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TIBET - HEAR HER CRY FOR LIBERATION
During the 1950’s, when our children were studying in the Himalayan town of Mussoorie, U.P., India, our family was privileged to meet and develop a close, friendly relationship with many Tibetan refugees. These gentle people, most of whom had suffered torture and painful frostbite, had fled across the mountainous border in order to escape oppression and death at the hands of the foreign power which, illegally, had occupied their land and initiated a deliberate campaign of cultural and racial genocide. Sadly, after all these years, and inspite of decades of international appeal by the Dalai Lama, the Chinese Occupation Forces continue their brutal rape and exploitation of the People of Tibet, most of whom want independence.
While the United Nations continues to condemn other nations practicing racism and committing genocide, nothing is being done to stop the diabolically cruel means of torture being inflicted by the Occupation Forces, upon the people of Tibet, over 1 million of whom already have been exterminated by the most inhumane methods. Before you buy another product marked "MADE IN CHINA", spare a thought for the men and women who, at this very moment, are enduring excruciating pain under the most brutal forms of rape and torture.
During the month of April 1998, I revisited India and met a number of Tibetan people who were demonstrating in the capital, New Delhi. Tragically, soon after I returned to Australia, one of the protesters committed self-immolation - so desperate was he to get his message out to the “Free World”. I would like to quote, verbatim, from an article by Meenakshi Ganguly - “Paying the Ultimate Price” - which was handed to me, on 23 April ‘98, by one of the near-dead protesters who begged me to tell the world of their desperate plight. I am typing his fervent appeal to you on the 4th. of June, 1998, the Anniversary of the “Tiannamin Square Massacre.
“Six determined Tibetans are starving themselves to dramatize the cause of freedom for their homeland. Ever since he left when he was 12 years old, Dawa Gyalpo has dreamed of going home to Tibet. Now, at 50, he’s decided he will never make it. His hopes that Tibet will ever gain its freedom from China are fading, and so the unassuming former tour-guide has chosen to starve himself to death. Since March 10, (1998) he and five other Tibetans, exiled in India, have been on a hunger strike. They are not demanding anything as impossible as liberty for their country; they only ask that the world, or at least the United Nations, acknowledge Tibet’s plight. Scrawny, even before he started his fast, Gyalpo has lost 10 kgs.. “The United Nations solved problems in every country where there has been fighting and killing”, he whispers weakly, “But why not Tibet? Because we don’t harm anything. Now everything is finished in Tibet.”
The hunger strike, timed to coincide with a U.N. session on Human Rights, places the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in a moral blind. Suicide violates the Buddhist belief in non-violence, but over the decades, other Tibetan protests have failed to shake China into significantly loosening its hold on the Himalayan country it first invaded in 1950. When the Dalai Lama, who now lives in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala, recently visited the six Tibetans - five men and one woman, ranging in ages from 25 to 70 - inside their tent in a New Delhi park, he said: “I consider hunger strike unto death as a kind of violence, however, I cannot offer suggestions for an alternative method. I don’t know what to do.” Witnesses say he was nearly weeping when he pushed aside the tent flap and said goodbye to the hunger strikers. Few Tibetans would dare to disobey the Dalai Lama openly, but many - like these protesters - are clearly frustrated by their leader’s middle-path of negotiation and dialogue, which they believe the Chinese simply ignore.
Tseten Norbu, President of the Tibetan Youth Congress, which organised the strike, has approached the U.N. with three “achievable demands”: to revive a debate on Tibet in the U.N. General Assembly, to appoint a special investigator on human rights abuses against Tibetans and to promote a settlement between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese.
The protesters, however, may find the U.N. bureaucracy unyielding. The organisation has not yet responded to their pleas, though one official privately said the Tibetans don’t understand how the U.N. operates. “The U.N. Secretariat can’t do anything on its own,” the official explains, noting that the Tibetans need at least one country to raise the issue in the General Assembly.
Although some international groups have written letters of support to the Tibetans, so far, no nation has dared risk China’s wrath by starting up a diplomatic debate. Watching the hunger strikers, the Dalia Lama later said, was like seeing “Tibet itself dying in front of the so-called civilized world. This is very sad.”
Inside their sweltering tent, far from their high-altitude homeland, the strikers are growing weaker and weaker. When one of them dies, he or she is to be replaced by another and then another. Accumulated rage against the Chinese is so great that hundreds of Tibetans from refugee settlements in India and abroad have volunteered to join this suicidal relay. “We have to do something now,” Norbu says. “It’s the duty of every Tibetan.” The Strikers’ only nourishment is a daily glass of water and a swallow of smoke from burning Tsampa barley which, the Tibetans believe, can strengthen the invisible “winds” of energy inside the body.
