< FREEDOM FOR TIBET/DEMOCRACY IN CHINA ! - #57 >

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".

Tenzin GYATSO, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, 1992

Number 57 May 1st, 1997

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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1998 SATYAGRAHA FOR FREEDOM FOR OCCUPIED TIBET.

APPEAL FOR "VOICE OF TIBET"

The organization of the Satyagraha for the freedom of Tibet is still going on. In the last days the Transnational Radical Party has published an appeal in order to economically support "Voice of Tibet" which has been signed by several Tibet Support Groups. Regarding the possibility of opening a Sinotibetan negotiation, the collection of signatures on the appeal to the UN General Secretary to receive the Dalai Lama is also still going on. So far more than 1,400 signatures of Parliamentarians from all over the world have been collected.

On April 29th, the Italian Senate approved a document on the situation in Tibet which we do not hesitate to call "revisionist": in this document, historical truths are "smartly" modified, information falsified as well as the real reasons of the Tibetan struggle for freedom. The complete text of the document approved by the Senate, as well as our feedback on it, are on the "Second Page". For these reasons we must strengthen our efforts and, above all our capacity, to organize the Satyagraha for the freedom of Tibet: a global nonviolent movement necessary for the achievement of our common struggle.

It is for this reason that starting from the next issue of "Freedom for Tibet Democracy in China Fax" we will host a debate on the 1998 Satyagraha.

We want that this initiative become a moment of discussion and speculation on the perspectives, on the possible preparatory work, on the preliminary nonviolent initiatives, on the global Satyagraha strategy.

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THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY LAUNCHES AN APPEAL SO THAT RADIO "VOICE

OF TIBET" BE ECONOMICALLY AND FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION.

THE FIRST ADHESIONS TO THE APPEAL

The Transnational Radical Party, few weeks after the 2nd European demonstration in Geneva on Tibet, reinforces its initiatives for the 1998 Satyagraha for freedom for occupied Tibet. In order to conceive a worldwide nonviolent movement for freedom for Tibet, means of coordination and communication with the Tibetan people in Tibet are needed. Radio "Voice of Tibet" already represents, for Tibetans in exile as well as for Tibetans in Tibet, the voice of hope and freedom.

Every day Radio "Voice of Tibet" transmits 30 minutes in Tibetan in the entire territory of the roof of the world, India and Nepal: a free information. In order to help those who, in the European institutions, are deciding to support the issue of freedom for Tibet, the TRP has collected 41 adhesions, coming worldwide from Tibet Support Groups, on an appeal in support of VOT.

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APPEAL FOR THE SURVIVAL AND DEVELOPMENT OF "VOICE OF TIBET"

For more than six months "Voice of Tibet" has been a voice of hope and freedom not only for the Tibetans in exile, but also for those still living in Tibet.

At the center of Beijing's totalitarian regime, which is founded upon violence and censorship, the 15 daily minutes of transmission of "Voice of Tibet" represent the only bond occupied Tibet has retained to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, as well as with the free world and the supporters of the Tibetan people and their fight for freedom.

As has been confirmed in the reports and testimony that have arrived from numerous regions of Tibet, the programs of "Voice of Tibet" have been received undisturbed by ninety five percent of Tibet during all of these months of broadcast.

But "Voice of Tibet" costs, and it is expensive. It is in need of help from everybody, from both citizens and organizations, in order to continue and develop its programs and to become the instrument which connects Tibet to the free world in 1998, when tens of thousands of people will unite in the Satyagraha, a massive nonviolent and Gandhian initiative for the freedom of Tibet.

For these reasons we appeal to the citizens, the associations, the international organizations and, most of all, to the European Union, so that all of you will support, both politically and financially, this voice of freedom for Tibet.

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First and Last Name Organization Country

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Madeleine AXELL, President of "The Swedish Tibet Committee" (Stockholm, Swedish),

Michael BACHMANN, President and Executive Director of "Committee of 100 for Tibet" (Palo Alto CA, USA),

Agata BAREJA, on behalf of "Polskie Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciol Tybetu" (Warsaw, Poland),

Fran ois BRUXEILLE, President of "Comite, de Sauvegarde du Peuple Tibetain et de sa Culture (TibetLiberte,Solidarite,)" (Marseille, France),

Christophe BUTHION, on behalf of "Verts HauteGaronne" (France),

Lenka CABALOVA, President of "SOS Tibet" (Prague, Czech Republic),

Michele DEPRIS, President of "Convergence TibetLaoga<" (Toulouse, France),

Monika DEIMANCLEMENS, on behalf of "Tibet Forum" (Germany),

Suzana DEWA, on behalf of Tibet Support Group (Ljubljana, Slovenia),

Lobsang GANGSHONTSANG, President of "Swiss Tibetan Friendship Association" (Zurich, Switzerland),

Larry GERSTEIN, Director of "International Tibet Independence Movement" (Fishers IN, USA),

