From Brussels to Dharamshala, thousands expected to join March 10 protests

[icy]

From Brussels to Dharamshala, thousands expected to join March 10 protests


DHARAMSHALA, March 9: Tens of thousands of Tibetans and supporters will be pouring out on the streets the world over on March 10 to observe the 54th Tibetan National Uprising Day.

Since March last year, more than 80 Tibetans have set themselves on fire protesting China’s continued occupation and demanding freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from exile.

In Brussels, nearly 5000 Tibetans and supporters from all over Europe are expected to take part in a mass solidarity rally to highlight the tragic situation and the self-immolation crisis in Tibet, and seek support for concrete European Union action.

More than 27 Tibetan Community Associations in Europe have for the first come together to organise the March 10 rally.

Speakers at the event, apart from European leaders, include Kyabje Kirti Rinpoche, the exiled abbot of the Kirti Monasteries, Speaker Penpa Tsering, and Kalon Dicki Chhoyang.

The organisers in a release said that through the mass solidarity rally, Tibetans will be appealing the EU and its Member States to urge China to review its failed hard-line policies in Tibet and allow unfettered access to Tibet for the media and international fact-finding delegations.

The EU will also be called upon to instruct its Special Representative for Human Rights to seek access to Tibet and to appoint an EU Special Coordinator for Tibetan Affairs with the primary task of encouraging and facilitating a dialogue between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government.

In Toronto, Canada, around 3000 Tibetans, wearing traditional Tibetan clothes will carry out a mass rally tomorrow morning.

Organisers said the marches will also carry 99 dummy coffins, draped in Tibetan national flags, in honour of Tibetan self-immolators who have passed away.

Canadian members of parliament, Wayne Marston, who is also the Vice Chair Subcommittee of International Human Rights and Peggy Nash, among others, will be addressing the rally.

In London, Tibetans and supporters will be marching from Downing Street to the Chinese Embassy where Tim Loughton MP will address a rally.

The Tibet Freedom March in London will be calling on the Chinese government to end its six-decade brutal regime in Tibet and to respect the rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people. Tibetans and supporters will also be urging David Cameron to speak up for the people of Tibet and make a public statement of concern over the current human rights situation in Tibet.

In the exile headquarters of Dharamshala the official March 10 function will be attended by Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people and Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament.

Six ministers of the exile Tibetan administration will be attending official Tibetan National Uprising Day functions in four different continents tomorrow.

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DHARAMSHALA, March 7: Ministers of the exile Tibetan administration will be travelling to four different continents on the occasion of the 54th Tibetan National Uprising Day on March 10, which starting from this year, will also be observed as Martyr’s Day.

The Kalons will be attending March 10 functions in Japan, Taiwan, Australia, the United States, Belgium, and Ladakh,

The Dharamshala based Central Tibetan Administration, on its official website, said the visits “aim to apprise the Tibetans about the policies of and efforts being made by the CTA concerning the grim situation in Tibet.”

Kalon Pema Chhinjor of the Department of Religion and Culture is in Australia (March 6 – 13) and will be meeting Australian lawmakers at the Parliament House. He is also scheduled to brief the Special Joint Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade on the prevailing human rights situation in Tibet with particular reference to religion and culture in Canberra on March 12.

Home Kalon Dolma Gyari is currently on a visit to Sonamling Tibetan settlement and Jangthang regions of Ladakh in north India. Recently, Tibetan nomads in the region suffered huge loss of livestocks due to extremely cold conditions. His Holiness the Dalai Lama had earlier donated INR 10 lac for emergency relief work in addition to INR 5 lac released by CTA.

Kalon Tsering Dhondup of the Finance Department is currently visiting Taiwan (March 6-11) and is scheduled to meet members of the Taiwanese Parliament.

Kalon Ngodup Donchung of the Department of Security will visit the United States from March 9 – 14. He will address the March 10 rally in New York in front of the United Nations office.

Kalon Dicki Chhoyang of the Department of Information & International Relations will join Speaker Penpa Tsering of the Tibetan Parliament and members of the European Parliament for the European Solidarity Rally in Brussels on March 10.

Health Kalon Dr Tsering Wangchuk will visit Japan from March 8 – 13 and attend the National Uprising Day function in Tokyo.

Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay this week returned from a trip to North America during which he lobbied with lawmakers in Canada and testified before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Canadian Parliament on February 26 in Ottawa.

[icy]

March 10 Tibetan National Uprising Day now also Martyr’s Day


DHARAMSHALA, March 6: Starting from this year, March 10, the Tibetan National Uprising Day will also be observed as Tibetan Martyr’s Day.

The decision to formally observe a Martyr’s Day to commemorate the sacrifices made by Tibetans inside and outside Tibet was unanimously approved during the Second Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People held in September 2012.

The Tibetan Parliamentary Secretariat this week notified that starting from this year March 10 will be jointly observed as the National Uprising Day and Martyr’s Day.

On March 10, 1959, Tibetans in the capital city of Lhasa rose up against the Chinese occupying forces, leading to the death of thousands of Tibetans and the eventual escape of the Dalai Lama to exile.

Each year, Tibetans observe the day as the National Uprising Day all over the world. Last year on March 10, Gepey, 18-year-old monk of the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, eastern Tibet set himself on fire near a military camp in the region. Since then, as many as 107 Tibetans have set themselves on fire protesting China’s occupation and demanding for freedom and the return on His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Announcing plans for the 54th Tibetan National Uprising Day in the exile headquarters of Dharamshala, the five major Tibetan NGOs, Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, National Democratic Party of Tibet, Gu-Chu-Sum Movement, and Students For a Free Tibet, India held a joint press conference yesterday.

The groups said a protest march will be held from the Tsug-la Khang right after the official function to Lower Dharamshala with protesters wearing black cloth around their foreheads.


Representatives of the five major Tibetan NGOs addressing the press in Dharamshala on March 5, 2013.
Local Indian and Tibetan leaders will be addressing the gathering followed by a signature campaign for Tibet. The organisers further appealed against parading of Chinese flags during the protest.

Elsewhere in south India, a group of Indian supporters will be marching from the south Indian city of Mysore to Bylakuppe Tibetan settlement (around 80 kms) on the eve of the 54th Tibetan National Uprising day.

Organisers have said the march is aimed at expressing “solidarity with Tibet and its people in their 54 year long nonviolent struggle, to extend our support for those suffering at the hands of the Chinese inside Tibet right now and to the Tibetan refugees who long for their country more than anything else.”

“We hope to create awareness among fellow Indians about the plight of our Tibetan brothers, to go beyond nationalities and stand up for what is morally right, stand up for freedom and stand up for the oppressed to raise their voice against the oppressors,” organisers said.

 

[Ensapa]

March 10 has already been over and there has been not much news about the whole debacle in newspapers around the world. Nobody cares already about the Tibetan cause and it is just a fact that the CTA has to face. Actually, there is nothing wrong with promoting Tibetan independence, but to be hypocrites and suppressing Dorje Shugden practitioners in Dharamsala while talking about the independence just does not gel. Not only that, tactics of trying to get people's sympathies will only work for so long before people get tired of it and ignore them. Stop playing the sympathy card, and perhaps you'll get some help.