I think I can say it general that for many of
us, living in our western world, Asia seems like a mystical place, fascinating and
attracting with all its differences, preserved culture and traditions. This
image – that is probably built by both our curiosity for the unknown and both
the message that this world wants to send us – is of course half right. It’s
truly an amazing world, with traditional dresses, rituals and festivals that
are so much different from our European culture. But also, Asia has another
side as well, that is less in the common knowledge and sometimes even hidden
from the people living here, just because it doesn’t really fit into the image
that is intended to be shown by Asia and also less preferred to be seen by the
western world. – At least this was the main message for me of a documentary
film about Bhutan screened at the City Museum of Kathmandu as a part of an
event for the World Refugee Day (June 20 – 30).
So what do we know about Bhutan? Not so much...
And if something then we have an image of a country that seems like living its medieval
years: in the Kingdom of Bhutan, still up to know everybody is walking in their
traditional dresses as if the western world has never stepped inside, the
houses are all built in traditional style, not even allowed to be rebuilt or
renovated in any different ways and people are smiling, enjoying their life and
being happy all the time. And this image is true, but only half of the truth.
As so many of us, I didn’t have much more
knowledge about Bhutan than the image described, before I went to see this
documentary, titled ‘The Refugees of Shangri-la’ which was also followed by a
discussion with the filmmaker, Doria Bramante. It was only at this time that I
got to know that besides the image of the kingdom of happiness in the reality Bhutan
also went through several problems. To understand what happened, we have to
know that most of Bhutan’s population is originally not Bhutanese. First, there
was a huge flee of people from Tibet (another place of conflicts and
problems...) who coming from mountain areas also stayed in the upper land areas
of Bhutan. Due to the low population, this way the flat land areas of the
country remained deserted. It was this that led to a contract with Nepal,
enabling free migration to Bhutan so that the people coming from Nepal could
take care of the flat lands. This way in the 20th century thousands
of Nepalese migrated to Bhutan that seemed like a country of hope and happiness
at that time. Problems only started in the ‘70s when Bhutan went through
serious political crisis. During this – since they were feared to have a closer
relationship with India – many restrictions were made to the Nepalese population
in Bhutan: women had to cut their hair short, the use of Nepali language was
banned and so on. In the following decades several violations were made to
human rights: schools were burnt, women were raped, people were tortured in
prison... Although there was a peaceful demonstration in the demand of human
rights in 1990, it just made the situation worse: at this time about 1/6 of
Bhutan’s excuses. Some were told ‘You are a terrorist, you have 10 days to
leave the country’, to others, they said: ‘You stole all these cardamom’ – no matter
with what excuse, but the political crisis resulted in a situation when about
107 000 people had to leave the country. When asking the police, where to
go, they were just pointing to the west: ‘There, to Nepal’. So this is the
story of how more than hundred thousand people ended up in the refugee camp of
Shangri-la, not knowing at that time that they are going to spend the next 18
years there in the hope that one day they can return back to the place that
even despite what had happened, they called home. The place, where they said
they were happy and they could smile every day... To the ‘kingdom of happiness’
that due to the political situation pushed them and many of their relatives and
friends out...
Although the UN Human Rights Council fought for
several years for the rights of these people stuck in the refugee camp and
finally not belonging anywhere, and conducted bilateral conversations between Nepal
and Bhutan, it wasn’t possible in 18 years for them to return to Bhutan.
Unfortunately, also the integration to Nepal wasn’t possible either. It was
only in 2008 that third country agreements were made, enabling the settlement
in countries like USA, Canada or Australia. For example between 2008 and 2013
about 75 000 people could go to America, at the same time leaving for the
unknown an environment that has became something, almost like home in the last
18 years and also risking that they won’t even see their elder relatives stuck
in the refugee camp ever again.
For me this story seems like a never ending
series of double-sidedness: starting in a ‘kingdom of happiness’ that turns out
to suffer from serious political problems, this kingdom sending away its
Nepalese inhabitants who were already born there and considering Bhutan as
their homeland, these people, stuck between past and future, the refugee camp
where they build a life while continuously hoping leaving it and their
departure to a new life where they can finally legally belong the a country and
have their own identity, embraced in a life and culture that could not be more
different from the one they have originally come from at the same time also
leaving some of their most important relationships and connections to their
past behind...
Well, together with all its double-sidedness,
this is still a real story, a story that is not finished since there are still
many of these Bhutanese stuck in the refugee camp while there are still the
others already landed in another country and trying to find their place in
their new life and the way to preserve themselves and their culture at the same
time. A real life story with no end...
I’m thankful for the film and to the filmmakers
that were present, too, for sharing this story with us and showing this version
of reality. I recommend the film to anybody who is interested in life-stories
of people and who is open not only the simplified images, but also to the
double-sidedness of our world.
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