Katrin GOLDSTEIN, on behalf of "Foundation 10 March" (Stockholm, Swedish),

Dan HAIG, on behalf of "Tibet Online Resource Gathering" (USA),

Tibor HENDREY, President of "Tibetet Segito Tarsasag" (Budapest, Hungary),

Michel HENRY, on behalf of "C.I.D.E.S." (Toulouse, France),

Gauthier JACQUELIN, President of "Les Lions des Neiges" (Leone, France),

Stewart JOHNSON, President of "Australia Tibet Council" (Potts Point, Australia),

Tsering Youden JAMPA, President of Tibet Support Group (The Netherlands),

Thuten KESANG, President of "Friends of Tibet" (Aukland, New Zealand),

Hugo KLINGLER, President of "Syamatara Oesterreichische Tibethilfe" (Mils, Austria),

Monika KOEK, President of "Save Tibet" (Vienna, Austria),

Antonina KOOKUEVA, President of "Kalmyk Friends of Tibet Society" (Elista, Russia),

Margarira KOZHEVNIKOVA, Secretary of "Friends of Tibet" (St. Petersburg, Russia),

Adam KOZIEL, on behalf of "Desk for Tibet in Helsinki Foundation, Poland" (Warsaw, Poland),

Claude LEVENSON, President of "C.S.P.T." (Geneva, Switzerland),

Guy LIEBERMAN, Executive Director of "Dewachen Tibetan Cultural Centre" (Northlands, South Africa),

Eva LINDHOLM, President of "Tibet Association" (Stockholm, Swedish),

Francis LONGAVESNE, President of "FranceTibet/NordPasdeCalais" (France),

Batr MANGAEV, President of "Dharma Center" (Elista, Russia),

Olivier MORES, President of "Les Amis du Tibet" (Luxembourg),

Thomas NAGANT, President of "Les Amis du Tibet" (Brussels, Belgium),

Tsewang NORBU, on behalf of "Association of Tibetans in Germany" (Germany),

Marcelle ROUX, President of "FranceTibet" (Paris, France),

Branka SIMUNOVIC, President of "Hrvatska Udruga za podrsku Tibetu" (Zagreb, Croatia),

Tonci SITIN, President of "Udruga za potporu Tibetu" (Split, Croatia),

Diana TAKATA, Coordinator of "Students for a Free Tibet" (USA),

TELO Tulku Rinpoche, President of "Kalmyk Association of Buddhists" (Elista, Russia),

Andrej TERENTJEV, President of "Friends of Tibet" (St. Petersburg, Russia),

Kunchok TSUNDUE, President of the "Tibetan Community in Germany" (Germany),

Piero VERNI, President of "ItaliaTibet" (Milan, Italy),

Georgi ZHELIASKOV, President of "Bulgarian Tibetan Friendship Association" (Sofia, Bulgaria).

< TIBET CHINA TELEX >

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AUSTRALIA:

APPEAL TO THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS: 1,457 SIGNATURES

The campaign for the collection of signatures on the Parliamentarian's appeal urging a meeting between the Secretary General of the UN and the Dalai Lama has reached the Australian Parliament. Thanks to the work of Chime R, Choekyapa, the Dalai Lama's representative in Canberra, an additional 25 Parliamentarians have signed the appeal. The total has now risen to 1,457 signatures.

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REPRESSION IN EASTERN TURKISTAN

Numerous sources have reported on the aggravation of the situation in Eastern Turkistan. Three exponents of the Uigura resistance have been brought to "justice" with the trademark single gunshot to the head. Another 27 persons have been condemned to grave prison sentences under the accusation that they took part in antiChinese and separatist demonstrations. Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) has been annexed by Peking since the 1940's.

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BONN: UNPO SEMINAR/NONVIOLENCE

On April 1920 a seminar on nonviolence took place in Bonn, Germany. The seminar was organized by UNPO (Organization for nonrepresented peoples and nations) and by the Heinrich Boll Foundation. The seminar, which was also a preparation for a conference which will be held in Tallin, Estonia next July, counted among its participants the German Green Party deputy Angelika KoesterLossak, Steve Withing and Helen Stevens of the "Quaker Peace and Service," Erkin Alptekin of Eastern Turkestan, Edita Tahiri of the Democratic League of Kossov, Jampa Tsering of Tibet, and Masssimo Lensi and Tiziana Falletti of the Transnational Radical Party. The seminar's work was concluded with the individuation and summation of the key points for the Tallin Conference by Michael van Walt Van Praag, the Secretary General of UNPO. Almost all of the speakers affirmed the necessity of choosing a concrete and nonviolent human rights initiative in the coming months.

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ITALY/TRP

WALK AROUND FOR THE FREEDOM OF TIBET

On April 28th, about three dozen militants of the TRP organized a Walk Around at the Italian Senate to mark the occasion of votes on various orders of the day that have been deposited concerning the situation in Tibet. The Walk Around was organized so that the Parliamentary debate concerning the grave situation on the "Roof of the World" would not occur unrecognized or in silence. The Walk Around lasted for 18 hours, until the end of the conclusive vote on the orders of the day.

