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Today marks four years since Tashi Wangchuk was secretly detained for his work advocating for Tibetan language rights<\/p>\nToday marks four years since Tashi Wangchuk was secretly detained for his work advocating for Tibetan language rights<\/p>\n
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (New York, NY) \u2013 PEN America released an open letter signed by nearly 1,000 writers, linguists, translators, and language rights advocates calling for the immediate release of Tashi Wangchuk. Exactly four years ago today, on January 27, 2016, Chinese officials secretly detained Wangchuk for his activism on Tibetan language rights. In 2018, after a one-day trial, he was sentenced to five years in prison on false charges of \u201cinciting separatism.\u201d PEN America has long led a global campaign for Wangchuk\u2019s release.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply concerned that Tashi\u2019s arrest and trial have been marked by a lack of due process, including the fact that Tashi was reportedly tortured prior to his trial,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cWe believe that the right of everyone to learn, teach and develop their native language must be protected. As such, we call upon the government of the People\u2019s Republic of China to release Tashi Wangchuk, and to honor its own domestic and international obligations to uphold ethnic minorities\u2019 rights to learn and develop their own spoken and written languages.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe freedom to write is meaningless without the freedom to speak one\u2019s own language, and PEN America vehemently supports linguistic and cultural rights,\u201d said author Jennifer Egan, PEN America\u2019s president. \u201cTashi has been unjustly arrested and detained for advocating on behalf of Tibetan speakers throughout China who wish to communicate freely and understand each other. We demand his immediate release, and we demand that his calls for linguistic freedom be satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n Chinese officials used Wangchuk\u2019s participation in a New York Times documentary and article to charge him with \u201cinciting separatism\u201d in 2016. Wangchuk, who has denied ever calling for separatism, has long been a peaceful advocate for Tibetan language rights, and has advocated for the use of the Tibetan language in both government offices and in education. Chinese officials have severely curtailed the ability of schools and public institutions to teach the Tibetan language and have instituted harsh assimilation tactics that infringe on Tibetans\u2019 linguistic rights.<\/p>\n \u201cTashi\u2019s continued imprisonment and harsh treatment at the hands of Chinese authorities is a stain on China\u2019s government and its unfulfilled promises of securing the linguistic rights of minority groups,\u201d said James Tager, deputy director of free expression research and policy at PEN America, which organized the open letter. \u201cTashi\u2019s peaceful advocacy for the Tibetan language is, at its core, advocacy for a universal human impulse: the right to use and celebrate one\u2019s mother tongue. For that, he has been treated like a criminal. Tashi has never had a fair trial, and every day he is imprisoned is a day he is unjustly deprived of due process and his freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to his arrest, Tashi had attempted to sue the Chinese government to restore the use of the Tibetan language in Yushu prefecture, a predominantly Tibetan populated area outside the official Tibetan Autonomous Region. While that earned him an international reputation, it led to reprisals from the Chinese government, including his eventual imprisonment. Tashi was held for months without his family being notified, and his right to access a lawyer reportedly remains severely curtailed.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n Michel Anne-Frederic DeGraff, Linguistics Society of America:<\/strong> Paula M. Krebs, Modern Language Association:<\/strong> Catrina Wessels, PEN Afrikaans:<\/strong> Source: https:\/\/pen.org\/press-release\/nearly-1000-writers-and-linguists-sign-open-letter-demanding-china-release-tibetan-language-advocate\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today marks four years since Tashi Wangc … Continue reading
\nJanuary 26, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Chinese government\u2019s effort to label Tashi\u2019s linguistic advocacy as \u2018separatism\u2019 is something that strikes at the heart of linguistic study. Simply put, advocacy for one\u2019s native language is no crime. On the contrary, it\u2019s a basic human right. As linguists, we also know that teaching children in their native language is fundamentally a matter of educational best practice, as it provides them with the best tools for effective literacy and for quality education in all subject matters. The LSA is proud to have signed the petition for Tashi\u2019s release, not only because of the moral urgency of calling for his release, but because we recognize the clear benefits of the sort of native-language education that Tashi was advocating. We do hope that Tashi will be freed and that he will be able to continue helping his community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs members of the MLA community, we understand that preserving a language is vital to preserving a culture. And we recognize that freedom of expression is fundamental to the pursuit of education and equality for all people. The continued imprisonment of Tashi Wangchuk has broad implications for the increasing suppression of these basic rights in China and for free expression worldwide. To put it simply: linguistic rights are human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cPEN Afrikaans unreservedly joins the call for Tashi Wangchuk\u2019s release. We believe strongly that linguistic diversity should be preserved and that peaceful language advocacy, conducted entirely within the parameters of local and international laws, should be celebrated, not punished.\u201d<\/p>\n