By GAIL KOCH
gkoch@thestarpress.com
MUNCIE – Last month was a busy one for Ball State University professor Larry Gerstein.
As a leader of The International Tibet Independence Movement (ITIM), Gerstein participated as a speaker and organizer in this year’s Peace Ride for Tibet’s Independence. The event took place April 10-24 and involved more than a dozen Tibetans and several Canadians on a 600-mile bike ride from Washington, D.C. to Toronto, Canada.
Along the way, the riders stopped at churches, colleges and universities to spread the message about the movement to free Tibet from the Communist rule of China.
“We’d tell them about the history of Tibet and the destruction that has occurred there as a result of China’s occupation,” Gerstein said. “For many people, Tibet is a hard place to relate to so it helped for us to talk about what China is doing and how that could ultimately affect our country.”
According to Gerstein, China has had total control over Tibet since 1959. Since then, Tibet has become a prime spot for the Chinese military because it lies on the border of enemy India and is at a prime elevation to launch nuclear missiles if necessary.
To protest Chinese rule, the ride also featured demonstrations at both the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Chinese consulate in Toronto, where the Dali Lama arrived to praise the efforts of the group.
Gerstein, who has met the Dali Lama several times, considers the peacemaker to be a true visionary.
“He lays out an ideal for us to work toward, to learn that everyone is related to one another,” he said. “He teaches us about compassion, and just being around him, you sense how kind he is.”
Because he was still responsible for teaching his classes in the counseling and psychology department here at Ball State, Gerstein was only able to participate with the group during the ride’s beginning and end. He said it was challenging to balance both jobs during the ride, but said his role on the tour was an important one.
“My job was to oversee the entire project and to connect with the American and Tibetan media to keep them aware of what was going on,” he said.
Gerstein’s enthusiasm for the Tibetan independence movement has caught on with several of his students.
Doctoral student Shonali Raney, under the leadership of Gerstein, is doing her dissertation on the trauma Tibetan women have endured as refugees over the years.
“He’s so passionate about this,” Raney said of her professor. “He’s completely committed and really gives the movement his all.”
Contact news reporter Gail Koch at 213-5827.
