-Caveat Lector-
His Holiness the Dalai Lama's March 10th 1999 Statement
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My sincere greetings to my compatriots in Tibet as well as in exile and to
all our friends and supporters all over the world on the occasion of the
40th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising of 1959.
Four decades have passed since we came into exile and continued our
struggle for freedom both in and outside Tibet. Four decades are a
considerable time in a person's life. Many fellow countrymen, both those
who stayed back in Tibet in 1959 and those who came out at that time, are
now gone. Today, the second and third generations of Tibetans are
shouldering the responsibility of our freedom struggle with undiminished
determination and indomitable spirit.
During our four decades of life in exile, the Tibetan community has gone
through a process of increasing democratisation and has made tremendous
progress in education. We have also been able to preserve and promote our
unique cultural and religious heritage. Our achievement on all these fronts
is now widely recognised and acknowledged by the international community.
The credit for this achievement goes to the determination and hard work of
the Tibetan people. However, our success would not have been possible
without the generous assistance of many international aid organizations and
individuals. We are especially grateful to the people and government of
India for their unsurpassed generosity and hospitality ever since the late
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave asylum to the Tibetan refugees and
laid down the programmes for education and rehabilitation of our exile
community.
During the same four decades, Tibet has been under the complete control of
the government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese
authorities have had a free hand in governing our country. The late Panchen
Lama's 70,000-character petition of 1962 serves as a telling historical
document on the draconian Chinese policies and actions in Tibet. The
immense destruction and human suffering during the Cultural Revolution,
which followed shortly afterwards, are today known world-wide and I do not
wish to dwell on these sad and painful events. In January 1989, a few days
before his sudden death, the Panchen Lama further stated that the progress
made in Tibet under China could not match the amount of destruction and
suffering inflicted on the Tibetan people.
Although some development and economic progress has been made in Tibet, our
country continues to face many fundamental problems. In terms of history,
culture, language, religion, way of life and geographical conditions, there
are stark differences between Tibet and China. These differences result in
grave clashes of values, dissent and distrust. At the sight of the
slightest dissent the Chinese authorities react with force and repression
resulting in widespread and serious violations of human rights in Tibet.
These abuses of rights have a distinct character, and are aimed at
preventing Tibetans as a people from asserting their own identity and
culture, and their wish to preserve them. Thus, human rights violations in
Tibet are often the result of policies of racial and cultural
discrimination and are only the symptoms and consequences of a deeper
problem. The Chinese authorities identify the distinct culture and religion
of Tibet as the root cause of Tibetan resentment and dissent. Hence their
policies are aimed at decimating this integral core of the Tibetan
civilization and identity.
After a half a century of "liberation" the Tibetan issue is still very much
alive and remains yet to be resolved. Obviously this situation is of no
benefit to anyone, either to Tibet or to China. To continue along this path
does nothing to alleviate the suffering of the Tibetan people, nor does it
bring stability and unity to China or help in enhancing China's
international image and standing. The only sensible and responsible way to
address this problem is dialogue. There is no realistic alternative to it.
It is with this realisation that in the early seventies I discussed and
decided with my senior officials the main points of my "Middle Way
Approach". Consequently, I opted for a resolution of the Tibet issue, which
does not call for the independence of Tibet or its separation from China. I
firmly believe that it is possible to find a political solution that
ensures the basic rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people within the
framework of the People's Republic of China. My primary concern is the
survival and preservation of Tibet's unique spiritual heritage, which is
based on compassion and non-violence. And, I believe it is worthwhile and
beneficial to preserve this heritage since it continues to remain relevant
in our present-day world.
With this spirit I responded immediately when Deng Xiaoping, in late 1978,
signalled a willingness to resume dialogue with us. Since then our relation
with the Chinese government has taken many twists and turns. Unfortunately,
a lack of political will and courage on the part of the Chinese leadership
has resulted in their failure to reciprocate my numerous overtures over the
years. Thus, our formal contact with the Chinese government came to an end
in August 1993. But a few informal channels through private persons and
semi-officials were established after that. During the past one-and-a-half
year one informal channel seemed to work smoothly and reliably. In
addition, there were some indications that President Jiang personally had
taken an interest in the Tibetan issue.
When US President Clinton visited China last June, President Jiang
discussed Tibet with him at some length. Addressing a joint press
conference, President Jiang sought a public clarification from me on two
conditions before resuming dialogues and negotiations. We, on our part,
communicated to the Chinese government my readiness to respond to President
Jiang's statement and our desire for an informal consultation before making
it public. Sadly, there was no positive response from the Chinese side.
