Published by: World Tibet Network News, Friday, July 5, 1996

Forwarded by: Free Tibet Campaign, UK

Smuggled out of Tibet and now released on CD

'Seeing Nothing but the Sky'

In October 1993, 14 buddhist nuns held in Drapchi prison Lhasa, Tibet recorded songs calling for the return of Tibet to the Tibetans with a tape recorder that had been smuggled into the prison. The tape was smuggled out of the prison and circulated secretly in Tibet.

Since learning of the tape Chinese officials have increased the sentences of these nuns from an average of five years to an average of eleven years.

That recording is now released on CD along with other songs from Tibetan who have suffered imprisonment in Chinese prisons.

All proceeds from the sale of the CD will go directly to the campaign for the freedom of the nuns.

All the nuns heard on the CD are serving sentences for taking part in non-violent demonstrations in Lhasa since 1989. Most of the demonstrations involved less than half a dozen people and lasted less than five minutes.

The nuns' songs speak of the oppression and subjugation of the people of Tibet. Yet the words also express immense hope of freedom and independence. They see the Chinese rule as a passing cloud, and they sing of the sun of freedom which will shine on Tibet. The nuns turn the songs of lament into powerful songs of protest.

The nuns refuse to be imprisoned and forgotten. They find hope in their despair because they are inspired by the "all knowing", a religious term for the Dalai Lama. All the songs invoke the Dalai Lama and in him they confide their suffering and place their hope. They also long for the return of the Dalai Lama to the land of his birth. Here, it is not merely a political statement, and the words go beyond the politics of China and Tibet. The invocation of the Dalai Lama's name also expresses a deeper longing for a more humane society.

In 1996 there are more political prisoners in Tibet than since lists were first compiled in the West in the late '80s. The Chinese government has recently mounted an even tighter crackdown on the Tibetan people. In the face of oppression the Tibetan people continue their protest.

The CD is available at 8.00 pounds sterling by mail order only from the Free Tibet Campaign. Orders outside the UK please add 1.00 pound per CD.

Orders to:

Free Tibet Campaign

9 Islington Green

London N1 2XH

or by phone by credit card from: 0191 512 1109

Discount is available for bulk orders. Please contact us for details

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F R E E T I B E T C A M P A I G N (formerly Tibet Support Group UK) 9 Islington Green, London N1 2XH

http://www.freetibet.org

Telephone +44 (0)171 359 7573, Fax +44 (0)171 354 1026

- an independent membership organisation campaigning in support of the rights of the Tibetan people to freedom and independence.

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The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Free Tibet Campaign.