Tibet raised in Parliament on Tibetan Uprising Day

Our Tibet Lobby Day ripples continue! A strong statement for Tibet was made in Parliament on March 10, 2011, the 52nd anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day, by MP for Longeuil – Pierre-Boucher, Jean Dorion, with whom we met on Tibet Lobby Day. And to add to this great news, Students for a Free Tibet was also mentioned in his statement:

Jean Dorion Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to say that I participated today in the commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the uprising of the Tibetan people in Lhasa, organized by the association Students for a Free Tibet. Those events in Lhasa were followed by China’s repressive measures, forcing the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of Tibetans, to seek exile in India. According to the Tibetan government in exile, these events resulted in the deaths of 87,000 Tibetans who were victims of their religious convictions and their national pride.

For 52 years now, Tibet has tried unsuccessfully to regain some measure of autonomy. The cultural fabric of the “roof of the world” is weakening. Tibet’s history books have been rewritten and the Tibetan language is no longer taught in secondary schools.

It is time to adopt a comprehensive approach that takes into account the interests of all parties involved, rather than taking one side or the other, so that Tibet may achieve real autonomy within China, as requested by the Dalai Lama.

SFT Canada Board members Jigme and Arianne on Tibet Lobby Day 2011 with Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Quebecois and MP Laurier-Sainte-Marie & Jean Dorion, MP Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, Bloc Quebecois

Now that federal election season is upon us, we hope you’ll take this opportunity to ask candidates in your riding what they can do for Tibet! To see what Canadian Parliamentarians have said about Tibet in the past, check out Open Parliament’s website.

Please take action in support of Tibetans in Amdo Ngaba

Tibetans killed by Chinese forces in Ngaba town on March 16, 2008

We are gravely concerned by the news this morning that Tibetan sources have reported that earlier today Phuntsok, a 21-year old Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery, self-immolated following a solo protest in Ngaba town (Ch: Aba), eastern Tibet (Ch: Sichuan Province). Eye-witnesses reported that Chinese authorities rushed to the scene and beat Phuntsok, sparking a protest by an estimated 1,000 monks and lay people that was violently suppressed by the authorities. An unknown number of Tibetans have been arrested and the situation in Ngaba remains tense. Chinese troops have surrounded the monastery and have flooded the town. Today marks three years since troops opened fire on demonstrators peacefully protesting against Chinese rule in Ngaba, killing at least 10 people.

This evening, a reported 2,000 monks and lay people held a prayer vigil and surrounded Kirti Monastery to stop Chinese authorities from confiscating Phuntsok’s body. A young monk named Tabe, also from Kirti Monastery, lit himself on fire in 2009 to protest China’s crackdown in the area. He remains in Chinese detention. Read more: http://www.freetibet.org/newsmedia/update-self-immolating-monk

Please take action in support of Tibetans in Amdo Ngaba:

1) Alert the Canadian authorities in China of this incident.

Call the Canadian Embassy in Beijing: +86(10) 5139-4000

Call the Canadian Consulate in Chongquing: +(86-23) 6373-8007

When you call, introduce yourself and where you are from and express how urgent the situation is in Ngaba, in eastern Tibet (Ch: Aba, Sichuan Province). Please make sure to mention if you are Tibetan.

Direct them to reports of the this morning’s incident and urge them to investigate the incident and call on Chinese authorities to respect the rights of Tibetans to peaceful protest.

2) Call the Chinese Embassy and Consulates

Call Chinese Embassy in Ottawa: 613-789-3434

Call the Chinese Consulate in Toronto: 416-964-7260

Call the Chinese Consulate in Calgary: 403-264-3315

Call the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver: 604-734-7492

When you call, explain that you are Tibetan or a Tibet supporter and explain how you are aware of the situation in Ngaba town (Ch: Aba, Sichuan Province).

Your calls will help make sure the Chinese government knows people worldwide are watching the situation closely and will hopefully help to protect Tibetans on the ground.

3) Call the Chinese authorities in Sichuan:

Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture People’s Committee on Government: (86) 83-72822976

Sichuan Public Security Bureau: (86) 28-86301176

4) Contact the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Hon. Mininster Lawrence Cannon: Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca

5) Organize a solidarity protest this Friday March 18th

If you organize a solidarity event in Canada, please send details to: Lobsang@studentsforafreetibet.org

A Personal Account of Tibetan Uprising Day in Toronto

March 10, 2011

10:40 am I look around and see familiar faces. With umbrellas in one hand and placards and flags in the other, most of Toronto’s Tibetans are braving the cold damp weather to mark the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan people’s uprising of 1959. Less than a week ago we were dressed in our chubas and sipping chhang at the Exhibition Place celebrating the first day of Losar. Today the chubas are less festive and we are all gathered to mark a more solemn and historic moment in Tibet’s past. Fifty-two years ago on this day over 300,000 Tibetans converged around the Norbulingka palace forming a barrier between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Chinese unit stationed on the outskirts of the city. The people rose up to protect their leader and to protest the presence of Chinese troops on their land.

