_________________ 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
______________________________________________________________________
Issue ID: 00/06/15 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup
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Thursday, June 15, 2000
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Contents:
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1. His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Participate in Smithsonian's Tibet
Festival - Meet U.S. Leaders and Give Buddhist Teachings
2. Steps Toward Freedom
Pro-Tibet Marchers Arrive in County During 525-Mile Trek
3. US official criticises line on Tibet
4. US official attacks China over failures in Tibet
5. Amnesty lambasts China crackdown in human rights report
6. Xinhua chief Guo Chaoren dies at 65
7. Buddha's teachings brought close to home
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1. His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Participate in Smithsonian's Tibet
Festival - Meet U.S. Leaders and Give Buddhist Teachings
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Media Contact:
Tenzing Choephel
Amy Head (212) 213 5010
New York, June 15, 2000 (Office of Tibet) -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama
is visiting the United States from June 19 to July 3 to participate in
an historic Tibetan cultural festival organized by the Smithsonian
Institution and to give Buddhist teachings. His Holiness will also be
meeting U.S. government leaders, both from the Administration and the
Congress during this visit.
His Holiness last met President Clinton in Washington, D.C. on November
10, 1998 following which the White House said in a press statement,
"President Clinton expressed his strong support for efforts to foster a
dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama and his
representatives to resolve differences. The President welcomed the Dalai
Lama's commitment to nonviolence and his efforts to initiate a dialogue
with the Chinese government."
The Smithsonian Institution has invited His Holiness to participate in
this year's Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
where Tibetan culture is being highlighted. The festival, which opens
on June 23, has a Tibetan section titled, Tibetan Culture Beyond the
Land of Snows. His Holiness will attend a Tibetan event on the National
Mall on July 2 morning and also give a major public address later that
day on the theme "Cultural Preservation and Universal Responsibility".
"His Holiness is looking forward to participating in the festival, which
is a tremendous opportunity for the American public to learn about the
rich Tibetan culture, which is facing the threat of destruction in Tibet
today," said Dr. Nawang Rabgyal, Representative of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama for the Americas.
The highlight of the visit to Washington, D.C. will be the public
address on the National Mall on the morning of July 2.
"This is an extraordinary opportunity," said Mr. Lodi Gyari, Special
Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. "For decades, the National mall
has been a sacred space for leaders of non-violent struggles. It has
served as a place for people to gather and speak out during cirtical
moments in history. His Holiness, Tibetans, including Tibetan
Americans, are honored to be taking part in this event," Mr. Gyari
added.
His Holiness will also visit California where he will participate in a
Buddhist teachers conference as well as give teachings and a public
talk.
His Holiness will be in Los Angeles from June 24 to 30. His Holiness
will give four days of teachings and commentary at the Los Angeles
Sports Arena, from one of the founding texts of the Tibetan Buddhist
traditon: Atisha's Lamp for the Path of Enlightenment. He will also give
a public talk at the Los Angeles Sports Arena titled "Universal
Responsibility" Contact: Shannon Johnson 323-466-3445
On June 24 His Holiness will give a Buddhist teaching to the Vietnamese
Community at the Long Beach Convention Center. Several hundred
Vietnamese Americans and others are expected to attend this teaching.
Contact: Catherine Phuong Dung 714-894-3696
June 25th His Holiness will meet with a coalition of Taiwanese American
Organizations under the banner of Taiwanese Americans for Tibet. His
Holiness will address the Southern California Taiwanese community on the
topic of "Love Compassion and Universal Responsibility" during a
luncheon reception at the Hilton-Universal Towers. Contact: Margarita Wu
213-388-7424
June 27th His Holiness will be the guest of honor in the International
Committee of Lawyers for Tibet's dinner entitled Law and Compassion: A
Tribute to Peace and Human Rights Advocacy. Whoopi Goldberg will serve
as mistress of ceremonies. Contact:Kathy Pinkert 310-836-8355
Fullerton University will hold an East-West Education Seminar at
Fullerton University where His Holiness will give a talk on "Cherishing
Harmony and Diversity: An Educational Challenge for the 21st Century".
Contact: Ngawang Phuntsog 714-278-2098
June 29th His Holiness will visit Forrest Lawns Memorial Park to bless a
three dimensional Mandala for Universal Peace and give a public talk.
