Traditional demonstration takes on added urgency and incorporates new elements of nonviolent resistance for the cause of independence
CHICAGO – Shouting slogans demanding justice and carrying signs calling for freedom, hundreds of Tibetans and Tibet supporters poured down Michigan Avenue on Wednesday morning before congregating in front of the Chinese Consulate to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day. In an effort to add their voices to the chorus of protest taking place around the world and across the United States, local community members spent hours peacefully demonstrating for the millions of Tibetans who remain imprisoned in a country where fundamental human rights have been revoked by an illegal occupation.
“The Tibetan community of Chicago is a result of Tibet’s occupation by China,” said Sherab Gyatso, President of the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago, which includes more than 250 local families. “Although we have freedom here, our friends and family inside of Tibet still suffer daily.”
On this day in 1959, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans gathered in Lhasa, the country’s capital city, to protest the occupying Chinese army in Tibet and to protect His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose life was imperiled by the army of the People’s Republic of China. Due to the escalating militancy of the illegal Chinese occupation, The Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet under cover of darkness, and Chinese troops brutally massacred thousands of men, women and children who had assembled around the Potala Palace. In honor of the estimated 80,000 Tibetans murdered on that day and the 1.2 million Tibetans who have died as a result of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, Tibetans and their supporters commemorate March 10 each year to call attention to the ongoing genocide in their occupied homeland.
“In Tibet today there is no freedom of speech, religion, movement or assembly,” said Lindsey Rieger, Midwest coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet. “Today we are demonstrating to use the freedoms that have been so heinously stripped from those inside of Tibet. We know for a fact that people in Tibet are given hope by protests in the United States.”
This year, the traditional protest took on added urgency due to the impending execution of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who was arrested by the Chinese government in April 2002 for alleged involvement in a series of explosions in eastern Tibet. Because Delek Rinpoche had no access to lawyers and no evidence of his guilt has been released, many believe Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s only crime was his unwavering promotion of Tibetan culture and religion, and his pivotal role in establishing numerous schools, orphanages and monasteries in his home region of eastern Tibet.
To further demonstrate their passion and conviction, the gathering included, not only the speeches and songs that have marked the traditional Chicago protest for nearly a decade, but also the burning of Chinese flags and the dramatic dropping of a 192 square foot banner calling for the release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
“Tenzin Delek Rinpoche has devoted his life to helping his community, yet the Chinese government accuses him of terrorism,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “China’s persecution of this man shows their desperation to control and subjugate the Tibetan people, and only strengthens our determination to fight for justice for Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and all Tibetans.”