Tibetans and Tibet supporters gather in front of Queen's Park

11:15 am I’m walking behind a couple with a baby in the stroller. The parents have a small Tibetan flag attached to the stroller. Many school age children are marching alongside their parents and grandparents. Every year I see more babies and elderly folk- the former are born Canadian, the latter come from Nepal and India to be reunited with their sons and daughters. Parkdale has turned into Little Tibet. Not surprisingly, Tenzin is the most popular name for boys and girls in Parkdale. The young Tibetan Canadians around me are passionate and articulate. If China thinks the passing of His Holiness the Dalai Lama will signal the end of the resistance, it is gravely mistaken. There is a new generation of Tibetans both inside Tibet and in exile ready and waiting to take charge of the struggle. We are shouting slogans for freedom, justice and demanding an end to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet. The boys behind me start chanting shame shame, China shame. The woman in front of me mutters that she thought we weren’t doing that particular slogan anymore. Apparently no one else got that memo.

Marching to the Chinese Consulate from Queen's Park

11:35 am We are marching up Yonge St. past numerous adult novelty stores. Passing strangers and cars honk and give us the universal gesture of approval- thumbs up. I can’t help but notice the occasional smirks we get from a few people. I have no way of knowing they are Chinese so I won’t make that assumption.

12:15 pm Three cops rush over to a young Chinese man on the sidewalk across Bloor street near St. George. A fellow marcher tells me the man threw a small bottle of Billy Bee honey into the marching line a few rows ahead. This sour moment is quickly forgotten as we near the Chinese Embassy. Our chants grow louder as we get closer to the Embassy. Once there, we hear words of encouragement from longtime Tibet supporter Cheri Di Novo, former MP of Parkdale-High Park Peggy Nash, and Toronto City Councilor Gord Perks among others. Cheri puts things in perspective by reminding us that we are “one year closer to a free Tibet.”

MPP for Parkdale-High Park and long-time Tibet supporter Cheri DiNovo

Former MP and long-time Tibet supporter Peggy Nash

12:50 pm I think about the not-so-sweet billy bee incident from earlier. I have in the past been confronted by people who believe in the far left’s version of a feudal Tibet devoid of any of the rights Tibetans are now fighting for. When the owner of the local French patisserie learned I was Tibetan he told me he was happy for me because Tibetans were no longer shackled by ‘old Tibet’s’ brutal feudalism. I find it hard to have meaningful discussions with people who have already made up their minds about Tibet instead of doing a bit of research. What’s tragic is that Chinese citizens believe their government’s propaganda. When a family friend visited Tibet in the late nineties, she found the treatment of Tibetan people by Chinese settlers in Lhasa quite unsettling. While at Norbulingka, the summer palace of His Holiness the Dalai Lamas, she saw a minor scuffle between a Tibetan and a Chinese. It ended with the Chinese person remarking something to the effect of “After all we have done for these barbarians, they treat us with such contempt.” It is hard to even begin engaging with people with this mentality. I wonder if the honey jar thrower had the same thought when he saw us marching on Bloor St.

Cheuk Kwan, Toronto Association for Democracy in China

I push these thoughts out of my mind and focus on the now. It’s still drizzling but the chanting hasn’t stopped. We sing the Gyallu, the Tibetan national anthem, followed by O Canada. Then comes a prayer I have heard sung numerous times but do not know the words to: Tseme Yonten. The full translation can be found here. One verse is especially apt for the day:

Those unrelentingly cruel ones, objects of compassion,

maddened by delusion’s evils,

want only destroy themselves and others;

May they achieve the eye of wisdom, knowing what must

be done and undone, and abide in the glory of friendship

and love.

I urge all Tibetans and supporters to continue fighting for what is right. Take your Lhakar pledge today and join the growing strategic nonviolent movement that started inside Tibet. For Dhondup Wangchen, Norzin Wangmo, Jigme Gyatso, and the countless other political prisoners suffering in Chinese prisons. Bhod Gyalo!

