Speech by Larry Gerstein
April 20, 2006
Washington, DC
Delivered by Jigme Ugen
Tashi Delek every one. I am here speaking to you on behalf of Professor Larry Gerstein who is the President of the International Tibet Independence Movement, also known as ITIM. Professor Gerstein could not make it and he asked me to deliver his speech. I am happy to do so, as ITIM and my organization, the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of Minnesota, share the same basic mission. That is, securing independence for Tibet. I will now share with you Professor’s Gerstein’s brief comments.
Thank you for inviting us to participate in this important demonstration. We greatly appreciate the Taiwanese community’s willingness to organize this event and your commitment to support those of us fighting to get our country back from China.
Since it began, ITIM has collaborated on many projects with the Taiwan, East Turkistan, and Southern Mongolia freedom fighters. We understand that we share a common goal and we are fighting a similar opponent. As a result, we have become stronger. The leaders of China have come to realize that our truth threatens their control, and our truth cannot be silenced by intimidation, lies, and threats of violence.
China’s President, Hu Jintao, cannot hide from the truth we speak. He could not hide during his first visit to the United States, and as he found out the other day in Seattle, he also will not be able to escape the truth on this visit.
Hu Jintao has come to the United States to conduct business, to claim that all is well in China and its illegally occupied territories, and to tell us and President Bush that Tibet, Taiwan, East Turkistan, and Southern Mongolia are none of our business. He has also come to inform President Bush and our citizens that China is a team player and a good friend of the United States. We will not accept any of these blatant lies!
We hope that President Bush will continue to not accept such lies as well, and that he will tell Hu Jintao to stop the genocide in Tibet, give back Tibet to the Tibetans, and immediately free Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, The Panchen Lama. We also trust that President Bush will defend Taiwan, East Turkistan, and Southern Mongolia’s right to independence and that he will strongly encourage Hu Jintao to drop the chains of communism and empower the Chinese people by establishing a democracy.
Hu Jintao must know that we will not go away. We will demonstrate everywhere he visits around the world until Tibet is independent once again. We will never be satisfied with anything less than independence. Our Tibetan brothers and sisters inside of Tibet all want this outcome and we are committed to honoring their wishes and achieving this goal.
This coming June, we will coordinate another “March for Tibet’s Independence.” This time we will walk from Charlottesville, Virginia to China’s Embassy here in Washington. Once again, we welcome your support and we request that you walk with us to remind Hu Jintao and China that we stand together and firm in our fight for justice, truth, and independence for our countries.
Thank you for listening and for your support, and thank you to the Taiwanese community for organizing this demonstration.