Late last autumn, without any obvious reason, there was a noticeable
hardening of the Chinese position on dialogue and their attitude towards
me. This abrupt change was accompanied by a new round of intensified
repression in Tibet. This is the current status of our relation with the
Chinese government.
It is clear from our experiences of the past decades that formal
statements, official rhetoric and political expediency alone will do little
to either lessen the suffering of the concerned people or to solve the
problem at hand. It is also clear that force can control human beings only
physically. It is through reason, fairness and justice alone that the human
mind and heart can be won over. What is required is the political will,
courage and vision to tackle the root cause of the problem and resolve it
once and for all to the satisfaction and benefit of the concerned people.
Once we find a mutually acceptable solution to the Tibetan issue, I will
not hold any official position, as I have clearly stated for many years.
The root cause of the Tibetan problem is not the difference in ideology,
social system or issues resulting from clashes between tradition and
modernity. Neither is it just the issue of human rights violations alone.
The root of the Tibetan issue lies in Tibet's long, separate history, its
distinct and ancient culture, and its unique identity.
Just as in late 1978, so also today, resumption of contact and dialogue is
the only sensible and viable way to tackle this complex and grave problem.
The atmosphere of deep distrust between Tibetans and Chinese must be
overcome. This distrust will not go away in a day. It will dissipate only
through face-to-face meetings and sincere dialogues.
I feel that the Chinese leadership is sometimes hindered by its own
suspicions so that it is unable to appreciate sincere initiatives from my
side, either on the overall solution to the Tibetan problem or on any other
matter. A case in point is my consistent and long-standing call for the
need to respect the environmental situation in Tibet. I have long warned of
the consequences of wanton exploitation of the fragile environment on the
Tibet plateau. I did not do this out of selfish concern for Tibet. Rather,
it has been acutely clear that any ecological imbalance in Tibet would
affect not just Tibet, but all the adjacent areas in China and even its
neighbouring countries. It is sad and unfortunate that it took last year's
devastating floods for the Chinese leadership to realize the need for
environmental protection. I welcome the moratorium that has been placed on
the denudation of forests in Tibetan areas and hope that such measures,
belated though they may be, will be followed by more steps to keep Tibet's
fragile ecosystem intact.
On my part, I remain committed to the process of dialogue as the means to
resolve the Tibetan problem. I do not seek independence for Tibet. I hope
that negotiations can begin and that they will provide for genuine autonomy
for the Tibetan people and the preservation and promotion of their
cultural, religious and linguistic integrity, as well as their
socio-economic development. I sincerely believe that my "Middle Way
Approach" will contribute to stability and unity of the People's Republic
of China and secure the right for the Tibetan people to live in freedom,
peace and dignity. A just and fair solution to the issue of Tibet will
enable me to give full assurance that I will use my moral authority to
persuade the Tibetans not to seek separation.
As a free spokesman for the people of Tibet, I have made every possible
effort to engage the Chinese government in negotiations on the future of
the Tibetan people. In this endeavour, I am greatly encouraged and inspired
by the support we receive from many governments, parliaments,
non-governmental organisations and the public throughout the world. I am
deeply grateful for their concern and support. I would like to make a
special mention of the efforts being made by President Clinton and his
Administration to encourage the Chinese government to engage in dialogues
with us. In addition, we are fortunate to continue to enjoy strong
bipartisan support in the United State Congress.
The plight of the Tibetan people and our non-violent freedom struggle has
touched the hearts and conscience of all people who cherish truth and
justice. The international awareness of the issue of Tibet has reached an
unprecedented height since last year. Concerns and active support for Tibet
are not confined to human rights organizations, governments and
parliaments. Universities, schools, religious and social groups, artistic
and business communities as well as people from many other walks of life
have also come to understand the problem of Tibet and are now expressing
their solidarity with our cause. Reflecting this rising popular sentiment,
many governments and parliaments have made the problem of Tibet an
important issue on the agenda of their relations with the government of
China.
We have also been able to deepen and broaden our relations with our Chinese
brothers and sisters, belonging to the democracy and human rights movement.
Similarly, we have been able to establish cordial and friendly relations
with fellow Chinese Buddhists and ordinary Chinese people living abroad and
in Taiwan. The support and solidarity that we receive from our Chinese
brothers and sisters are a source of great inspiration and hope. I am
particularly encouraged and moved by those brave Chinese within China who
have urged their government or publicly called for a change in China's
policy towards the Tibetan people.
Today, the Tibetan freedom movement is in a much stronger and better
position than ever before and I firmly believe that despite the present
intransigence of the Chinese government, the prospects for progress in
bringing about a meaningful dialogue and negotiations are better today than
ever. I, therefore, appeal to governments, parliaments and our friends to
continue their support and efforts with renewed dedication and vigour. I
strongly believe that such expressions of international concern and support
are essential. They are vital in communicating a sense of urgency to the
leadership in Beijing and in persuading them to address the issue of Tibet
in a serious and constructive manner.
