One of the best films about Tibet's lack of human rights incorporating footage from the recent protests with undercover interviews inside Tibet. 48 minutes. Posted on Google video 4.4.08.

This film touches upon all the major problems the vast number of Tibetans experience daily. The stories here come from both urban and extremely isolated people inside Tibet. They are not propaganda from some "splitist" group aiming for an independent Tibet or stimulated by the Dalai Lama as PR but real life stories bravely spoken in the shadows of a hidden camera. With compelling accuracy you'll experience the intense paranoia and fear Tibetans live with since the slightest infraction can get one imprisoned, tortured, or killed. Telling their stories is done at great personal risk.

So what are some of the issues Tibetans are faced with:

--Lack of the most basic human rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of movement (confiscation of land and enforced resettlement), freedom of their bodies (females are forced into abortions and sterilization, their menstrual cycle monitored), freedom of religious practice.

--a punitive penal system that regularly uses torture over the most minor misdameanors such as passing out leaflets, speaking out against a policy or simply talking with foreigners.

--Extreme poverty and poor health care

--lack of skilled employment for Tibetans who do not speak and write fluent Mandarian Chinese

--Destruction of the environment through mining,building, forestry practices and destruction of natural habitat leading to endangered species and flora and fauna.

--Degradation of traditional Tibetan culture including historic buildings, Buddhist teachings, and Tibetan symbols of national identity such as the Dalai Lama.

--Distortion of the historical and archaeological record of Tibet and its relation to China.

--an implicit policy of genocide by mass influx of Chinese into the TAR who benefit from economic development

--a military state with no operative legal infrastructure based on citizen rights