Brussels, 23 october, 1995

Dear Sir,

As you probably know, the situation in Tibet is desperate: After more than 45 years of Chinese occupation of the country, and after a dozen years of systematic population transfer on a massive scale inflicted by the People's Republic of China, the Tibetan people is literally at risk of disappearing from the face of the earth in a few years.

The gravity of this situation, the real and imminent danger of the Tibetan people actually being extincted, and the Bejing Government's persistent refusal to open any kind of dialogue with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile, has made us decide to step up our nonviolent struggle for Tibet's survival and its liberation.

We are now in the process of mounting an international campaign to make the populations of big cities and small towns aware of the situation in Tibet. This is why we are proposing, in this initial phase, that you, along with the mayors of capital cities throughout the world, hoist the Tibetan flag on your townhall on 10 March 1996, the anniversary of the nonviolent uprising in Lhasa in 1959. In this way your city or town will be able to express its solidarity and give its support to one of the most persecuted peoples on this planet, and uphold its very worthy cause.

Along with this, you could possibly launch other initiatives: especially information campaigns aimed at sensitizing your citizens and making them aware of the situation in Tibet. Of course we are prepared to send you any information you might need.

As you will understand, an initiative on such a scale requires considerable financial investment. In order to divide the cost among what we hope will be a very large number of participants, we would suggest that you send us, enclosed with your support, a financial contribution proportionate to the size of your town or city. We will then send you the Tibetan flag (1,40x 2,10m). We were thinking of a contribution ranging from a minimum of100$ for small towns to a minimum of 1,000$ for the metropoles.

We have just received the first subscriptions. For Italy we have Francesco RUTELLI, Mayor of ROME, Valentino CASTELLANI, Mayor of TURIN, Raimondo FASSA, Mayor of VARESE and Paolo A. M. AGOSTINACCHIO, Mayor of FOGGIA; for Croatia, we have Slatko KRAMARIC, Mayor of OSIJEK; for Poland, Josef LASSOTA, Mayor of CRACOVIA and Wojciech KRACZMAREK, Mayor of POZNAN; for France, Noël MAMERE, Mayor of BEGLES and European Parliamentarian and GALIZI, Mayor of PEYRUIS; for Ukrain, Mikhail POZHIVANOV, Mayor of MARIUPOL.

We strongly hope that that you will lend your support this

initiative and send you oue very best regards.

Piero VERNI Olivier DUPUIS

President of the Italy-Tibet Secretary of the Radical Party

Association (**) transnational and transparty (*)

(*) The Radical Party is a transnational and transparty political organization. That is, an organization of citizens and parliamentarians belonging to various national political forces who have chosen to commit themselves to a number of specific campaigns. The current campaigns of the Radical Party are: the universal abolition of the death penalty; the establishment of a permanent international criminal court; the revision, in an anti-prohibitionist direction, of the international laws and conventions on drugs; support for Bosnia-Hercegovina, in particular through its immediate membership of the European Union; world democracy and, of course, Tibet. The Radical Party does not take part in national elections. It recently obtained First Category Consultative Status from the United Nations.

(**) The Italy-Tibet Association supports the work of the Dalai Lama, the highest political and religious authority of Tibet, and of His government in exile, so that to the Tibetan People may be recognized the right of self-determination and the garantee of foundamental civil liberties. To this end the Association organizes political and cultural activities in order to promote awareness of the actual Tibetan situation.