“No new houses have been built, they have just put new doors and windows in the old prison buildings. The government made a lot of publicity about bringing electric and water facilities, but those who moved there say there is no such facility. The government talks about providing food subsidy eventually, but so far they got nothing…”
Z.R from Chabcha county, Amdo province, speaking about the Tang Karma settlement
-Testimonials from “No One Has the Liberty to Refuse”, a report by Human Rights Watch published in June 2007
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/06/10/no-one-has-liberty-refuse
Jigme Ri: “I have been coming to this grassland for 18 or 19 years and have lived in this area for some three decades. Now the government keeps accusing us of overgrazing and destroying the grassland. But before the Household Responsibility System, the size of our herds was twice or three times the size it is now. With fewer livestock, how can there be overgrazing?”
Nyima Gyaltsen: Nomads long ago realized the delicate balance involved between man and beast. It has been a process over hundreds of years for the nomads to gradually grasp the laws of nature. They now understand interdependence of species and the truth behind survival on the grasslands.”
Phuntsok, 45 years old: “The grassland without animals is like a child without a mother” [...]“I feel so stuffy inside the house. It is so different from living in the tent. As soon as I move out my mood changes. It must be my habit, because I feel so good and my spirits are much better.”
Dolma Kyi, 74 years old, “The government told us that the grasslands were dying and said it would recover if we moved away. But I don’t see any evidence that the grasslands are getting any better since we’ve moved away. It looks just the same.”
-The testimonials above are taken from Man And The Biosphere; Special Issue 2010, Published By The Chinese National Committee for Man and the Biosphere and authorized By: Chinese Academy of Sciences.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama spoke out against China's forced nomad resettlement at the Kalachakra teachings in Bodh Gaya in early 2012. In a rare audience with Tibetans from Tibet, the Dalai Lama urged China's leaders to “instead of forcefully resettling them, building of hospitals and schools for the nomads around their grazing areas would be more constructive.”
