_________________ WTN-L World Tibet Network News _________________
Published by: The Canada Tibet Committee
Editorial Board: Brian Given, Conrad Richter, Nima Dorjee,
Tseten Samdup, Thubten (Sam) Samdup
WTN Editors: wtn-editors@tibet.ca
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Issue ID: 00/03/08 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup
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Wednesday, March 8, 2000 (II)
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Contents:
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1. MESSAGE FROM THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE
TIBETAN YOUTH CONGRESS
2. Major Tibet demonstration as Police Report "blames Foreign Office"
3. Sami Parliament urges Norway to co-sponsor China resolution
4. TIN Press Release - 6 March 2000 - TIN News Revie
5. Tibetan chants go online
6. WHISPERED PRAYERS: PORTRAITS AND PROSE OF TIBETANS IN EXILE
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1. MESSAGE FROM THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE
TIBETAN YOUTH CONGRESS
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DHARAMSALA, March 10, 2000 (TYC) -- For the last 41 years we were
commemorating this day in order to remind ourselves that we are
stateless and to remind our children that we have to struggle till the
day when all of us return to a Free and Independent Tibet.
The sufferings and the hardships experienced by the people of Tibet
since 1949 under the Chinese colonial occupation is a vivid example that
signifies the struggling people of this century. Even though the dawn of
the new millennium has brought winds of changes in many parts of the
world, the case of Tibet remains still entangled in as an endless knot
problem. The colonial approach and genocide practice of modern times.
The racist China has tried to eliminate the Tibetans as a race from this
earth. The Chinese needs only to look at the history book that no
colonial power had ever triumphed the spirit of the people through
subjugation. The examples are numerous.
No matter how ruthless the Chinese torture approaches are, our Tibetan
brothers and sisters have had continuously led the mass movement against
the Chinese might. The ceaseless effort and determination of the
Tibetans will certainly bear fruit one day. We have to look only at our
own history book to find that when we are united, the enemies were cut
down to size and driven to the corner. Look at the spirit of the
Tibetans in Tibet and the undying flame that they are carrying on today.
We should all be encouraged to do much more from exile - the land of
freedom. The illustrations are numerous. The enigmatic 10th Panchen
Lama. Tanak Jigme Sangpo, Yulo Dawa Tsering, Ngawang Sangdrol, Tashi
Tsering and the list is endless. The demonstration in Drapchi Prison is
another example of the spirit of Tibetans in occupied Tibet. In exile
too, the people who have had sacrificed their lives in the guerrilla war
of the sixties to the yesterdays Flames of Freedom - Thupten Ngodup -
all indicates to one thing that when the need arises we can dedicate
ourselves to the cause of struggle. The struggle to free our Fatherland
once again. It shows that every Tibetan can sacrifice his or her life
for the cause of Tibet and Tibetans.
In this whole evolution the role of the exile community has become ever
more important. As an individual living in Free world, we need to repay
the trust that our brothers and sisters in Tibet have reposed on us.
Retrospectively we need to show that we have fully taken the benefit of
being in exile and shouldered our responsibility in the best of our
capacity. Otherwise our exercise of coming into exile becomes
meaningless. It is here at this moment; the youth of today needs to
understand that there is a special responsibility on their shoulder - a
responsibility passed on by the history. And it is here that the youth
of today need to understand the urge to carve a new chapter for the
future. For the future of our coming generation.
Alternatively the grassroots international support for the Tibetan
freedom struggle has not been able to transform into a real thrust of
force in relation to the Chinese. Unless we can create a really
meaningful pressure either by the Tibetans themselves or through the
international community, we could hardly move forward. That has been
reflected by the developments of the past few decades. A real thrust
that China can understand is force and only force. And perhaps it is
time for the Tibetans themselves to understand this as well.
In the end people of Tibet and only the people of Tibet can reclaim
their lost country and for that each one of us must pay our share in
drops of blood and sweat. And for that all of us must be prepared. With
hard work, dedication, determination and sacrifice: I hope the new
millennium can bring us hope where every Tibetan can feel, touch and
experience liberty. Only after paying the due price can we achieve our
Freedom.
May the beginning of the new millennium bring an end to colonialism in
every corner of the world including Tibet and freedom to the mankind,
like the sunrise defeating darkness every where and anywhere.
For a Free Tibet.
Tsetan Norbu
President
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2. Major Tibet demonstration as Police Report "blames Foreign Office"
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Free Tibet Campaign Press Release March 6 2000
Major Tibet demonstration as Police Report "blames Foreign Office" for
crackdown on protest during Jiang Zemin's State Visit. Saturday March
11, 11.30am, Chinese Embassy to Whitehall
In the week that Scotland Yard is due to hand its review of the policing
of the Chinese State Visit to Jack Straw, demonstrators will mark the
Tibetan Uprising of 1959 against the occupation of Tibet with a march
through central London. The Sunday Telegraph on 5 March reported that
Scotland Yard officers had claimed that the Foreign Office leant on
police to spare Jiang Zemin from being embarrassed by the sight of
Tibetan protesters last October.