With my homage to the brave men and women of Tibet, who have died for the
cause of our freedom, I pray for an early end to the suffering of our
people.
The Dalai Lama
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**************************************************************
Festive atmosphere as Tibetan exiles, Hollywood, mark uprising (AFP)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DHARAMSALA, India, March 10 (AFP) -
India's "Little Lhasa" was festooned with Tibetan flags on Wednesday
as three generations of exiles joined by two glamorous Hollywood stars
marked the 40th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
Up to 5,000 people gathered in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala
to hear a special address by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai
Lama, and to take part in peace marches and protests against Chinese
policies in their homeland.
The presence of three generations of Tibetan exiles, including maroon-robed
monks and nuns, underlined the four decades that have passed since the
Dalai Lama fled Tibet after the failed 1959 uprising.
Adding glitz to the event were movie stars Richard Gere and Goldie Hawn,
who tried to blend in with the crowds in this seat of the Dalai Lama and
his government in exile.
Gere and Hawn are two of the most high-profile members of a sizeable group
within the US entertainment industry that has lent its support to the
Tibetan freedom movement in recent years.
The Dalai Lama's "gift to this world is to remind all beings on this earth
of their own potential to experience kindness and compassion," Hawn told
AFP.
"It hurts my heart that these gentle people have been the object of abuse.
I meditate for the freeing of Tibet and therefore the freeing of mankind,"
she said.
Gere has long been an outspoken critic of Chinese policies in Tibet and
counts the Dalai Lama as a personal friend.
Although the anniversary marked a 40-year exile that seems no nearer to an
end, the mood was very festive, with Tibetan flags flying all over the
town, which a permanent Indian tourist sign labels "Little Lhasa."
"When I came here, I was very happy," said Palden Tsering, 22, who arrived
in Dharamsala in 1996 after undergoing the treacherous trek from Tibet.
"The scenery is like Lhasa but the atmosphere is much better. There is no
torture," said Tsering, who was sporting a pair of jeans with "China Go
Back" written down each leg in English and Chinese.
Tsering Ishi a 24-year-old accountant working in the Tibet Medical
Institute here said he was confident of returning home one day.
"I'm very hopeful. His Holiness has been stressing that before (he) leaves
from this world we will get freedom. I am 100 percent confident of that,"
Ishi said.
"The world is changing and China could change," he said, while voicing some
concern over what might come of the Tibetan movement if the Dalai Lama, who
has no designated successor, were to die before the issue had been
resolved.
"Really, that would be a problem for us," he said. Chinese troops entered
Tibet in October 1950, and nine years later on March 10, 1959, a fragile
co-existence between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities collapsed
leading to an uprising against Beijing's rule.
The revolt was brutally suppressed by Chinese troops, forcing the Dalai
Lama and his entourage to flee across the Himalayan mountains into exile in
India.
A giant poster strung up Wednesday outside the Dharamsala courthouse,
showed a young Mao Zedong in a green Mao suit, his arms outstretched
against a background of tanks moving on the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
"Destruction and Invasion," read the poster's slogan. In his speech, the
Dalai Lama stressed the progress the exiled commmunity had made in
Dharamsala in terms of education and social welfare.
Our achievement on these fronts is now widely recognised and acknowledged
by the international community," he said.
There are an estimated 130,000 Tibetan exiles worldwide, of whom 100,000
live in India and Nepal.
*************************************************************
Your Secret's Safe
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>From New Scientist, 20 February 1999
Kurt Kleiner
YOU can never be too paranoid on the Internet. That seems to be the
philosophy behind a program called Freedom which promises to preserve
the anonymity of Net users as they browse the Web, send e-mail and post
messages to newsgroups.
"We anticipate it will be used by people like political dissidents, or
someone with an illness they don't want their employers to know about,"
says Dov Smith, a director of Zero Knowledge Systems, the Montreal
company that created Freedom.
It handles the problem by encrypting data, such as requests for Web
pages, before the information leaves the computer. The program then
shuttles it between a series of Web servers, each of which encrypts it
again, hopelessly scrambling the electronic trail.
Suppose a Chinese dissident wants to look at the Free Tibet website and
doesn't want the government to catch him at it. The program starts by
selecting at least three separate servers from the cooperative Freedom
network. Then, before the computer sends out a data packet, it encrypts
it three times--in effect wrapping the data in three secure "envelopes",
each of which can only be unwrapped by a specific server.
