Pelosi addresses freedom-loving people

(Photo courtesy of AP)

On Friday, Nancy Pelosi met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. She is in India as part of a U.S. congressional delegation for bilateral meetings with the Indian government, and to discuss climate change.

Pelosi made the following comments during the meeting:

"If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China’s oppression in Tibet we have lost all moral authority to speak on human rights anywhere in the world. The cause of Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world. A challenge we can help meet."

Watch the YouTube video of her speech here.

What His Holiness said or didn't say

(Photo courtesy of Gurinder Osan/AP)

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been quoted in the news media the world over. Buddhist Relief finds the webcasts of his recent meetings with reporters, in Dharamsala, as being the best source of reliable information of what he said or didn't say, in proper context. Check out the website here.

If you are in the London area, use your freedom and march in solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet. If you are not in the area, do forward this information to those living or visiting London.

TIME & PLACE
Date: Saturday, March 22, 2008
Time: 12 noon - 2 p.m.
Place: Assembly at 11:30 a.m. at Park Crescent (west side - up towards Regents Park) to Trafalgar Square
Street: nearest tube - Great Portland Street
City: London, UK

This march is being organized by Tibetans and supporters in the UK in response to the continuing violent suppression of Tibetan protest in Tibet. Come and lend your voice to what is fast becoming a global movement for change in the region. For more details on this march, click here and here.

March organizers:
Free Tibet Campaign
Tibetan Youth UK
Students for a Free Tibet UK (www.sftuk.org)
Tibet Society of the UK
The Tibetan Community in Britain


"For as long as space endures
And for as long as living beings remain
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world."
- Shantideva - 8th century,
The Way of the Bodhisattva

China Loses Friends Over Tibet

An interesting article in the UK Telegraph titled "China Loses Friends Over Tibet" contains the jaw-dropping statement by Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party secretary in Tibet, describing the Dalai Lama as "a wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast".

As the reporter notes, "The party is shooting itself in the foot by demonising a man who is the living embodiment of peace."

Daily Vigils at the Chinese Embassy, Washington, D.C.

In the Washington, D.C. area, come express your solidarity with the Tibetans in Tibet. The Capital Area Tibetan Association is organizing vigils and protests for the next several days.

SUPPORT TIBET - JOIN THE PROTEST


WHEN : 11:00 AM - 5:00PM (Friday, March 21st)

WHERE : Chinese Embassy @ 2300 Connecticut Ave NW

Come and let your voices be heard.

We will meet at the park across the Chinese Embassy at 11:00AM sharp. Please bring Tibetan Flags, Banners and Placards. We'll keep you posted as we plan a bigger rally for the weekend.

So do visit the CATA website for updates on upcoming protests.

Buddhist Relief would like to post all upcoming vigils and protests around the world. Please contact us, if you have any information.

Stand with the people of Tibet

Please take a few minutes to make your voice be heard to protest against China's 'rule of terror' over the Tibetans. Click on each of these three websites and let the world know these atrocities are unacceptable.

www.avaaz.org

Students for a Free Tibet

Race for Tibet

Need some inspiration? Read the following, sent to Buddhist Relief yesterday:

ENOUGH PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY "ENOUGH!"

When it becomes illegal to pray, burn incense,
or have a simple picture of your leader,
and people spend years in prison being tortured
and killed for doing nothing more
things have gone much too wrong.

If you are not already aware of this,
you need to know that the Tibetan people are the cornerstone and the living example of tolerance, non-aggression, and compassion towards their enemies.

The Tibetan people are nothing less than the standard for non-violence in an increasingly violent world, and have endured unspeakable human consequences for half a century as payment for their absolute faith in
forgiveness and compassion.

Unbelievably, and unfortunately, the Tibetan's have never had the benefit of the world press spotlight, much less the interest or compassion of the world community at large for their shining example of how
peace can conquer suffering and love can conquer hate.

If we lose that we lose everything.

We cannot afford to turn our backs in complacency
on the Tibetan's struggle for peace and freedom.

If we, as individuals and a world community, do not support the Tibetans now
in their desperate struggle to preserve these precious and essential virtues of their culture that exemplify the most basic of our own common rights and beliefs,
then we place ourselves at serious risk of being in their place someday,
praying someone will come to our rescue
as they are now.
It's that simple and that serious.