"These reports suggest that the police are refusing to be scapegoats for
events last October" said Alison Reynolds, Director of Free Tibet
Campaign. "The government must make Scotland Yard's internal review
publicly available and be prepared to come clean about its failure to
stand up to China".
Saturday's march, from the Chinese Embassy to Whitehall, comes as
Britain and the European Union deliberate whether or not to criticise
China at this year's United Nations Commission for Human Rights. Britain
and the EU's policy of dialogue with China has demonstrably failed to
prevent a recent deterioration in human rights in Tibet, but Ministers
are reluctant to anger China by co-sponsoring the US-tabled resolution.
A huge Tibetan flag, one of the enduring images of last October's State
Visit, will be carried through the streets of London by monks and other
members of the exiled Tibetan community. The legal challenge to the
Metrpolitan Police, brought by Free Tibet Campaign and eight
individuals, gets its first hearing on 3 May.
Demonstrators will assemble from 10.45am, Saturday 11 March, opposite
the Chinese Embassy, 49-51 Portland Place, London W1. March starts at
11.30am, finishing with a short rally at the Foreign Office, Whitehall
at approx. 12.30pm. A Tibetan Cultural Event will take place at Friends
Meeting House, Euston Road from 2.00pm.
For more information contact Alison Reynolds: 020 7833 9958, Mobile
07711 843884
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3. Sami Parliament urges Norway to co-sponsor China resolution
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[The Sami Parliament's plenary session in Karasjok (Norway), March 2000,
adopted unanimously this statement on the situation in Tibet].
(Unofficial translation by Marit Myrvoll)
THE SITUATION IN TIBET
The Sami Parliament will, while discussing The Governmental Report to
the Parliament no. 21 (1999 - 2000) Focusing on Human Dignity and
Values, put the emphesize on the fact that the serious political
situation in Tibet has still not changed. Today Tibet is still an
occupied country, and reports tell over and over again about serious
violations of the human rights of the Tibetan people. Furthermore,
restrictions on the exercise of cultural and religous freedom are
increasing.
The Sami Parliament is aware of the draft resolution on the situation of
human rights in China, submitted to the 56th session of the UN Human
Right Commission (UNHRC). This draft resolution also contains a
paragraph expressing concern for the situation in Tibet.
In the Governmental Report to the Parliament no. 21 (1999 - 2000)
Focusing on Human Dignity and Values, the Norwegian Government
emphesizes the human right dialogue with China to be strengthened. Among
other things the Government says that "the Tibet issue is to be
discussed with Chinese authorities in those connections where it is
natural. From the Norwegian side the Chinese authorities are urged to
open up a dialogue with H.H. Dalai Lama, and the importance of respect
for the Tibetans possibility to exercise their religion and culture is
underlined."
Hereby, the Sami Parliament urges Norway in the strongest possible way,
to act in accordance with their commitments, and co-sponsor the draft
resolution regarding the human right situation in China. Additionally,
the Sami Parliament encourages Norway to further accentuate the Tibetan
situation in the draft resolution. At the same time, the Sami
Parliament calls upon Norwegian authorities, stressing the membership of
Norway in the UN Human Rights Commission, to address the situation in
Tibet in all their oral statements during this year's UNHRC session.
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4. TIN Press Release - 6 March 2000 - TIN News Revie
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REPRESSION, RESISTANCE AND INTERNATIONAL UPROAR - TIBET'S YEAR REVIEWED
A World Bank project under scrutiny, one of the largest protests in
Tibet for a decade, and the highly publicised escape of a 14-year old
lama were just some of the headlines in an extraordinary year of news
from Tibet.
Tibet Information Network's "News Review: Reports from Tibet 1999",
published today (6 March 2000), comprehensively documents a year of
significant political anniversaries and security crackdowns in Tibet in
the context of religious and social repression. It includes the story,
broken by TIN, of a controversial project to relocate nearly 60,000
mostly Han Chinese farmers into a Tibetan area of Qinghai. The proposed
participation of the World Bank in funding this project caused an
international furore and became another sensitive issue in US-China
relations.
Along with a selection of the news reports published by TIN throughout
the year, the News Review contains previously unpublished source
material, including documents and interviews with Tibetans who recently
left Tibet.
The News Review also includes new information on key development and
environmental issues. Official reports translated from the Chinese press
(on issues ranging from the economic development of Tibet to the
poaching of the Tibetan antelope) are contrasted with first-hand
accounts by Tibetans on how such policies affect their lives.