Nawang, SFT Toronto

March 10th: Use it before we lose it

News came out yesterday that Thinley Gytaso, the representative of the Dalai Lama in Nepal, was arrested by Nepal police on Sunday, “in a bid to prevent anti-China demonstrations in Nepal on March 10,” the 51^stanniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day.

However, this isn’t the first time the Nepal government has taken action against the Tibetan government in exile in recent years.  In 2005, the Nepal government closed the office of the Dalai Lama’s representative in Kathmandu, stating that since it recognized Tibet as an integral part of China, it wouldn’t allow a parallel diplomatic office.  His Holiness’s representative was also arrested in 2008 during Beijing Olympics protests in Nepal, which made huge headlines across the world, embarrassing the Chinese government.

Even though Nepal is home to over 20,000 Tibetan refugees, China is exerting more and more of an influence on Nepal’s government policies, and this just goes to show how powerful their grip on Nepal really is under the Nepalese Maoist leadership.  And it’s not only Nepal who is bowing to Chinese pressure; you can see China’s heavy hand at work even in North America with the recent Obama and Dalai Lama meeting that was put off for several months until Obama met with China first, and when His Holiness came to Canada in the fall, and only met with a few politicians behind closed doors, rather than the public affection shown during his last visit in 2007 when even Prime Minister Harper publicly met with His Holiness in his Parliament Hill office.

After reading the news article about Thinley Gyatso being arrested ahead of March 10th, I feel more convinced than ever that we must yell louder than ever in the March 10^th protests here in Canada for those inside Tibet, and now those in Nepal.

To see the story published in The Times of India, click here.

To take part in the 51^st Anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising, click here to find an event in a Canadian city near you.

Biggest Tibetan Demo Ever in Toronto – March 23, 2008

On the first Sunday of spring, in Toronto where the streets were relatively quiet because of the Easter long-weekend, thousands of Tibetans and Tibetan supporters rallied through the heart of downtown Toronto to protest China’s brutal crackdown on the uprisings inside Tibet, and to call on Canadians everywhere to be aware of and support the Tibetan cause.

The crowd gathered first in front of the local high school in Parkdale, which has the highest concentration of Tibetans outside of India and Nepal. The Tibetan Joint Action Committee was yet again the main organizer of the event, and the response from the Tibetan community towards the call of action was overwhelming in all aspects.

Funds were raised, volunteers signed up, refreshments donated, transportation loaned… the Tibetans in Toronto has stepped up tremendously in light of the recent unrest inside Tibet. “To see all of us collectively coming together with such determination to make rallies like these successful, not just from the various organizations, but also the ordinary Tibetans, is just truly inspiring and emboldening,” said Lobsang Khedup, one of the organizers behind this event.

“I hope and I do believe that we can sustain this energy all the way to the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. And ultimately till the day comes that we no longer have to suffer under the tyranny of the Chinese government.”

Stretching for more than three blocks, the loud and colourful procession of protesters made their way along Queen St., Yonge St., and Wellesley St., eventually ending up in front of the Ontario Parliament building. The route, specifically chosen to get exposed to as many Torontonians as possible, took a little under three hours to complete, with the organizers managing to conduct three dramatic die-ins during the rally.

“What’s happening here?” asked one curious bystander who marveled at the long line of protesters fully lying down on the streets and chanting slogans. When she was told of the reason behind this action: to signify the brutal suppression tactics of the Chinese govt. on protesters inside Tibet, she shook her head ruefully and pledged to support the Tibetan cause in any way that she can.

Heavy media presence followed the rally from start to finish. All of the local networks covered the event, with some live broadcasts of the rally and the die-ins.

After reaching the Parliament building on Queen’s Park, a number of prominent speakers addressed the protesters and voiced their outrage at the Chinese govt., calling on the Canadian parliament to put more pressure on behalf of the Tibetans who were suppressed immensely by the recent buildups of troops everywhere inside Tibet. MP Peggy Nash (NDP), Michael Craig of Amnesty International, and Rukiye from the East Turkistan community of Canada all spoke passionately, from their own unique perspectives, on the issue of Tibet’s independence.

The rally concluded at around 3 in the afternoon, and everyone was reminded of the hunger strike in front of the Chinese consulate starting from Tuesday, March 25 till Friday, March 28. It begins from 10 am and goes on till 4 in the afternoon.

There is also a protest rally planned on Monday, March 31 for the “International Day of Action for Tibet.” So far, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Toronto has organized more than four actions since the uprisings in Tibet began on March 10, 2008. The JAC comprises of Students for a Free Tibet Canada, Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association Ontario and Dokham Chushi Gangdruk. The committee was formed to collectively challenge China in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics.