From: World Tibet Network News, Saturday - August 5, 1995

Published by: The Canada-Tibet Committee

Forwarded by: M.Sisani@agora.stm.itm:

Press release

Tibet: The Secretary of The Transnational Radical Party is received by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Samdong Rimpoche, President of the Tibetan Government in Exile st Dharamsala, headquarters of the Tibetan Government in Exile.

Rome-Dharamsala, July 28, 1995. Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the Transnational Radical Party, concluded his visit in Dharamsala (Northeast India) where the Tibetan Government in Exile is located.

Secretary Dupuis, along with Piero Verni, President of the Italy-Tibet Association, were received by the Dalai Lama, the President of the Tibetan Parliament Samdong Rimpoche and Minister of Information Tempa Tsering.

Tibetan leadership expressed their gratitude for the role that the Transnational Radical Party has played in the European Parliament's adoption of the resolution condemming the Popular Republic of China's invasion and occupation of Tibet. They also expressed their gratitude for the interest expressed regarding the disappearance of the Panchen Lama, who was most probably kidnapped by the Chinese.

In all their meetings Tibetan leaders insisted that theirs was a tragic situtation in Tibet where, aside from the daily violation of fundamental human rights (forced sterilization of women, torture, mass arrests, limitation of religious practices, prohibition of the use of the Tibetan language,...) the Tibetan people are victims to a daily invasion of the Chinese population, organized and planned at the highest levels of power in Peking. This has forced them to become a minority in their own country. Such a situation calls for, with great urgency, a radical change in order to avoid the risk of the disappearance of an entire people, culture and history.

The following possible objectives to follow and concrete actions to undertake were discussed at length with the President of the Parliament in Exile Samdong Rimpoche and Minister of Information Tempa Tsering in order to stop this tragic situation:

In order of priority:

- stop the transfer of the Chinese into Tibet;

- begin the process of decolonization;

- give the Tibetan Government in Exile an international status similar to that attained by the PLO;

- acquire all the information on where the Panchen Lama is and his condition from the Chinese authorities;

- immediate release of political prisoners;

- respect for civil, political and religious rights;

- stop environmental destruction;

- stop the destruction of Tibetan monuments and other expressions of Tibetan culture;

It was even considered necessary to prepare an international boycott of all Chinese products.

In order to reach these objectives, it was decided that some initiatives would be launched in the next few weeks, in particular:

- August: a statement by the Transnational Radical Party at the United Nations Human Rights Commission hearings (Minority Subcommission);

- September: a statement by the Transnational Radical Party at the United Nations to recognize the international status of the Tibetan government;

- September: a push for, in national Parliaments around the world, the possibility of motions and resolutions similar to the one adopted by the European Parliament;

- from September 25 to October 2 (the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi): a one week Satyagraha, collective hunger strike to provoke parliaments to pass their statements rapidly. The initiative will be co-organized by the Transnational Radical Party, and nonviolent Indian and Tibetan support groups. Objective: 1,000 fasters in at least 40 countries;

- March 10, 1996, on the occasion of the anniversary of the "Uprising Day" (the nonviolent insurrection in 1959) European demonstration for the liberty of Tibet in Brussels.

Parti Radical Transnational et transparti 97-113 rue Belliard-REM 508 1047 Bruxelles Tel. +32.2.2842579 Fax. +32.2.2303670

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Transnational Radical Party 866 United Nations Plaza #408 10017 New York-NY Tel. +212.9801031 Fax. +212.9801072

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Partito radicale Via di Torre Argentina, 76 00186 Roma Tel. +39.6.689791 Fax. +39.6.68805396 Radical.Party@agora.stm.it