< FREEDOM FOR TIBET/DEMOCRACY IN CHINA ! - #31 >

Newsletter on the campaigns of the Radical Party for the freedom of Tibet and the democracy on China.

"I truly believe that individuals can make a difference in society. Since periods of great change such as the present one come so rarely in human history, it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier world".

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, 1992

Issue #31, August 16th, 1996

Editors office: Massimo Lensi, Dorottya u. 3.III.em6 - 1051 Budapest (H)Tel. +36-1-266.34.86 - 266.09.35 Fax. +36-1-11.87.937

E-mail: M.Lensi@agora.stm.it WWW-URL http://www.agora.stm.it/pr - Telnet: Agora.stm.it

Distribution; Alberto Novi, rue Belliard 89, Rem 508, 1047 Brussels (B)Tel: +32-2-2304121 - Fax: +32-2-2303670

Published in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Hungarian, Croatian and Rumanian

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OCTOBER 2ND 1996:

NONVIOLENCE, FASTING DIALOGUE, FREEDOM FOR TIBET.

DIALOGUE FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE PANCHEN LAMA AND WEI JINGSHENG

There is no doubt that the preparation of a worldwide nonviolent movement for the liberation of Tibet is a difficult initiative, on the verge of the "reasonable folly". As there is no doubt that the daily difficulties we will have to face will be numerous. The "Satyagraha 1998" for the liberation of Tibet will need, during its preparation, constant verifications, experimentations through successive approximations as well as it will need to be nourished by daily experiences.

In Dharamsala, during the second week of August the secretary of the TRP, Olivier Dupuis, and the European Commissioner, Emma Bonino, met H.H. the Dalai Lama to discuss with him the initiatives to be put in operation during the following weeks and months for the freedom of occupied Tibet. Initiatives within the parliaments and the institutions. For sure! But also nonviolent civil struggles which support the Tibetan government in exile in its struggle for freedom and democracy and which favours the emergence of a process of democratization within the People's Republic of China.

The words "nonviolence" and "dialogue" could be heard repeatedly from the Dalai Lama's mouth. "Nonviolence" as political method and "dialogue" as research of the truth, expression of words as the only effective "weapon" for the liberation of Tibet.

Even if other questions have been faced, at the moment we would nevertheless like to limit ourselves to propose the readers of the "Tibet-China Fax" a first occasion of verification, a first moment of organization and of preparation for the liberation of Tibet.

With the friends of the "India Tibet Friendship Society" Association who work in close collaboration with Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, the President of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, we believe that the 2nd of October - anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi - could constitute an ideal occasion to launch a first nonviolent initiative. An initiative which would materialize in the form of a three days fasting dialogue during which we address the institutions of our respective countries, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, to demand their intervention in favour of the liberation of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, XIth Panchen Lama and of the well known Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng. A fasting dialogue which would start on the 29th of September with a press conference and which would end on October 2nd with manifestations in front of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs.

In the next "Tibet-China Fax" issues we will publish the useful technical informations for the organization of this first preparatory initiative of the Satyagraha 98, by also furnishing the first adhesions to these three days of fasting, among which, we hope, yours too will be present what you can obtain by sending us the adhesion coupon published in this issue.

In a manner of conclusion of this brief editorial, we reproduce a declaration of the Dalai Lama which illustrates well, as it seems to us, the political responsibility of the Occident, rich and "democratic", concerning Tibet and its struggle for freedom, of China and its indispensable democratization. A responsibility which is not only the one of our governments but also the one of each of us.

"The main reason for China's refusal to negotiate with us comes from the fact that the world kept silent before the original lie wanting that Tibet had always been part of China" (International Herald Tribune, July 30th 1996).

See you soon and keep up the good work!

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NONVIOLENCE

FASTING DIALOGUE

The fasting dialogue is one of the possible forms of nonviolent struggle. It characterizes itself by the choice of aims that can be reached in short term, but inserting itself in a larger and more general perspective in medium and long term. It is also based on the research and the valorization of interlocutors to whom we ask not to correspond to the demands that we would have formulated, but to behave in a coherent way with the standpoint assumed by the authority they represent. In other words, the fasting dialogue is nothing else than a recall to the respect of an engagement, to the assumption of a responsibility. The fasting starts at the moment when a person stops absorbing food and finishes when he starts to eat again. The duration of the fasting can be pre-determined or not. During the fasting, one can assume up to 300-400 calories a day (the equivalent of three cups of tea with a small spoon of sugar). The fasting takes place without having profound implications on daily life. More particularly, the f

aster continues to work in a normal way, trying evidently to use the maximum of his free time to organize, with other fasters, whenever it is possible, public activities: manifestations, preparations and distribution of information material on the nonviolent initiative in progress.

