Mar 11 2009
Commemorating 50th Anniversary of Uprising, Tibet Activists Change Tactics
Tibetans and their supporters yesterday held commemorations in various countries around the world to mark the 50th anniversary of an uprising that led to the exile of the Dalai Lama. Demonstrations and other events were held in Australia, Japan, Nepal, Taiwan, Canada and here in the US. Hundreds of protesters marched through New York City to the Chinese Embassy, and on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a long-time supporter of Tibetan self-determination, introduced a resolution to Congress that would urge China to end its “repression.” Activists marked not only the 50th anniversary of the uprising, but the one year anniversary of massive protests against the Chinese government before last year’s Olympics Games. According to Human Rights Watch, hundreds of Tibetans were killed or are still in jail. Scores of Chinese police and other security checks have thus far stifled any planned protests in Tibet.
GUEST: Dennis Cusack, San Francisco Bay area lawyer and writer, co-chair of the International Tibet Support Network, member of the Board of Directors and past-president of the Tibet Justice Center.
One Response to “Commemorating 50th Anniversary of Uprising, Tibet Activists Change Tactics”
Free Tibet, my holy foot
Please do not liberate my country. I understand your energy, good nature and idealism. I was the same when I was at your age. I hope you’re there to protest for China when your ancestors pushed opium to China.
First, thanks you all. Now, I’m a naturalized US citizen collecting generous welfare benefits. You do not understand how my life has been improved staying here. Just imagine living in the highest mountain in your country year round.
There are always folks wanting to be kings and queens. They have their ambitions and revolutionary ideas. Some may want to steal ‘legally’. The last ones went to India after the failed revolt sponsored by CIA. What do you feel if US and Brits drop arms from airplane into Quebec? Please let me know who sponsor today’s Tibetan movements – not seem to be a Mickey Mouse production. They do not speak for the common folks who just want a peaceful life.
News on Tibet must feed a lot of reporters in the west but hurt their conscience. Some are not true and some were reported from the desk. The recent Tibetan riot was started when Han Chinese were murdered but was reported wrongly with photos that were bought and modified to indicate it was the other way round. To be fair, Chinese reporters are no angels.
The Chinese will not give up Tibet. It is the major water source for most of Asia. How many territories within a country are now independent? We get more from the Chinese than giving back. Our standard of living improves substantially and so is our literacy rate (in our old feudal system, only monks could learn). Where else in China citizens get free medical care and education?
The new train and the proposed 750 small dams to generate electricity are recent gifts. I bet the extraction of natural Chinese will improve our living standard further. It is the same as opening a casino in an Indian reservation. The benefits outnumber the drawbacks.
China had been ruled by Mongolians and Manchurians in history. We’re one of the 55 minorities, same as the blacks in your country or the Quebec French in Canada. Dali Lama must be the best salesman on earth with the circus of silly and most likely uneducated Hollywood celebrities. If there were one like him for Mongolia, one for Manchuria, you guys will be busy for a long while.
Unless you can convince your congress to send soldiers to ‘liberate’ us, please do not stir up our rebellious sentiment towards the Chinese. The more you do, the more our folks suffer and ‘disappear’.
Spend your energy elsewhere. The choices are unlimited: CEOs enjoying outrageous benefits/bonuses from companies receiving bailouts, or killing Iraqi children in a war you cannot afford. Just leave our 2 million souls in Tibet alone. Check for the last 200 years, who are the ones that invade and colonize? Not Chinese for sure as they had been victims.
Everywhere in China, you see Tibetan cultures have been maintained (excluding the Cultural Revolution) – different from what your ‘reporters’ report. All the minorities have been exempted from the one-child policy. Check out the following link. Do they look oppressed to you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVaPR0mFFio&feature=related
It sounds like propaganda. I want you to know that I have no connection with the Chinese government. Your action on the wheel-chair torch bearer for Olympic showed the world how barbarous and coward you are.
I just want to be realistic and the world at least my world will be more peaceful without your demonstrations. I wrote the above from the mind of the silent majority of Tibetans.