St. Paul, September 20 – Minnesota Tibetan community elected a fresh team of executive members for the term of 2009-2011. New leadership team comprises of 4 women and 7 men with a mix of students and professionals passionate with advancing the cause of Tibet. Under the banner of ‘Community Appreciation day’, organizers thanked the Tibetan community for their unwavering support over the two years that saw unprecedented number of organized events of protests and awareness seeking support for Tibet.
The night’s election was helped made easy by many volunteer candidates willing to serve in the leadership with each person providing brief introduction of his or her background prior to final voting. Perhaps quite unprecedented in the Tibetan community, the contested election was well received by the audience who appreciated efforts of all volunteer candidates for their candid comments about why they wanted to serve. All elected officials already come with leadership experience mostly through their time in groups such as Students for a Free Tibet. New leadership assumes executive responsibility immediately following Youth day on October 7.
Organizers also led a campaign to enlist people to go to Pittsburg, PA for protest against Chinese leaders taking part in G20 Summit on September 24 and 25. Those who could not go contributed through monetary donations to show their solidarity.
The night’s entertainment was provided by Jigten Rolyang – a budding band contributing several Rangzen themed songs. Audience was feted with delicious dinner made possible by several past and current executive members and their spouses and friends.
RTYC will mark 39th founding anniversary of Tibetan Youth Congress on October 10-11. Jamyang Norbu, an influential writer and activist based in Tennessee, will grace the occasion with presentation about ‘Independent Tibet: The Facts’. He will also moderate a panel discussion on ‘2011 Election: Kalon Tripa’.
Tibetan Youth Congress is the largest non-governmental organizations of the exile Tibetan community with more than 30000 members in over 80 chapters spanning across the 5 continents. TYC was founded on October 7, 1970 and is committed to restoring independence for Tibet.