* To conclude this first explanatory index card, we publish some paragraphs of an interview by Milovan ERKIC with Marco PANNELLA, radical leader, published in the daily of Belgrade "Politicki Svet" in November 1988.

"Political nonviolence now constitutes the most advanced and integral form of "lay tolerance", on which the civilization of a society or a state is founded, if it is translated into laws and into the conduct of those in power, as well as of the opposition. For two hundred years or so, after the bourgeois revolution, terrible contradictions have injured the civilization of tolerance and democracy. In the name of the Goddess Reason, men have killed and carried out massacres, in the name of Nations and Revolutions men have made war and slaughtered, and it has also been thought that tolerance and violence could and should co-exist, when violence became state violence or "revolutionary" violence. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church has, over the centuries, been subject to and in certain periods has committed, atrocious massacres and violence. In the Stalinist trials, the "Inquisition" can clearly be seen (1).

Nonviolence places the person and dialogue at the center of social life, like Socrates, not only like Gandhi. Nonviolence presupposes the fact that there are no demons, but only people: and that the worst person, if attacked with the force of nonviolence, which unlike the apparent meekness of pacifism is always "aggressive", can correspond with the best part of himself...

True political nonviolence, for example, has nothing to do with certain forms of hunger strike, like those of the IRA prisoners. If we do not want nonviolence to be a form of violence, we need to use its extreme forms, such as the hunger strike, only to ask the government to put into effect that which it has promised and which the law itself requires...

[...] However, tolerance, lay civilization, must tremble in fear a state and laws which aim to impose moral and ethical values; the law must only guarantee that no individual and collective morality should develop at the expense of others and do violence to them.

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ADHESION COUPON FOR THE FASTING DIALOGUE

( ) I adhere to the fasting dialogue for the liberation of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, XIth Panchen Lama, and of the Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng.

* I have the intention to fast during ( ) 1 day

( ) 2 days

( ) 3 days

* We would like to know the days of your fasting:

( ) September 30th

( ) October 1st

( ) October 2nd

Name.....................................................................

Complete address.........................................................

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Country..................................................................

Telephone..................................Fax...........................

E-mail...................................................................

Profession/function......................................................

Organization.............................................................

Declaration (optional)...................................................

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(your declaration will be distributed on the multilingual telematic system Agora - telnet Agora)

* We would like to ask you to send this adhesion coupon to one of the addresses listed below:

- by mail: Radical Party, Rue Belliard 97-113, Rem 508, 1047 Brussels (Belgium)

- by fax: +32-2-230.36.70

- by e-mail: pr.bruxelles@agora.stm.it

* It is possible to communicate an adhesion by phone on the following number: +32-2-230.42.21

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DHARAMSALA:

VISIT TO THE "CENTRAL TIBETAN ADMINISTRATION"

In view of the initiatives for the freedom of Tibet, the TRP secretary and European parliamentary, Olivier DUPUIS, and the European Commissioner for humanitarian help, Emma BONINO, went to Dharamsala at the invitation of the "Central Tibetan Association". The following were part of the delegation which accompanied the European Commission: Anthony J.L SMITH, charged with the European Union Affair in Delhi, Santiago GOMEZ REINO, director of ECHO (agency for humanitarian help to the EU), Filippo Di ROBILANT and Marco DE ANDREIS, respectively spokesman and political counselor to the Bonino cabinet. In Dharamsala, besides the meeting with His Holiness of which we talk in the editorial of this "Tibet-China Fax" issue , the delegation participated in two official diners with the members of the Tibetan Government in exile and with the secretaries of the department. Moreover, the delegation has visited the TVC (Tibet Children Village), the hospital, the center of medicine fabrication, the reception center for refugee

s, the "Transit Camp", where the new refugees study Tibetan and English for two years, the Norbu Linka Center of Tibetan artisan production and assisted a T.I.P.A. spectacle (Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts). The TRP secretary also had meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Tibetan Government, Tashi WANGDI, with the Secretary of the Department for the Information and International Affairs, Tempa TSERING, with the vice-president of the Tibetan Parliament and with the President of "Youth Tibetan Congress" with whom he discussed the different proposals of political initiatives for the following months.

