By Mike Leonard,
Herald-Times Columnist
At the end of Martin Scorsese’s film Kundun, Chinese military forces move into position at the outskirts of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and begin the slaughter of the Tibetan fighters valiantly trying to reclaim their country from Chinese occupation.
Today, beginning at 9 a.m., a small group of people will gather at the Tibetan Cultural Center on the south edge of Bloomington to commemorate the 44th anniversary of that last dramatic uprising of the Tibetan people.
After some brief speeches, the group will begin walking: toward College Mall Road, the Ind. 46 Bypass and then, North Walnut Street — all the way up Ind. 37 to Indianapolis and a culminating rally at Monument Circle.
It will become the sixth “Walk for Tibet” sponsored by the International Tibetan Independence Movement, an Indiana-based organization founded by retired Indiana University professor Thubten J. Norbu, the Dalai Lama’s eldest brother, and Larry Gerstein, a Ball State University professor based in Fishers.
Since the first Bloomington-to-Indianapolis walk in 1995, advocates for Tibetan freedom have walked more than 2,100 miles in awareness events, including walks from Washington, D.C., to New York City; from Portland, Ore., to Vancouver, B.C.; and from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Participants walk to protest what they consider to be China’s illegal occupation of Tibet. They walk to call attention to the plight of Tibetan political prisoners held by China. They walk to urge the preservation of Tibetan language and culture, which is systematically being destroyed by the ongoing Chinese occupation of Tibet.
“Walking gives you a great opportunity to do grass-roots networking and education,” Gerstein said this week from New York, where he was summoned to care for his ailing elderly parents. “You meet people along the way, you talk face-to-face, and then the plight of Tibet becomes more than an abstraction.
“Walking also is a nonviolent action that expresses a message through peaceful means,” Gerstein went on. “One of the beautiful things about it all is that everyone who walks is focused on the same goals and there’s a synergy that develops among the group. When you walk together, talk together and sleep together, often in close quarters, it leads to a real sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.”
That much is sorely needed in a movement that currently counts the number of Tibetans killed at the hands of the Chinese at 1.2 million, despite movies such as Kundun and Seven Days in Tibet, despite celebrity proponents such as Richard Gere and Bono, despite congressional resolutions, U.N. resolutions and global condemnation of the Chinese position.
Approximately 15 to 18 Tibetans will join their American supporters and walk the entire route, which will take five days. The Tibetans currently live in Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and New York.
Financial support for food, lodging and incidentals is also being sought. ITIM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. More information can be obtained from the Tibetan Cultural Center or on-line at www.rangzen.com, where daily updates on the walk will be posted.
Mike Leonard can be reached at 331-4368 or by e-mail at leonard@heraldt.com.
