Charlottesville, February 28: Banned in its own land, Tibet’s vibrantly-colored national flag will be conspicuously missing at this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, but on March 10 it will fly high at the Charlottesville City Hall and through the streets of the city.
Beginning at 9:30 am, Charlottesville’s Tibetan refugee community and their friends will assemble outside City Hall, where the City Council has voted to fly the flag of Tibet for Tibetan National Uprising Day. A march will then commence along Main Street, pausing at the Rotunda at 12:30 before continuing on through the city. The organisers hope members of the public will show their support for Tibet by joining the march as it proceeds through the city.
In run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Tibetans and their supporters around the world are gearing up to build a massive and coordinated movement to highlight the plight of Tibetan people and to push their cause for freedom.
“By hosting the Olympics, China is trying to promote an image of a respectability that is belied by its continuing appalling record of human rights abuses and oppression of minorities and dissidents” says Tseyang, President of the Tibetan Association in Charlottesville.
For decades, the Dalai Lama has sought a peacefully negotiated solution with the Chinese to resolve the Tibet issue. “But Beijing has responded only with deceptive rounds of ‘talks’ and other stalling measures,” Tseyang said.
In India, Tibetans have vowed to begin a march through the Himalayas back to their homeland starting from March 10; the day Tibetans will observe the 49th Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day.
Since an armed invasion in 1949, Tibet has been ruled by China. Agitated by the continuing presence of Chinese in Tibet, Tibetans rose up in 1959 against the Communist China’s illegal rule over their country.
The Tibetan rebellion was, however, brutally crushed down resulting in unprecedented deaths and torture of hundreds and thousands of Tibetans. During the ensuing chaos, Tibet’s spiritual leader and then-head-of-state, the Dalai Lama, was able to flee to safety in India, where he set up the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
Charlottesville in Virginia, US, is home to over 65 Tibetans.
Describing 2008 as “year of renewed hope for Tibet”, Tseyang, who, herself, fled Tibet with her family in 1963, said, “We have a saying in Tibetan: The ocean is made of droplets. I implore each and every person to help bring this noble cause to fruition.”
For more information, contact: Mrs. Tseyang (President; Charlottesville Tibetan Associaton, USA (tseyangsihle2@yahoo.fr) and Nawang Thokmey, (nt5y@eservices.virginia.edu)
