< DEMOCRACY IN CHINA/FREEDOM FOR TIBET-FAX ! - #72 >
Newsletter on the campaigns of the Radical Party for the freedom of Tibet and the democracy on China.
Issue #72, June 10, 1998
>> Editors office: Massimo Lensi, Via Cavour 68 - 50129 Firenze (Italy)
Tel.+39-55-230.22.66 - Fax +39-55-230.24.52
Mailto: tibet.fax@agora.it
Url - http://www.radicalparty.org
Telnet: Agora.stm.it
>> Distribution; Alberto Novi, Rue Wiertz 60 - 1047 Brussels (Belgium)
Tel.+32-2-230.41.21 - Fax.+32-2-230.36.70
Mailto:A.Novi@agora.it
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"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
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>> Published in english, spanish, french and italian.
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SAVE "RADIO VOICE OF TIBET"
One guilder, one pound, one dollar, one franc, one lira -- to save the only channel of communications between Tibet and the outside world.
Opening of Public Subscription
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For over two years, Radio Voice of Tibet (VOT) has transmitted a 30 minute programme in the Tibetan language to Tibet, India and Nepal -- 30 minutes of real communication with the occupied Roof of the World and a link between Tibetans of the diaspora and Dharamsala. Radio VOT enjoys Foundation status and is registered in Norway. There have been substantial grants by organizations and institutions, as well as donations by private individuals.
An appeal from Oslo has reached us asking us to publicize a public subscription. We are transmitting herewith an invitation to all the readers of "Fax -- Democracy for China -- Freedom for Tibet": what is at stake is saving Radio VOT from imminent closure by the collection of subscriptions. This collection of funds for us represents a political duty, quite aside from the duty we assume as "militants" who feel strongly about the struggle for freedom of the Tibetan and Chinese people.
The subscription will be public. Regularly, we shall publish in this bulletin the names of the individuals or organizations who have made a contribution to "Save Radio VOT".
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Payment can be sent to:
VOICE OF TIBET
ELHAVENSGATE 1
0166 OSLO, NORWAY
Bank Account: 1607.39.44191 (UNION BANK OF NORWAY)
SWIFT CODE: UBONOKK
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We ask that, after you make your payment, you inform us by fax or by E-mail: Editor, "Fax -- Democracy for China -- Freedom for Tibet".
E-mail: tibet.fax@agora.it or Fax: +039-55-230.24.52 (N.B. effective 1 June, the fax number becomes: 039-055-230.24.52).
>> Tibet-China Telex
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TYC/INTERRUPTION OF HUNGER STRIKE TO THE FINISH
The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) has made known that the hunger strike to the finish has been temporarily suspended in response to appeals by the Polish, American, Hungarian, Norwegian and Costa Rican governments and by the European Union, without counting the resolutions approved by the Australian, Canadian, Lithuanian and European Union parliaments and by the United States Congress.
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EP/RESOLUTIONS ON TIBET AND SALE OF ORGANS/PEKING REACTIONS
In the editorial of the "China Daily" of 19 May, Peking replies. The China Daily labels the two resolutions as "attacks against China" and as "deplorable obstacles to Sino-European relations". It adds, relative to the Tibet Resolution: "China will tolerate no action that seeks to impair its national integrity", while it proceeds to ignore the accusation of traffic in human organs, treating it as a "guileful fabrication".
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EP/CHINA/INTERVENTION DURING MEETING BY TRP SECRETARY
On 14 May, in Strasbourg, Olivier Dupuis (ARE Group) declared: "Madame Chairman, Vice President of the Commission, Dear Colleagues:
Our Parliament cannot fail to observe that its policy and its proposals are systematically rejected by the Council and by the Commission, with the exception of the positive collateral measures and initiatives of Commissioner Marin. We have received no response to our demand for the liberation of all political prisoners in Tibet, for the liberation of the Panchen Lama, for respect to be accorded human rights, for the establishment of a commission of inquiry, for the appointment of a senior European Union representative for Tibet, for negotiations between Tibet and China, etc. I believe that we could unhesitatingly attribute to Commissioner Brittan the words of Churchill -- paraphrasing slightly -- at the time of Fascism in Italy: "If I were Italian today, I would be a fascist." Sir Leon Brittan could say, like his colleague Churchill: "If I were Chinese today, I would be a Communist, or I would be a Nazi" -- which comes down to the same thing.
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TIEN AN MEN SQUARE/4 JUNE/RADICAL INITIATIVE
Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Radical member of the European Parliament, and Olivia Ratti, General Secretary of the Radical Group in the European Parliament, laid nine roses at Tien An Men Square on the occasion of the anniversary of the 4 June 1989 massacre.
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CHINA/PE DELEGATION
On 2 June, Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Radical member of the European Parliament, affirmed at the end of the EP delegation visit to China's National People's Congress: "No new agreement with the Chinese should be entered into if guarantees on human rights and resumption of the dialogue with the Dalai Lama are not assured."
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17 MAY/PANCHEN LAMA
Three years ago. on 17 May 1995, Gendhun Choekyi Nima, recognized as the eleventh Panchen Lama, was abducted by the Peking authorities. We remind you that a campaign sponsored by the Transnational Radical Party is still going on, urging people to send post cards to President Jiang Zemin to obtain the liberation of the Panchen Lama.
>> SECOND PAGE
PE/China: resolution on the sale of organs of persons sentenced to death
Human rights - B4-0496, 0500, 0510 and 0519/98
Resolution on the sale of organs of persons sentenced to death in China
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions on China,
- having regard to the Annex to United Nations Economic and Social Council Resolution
1984/50 of 25 May 1994,
A. totally appalled by the report by the China Watch organization and the Fresenius company that the Chinese People's Liberation Army is carrying on a flourishing trade in the organs of persons sentenced to death,
B. whereas these practices constitute a crime and manifestly infringe international conventions on respect for and protection of the dignity of condemned prisoners and the inviolability of their person,
C. whereas various European companies could be implicated in this trafficking,
D. whereas the EU has a duty to respond in the strongest terms to the abuses which have been exposed and whereas it must do everything in its power to put a stop to these inhuman practices forthwith,
E. reiterating its total opposition to capital punishment and its determination to secure abolition of the death penalty in all parts of the world,
1. Calls on the Chinese authorities to do their utmost forthwith to stop these inhuman practices;
2. Asks its Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China to raise this issue on the occasion of the next delegation visit in June 1998;
3. Calls on the Council and Commission to take all the steps required to ensure that the United Nations immediately sets up an international committee of inquiry with a view to shedding full light on the networks being used in China and the rest of the world to traffic in and sell organs removed from persons sentenced to death;
4. Asks the Commission and the Council to take the necessary initiatives at international level to ban all illegal and inhumane trade in human organs;
5. Reiterates its total opposition to the death penalty and its determination to persuade the United Nations to declare a world-wide moratorium on executions;
6. Renews its demand that the authorities of the People's Republic of China abolish the death penalty as soon as possible and calls on them, pending complete and final abolition of the death penalty, to publish full details of the executions carried out;
7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the authorities of the People's Republic of China, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.