Three important realisations have emerged following the historic March 2008 uprising in Tibet. First and foremost, Tibetans within Tibet, although often labelled 'voiceless', have regained the initiative on the Tibet issue. Despite the fact that the complaints being voiced by protesters were not new, the breadth of the protests was helped in crucial measure by the recent penetration of new technologies to even the most remote of Tibetan villages. Interestingly, despite the fact that Chinese-led development of Tibet has long been criticised for, in large part, not affecting Tibetans themselves, it was 'new media' introduced over the past five years by the Chinese authorities themselves that was competently used by the Tibetans to directly counter the Chinese state.
Protesting Tibetans demonstrated an impressive dexterity in particular with Internet and mobile-phone technologies. These were used both to efficiently coordinate events within China and Tibet and, most importantly, to then convey to the outside world powerful images of their protests. Even the strongest deployment of Chinese troops in Tibet since the 1950s could not fully prevent current information from getting out. This widespread use of new technologies appears to be a reality that will remain a significant feature of life and dissent in Tibet. Already, the events of 10 March 2008 and thereafter are by far the best documented of any in recent Tibetan history – as well as possibly the most thoroughly scrutinised by foreign eyes. Beyond Tibet-oriented organisations in the diaspora, Tibetan activists sent information directly to the international press, revealing a high level of understanding of what information matters where.
Second, it is important to recognise that, despite the emphasis of most media reports, the largest percentage of the public protests within Tibet were not actually in Lhasa. Rather, they were to the east of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the traditional Tibetan areas of Kham and Amdo. The outside neglect of these areas is part of a longtime misunderstanding. Resistance against Chinese rule has always been more prominently perceived in central Tibet, particularly Lhasa, simply due to higher visibility. But in fact, opposition has long been stronger in the east, where most Tibetans are, by and large, better educated and more successful in business than are people elsewhere in Tibet. The recent events have thus been an important reminder that the larger 'Tibet' is not the same as what China has demarcated as the TAR. Tibetans, wherever they are on the plateau and whichever political entity they are attached to, face the same problems. Through their recent actions, Tibetans in the east have reminded the world of their existence.
Third, Chinese officials continue to claim that the protests were "masterminded" by a handful of individuals belonging to the "Dalai Clique". Quite to the contrary, however, all evidence indicates that demonstrations, though indeed fairly well planned and coordinated, were carried out mostly by complex, ephemerally organised networks of activists, including both lay people and monks. Indeed, the strength of these networks is precisely that they are not centrally steered, but rather are largely leaderless and organic.