by Phuntsok Tsering
This moving picture of two women activists was taken during the Frankfurt International Book Fair, the world’s largest literary event that was held two weeks ago.
It was a mere coincidence. These two women activists – one from Tibet and the other from Xinjiang (East Turkestan)- met for the first time by chance after a panel discussion themed “Persecuted writers demand freedom of speech in China”.
Rebiya Kadeer is a world famous leader of the Uighur freedom movement and Dalha Agyitsang is a Tibet activist based in Germany.
Being sufferers under the same rule they hugged each other. The picture, taken by Hessen´s state media, found its rightful place as it was published in the photo gallery of the book fair.
At a press conference during the book fair, Mrs Dalha Agyitsang introduced a book by Tsering Woeser in German translation. The book chronicles the series of events in Tibet from 10 March 2008 till the Olympic Games under the title: “You have the guns, I have a pen”. This book was published by “Lungta Publishers” founded by a German Tibet support group Tibet Initiative Deutschland (TID).
Woeser is a Tibetan writer self-exiled in Beijing. When massive anti-China unrest broke out across Tibet in March 2008, she had been reporting daily on the developments in Tibet in her blog.
The press conference was attended by quite a number of people and the book was well received by the media, it also aroused much interest at the information stall.
Dalha (short for Dolma Lhamo) was born in Gonjo, Kham, in eastern Tibet. In 1963 she moved to Germany. After finishing her school, she attended FU-University of Berlin. She is a freelance Tibetologist with emphasis on epic tradition of central Asian nomadic tribes.
Over the years, Dalha worked in different political organisations for Tibet. She was the founding chair of the Association of Tibetans in Germany when it was started in 1979. Since a decade ago, she has acted as an active board member of the Tibet Initiative Deutschland (TID), the largest Tibet support group in Germany.
Tibet activists feel Tibet was duly represented at the book fair by the TSG Germany, the International Campaign for Tibet, the Association of Tibetans in Germany, (VTD).Tibet House Germany and the Society for Threatened People.
Phuntsok Tsering can be reached by gangdab@yahoo.de