PLEASE

Make your opinion known.
Refuse to let propaganda win over truth,
and oppression win over freedom.
Do it for all of us.

Every day thousands of Tibetans pray and spin prayer wheels filled with 100,000 prayers
for one single prayer … that ALL beings are lifted from suffering.
That includes me and you.
The very least we can do is spend a few minutes
supporting them in their valiant cause
in their time of need.

Thank you

(Author unknown)

Graphic Photos From Protest

We were just sent a link to photos taken at at various protests in Tibet and India over the past week. WARNING: some of the photos taken at the Ngaba protest are quite graphic.

Show your solidarity with the Tibetans

(The above photo: Buddhist monks marched in Xiahe, Gansu Province last Friday. Photo by Agence France-Presse - Getty Images)

United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s recent third visit to Burma ended in failure, an outcome expected after he was informed on arrival that the junta was in no mood to change its political battle plans. The military government refused to budge with regards to meaningful dialogues with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The situation in Burma remains in a gridlock.

Yesterday, what His Holiness the Dalai Lama had to say about the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule might as well apply to the Burma situation: "They have no experience how to deal with problems through talk, only suppress."

Last week, as Gambari flew out of Burma empty-handed, the violent suppression of protests by Tibetans in Tibet were beginning. Today, the uprising in Tibet has spread. Click on the map posted today on the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT)website.

The courageous Tibetans who are speaking out need our support. We just received this from the Students for a Free Tibet (with some edits):

Just today, 100 Tibetan middle school students in Ngaba, Amdo (Sichuan) staged a spontaneous demonstration on their school grounds calling for the return of the Dalai Lama. It is reported that 40 of the students were severely beaten and arrested. 700 additional Tibetan students from the same middle school are now bravely conducting a demonstration to demand the release of their peers outside the Public Security Bureau building where the students are being held.

Reports of protests in cities across Tibet, including the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham (now annexed into China's Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu provinces) counter the Chinese government claims that the unrest is the result of a handful of “troublemakers” and demonstrate the widespread Tibetan opposition to China’s occupation.

The Chinese authorities in Lhasa have threatened an increased crackdown after midnight Monday (4pm GMT) and according to Chinese state-run media, “Those who harbor or hide criminal elements shall be punished severely according to law upon completion of investigations.”

Already, armed Chinese police have been conducting house-to-house searches and making arbitrary arrests. There is no reliable estimate of the number of detentions but reports suggest wide-scale raids and arrests across Lhasa. According to eyewitness reports received by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, "mothers and elderlies in the families helplessly plea at security forces upon seeing their sons and loved ones being beaten and dragged away."

Please, show your support for the Tibetans living under China's "rule of terror." Contact your Congressperson today, and urge him or her to demand that the U.S. support immediate international intervention in Tibet. CLICK HERE to search for the phone number for your Congressperson.

Call and ask to speak to someone about the situation in Tibet. You may be passed to a legislative aide or simply have your comments recorded by an office administrator, which is fine.

Tell them:

The U.S. should speak out forcefully against China's brutal crackdown in Tibet.
Please urge the U.S. government to strongly support the Dalai Lama's call for a United Nations team of investigators to go to Tibet as soon as possible.
The U.S. should do everything in its power to urge China to withdraw military and security forces, release those detained, and allow peaceful protest. China must halt house-to-house searches; and authorities must refrain from any further arrests of Tibetan protesters even after its so-called surrender deadline has passed on Monday at midnight. China must immediately allow foreign journalists back into all Tibetan areas (Tibetan Autonomous Region as well as the Tibetan areas of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan).

This is an urgent matter because the "surrender deadline" is fast approaching – and may actually have passed as you're reading this – so please call immediately.

Please stay tuned to the situation in Tibet as it unfolds by visiting the SFT website and the SFT blog. Both are filled with breaking news and analysis.

Bod Rangzen - Free Tibet,
Lobsang, Kate, Dechen, Mel, Han, Kunsang, Gaphel, Nick, Kala, Lhakyi, Tenzin and everyone else at SFT International Headquarters in New York

Likewise, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys is also requesting that you urgently contact your Congressperson.

Please stand in solidarity with the people of Tibet and hold the line against the darkness.