Dawa Gyalpo is determined to do his part. He pulls out a postcard of Mount Kailash, the holy mountain in Western Tibet, close to his birthplace. He talks wistfully of childhood memories, of how he had hoped to return one day to that sacred mountain. Then, suddenly, he shrugs and holds out the postcard. “You take it,” he says, through parched lips. .“It’s just a dream. There will be no home for me. I am dying.” (With reporting by Tim McGirk/New Delhi)”
As you can see, TIBET NEEDS AT LEAST ONE NATION to campaign on its behalf before the U.N.. Unfortunately, few Western nations, who could and should be concerned, have financial investments in Tibet and, as with Bangladesh, the former East Pakistan, the Hunger Striker’s homeland can afford to be sacrificed on the altar of economic progress! Oil-rich Kuwait, at the time of its enslavement, was more fortunate, leading to its liberation through “Desert-Storm”.
What can you do in this situation? Well, you could challenge your Members of Parliament to develop a compassionate interest in these desperate people and lobby your governments to take appropriate national action. You could help support the Tibetan Community at Dharmsala, U.P., India, by your gifts to finance educational, agricultural, cultural and medical programs. Simply write to “The Tibetan Community”, P.O. Dharmsala, U.P., INDIA. If you are looking for ways to support the Tibetan Community and its cause, we can help you with Fund-Raising. You don’t send the money to us; we will help you to raise all the funds you need so that you may send your gift direct to the Community. Just email us for details at - rkskilli@dove.mtx.net.au
If you are interested, please contact International Benevolent Serviceswhich supports leprosy sufferers, widows, orphans, other disabled persons and the victims of Human Rights Abuse - including THE PEOPLE OF TIBET. . Check out this web-site.
For a number of years, while our children were studying at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, U.P., India, we had the privilege of meeting many Tibetan refugees and their children who studied with our’s. On one occasion, we had the joy of attending a meeting in which the Dalai Lama was present. We were most impressed by his gracious manner. Recently, the Dalai Lama again visited the Woodstock School and a report of this is published in the May 1998 edition of the school’s official magazine, “The Brown and the Gold” , an extract of which is included below:-
His Holiness the X1Vth. Dalai Lama of Tibet visited Woodstock School on Saturday, the 22nd. Novermber 1997, to speak and visit with students and staff. An all-school assembly, including a 45-minute address by the Dalai Lama, was followed by a staff reception. The Dalai Lama also met privately with Woodstock’s 66 Buddhist students from eight different countries, including eight Tibetan students.
In his address, the Dalai Lama spoke of the necessity of global responsibility and the need to work as one community towards peace and justice. This must start in the individual, in a sense of caring, compassion and commitment. Referring to non-violence, he said it is not just refraining from violence but being fully involved with the resolution of conflict. He encouraged students and families to practice dialogue and compromise to solve conflicts. This is the beginning of world peace.
The Dalai Lama spoke of the common message of all world religions - love, compassion, justice. He promoted inter-faith dialogue with committed practitioners, including pilgrimages to each others’ holy places, to create mutual respect and harmony.
On Tibet, the Dalai Lama believes it is only a matter of time, that, with dialogue, a meaningful solution will be found. He is encouraged by the response from the international community. The Tibetan spirit is very strong, he concluded.
Following the Principal’s welcome at the Parker Hall assembly, journalism teacher, Jon Derksen, presented the Dalai Lama with “High Road to India”, a student video project on the Tibetan children who continue to arrive over the high Himalayan mountains, seeking an education in India. Ten boys from grades 11 and 12 performed a Tibetan dance in costume and the girls sang a folk song. The Dalai Lama was equally taken with the elementary students who were seated on dhurries (mats) on stage. Following the Dalai Lama’s talk, Rinengi Varte, President of POWER, presented him with student-raised funds to support a student at Tibetan Homes Foundation in Mussoorie.
Woodstock School has a long association with the Dalai Lama. On leaving Tibet in April 1959, he first lived in Mussoorie. The work of Woodstock, on behalf of the Tibetan refugee children in Mussoorie, drew his attention and he visited Woostock in November of that year and several times in 1962. (End Quote)
If you are interested in supporting Tibetan refugee children, please direct your donations to:-
If you would like further information on TIBET, just contact :-
(1) AUSTRALIA TIBET COUNCIL
(2) FREE TIBET CAMPAIGN - A BRITISH PROJECT
(3)CANADIAN MOVEMENT FOR A FREE TIBET
(4) THE GOVERNMENT OF TIBET IN EXILE
(5) "PLANET TIBET" SEEKING TIBET'S LIBERATION
(6) STANFORD UNIVERSITY FRIENDS OF A FREE TIBET
Try contacting His Holiness The Dalai Lama at THE TIBETAN COMMUNITY, P.O. Dharmshala, U.P. INDIA
CLICK HERE TO BUY ANYTHING ONLINE AT OUR SHOP SUPPORTING THE DISABLED, INCLUDING THE PEOPLE OF TIBET SEEKING LIBERATION FROM CHINA
CLICK HERE, ENTER THE WORD "TIBET" AND PRESS THE SEARCH BUTTON
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