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ITALY

MOTION FOR WEI

The City Council of Savona (Liguria) has approved an order of the day supporting the candidacy of the Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. The total of City Councils that have approved a document supporting Wei has now risen to five.

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WASHINGTON

III WPCT CONFERENCE

We will analyze the results of the workings of the Third WPCT Conference which took place in Washington, D.C., last week in the coming issues of the TibetChina Fax.

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SECOND PAGE

What follows is the text of the Order of the Day of the Italian Senate on the situation in Tibet, as well as the press release that was issued by the Transnational Radical Party after the vote.

< PRESS RELEASE >

THE ITALIAN SENATE'S ORDER OF THE DAY ON THE SITUATION IN TIBET: A MASTERPIECE OF REVISIONIST HISTORY.

Rome, April 29, 1997. The Text of the Order of the Day on Tibet, approved today by the Italian Senate, is to be placed in contrast to the numerous and timely resolutions approved by the European Parliament, as well as similar resolutions passed by the German Bundestag, the Belgian Senate, and the Parliament of Luxembourg.

This morning, in the Senate Room, a number of arguments based upon analyses of Italy's conduct in relation to Tibet that did not correspond with the truth were even heard. In the coming days it will be our job to collect and translate the documents concerning this matter, including those relating to the meeting of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, so that they may be consulted by all political parties and by the Italian media, as well as by the Tibetan authorities. These are the same Tibetan authorities who, you may recall, were received by the President of the Republic, the Senate, and the Council.

SOME NOTES ON THE SUBJECT:

Tibet was invaded by Beijing's troops in 19491950, and in 1959 the population of Lhasa rebelled against the Chinese, and were violently repressed;

Tibet is an invaded nation according to International Law (see the U.N. resolution on this matter);

The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile request autonomy, not independence. To speak of separatist threats is therefore ABSOLUTELY FALSE. Nor is it correct to omit that the repeated requests for dialogue and negotiations with Peking by the Tibetans have been constantly ignored and derided;

the terms "homogenization" and the sending of "government representatives" have nothing to do with the Chinese policies of forced abortions and mass sterilization, or the transfer of millions of Chinese colonists to Tibet, which have reduced the Tibetan population through a process of ethnic cleansing and dilution so that the Tibetans become a minority in their own land;

the commitment taken to "represent the hopes" is significant;

Tibet is used as a dump site for nuclear waste;

it is a positive commitment that has been made to operate in the international groups, and, more precisely, in UN Human Rights Commission, so that they be recognized as a strong criticism of the conduct undertaken by the Italian government in Geneva as recently as 11 days ago.

ORDER OF THE DAY APPROVED BY THE ITALIAN SENATE

The Senate,

considering that:

the population of Tibet has conserved its proper cultural and ethnic identity, as well as a dominant religious vision (alongside an expression of the religious Bon minority) which has made Lamaist Buddhism into a distinct experience in relation to general Buddhism which, together with Taoism and Confucianism, have impregnated Chinese society and culture;

rightly in relation to these original characteristics, Tibet has always enjoyed an ample political and administrative autonomy, both during the Chinese empires, under the Quing Dynasty which, as the land of five major ethnic groups (then symbolized by the five colors of the national flag), is the political foundation of the First Chinese Republic;

the imperatives of the modernization process underway throughout China may bring Tibet undeniable economic and social benefits, as well as negative repercussions on the natural environment and the lifestyles that represent the heart of Tibetan cultural and religious identity;

the historical laceration that is represented by the Tibetan revolt of 1959 was not overcome, as the numerous recurrent regional turbulences and separatist activities both within and abroad attest, and the necessity of resuming constructive dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government is ever more urgent;

generally speaking, the authorities of Peking have conducted a strong politics of homogenization throughout the territory, even through the use of sending massive amounts of government representatives;

commits the Government:

to make itself interpreter to the Chinese government, even within the bilateral dialogue on human rights, of the concerns of the Italian people concerning the risking of a progressive loss of identity which concretely confronts Tibet in absence of measures that effectively guarantee the autonomy it should already practice;

to solicit the Chinese government to guarantee, in the interests of stability and civil progress of Tibet, the respect of human rights and the local collectivity, expressing the availability of the Italian government to collaborate with the Chinese authorities for the development of a judicial system and, more generally, the roots for the basic rights of the Chinese Popular Republic;

to solicit the Chinese Government, on every useful occasion, to resume a dialogue with the Dalai Lama that supports the commitment to a constructive process that will bring the profound divergences that exist to a peaceful resolution that restores both the cultural and religious freedom of the Tibetan people, as well as its autonomy and respect for its representatives;

to present to the Chinese Government, in the correct places and on the occasions that present themselves, the sincere hope of the Italian Government for the full respect of fundamental human rights in Tibet, with particular reference to the child Gedun Choekyi Nyima, his family, and all those who are deprived of their political and religious rights;

to operate so that these issues are addressed in all of the competent international organizations, beginning with the next United Nations Commission on Human Rights.