Image: courtesy of @tibettruth
They invade your country, through a military occupation enforce a tyranny which targets your culture, while administering a policy of mass-population transfer. Clearly your cultural identity is under threat. But hey no worries because the very same regime which has engineered such an assault, and forced your language onto the brink, announces it’s releasing a cell phone app to encourage and maintain your mother tongue. Time to party? A sign that your oppressor really does respect the traditions and language of your people? Or yet another calculated sleight-of-hand, disinformation to deceive and deflect international criticism and concern?
The Chinese propaganda mouthpiece, the Global Times, reports today that so-called ‘Tibet regional government (sic)’ is to release a mobile app which it claims will support and encourage the learning of Tibetan. Which is rather like a drunk driver responsible for serious freeway casualties declaring that he has a bandaid!
Tibet’s language has long been a target of the Chinese regime, which has been implementing policies to erode and dilute Tibetan cultural and national identity. Apart from enforcing the teaching of Chinese upon Tibetan children it is also debasing the Tibetan language by manipulating and corroding the Tibetan vocabulary by introducing and promoting with words and expressions derived from Mandarin.
Digital Activism In Support Of Tibetan Independence 