PHOTO: A Chinese official blamed the Dalai Lama for the rise in Tibetan self immolations. (Nic MacBean: ABC News)
Please join us on Saturday 10 March for a Silent Vigil for Tibet and commemorate Tibetan Uprising Day in Solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet.
WHEN: Saturday, March 10 from 11.00am to 12 noon
WHERE: Parliament Square Gardens, in front of Parliament House, Hobart
The Premier of Tasmania has asked for parliamentarians to show “cultural sensitivity” towards China. Is she also prepared to call on China to demonstrate cultural sensitivity towards Tibet?
On 10 March we commemorate all those Tibetans who have resisted China’s occupation of Tibet and we stand in solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet who are engaging in nonviolent resistance – wishing only to have the freedom to speak their own language and practice their religion.
We stand in support of Tibetans and Tibetan culture and we call on the media, our government representatives, and the international community, to escalate the pressure on China to end its siege on the Tibetan people before more lives are lost.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
March the 10th 2012 is the 53rd anniversary of the day Tibetans all around the world call Tibetan Uprising Day. The day when thousands of Tibetans rose up against China’s invasion and occupation of Tibet, defiantly resisting the repressive policies that continue today.
On March 10th this year, Tibetans living in Tibet and in exile all around the world, will be remembering the repressive actions of the Chinese Government – they will remember the victims of police brutality, those who have been shot, wounded, killed locked in prison and denied their basic human rights – and they will remember those Tibetans who have recently chosen to protest the years of brutality by self immolating.
It is hard for many Westerners to understand why Tibetans in Tibet are self immolating.
Partly it is seen as a wish to get the world to take notice – as occurred with the beginning of what is now called the Arab Spring movement…
partly it is the highest form of self-sacrifice that can be made and is seen as a way to support and honour the suffering of other’s…
and partly it is a way of honouring all those Tibetan heroes who have used nonviolent resistance to make a stand against the violent Chinese repression Tibetans have experienced for over 50 years.
On 8 January a well respected, high-ranking Tibetan lama named Lama Sopa became the first Tibetan to leave behind a message explaining his reasons for self-immolating:
“This is the twenty-first century, and this is the year in which so many Tibetan heroes have died. I am sacrificing my body both to stand in solidarity with them in flesh and blood, and to seek repentance through this highest tantric honour of offering one’s body. This is not to seek personal fame or glory….I am taking this action neither for myself nor to fulfill a personal desire nor to earn an honour….To all my spiritual brothers and sisters: You must unite and work together to build a strong and prosperous Tibetan nation in the future. This is the sole wish of all the Tibetan heroes.”
Earlier this year, Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India and His Holiness appealed to his fellow Nobel Laureate to pray for the cause of Tibet.
The Dalai Lama said to his friend – Tibetans are passing through a difficult period. Our sophisticated and compassionate Tibetan culture is really facing a lot of difficulties. So please pray for them in you daily prayers.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: “I want to say to the Chinese government that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the most peace loving person on earth. I want to say to the Chinese government that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has no army, he does not command his people with guns, he is not a separatist. Please, you leaders in Beijing, please we beg you, allow Tibet to be what the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China commits. The Constitution allows for autonomy and that is all His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his people want. We beg you and at the same time remind you too that this is a moral universe. There is no way in which injustice, oppression, and evil can ever have the last word.”
propaganda – a definition
1. Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
2. The dissemination of such information as a political strategy.
Officials break silence on Tibetan self-immolations
By China correspondent Stephen McDonell
Updated March 07, 2012 21:32:03
In areas of China with a high Tibetan population a wave of self immolations is continuing.
Three people set themselves on fire this week in protest against Chinese government rule – an 18-year-old man, a mother of four and a teenage girl.
According to exile groups, some two dozen Tibetans have set themselves on five over the past six months.
The Chinese government is blocking foreign reporters from entering these regions.
But local Chinese government officials have now spoken for the first time about the grim wave of suicides.
They have acknowledged that Tibetans are calling out independence slogans before killing themselves, but they have described this as a form of terrorism masterminded by the Dalai Lama and exile groups.
Wu Zegang is the mayor of Aba Town, which has seen the largest number of deaths. In Beijing for the National People’s Congress, he was speaking at a meeting of the Sichuan Delegation.
“Since 2009 some monks and other people have set themselves on fire in Tibetan Sichuan, including around the monasteries of Aba area,” he said.
“These people have things in common. First they’ve shouted out separatist slogans such as ‘free Tibet’ before taking these actions.
“All of them had criminal records or had bad public reputations.They were not recognised by society and felt desperate, so they chose suicide to leave the world.”
Dalai Lama to blame
He said that exile groups were to blame for encouraging this course of action and that the Dalai Lama in particular was at fault.
“The Dalai Lama is using their expectations of washing away shame and guilt,” Wu Zegang said.
“He sets up memorials for them, gives them the title of hero and prays for them. He tempts them to clean their criminal records and enjoy the next life.”
Li Changping, a senior member of government who has had responsibility for Tibetan areas, pushed his way through reporters on his way to the lifts at the congress.
The ABC asked him if there was a solution to the current situation in Western Sichuan.
He replied: “The solution is for religious groups to interpret religious discipline and doctrine in a way that’s good for people’s lives and for the normal development of Tibetan Buddhism.
“They should guide believers and monks to take greater care of life.”
Another reporter asked about foreign correspondents being denied access to Tibetan areas.
“That’s only in certain areas, for everyone’s safety,” he said.
Berry Dunston Australia Tibet Council Convenor, Tasmania