Contact: Shan Waters 818-905-7379
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2. Steps Toward Freedom
Pro-Tibet Marchers Arrive in County During 525-Mile Trek
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By CATHERINE BLAKE, Special to The Times
Los Angeles Times, Thursday, June 15, 2000
Flanked by motorists honking and hollering support, activists on the
March for Tibetan Independence trekked through the streets of Ventura
and Oxnard on Wednesday in the final week of a 525-mile freedom walk
from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
The 23 walkers, three of whom say they were tortured by the Chinese, are
protesting China's 51-year occupation of Tibet. The walkers carry large,
colorful signs with slogans such as "Honk for Tibet" and "Boycott
Chinese Goods." They hope to increase awareness about the Tibetans'
plight.
Ani Palchen Dolma, a former political prisoner who spent 21 years in
Chinese jails, came to the United States from India for the first of
three long walks to support the cause this year.
A Tibetan nun before China's 1949 invasion, Dolma became a resistance
fighter after her father died in the struggle for freedom. Dolma, 67,
said she was captured by the Chinese when she was 23 and interrogated,
tortured and "buried for nine months in a black hole, where [I] had to
live in my own feces."
Dolma said she is sure things are worse now than when she was there.
"With all the death and destruction things are not better today," she
said. "It's worse because they are not even allowed to have peaceful
demonstrations." After being freed by the Chinese, Dolma fled Tibet for
India in 1990.
Dolma said bringing the sufferings to the citizens of the United States
is the only way to bring about change.
"We are here in America today to fight for justice," she said through an
interpreter. "We are very grateful for America because you are the most
powerful nation and only you can help us achieve our final struggle for
freedom."
Twelve activists started the walk in San Francisco on April 25, but
organizers said more will complete the trip in Santa Monica on Tuesday.
That is when the group will be joined by a smaller contingent of freedom
walkers heading north from San Diego. Along the way the groups give
about four presentations a week at churches, schools and senior centers
to help raise awareness and money for the cause.
Local walkers sometimes join the group for one or several days to show
support, said Lawrence Gerstein, president of the International Tibet
Independence Movement. But the walk can't support more than about 15
because the organization needs to provide lodging at churches or
community centers and often is responsible for all the meals for the
walkers.
Grass-roots donations support the organization and the walk, Gerstein
said, and every penny counts. "We try to collect money along the way as
well as beforehand, but it's difficult."
This is the fifth walk put on by the International Tibet Independence
Movement in the last five years.
Nina Kinga, a college student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, said she
joined the walk because she "feels strongly about any injustice."
She said her family's history--her mother lived in Germany during World
War II and her Pakistani father survived the war that divided India and
Pakistan--shaped her activism.
"Most of my family is messed up because of those two events, and I know
if people had helped stop the Holocaust, it would be different now," she
said. Kinga's sister is a performance artist and activist in Los
Angeles, and Kinga does whatever she can.
"Raising awareness is not going to hurt and it could certainly help,"
she said. "I just don't know how many will have to die before that
happens."
The group, which has spent three days in Ventura County, heads to Malibu
today. The former political prisoners will talk about their experiences
at 7 tonight at the Great Pacific Ironworks Patagonia store in Ventura
at 235 W. Santa Clara St. For information, call 643-6074.
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3. US official criticises line on Tibet
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By JOHN SCHAUBLE, Herald Correspondent in Beijing
Sydney Morning Herald, 15/06/2000
A senior United States official has lambasted China over its policy on
Tibet, telling a Senate committee there has been no progress in
achieving dialogue between Beijing and the exiled Tibetan spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama.
"The treatment of Tibetans by [Beijing] over the past 50 years has been
inconsistent with international standards of respect for fundamental
human rights," Ms Julia Taft, the State Department special co-ordinator
for Tibetan issues, told a foreign relations subcommittee on Tuesday.
"The Dalai Lama has shown enormous courage in his call for 'genuine
autonomy' within Chinese sovereignty," Ms Taft said. "We urge ...
Beijing once again to establish a dialogue."
Ms Taft said there was "considerable common ground between the Dalai
Lama and Chinese leaders" that could bring them to the negotiating
table.
"We believe the political will exists to achieve the successful
implementation of a negotiated settlement," she said.
But the human rights situation in Tibet remained bleak, she said. Tight
controls on religion and other fundamental freedoms continued and had
intensified.
While China had poured resources into Tibet, it remained the country's
poorest region. There was evidence of high illiteracy and malnutrition
among children.
The social and economic position of Tibet's indigenous population was
under threat from the continuing migration there of Han Chinese, she
said. Maintaining Tibet's "unique religious, linguistic, and cultural
heritage" was a matter or urgency, she said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has agreed to a request by Beijing to delay
its response to a report critical of a loan to fund the relocation of
60,000 poor Chinese farmers on Tibetan land.
An independent review found that the bank had ignored its own
environmental guidelines in approving the money last June.
The resettlements, along with those of people displaced by the
construction of the massive Three Gorges Dam project, have attracted
widespread criticism from Tibetan rights groups.
Ms Sophia Woodman, of Human Rights in China, said Beijing was borrowing
huge sums from the World Bank in the name of development "without the
kind of accountability and transparency that is now expected for
projects in other countries".
"This is a recipe for human rights abuses committed in the name of
development," she said.
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4. US official attacks China over failures in Tibet
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By JOHN SCHAUBLE
China Correspondent
BEIIJING, (The Age - Melbourne, Thursday 15 June 2000) - A senior United
States official responsible for Tibetan affairs has launched a broadside
at China over its Tibet policy, telling a US Senate committee
that no progress has been made in achieving dialogue between China and
the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
"The treatment of Tibetans by the Chinese Government over the past 50
years has been inconsistent with international standards of respect for
fundamental human rights," Julia Taft, US State Department special
coordinator for Tibetan issues, told a foreign relations sub-committee.
Ms Taft said promoting talks between China and the Dalai Lama remained a
priority of the Clinton administration.
"The Dalai Lama has shown enormous courage in his call for genuine
autonomy within Chinese sovereignty," she said. "We urge the authorities
in Beijing once again to establish a dialogue with the Dalai Lama."
Appointed 18 months ago, Ms Taft said there was "considerable common
ground between the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders" that could bring them
to the negotiating table.
"We believe the political will exists to achieve the successful
implementation of a negotiated settlement," she told the committee. But
the human rights situation in Tibet remained bleak, she said. Tight
controls on
religion and other fundamental freedoms continued and had intensified.
While China had poured substantial resources into Tibet, it remained the
country's poorest region. There was also evidence of high illiteracy and
malnutrition among children, she said.
The social and economic position of Tibet's indigenous population was
under threat from the continuing migration of Han Chinese to the region,
she said. Maintaining Tibet's "unique religious, linguistic, and
cultural heritage" was a matter of urgency, Ms Taft added.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has agreed to a request by the Chinese
Government to delay its response to a report critical of a loan to fund
the relocation of 60,000 poor Chinese farmers on to Tibetan land.
An independent review of the bank's loan approval found that the bank
had ignored its own environmental guidelines in approving the money last
June.
The resettlements, along with those of people displaced by the
construction of the massive Three Gorges Dam project, have attracted
widespread criticism from Tibetan rights groups.
Sophia Woodman, a researcher with Human Rights in China, said China was
orrowing huge sums from the World Bank in the name of development
"without the kind of accountability and transparency that is now
expected for projects in other countries".
"This is a recipe for human rights abuses committed in the name of
development," she said.
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5. Amnesty lambasts China crackdown in human rights report
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LONDON, June 14 (AFP) - China conducted its most heavy-handed crackdown
on dissent for a decade last year, complete with thousands of arbitrary
arrests, unfair trials and widespread torture, Amnesty International
charged Wednesday.
In its annual report on human rights around the world, the group singled
out China for its continued poor record on basic freedoms through 1999
and into 2000.
"1999 saw the most serious and wide-ranging crackdown on peaceful
dissent in China for a decade," Amnesty said in its report, challenging
China's "sincerity in signing key human rights conventions in the
previous two years."
"Thousands of people were arbitrarily detained by police and some were
sentenced to long prison terms after unfair trials or sent to forced
labour camps," it said.
