Tibetans feel stifled, asphyxiated by tide of Chinese propaganda memes: Report

Beijing, Aug 27 (IANS) Lhasa, a holy pilgrimage city, was temporarily transformed to resemble Beijing, turning the Patola parade ground into a mini Tiananmen Square, where authorities observed and monitored every assembled citizen during the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to central Tibet, a report cited on Wednesday.

It stated that the Chinese President, during the visit, highlighted China’s efforts to modernize Tibet with "Chinese characteristics".

According to a report published by Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP), Beijing attempted to reassure itself that it is succeeding in winning the hearts and minds of the Tibetans by staging grand patriotic displays to convince top leaders of their success. However, it said, the efforts remain forced and misleading due to China's rigid governing style.

At Potala Palace in Tibet, while welcoming Xi Jinping, the military band played music and the Tibetans waved red flags and “khatag scarves". The flag was unfurled, the national anthem played, while the crowd sang with fast-moving shots capturing the scene in full display.

"These outbursts of spontaneous joy at seeing the Core Leader remind us that China sees Tibetans as backward, simple folk, who break into joyful dancing just like that. Nothing to do with choreography and repeated rehearsals. This spectacular enlisted 20,000 participants, trained to simulate spontaneity on cue. At no other time would the party-state allow 20,000 Tibetans to gather on the streets and square immediately below the Potala; any genuinely popular gathering would be swiftly declared a threat to national security,” wrote Gabriel Lafitte, who spent years living with Tibetans, in exile and in Tibet, wrote in ISDP.

The report stated that previously, in March 2025, new regulations came into effect across Lhasa and Tibet Autonomous Region prefectures, further restricting Tibetan culture and language.

These regulations, issued at least once a year, dictate how Tibetans of central Tibet should behave, and with each set of rules, the punishments become increasingly detailed.

“Do Tibetans believe China is building in Tibet a united, prosperous, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful new socialist modernity? Does that fit their daily experience? This is popularly known as gaslighting, an unending campaign of controlling the minds and thoughts of others,” said the Australia-based writer.

"China’s reliance on top-level design to translate its frontier construction theory into a menu of actions has resulted in a dead end. Far from master planning Tibet’s transition into embracing a new identity, as loyal Chinese citizens, the counterproductive outcome of intensifying pressure is the deepening of Tibetan dismay at the relentless intrusion of China’s slogan jargon into every aspect of life. Tibetans feel stifled, asphyxiated, cancelled by the tide of propaganda memes they must memorize, repeat, and perform, whenever required," noted Lafitte who researches the impacts of Chinese policies on the Tibetan Plateau and regularly trains young Tibetan professional environmentalists and advocates.

--IANS

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