Phurbu Thinley
The organisers say the August 4 event will cost about 30 to 40 Lakhs (INRs), and are set to raise the funds by their members by reaching out to all major Tibetan settlements and other prospective donors throughout India, Nepal, Bhutan and elsewhere.
Dharamsala, August 29: Tibetan NGOs and Tibet Support Groups and Tibetan activists are gearing up to build a massive mass global Tibetan movement in their plan to organise year-long activities from August 8 2007 to August 8 2008 to divest 2008 Beijing Games from receiving positive world attention.
Five of the most active Tibetan non-governmental organizations today laid out a grand plan to organise a large scale sporting event on August 4 making the day an International Day of Tibet at a joint press conference coordinated by Regional Coordinator for South Asia International Tibet Support Network, Mr Chodup.
Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA), National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT), Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet (GMT) and Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) today announced holding a one-day grand event in New Delhi to highlight the issue of Tibet and to promote Team Tibet for 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
During the Fifth International Tibet Support Groups Conference held in May this year, a general consensus had been reached to campaign for “Team Tibet” to be part of the 2008 Olympic Games. The August 4 event in Delhi is part of the worldwide campaign to include a Tibet Team and to represent Tibet at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The event will include “International Run for Tibet Marathon” and Cultural song and dance performances in the morning, followed by football match between Tibetan National Football team and an Indian football club in the afternoon and other cultural performances in the later half of the evening.
In the International Run for Tibet category, which will be the biggest showcase of the event, the organisers plan to bring about participants from 192 countries along side Tibet making a total of 193 countries. The participants will run under the national flags of their respective countries and all the flags of the countries will be hosted in the stadium giving the even an international representation.
At the press conference, presided over by the Vice President of TYC Mr Lobsang Yeshi, President of TWA Dr. B. Tsering and President of Gu-Chu-Sum Ven. Ngawang Woebar; the group called on Tibetan masses, Tibetan organisations and institutions, monastic and nunnery bodies, indivudual Tibet supporters and Tibet support groups to contribute to the event’s fund and to involve actively in the activities.
The groups also appealed Tibetan people worldwide, Tibetan supporters and general public to actively support series of activities that will follow in the next several months both in funding and participation.
A ten-member organising committee has been set for it, with two representatives each from the five organising groups. The group said that more committee members will be recruited as the plan takes further shape to make the event a big success.
The group also said that several high-profile individuals, including former and current Olympic athletes or, other athletes, celebrities, and general public will be approached to support the Tibetan Olympics campaign.
“All these events are aimed at generating a mass movement like never before,” Ven Ngawang Woebar says.
“There will be several events both at respective organisational levels and those that will be jointly organised, and we seek active support and involvement from Tibetan masses in all of these events,” insists Mr Lobsang Yeshi of TYC.
“The August four event is just the start of the game to spark off a major response to the massive movement coming up on August 8 2007. August 8 was decided to be an International Action Day for Tibet during the Fifth International Tibet Support Group Conference,” B. Tsering of TWA said while adding “From August 8 onwards the exact one year campaign activities will begin.”
“We have decided to recognise August 4 as International Day for Tibet to use it as an accelerating event for lines of activities that will follow next,” she said.
During the August 4 action event in Delhi, the organisers have decided to bear expenses of all the logistics arrangements.
The organisers say the event will cost about 30 – 40 lakhs Indian Rupees and are set to raise the funds by its members through donation by reaching out to all the major Tibetan settlements and other prospective donors throughout India, Nepal, Bhutan and elsewhere.
With only 13 months left for the 2008 Games in Beijing, Tibetan activists, organizations, Tibet Support Groups, and General Tibetan sympathisers are feeling the run-out time already. Plans to put in order a string of activities, large and small, campaigning against China’s hosting of 2008 Olympics in Beijing are already underway.
On the other hand Beijing authorities must be desperately scheming to create a rosy picture in its bid to showcase a progressive China as it hosts the 2008 Olympic Games.
Tibetans and supporters are of the view that 2008 Games is a One-Time opportunity in their favour for Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom. Tibetan people have been long denied of their freedom for near about half a century since the Communist troops marched into Tibet in 1949. Year 2009 will mark complete fifty years of Communist China’s oppressive rule in Tibet.
Through all those treacherous years, Tibetan people have been victims of most inhumane treatments despite peaceful non-violent resistance from the Tibetan side for most part of the struggle.
The brutal occupation of Tibet has resulted in deaths of over a million Tibetans, almost complete devastation of Tibet’s unique spiritual culture and for the first time forced thousands of Tibetans, including their most revered leader, the Dalai Lama out of their own country since 1959 after a failed uprising in the Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.
After all these terrible experiences, Tibetans feel it is a sheer injustice of IOC for granting China the right to host the most prestigious sporting event of the world. Tibetans are equally frustrated at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and accuse the committee of aligning with Communist regime to rub aside the plight of Tibetan people.
IOC will be one of the prime targets of year-long Tibetan campaigns.
Tibetan delegations have left for China today for sixth round of Sino-Tibetan engagements, but the leaders of the five organisations are mostly skeptical that it will bring about a positive result, blaming Chinese leaders for insincerity in their approach.
Karma Sichoe, who was at the press conference on behalf of SFT, one of the participants who staged 47 days hunger strike during the 1998 TYC-led Unto-Death Hunger-Strike in Delhi, said that unless China genuinely takes positive initiative and calls on Tibetan representative for an open talk China should not be trusted in anyway. “We must continue raising our concerns through all possible channels,” Sichoe said.
“We have seen how China is playing game with us. On one hand there is an insincere closed-door talks with Tibetan representatives, on the other hand we have witnessed how the Chinese leaders initiated a new wave of condemnations against our leader (The Dalai Lama) and repression inside Tibet,” says Mr Sichoe.
