Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19971016094010.007ca3d0@hella.stm.it>

Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 09:40:10 +0200

From: Jack Churchward

REMARKS AT THE DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF "SPLENDID CHINA"

REMARKS AT THE DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF "SPLENDID CHINA"

Thupten J. Norbu

I am honored to be able to address this "splendid" gathering today.

Many of you have been working for a long time to put the Tibetan tragedy before American public opinion. In doing this you have tried to answer the distortions of Tibetan history that have been put forward by China, and one of the main ways you have done this is to call attention to the lies about Tibetan history that are represented by this "park" called "Splendid China." Not only is Tibetan history misrepresented here, but the history of other peoples such as the Mongols and Uighurs of Eastern Turkestan. We have been incorporated into China by brute force. We have seen our friends and family members killed and imprisoned, we have seen our lands stolen. All to extend the Chinese empire. And this empire proudly shows off its conquests with this "park," pretending that Tibetans and others want to be part of China.

But what do Tibetans want? I speak to you only as one Tibetan. All Tibetans are equal and I do not claim to be more worthy of speaking before you than any of my fellow Tibetans. But I have been given this opportunity and I must speak honestly. All Tibetans believe that Tibet must be independent. Tibetans want no more and no less from China than the full right to determine their own future, and on this point make no mistake about what self-determination means: Tibetans, after decades of death and destruction at the hands of China are determined that their future must be one in which Tibet is a free and independent member of the community of nations. What I am saying to you today is not the view of one Tibetan. It is the common aspiration of all Tibetans, and more: it is an absolute necessity if we are to survive as a people.

If any of you believe that Tibet does not have to be independent; if any of you are happy to see Tibet as a part of China, then you should not be here with us demonstrating. You should be inside the "park," paying money to subsidize Chinese propaganda. But those of us who are here demonstrating against the distortions of the display inside know that without independence Tibet cannot survive. Dharma centers in the US. do not equal Tibetan cultural survival. Neither do Tibetan cultural reservations inside China. We support a settlement with China, but any settlement that the upper levels of the Tibetan government-in-exile reach with China must clearly specify that if Tibetans want to live in an independent Tibet then they shall live in an independent Tibet. Anything less will simply be an agreement for further suffering, much as was the case with China, for Tibetans will be forced to continue their struggle until they attain their just right to self-determination and freedom. Remember: the United Nations guara

nteed this right to Tibetans in its resolutions on Tibet.

I thank all of you for coming here today to stand up for what is true and accurate in Tibetan history and for your courage in defying China's attempts to spread propaganda about Tibet here in Florida and throughout the US. I know that truth and justice must ultimately prevail.

Bod Rangzen!!