Tibetan Uprising Day
March 10, 2018 @ 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Since the Chinese occupation in 1959, more than one million Tibetans have been killed. To fly a Tibetan flag, send an email abroad, or say the phrase “human rights,” is cause for imprisonment and torture. 99% of all Tibetan monasteries have been closed. The Tibetan people and their culture are being systematically attacked. Our own teacher, Khenpo Karten Rinpoche risked his life to become a monk in Tibet before fleeing in 1996. Stand up against this repression and violence. Lend your voice to peace, justice, and freedom: Support Tibet! Join us on Saturday, March 10th, 12:30pm to 1:30pm at Windows on the Bay as we join international protests in support of Tibetan freedom. Signs provided. Please note: Protesters cannot step into the street or hand out leaflets to cars, as per a city safety mandate.
“Imagine you are not allowed to whistle ‘Yankee Doodle’ as you work. You can’t talk about the day’s events in your native language, nor wear blue jeans and tennis shoes, or any other garment quintessentially American. Your children go to a new school where they learn a language other than yours, and are taught to report you to the authorities if you speak English at home. Forget going to church. This is Tibet today.” quote from 2016 article in Cedar St. Times.
Learn more about the issue:
Free Tibet website
2016 PG Cedar Street Times article (bottom of p1, includes photos of Rinpoche during his trek across the Himalayas)
Video: Tibet Today
What can you do? There are three postcards with specific requests you can make available at the Center through the month of March. Fill one out (or all three!) and we will mail them at the end of the month.
ACTION #1
Send a postcard to John W. Henry, owner of the Liverpool Football Club to protest their sponsorship deal with Tibet Water Resources Limited, a company using water as a weapon in Tibet
Tibet Water Resources Limited (TWRL) exploits the natural resources of Tibet, a country that has been under brutal military occupation for nearly 70 years. Now one of the world’s biggest football teams, Liverpool FC, have signed a sponsorship deal with them. Companies like TWRL are only able to take Tibet’s resources because of the occupation, an occupation propped up by repression and human rights abuses. Its brand — and now Liverpool FC — lend legitimacy to the occupation and the accompanying violence and repression. The Chinese government knows it can only continue to get away with repression in Tibet if its occupation has legitimacy. And associating Tibet with major global brands like Liverpool FC is a great way to normalize the brutal situation. Premier League clubs have never been richer, with Liverpool receiving over £148m from TV and prize money last year. The club has also just returned to the Champions League, earning them tens of millions more — they can easily afford to drop this reckless deal.
Send an email to Owner John Henry and the Liverpool Football Club via the Free Tibet website: https://freetibet.co.uk/liverpool-fc
Liverpool Football Club
Anfield Road
Liverpool
L4 OTH, ENGLAND
ACTION #2
Send a postcard to the U.S. Embassy in Chinain support of Tashi Wangchuk, a young man speaking up for Tibetan language
Tashi Wangchuk is from Yushu in eastern Tibet. He became an advocate for the teaching of the Tibetan language after Tibetan classes were closed down in his local area, prompting concerns that future generations of Tibetans would grow up unable to speak their mother tongue. His attempts to persuade the local government to provide Tibetan language information in schools were featured in an article and documentary in the New York Times in November 2015. Tashi Wangchuk pursued his campaign peacefully through official channels. He repeatedly maintained that his actions were not political. Two months later he was arrested, and later charged with “inciting separatism”. It is likely he is being punished because he had the courage to work with the New York Times to highlight threats to Tibetan culture, despite the risk he would be arrested.
Send an email in support of Tashi Wangchuk via the Free Tibet website: https://www.freetibet.org/take-action
Send a postcard to the U.S. Embassy in China
United States Embassy of Beijing, China
Ambassador Terry Branstad
No. 55 An Jia Lou Lu
People’s Republic of China, 100600
ACTION #3
Send a postcard to the Chinese Embassy in the US to protest the destruction of Larang Gar, one of the largest Buddhist centers in the world
Larang Gar at one point was home to 40,000 monks and nuns, one of the largest religious centers in the world. The first round of demolitions and removals, carried out in July of 2017, reduced large areas of the site to rubble and caused widespread distress among Tibetans. Residents who have been removed from the site have been made to sign pledges promising not to return to live there. Others have been locked out of their own homes. Monks and nuns who have been returned to their native regions from Larung Gar have been prevented from joining new monasteries and nunneries. Some have been subjected to humiliating patriotic re-education sessions, in which they are required to sing Chinese propaganda songs and denounce their own Tibetan culture and religion. The sadness has been felt across Tibet, and inside Larung Gar, three nuns are reported to have taken their own lives in protest against the demolitions. This damage is not just an assault on Larung Gar and its residents, but also on Tibetans’ fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of religion, freedom of movement and freedom of expression and association.
Send an email to Chinese Embassy in the US via the Free Tibet website: https://freetibet.org/urgent-action-larung-gar-buddhist-academy
Send a postcard to the Chinese Embassy in the U.S.
Chinese Embassy in United States
3505 International Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
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