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UN/COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS/TRP/UNPO

The works of the UN Subcommission on the "prevention of discriminations and on the protection of minorities" started on August 5th in Geneva. The Radical Party, in collaboration with the "Unrepresented Nations and People Organization (UNPO)", is present with a delegation to support the rights of different populations discriminated for reasons of race, religion, language and culture. On top of a constant information action within the UN, the Radical Party intervened in full session on the human rights in Iraq and on the elimination of racial discriminations. A long document on the population transfers in Tibet was presented and put into action by the Sub-Commission. Among other things, the delegation will treat Tibet, East Turkistan, Papua, Kossovo, East Timor, Sangiak (Serbia), Chittagong Hill Tracts (Burma), Lakota Nation, Crimean Tatar, Checheno, Ingocetia and the Assyrian, Curdish populations and the Turkmenian minority in Iraq. The delegation is composed of Marino BUSDACHIN, (TRP, UN representative), Joh

n NIMROD (former USA senator), Homer ASHURIAN (Assyrian Univ.), Ngawang CHANTEN (Tibet), Bato BAYESTUYEV (Buryatya), Tsymzhit VANCIKOVA (Buryatya), Nadir BEKIR (Crimean Tatar).

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NEWS ON THE THREE CAMPAIGNS

(up to August 15th)

-Appeal to the UN General Secretary to receive the Dalai Lama. The parliamentarians who adhered to the campaign are exactly 979 coming from 39 different parliaments. In the perspective of the reopening of the parliaments after the summer holidays different initiatives are in progress of preparation in order to restart the collection of signatures.

-Wei Jingsheng Nobel Peace Price 1997.

On August 15th, 312 candidature propositions have been received: 196 parliamentarians and 116 University Professors in Law, History, Philosophy and Political Sciences. We remind that the purpose is to achieve the 2000 supports for the candidature before the end of 1996.

-Freedom for the Panchen Lama.

We passed the 5000 postcards sent to the Chinese President Zemin asking the immediate release of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, XIth Panchen Lama. There are 5.033 forwarded postcards, coming from 35 different countries. In Italy, at the initiative of the communal counselor Carmelo PALMA, the mayor of Turin, Valentino CASTELLANI, and 21 other communal counselors sent the postcard to president ZEMIN.

The lists of the adhesions for the campaigns can be obtained at the TRP office in Brussels: +32-2-2304121, fax: +32-2-2303670.

* TIBET CHINA TELEX *

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BURMA

MEETING BONINO - AUNG SAN SU CHI

Last August 6 in Rangoon, the European Commissioner for humanitarian help, Emma Bonino, former general secretary of the Radical Party, met Aung SAN SU CHI, Nobel Peace Price, leader of the Democratic Party and voice of the democratic opposition to the Burman regime. Aung San Su Chi maintained during his meeting the wish that Burma wouldn't receive international economic help as long as the Government is not giving any concrete proof of an opening towards democracy and pluripartiality.

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INDIA/BURMA/TRP

During his recent visit in India, the TRP secretary, Olivier DUPUIS, has been invited by George FERNANDES, leader of the SAMATA party, to intervene in the "Conference on the security of India and on Burma", which has been held in New Delhi last Saturday August 10th. In his intervention, Dupuis maintained that the questions of "the democracy in Burma and the freedom of Tibet are profoundly linked with what happens and will happen in the two big neighboring countries: China and India" and that "the most urgent and important question to face is the one of an even more profound reform of the Indian economy in order that India - the strongest democracy - becomes as soon as possible a real alternative in the Chinese market to foreign, in particular European, investors."

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INDIA/TIBET/TRP CAMPAIGNS

The deputy George FERNANDES, leader of the Samata Party and of the Parliamentarian Intergroup on Tibet to the Indian Parliament, confirmed to the TRP Secretary the engagement of the Intergroup to receive the adhesions on the appeal to the UN General Secretary in order to receive the Dalai Lama and on the appeal supporting WEI's candidature for the Nobel Peace Price 1997. During his meeting with Nirmala DESHPANDE, vice-president of the "India Tibet Friendship Society" Olivier DUPUIS illustrated the initiatives promoted by the TRP. This meeting also was an occasion to deepen the nonviolent initiatives planned for next October 2nd, anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and saw a full convergence as well on the analysis as on the specific projects, in particular on the initiative of the fasting dialogue for the liberation of the Panchen Lama and of Wei Jingsheng.

