By Tenley Palsang
On Sunday October 10th, 2010 the Tibetan Association of Boston (TAB) in collaboration with Amnesty International group 133, participated in the fifth annual Honk Festival parade in Somerville Massachusetts. The Honk Festival serves as a showcase for the growing number of politically active guerilla marching bands that have been gaining popularity in the United States. Activist organizations like Amnesty International, who in the previous year highlighted the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democratic party in Myanmar, under house arrest since 1989.
This year TAB and Amnesty International came together to simultaneously celebrate Tibetan culture and bring awareness to the imprisonment of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen. He was arrested in March 2008 in Tibet for filming the documentary “Leaving Fear Behind”, in which Tibetans inside Tibet candidly discussed their feelings about the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama, and China’s policies inside Tibet. Wangchen, in a sham trial (the lawyer chosen by his family to represent him was barred from the courtroom by Chinese authorities) was sentenced to six years in Chinese prison and has been subjected to torture. He has since contracted Hepatitis B, for which he has received no medical treatment.
About 200 TAB community members and Amnesty International supporters marched wearing traditional Tibetan clothing, while dancers performing the colorful Tashi Shoelpa and Yak Dance entertained crowds of supporters lining the parade route. Also present was a ten foot long ceremonial horn and community members blowing conch shells. Children from TAB’s Sunday School program handed out thousands of flyers and collected signatures for Students for a Free Tibet’s campaign petitioning for the immediate release of Wangchen. The event was covered by local media and several marchers were interviewed.
The Honk Festival’s two and a half mile parade route from Davis Square in Somerville to Harvard Square in Cambridge, drew thousands of New Englanders as well as 350 performers from around the world. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day as the marchers were adorned by a sea of colorful Tibetan flags and banners.
Despite the serious nature of the Tibet issue, the spirit at the festival was celebratory and the Tibetan/Amnesty International marchers were greeted with cheers and applause all along the parade route.