"Systemic torture and ill-treatment continued. AI recorded around 18,000
executions in China in the 1990s, a figure which it believes to be far
below the real number."
Amnesty said the main victims of the crackdown were political
dissidents, anti-corruption campaigners, labour rights activists, human
rights defenders and members of "unofficial religious or spiritual
groups" -- the target of a two-year 'anti-superstition' campaign.
It said prison conditions remained harsh, and the death penality was
used extensively, arbitrarily and often as a result of political
interference.
It also cited "gross human rights violations" in the western Uighur
region and in Tibet, where Buddhists and nationalists were a prime
target of the crackdown.
Meanwhile the reversion of Hong Kong and Macao to Chinese rule had
thrown up several uncertainties and ambiguities about the interpretation
of law under the "one countries, two systems" model, Amnesty said.
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6. Xinhua chief Guo Chaoren dies at 65
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BEIJING, June 15, 2000 (AP) -- Guo Chaoren, president of China's
state-run Xinhua News Agency, died Thursday, Xinhua reported. He was 65.
Guo, a member of the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Communist
Party, died from an illness, the brief report said without providing
further details.
A graduate of elite Peking University, Guo worked at Xinhua for 44 years
as a journalist and then executive. He served as a correspondent in
Tibet and central China's Shaanxi province, was deputy director of the
Sichuan province branch and then became secretary-general and vice
president in the Beijing headquarters.
Guo rose to president of Xinhua in 1992, presiding over China's premier
news agency with over 7,000 journalists, managers and technical staff.
Xinhua has bureaus in over 100 countries, produces reports in Chinese,
English, Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic and also publishes 40
newspapers and other periodicals.
The Xinhua report said Guo was a prolific writer. It named "Sprint to
the Summit," "Tibet in the Past Decade" and "African Diary" among books
he had published.
The news agency did not mention funeral plans.
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7. Buddha's teachings brought close to home
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By Melanie D. Scott
INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 Jun 2000
When Bardor Tulku Rinpoche spoke to the 20 people gathered at Moorestown
Community Center last night, all attention was focused on him.
While the audience listened attentively, Rinpoche spoke to the group
about Buddha's teachings of compassion and how it leads to peace of
mind.
"I am very pleased to be here and share with you," Rinpoche said.
This was the second time Rinpoche has been in Moorestown.
As resident Lama of the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, located in
Woodstock, N.Y., Rinpoche tours each affiliated center in North America,
said Jeff Underhill, sponsor of the event and coordinator of the South
Jersey Karma Kagyu Buddhist Center in Mount Laurel.
Although the crowd was small, Underhill said the center sometimes have
groups as large as 80 to 100 people for events.
Despite the small crowd, members walked away with smiles on their faces
and thanked Underhill and his wife, Carol, for sponsoring the event.
"We host lessons throughout the year," Underhill said.
Rinpoche was born in 1950 in Kham, East Tibet. He was recognized by His
Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa when he was a child.
Rinpoche was young when the family left East Tibet and arrived in
Drikung, where they remained for several years at the home of his
grandparents. With the Chinese occupation of Tibet in the late 1950s,
the political and social conditions worsened and Rinpoche's family, then
a party of 13, headed for India.
After arriving in Assam, India, Rinpoche's family members died one after
another because they were not used to the tropical heat.
Rinpoche, a 12-year-old friend and other Tibetans continued to flee from
the Chinese. After escaping from an attack and wandering for a few days,
Rinpoche arrived in Darjeeling, India, where the Sixteenth Karmapa was
notified that he had made it out of Tibet safely.
Rinpoche was taken to Sikkim, India, to the Rumtek Monastery, where he
began his formal training as a tulku.
After years of study and practice, Rinpoche went on world tours in 1974
and 1976 with the Sixteenth Karmapa.
Rinpoche stayed in the United States in 1977 at the Karma Triyana
Dharmachakra in Woodstock and guided the construction of a new
monastery.
The South Jersey group that sponsored the event was started in 1996 by
the Underhills to offer traditional Tibetan Buddhism to people living in
the area.
Today, Rinpoche will be at the Karma Kagyu Buddhist Center in Mount
Laurel for a Refuge Ceremony.
-- Melanie D. Scott's e-mail address is mescott@phillynews.com