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BELGIUM

WEI NOBEL PEACE PRICE

The President of "Friends of Tibet - Belgium", Thomas NAGANT, announced the relaunch in September of the campaign for Wei Nobel Peace Price in 1997. "The Friends of Tibet" will contact the adherents in the "Committee of 1000 for Tibet", a committee that gathers personalities from the political, scientific and artistic world, among whom numerous university professors.

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AUSTRALIA

TIBET SUPPORT GROUP

"The Tibetan Friendship Group Australia" is programming for the next couple of weeks an intensification of the support actions to the campaigns for the release of the Panchen Lama and for the collection of adhesions among parliamentarians for the appeal to the UN General Secretary in order to receive the Dalai Lama. Judy SPERLING, President of the Australian TSG, announced with enthusiasm that she was willing to collaborate to the launch of the "A flag for Tibet 1997" campaign in Australia and in New-Zealand.

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SOUTH-AFRICA

VISIT OF THE DALAI LAMA

From August 19 to 24, the Dalai Lama will have an important visit in South-Africa. Guy LIEBERMAN, executive director of "Dewachen TCC" and Kunzang YUTHOK of the "Tibetan Rights Campaign" asked the TSG and the friends of the Tibetan cause to send faxes to the South-African President Nelson MANDELA, to officially receive the Dalai Lama. The European deputies, Olivier DUPUIS and Gianfranco DELL'ALBA, from the ARE group, have, in their letter to Mandela, underlined the importance of the meeting between the two Nobel Peace Prices, in order to reinforce the international pressure in favour of the opening of the negotiations without prejudice between the Chinese Government and the Tibetan Government in exile.

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CROATIA

NEW TSG IN ZAGREB

On August 13, the foundation of the Croatian Support Group for Tibet (HUPT) took place in Zagreb. We wish the new TSG good luck. It is located at the Radical Party office in Zagreb: Ilica 8, 10000 Zagreb. Tel/Fax: 385-1-27.79.59.

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ITALY

TIBETAN FLAG

On July 28th, at the initiative of the responsibles for the Alpine refugees and with the support of the "ALP" magazine, the Tibetan flag was hoisted on the highest European Alpine hut, the "Capanna Margherita", and on 5 other Alpine huts of the Mont Rose as a sign of the alpinists' solidarity and fraternity with the Tibetan people.

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NEW WEB ON TIBET

At the initiative of Patrik MATON from "Friends of Tibet - Belgium", a new site web on Tibet was opened. Address: http//:www.amis-tibet.be

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PRESS REVIEW

* "Idealism is Very often Supremely Realistic" by Fred HIATT, in "International Herald Tribune, August 3-4". Analysis of the United States' economic policy and of the "Asean" (Association of South East Asian Countries) countries in the Asiatic South-West (Conf.Part.Rad. 10324)

* "Wei Jingsheng in front of the judges (2)" in "The letter of information, n.59, July 15th". Passionate defense of the democracy and of the struggle for civil rights, written by the Chinese dissident Wei in December 1995 (Conf.Part.Rad. 10323)

* Radio Radicale, Italian political information station. Interview by Paolo PIETROSANTI with different political personalities and Italian experts on the initiatives in progress for the freedom of Tibet and the democracy in China: Felice BESOSTRI, senator of the "Ulivo" and Stefano BOCO, senator of "Verdi" (10296 Conf.Part.Rad); Mariangela ISACCHINI, sinologist and author of a biography on dissident WEI (Conf.Part.Rad. 1025).

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APPOINTMENTS

* Visit of H.H. in Hungary: in the preceding issues of the "Tibet-China Fax" we announced the Dalai Lama's visit in Budapest from August 16th to 18th. This one has been cancelled for reasons of health and will probably postponed till next fall.

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SECOND PAGE

On the "second page" we publish the text of the Parliamentary Motion on the situation in Tibet presented to the Italian Chamber of Deputies last July 10th. This document, one of the most advanced on the situation in Tibet, is of course at the disposal of everyone who would like to take initiatives within their Parliament.