"News Review: Reports from Tibet 1999" is available from Tibet
Information Network (price £10.00/US$16, plus postage and packing).
6 March 2000
Contact: Jane Caple, Tibet Information Network, tel: 020 7814 9011, fax:
020 7814 9015, email: tin@tibetinfo.net
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5. Tibetan chants go online
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BBC News, Wednesday, 8 March, 2000
Tibetan monks are to go online with prayer chants Rock legend Peter
Gabriel is linking up with a Tibetan lama to put a Buddhist prayer chant
on the internet for the first time.
He is planning to use the web to promote the spirtualism of Tibetan
music.
Mr Gabriel says he cannot predict how big the audience will be, but says
the internet opens up new opportunities for ordinary people.
"It's a great link between people and a wonderful opportunity to
communicate things that are normally of minority interest," said Mr
Gabriel.
Mr Gabriel says he decided on the project because Tibetan prayer chants
are so moving and powerful.
"When I was 17, I first heard Tibetan lamas chanting, and it's probably
the most mesmerising music I've ever heard," he says.
Mr Gabriel says he is convinced the internet's influence will grow in
peoples' everyday life, giving them access to all different kinds of
things, including those of a spiritual nature.
"Everyone is going to become more and more aware of its potential
...that it can have all sorts of real-contented stuff useful to people
in all parts of their lives," he said.
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6. WHISPERED PRAYERS: PORTRAITS AND PROSE OF TIBETANS IN EXILE
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by Stephen
Tue, 07 Mar 2000
Harrison originated from conversation with Tibetans who had been
imprisoned and severely punished by Chinese guards for uttering their
daily prayers. Despite unbelievable hardships, the prayers endured. As
current as today's news of refugees experiencing atrocities, accounts of
illness and/or malnutrition, and reports of challenges with language
barriers, culture shock and joblessness, WHISPERED PRAYERS visually and
verbally portrays the willingness of all to risk everything for freedom,
education, and a better life.
Coupling inspiring narratives with exquisite photographic portraits, the
author/photographer brings to life the inner experience of being a
Tibetan refugee in exile. Harrison has combined his years of experience
in fine art photography with an equally long practice as a psychiatrist
to produce a sensitive and artistic documentation of a world that exists
today and yet seems far removed from our own. Riveting tales of
extraordinary journeys, gleaned from countless hours of getting to know
each of his subjects, are skillfully interwoven with seven commentaries
on the nature of man.
An innovative aspect of the book is the use of the landscape or
panoramic format in portraiture. Traditionally used for photographing
natural settings or large groupings of people, the large format camera
here has been used to portray each subject in a formal portrait. This
unusual format promotes the exploration of form and provides added space
for enhancing the images.
Beginning with his first trip to India in 1996, Harrison's efforts to
record and photograph life among the Tibetans took three years to
complete, required three separate trips to India, and created many
logistic challenges.
His film cases and gear alone weighed in at 400 pounds. In addition to
the difficulty of creating a lightproof room to change film for such a
large camera, dust was an inevitable enemy. Then, upon each return to
the states, there was the labor-intensive hand developing of several
hundred sheets of film and the printing of negatives in platinum and
palladium.
The results substantiate the effort. The prints' tones reveal the finest
lines around the eyes of an old woman, the loose strands of hair over a
young man's face, and every crack in a wall or pebble on the ground. The
photographer's straightforward relationship with his subject yields a
poignant quality reminiscent of THE FAMILY OF MAN.
The Foreword of the book, "Whispered Prayers":
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, October 20, 1998
As a result of the present sad history of Tibet, there is hardly any
Tibetan family that has not lost their dear ones or undergone suffering.
Every Tibetan has a story to tell that is traumatic in content, but most
end with a sense of hope for the future. This book by Stephen Harrison
has given individual Tibetans of varying ages the opportunity to share
with a wider audience their personal sad experiences and their responses
to them.
I am encouraged to learn that after patiently listening to these
stories, Dr. Harrison has discovered the "radiant lightheartedness,
generosity, kindness and compassion" of these Tibetans, despite their
traumatic experience of life under Chinese rule.I am deeply moved by
both the words and images encapsulated in this book. Focusing on the
lives of Tibetans who have undergone tremendous suffering, the book
succeeds in portraying the courage and dignity of the people of Tibet.
It is my sincere hope that such books will convince readers of the
urgent need to end the suffering of the Tibetan people and that their
influence will come to bear on the international community and the
Chinese leadership. There are signs that this may happen. China's recent
signing of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights may signal that
in some not too distant future China will respect the fundamental rights
and freedoms of not only the Chinese people but even the Tibetans too.
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