Dharamsala , November 2 – After four days of intensive workshops, talks, and discussions, Students for a Free Tibet India concluded its Leadership Training that was attended by 22 participants representing different places including Bangalore, Mundgod, Delhi, Kathmandu, Kolkatta and Dharamsala.
“We Tibetans need to sharpen our understanding and practice of strategic nonviolent action,” said Tenzin Choeying, National Director of SFT India, which organized the training camp. “With this leadership training, we aim to bring the skills of nonviolent activism to future and current leaders of the Tibetan freedom struggle. Our goal is to produce hundreds of Tibetans who are strategic planners, articulate spokespersons and effective organizers in our movement.”
Students for a Free Tibet has been known for providing leadership training to hundreds of young Tibetans and supporters in the last 15 years in various countries such as United States, Germany, Canada and India.
Pemba Bhutia, a journalism student from Kolkatta, recalls, “The training was not only about educating us, it was also about boosting our self-confidence and sharpening our leadership skills.”
“I learned a lot of new things during the four days at the camp. Non violence does not mean non action as many people seem to think. There are many different ways one can use non violence in a struggle and I realized that through this camp”, says Sonam Tenzin, a monk of Jhangtse monastery.
“It’s my pleasure to be of any help to the struggle,” says Lobsang, better known as Lobsang Army, a core member of SFT India whose many responsibilities as a key volunteer included electrifying the entire campsite. “Seeing young Tibetans educating and training themselves in the art of nonviolent resistance gives me great hope that Tibet will be free.”
The final day of the camp also marked the official handing over of SFT’s reins by Lhadon Tethong to Tenzin Dorjee who is the new executive director of the organization that led several protests last year in Beijing against the Olympics 2008.