* TEXT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MOTION ON THE SITUATION IN TIBET PRESENTED TO THE ITALIAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES

The Chamber of Deputies,

considering:

- that throughout its history, Tibet succeeded in preserving a national, cultural and religious identity distinct from that of China, until this identity began to be eroded following the Chinese invasion;

- that historical Tibet is composed of three regions: the U-Tsang, the Amdo and the Kham; and that a substantial part of historical Tibet doesn't form part of what the People's Republic of China defines as the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR);

- that, before the Chinese invasion in 1949, Tibet was recognized de facto by many states, and that it constitutes an occupied territory according to the principles established by international law and by the resolutions of the United Nations;

- that for this reason the invasion and occupation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China have to be considered illegal;

- that consequently the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile have to be considered as the legitimate representatives of the Tibetan people;

- that the Dalai Lama's propositions to the Chinese government, like the 1987 Plan in Five Points and the proposition presented to the European Parliament in 1988, pursue the object of a pacifist resolution for the Tibetan problem and constitute a valuable basis for the opening of Chinese-Tibetan negotiations without preceding conditions;

- that in response to the propositions, although moderate, from the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, China pursued the installation of Chinese colonies in Tibet, to the point that the Tibetans constitute a minority in their own country;

- that the political actions from the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile are grounded on the theory and practice of the Gandhian nonviolence and consequently to the deepest respect of the interlocutors with whom the most constructive dialogue is desired;

- that the police state and the control established by the forces of the People's Republic of China, as well as the systematic violation of the fundamental rights of the individual, represent another form of established racial and cultural discrimination;

- that the freedom of religion of the Tibetans is oppressed by the People's Republic of China and that in this context the case of Gedhun Choeky Nyima - a 7 years old child recognized by the Dalai Lama as the Panchen Lama, kidnapped and locked up since more than one year by the Chinese authorities - is particularly emblematic;

- that the Tibetan people represent unique cultural, linguistic and religious characteristics;

- that the United Nations have, in the past, accorded the statute of observer to other liberation organizations;

In view of the resolutions of the United Nations' General Assembly numbers 1353 (XIV) of 1959, 1723 (XVI) of 1961, 2070 (XX) of 1965;

In view of the approved resolutions by the American congress on October 28th 1991 (H.R. 1415) and by the European Parliament on July 13th 1995 (B4-0963) on the invasion and the occupation of Tibet and the repression of its populations by the Chinese authorities;

In view of the resolutions on the situation of Tibet recently adopted by the German Parliament and by the Chamber of Belgian Deputies;

In view of the resolution adopted by the Commission of Foreign Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies on April 12th 1989 "for a pacifist solution of the Tibetan question";

condemning:

- the serious and systematic violations of human rights in Tibet and, particularly the arrests and the arbitrary detentions as well as the use of torture for political reasons; the violations of women's rights, and above all the sterilization and the forced abortions; the privation of religious freedom; all violations which, with the destruction of the rich Tibetan culture and the population transfers, menace the survival of the Tibetan people and constitute a real policy of ethnic purification;

- the destruction of the natural environment of the Tibetan high plateau, in particular the abusive deforestation, the storage of toxic and radio-active waste, which has consequences not only for Tibet but also for the entire region and for the entire world;

- considering it opportune that the Italian Parliament takes action in order that the Tibetan Parliament in exile be admitted to the International Parliamentary Union (IPU);

invites the government to:

1. ask the People's Republic of China to immediately put an end to the transfer of Chinese people to Tibet, which it encourages and organizes, and to begin the process of decolonization, giving back to the Tibetan people the land, the plantations, and the houses expropriated during the 40 years of occupation;

2. propose that the mandate of the United Nations Committee on Decolonization be extended to the question of the decolonization of Tibet;

3. ask the Government of the People's Republic of China to immediately release the Panchen Lama;

4. take all necessary initiatives in order that the statute of observer to the United Nations be recognized in the Tibetan government in exile;

5. invite the Chinese government to put an end to the violation of human rights and to ensure respect in Tibet for the fundamental rights of peoples and individuals;

6. support all initiatives aimed at reaching a political solution to the Sino-Tibetan problem by means of the political dialogue and to invite the Chinese Government and the Tibetan Government in exile to establish, under cover of the United Nations, negotiations to this end;

7. declare in this context the support of Italy for the efforts made by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile to restore, in a peaceful manner, the cultural and religious freedom of the Tibetan people, as well as its right to self-determination;

8. take action in order that the Tibetan question be entered on the agenda of the United Nations' General Assembly;

9. take action in order that the Tibetan question be examined by the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations;

10. take initiative within the competent international institutions aiming at the application of the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly numbers 1353 (XIV) of 1959, 1723 (XVI) of 1961, 2070 (XX) of 1965;

11. transmit this motion to the Chinese government, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government and Parliament in exile, the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the Council, the President of the Commission , the President of the European Parliament and the Presidents of the Parliaments of the European Union Member States.