The packet goes to the first server, which unwraps the outermost
envelope, revealing only the address of the next server in line. The
first server then sends the packet to the second, which unwraps the
second envelope, reads the address for the next server in line, and
sends it along. The final server does the same to the last envelope
before sending the packet to the Free Tibet website. Information coming
back from the site is treated the same way but in reverse.
What this complicated procedure means is that no single server in the
system knows both where the packets are going and where they are coming
from. This makes it very unlikely that the Beijing administration could
work out that the dissident was looking at the Free Tibet site. The
program provides similar anonymity for users posting to newsgroups or
sending e-mail.
Some of the ideas behind this software have already been used on the
Net, says Sameer Parekh, president of C2Net Software and an authority on
Net privacy issues. But no other package has brought them together.
Related links
Find out all about the Freedom software at the Zero Knowledge Systems
website http://www.zks.net where you can download a paper in pdf format.
*****************************************************************
Press Release from Voice of Tibet
----------------------------------------------------------------------
New Voice of Tibet (VOT) web-site: http://www.voti.com with features from
the
extracts from VOT last support concert in Oslo.
VOT has set up a new web-site in addition to the present
http://www.vot.org
(which offers VOTs daily 30 mins. programmes aired on short wave to
Tibet on real audio), including an updated programme archive containing
the last seven days programmes. The new web-site provides more detailed
information about Voice of Tibets activities. and in addition VOT is
planning to offer a brief presentation of the daily programme headlines
in English text with link to the real audio service. By introducing the
new web-site VOT aims to provide a better service to the real audio
listeners as well as to the Tibet Support groups and others engaged for
Tibet worldwide. It is also VOTs hope that the new service will
encourage more Support Groups and others to provide VOT with informed on
Tibet related news and events taking place in their country/region.
As part the efforts to secure the continuation of the VOT radio, a
support concert was held in Oslo on Saturday 6 February. Among the
artists(for free) were Chaksam-pa (also mixed with Sami musicians), Nils
Petter Molvaer & band (who also performed at the 10 March 1998 concert
in Dharamsala), Midnight Choir, Kari Rueslaatten, Getaway People and
VeDaKi (musicians from Senegal, Russia and India).
Extracts from VOT support concert on internet
Voice of Tibet informed its real audio listeners that the VOT support
concert in Oslo on 6th February were to be put live on the internet.
Because of line and server problems this service did not work properly
before 30 mins. into the concert. In addition logging on to the site
became very difficult for many viewers, for which we are very sorry.
To make up for these problems VOT has put highlights from the concert
on real audio/video at http://www.voti.com
>From this web-site everybody interested can log on and click to play
parts of each artists performances. What is needed is a soundcard and
loudspeakers following the computer. Those lacking the software
(Realplayer) to play real audio/video can download the needed software
from the same web-site. The Opening of the concert starts with a joint
performance by Chaksam-pa and the Sami artist Laara Stinnerbom. Then
there is an option to play extracts from Midnight Choir and N. P.
Molvaer. The whole Chaksam-pa performance, roughly 20 mins., is put as
a separate heading - to click and play.
For more information please check out: http://www.voti.com or e-mail Voice
of
Tibet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
************************************************************
ALOHA and HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Today is the Tibetan New Year 2126 of the Earth Rabbit.
May I take this opportunity to wish you and your family hearty
best wishes for the New Year and to remind you of our WEB site
at
http://www.PunaHawaii.com
The site summarizes our Big Island activity over the past two
years and our current thrust for 1999 as we support the ICT
(International Campaign for Tibet) and other groups engaged
in the struggle to prevent the cultural genocide now going on
in occupied Tibet. If you can volunteer for the upcoming
April event, please let me know.
And now, here's an excerpt from a speech by the Dalai Lama as
published in a recent Wall Street Journal (12/2/98):
"I would like to stress once again the need to recognize
the universality of the key ethical and political values
that underlie democracy. The respect for basic human rights,
freedom of speech, equality, and the rule of law must be
seen not just as aspirations but as basic conditions for a
civilized society."
Me ke aloha pumehana,
Anson, ad hoc coordinator
Kokua Tibet Ohana
* ADDRESS: P. O. Box 1352, Kurtistown, Hawaii, 96760
* PHONE: (808) 968-8347 E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"Change not the mass, but change the fabric of your
own soul and your own visions, and you change all."
Vachel Lindsay
"Eighty percent of success is showing up."
Woody Allen
"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within
me there lay an invincible summer."
Albert Camus
������������������������������������
"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but
what kind of extremists we will be...The nation and the
world are in dire need of creative extremists."
.:*~*:* Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. *:*~*:.
Radikal Youth Party Earth ::: http://www.healingbeauty.com
***** Living Electron CrossRoads *****
Take a Ride on the WildSide! ::: A Whole New Universe, Mama!
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