Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, June 27: The ‘First U-Tsang Youth Conference: Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future,’ organized by the Central U-Tsang Cholkha, is currently underway in Gopalpur near Dharamshala and will continue until June 30. The gathering has brought together close to 120 youth participants from around the world.
This event stems from Resolution 9 of the 16th General Board Meeting of U-Tsang Cholkha, which emphasized the urgent need to establish a dedicated platform for Tibetan youth, the organisers said. The core aim of the conference is to foster an open space where young Tibetans can freely exchange ideas, develop fresh perspectives, and actively engage in the Tibetan freedom movement by ensuring their voices are actively incorporated into the decision-making processes of their organizations and institutions.
The conference was inaugurated in the presence of esteemed chief guest Kungo Lobsang Jinpa, Secretary of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Other notable guests included Deputy Speaker of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Dolma Tsering Teykhang, distinguished scholar Jampa Samten from the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, Varanasi, and former OHHDL Secretary, Kungo Tenzin Geyche Tethong.
Kungo Lobsang Jinpa commended the lifelong commitment of His Holiness in promoting universal human values, interfaith harmony, environmental protection, and the idea of a global family united in peace. Addressing the youth, he urged them to recognize and honour His Holiness’s lifelong kindness by actively contributing their abilities to the Tibetan cause. He emphasized that despite being scattered across different countries and backgrounds, Tibetan youths must come together in unity, transcending religious or ideological differences, and work collectively toward the fundamental issue of Tibet.
Deputy Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang, referenced the recent 9th World Parliamentarians’ Conference on Tibet held in Tokyo, where Indian MP Shri Sujit Kumar expressed concern over the lack of unified effort among Tibetan youth in the freedom movement. Echoing this sentiment, she urged the participants to reflect on their role and potential contributions to the Tibetan struggle. She reminded them that His Holiness took on the responsibility of Tibet at just 16 years old, and now as he approaches 90, it is time for the youth to step forward and take greater responsibility. She called for a collective resolution by the end of the conference, encouraging participants to remember His Holiness’s sacrifices and to engage in open and active dialogue throughout the event.
Furthermore, she called on the youth to move beyond symbolic gestures such as hashtags like “#FreeTibet” and adopt smarter, more strategic forms of activism. This includes utilizing digital platforms to counter China’s misinformation and disinformation campaigns. She also urged them to remain rooted in their identity as Tibetan refugees living in free societies and to take pride in that identity, as it serves as a reminder of the Tibetan struggle and the plight of those still inside Tibet.
The four-day program features a broad range of topics reflecting both Tibet’s rich cultural heritage and the urgent contemporary issues it faces. Sessions cover Tibetan history, language preservation, the ongoing freedom struggle, and artistic traditions. These discussions are led by a diverse group of scholars, seasoned practitioners, and dedicated activists representing three generations of the Tibetan community.
2 Responses
You have to wonder why, an U-Tsang Youth conference was organised! Why not a Youth conference of all three Cholkhas? The Dalai Lama has been emphasising the unity of the three Cholkhas and the goal of the Tibetan Freedomh Movement is also a united front of three provinces as per the much vaunted U-May Lam! Verbally, all the CTA officials repeat the same mantra of ཆོལ་གསུམ་གཅིག་བསྒྲིལ་ all the time. If the true intentions of having a United Three Provinces is real, the present meeting of only U-Tsang Cholkha youth sent the wrong signal to the others. As the older generation of Tibetans who were born in Tibet are nearing the end of their generation, their children born in exile have neither seen Tibet nor they have much regional bias. Most young people do not identify themselves as belonging to any particular Cholkha! This is a very healthy attitude for the unity of the three Cholkhas. The U-Tsang Cholkha is the least parochial and tribal minded than the others. It is for this reason there has been three consecutive Kalon Tripa and Sikyong from other Cholkhas for the last twenty five years despite the fact that the majority of the exile population are from U-Tsang origin! If we pass down the antiquated, divisive and prejudicial poisons of the past to our young minds, this will be a great draw back for the movement and can ultimately prove fatal! The Hindus and Muslims lived in harmony for centuries in India. However, in 1857, the Indian sepoys belonging to both Hindu and Muslim communities rose in revolt against their British colonisers which came to be known as the QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT! The British saw the danger of Hindu-Muslim unity as a threat to its rule of India and thereafter carried out a policy of DIVIDE AND RULE in India. They played the Muslims against the Hindus and Hindus against Muslims! That gradually had devastating consequence of having irreconcilable differences between Muslims and Hindus which resulted in the partition of India in 1947! The CCP is playing the same game of divide and rule on the Tibetans. Those Tibetans living in far away Kham and Amdo were told that they were not Tibetans. They were Khampas and Amdowas but not Tibetans. The railway line from Qinghai to Lhasa was named ཁམས་བོད་མེ་འཁོར་ལྕགས་ལམ་ (Kham-Tibet Railway Line)! All imperialists divide the conquered people to weaken them so they can keep them under their colonial yoke! The certain burst of growth in the Chushi Gangtruk organisations across the world and the recruiting of all Khampa origin people as Chushi Gangtruk clearly demonstrate the growing division among the three Cholkhas. Chushi Gangtruk is a military organisation of freedom fighters who banded together to resist Chinese occupation of their Kham and later Tibet as a whole. Therefore, not all Khampas belong to Chushi Gangtruk, yet the very fact that one of their leader was insisting upon this shows how they are also passing down the antiquated and prejudiced ideas from their elders to the younger generation born in exile! It shows a gaping divide that is emerging in our community which is spearheaded by the CCP’s United Front! With the no mechanism or effort to fight CCP intrusion in our community, there would be no dearth of collaborators among the exiles in creating discord among the community. Some people who claim to be U-Tsang have openly disseminated anti-Khampa vitrol on their Utube channel to deliberately divide our community! There are similar people on the other side who are also no better! If this trend is continued, this will cause irreparable damage to the cause of Tibet and might very well end up with the collapse of the Tibetan Movement especially as the unifying force; Dalai Lama has reached the ripe age of 90! Every Tibetan must understand that disunity spells the death kneel for our struggle! Unity is our strength and division is our demise! The Chinese communist party will spare no effort to divide us in order to weaken us and finally kill us! Keeping this in mind, all responsible people must be careful not to alienate our own people which will ultimately cause our own downfall!
I second you and representative in TPIE should not be based on region but but elected based on Tibetan settlements wise so that all voice can be heard. Bigger(More Population) settlement must have more representatives/seats. No region things hence forth.