Dharamsala, September 4 – A Tibet activist group has called China’s “Tibet Week” at Shanghai Expo a Chinese propaganda to mislead to the world opinion about Tibet.
The New York based Students of a Free Tibet has expresed their opposition to the “Heaven in Tibet” themed pavilion at the ongoing Shanghai Expo. The students for a free Tibet has organised a campaign called “Stop the attack on Tibetan culture” which includes celebrating Tibetan cultural resistance.
As a part of its campaign the SFT held Renaissance Series “I am Tibetan: Voices from Occupied Tibet” Wednesday in front of the Chinese Consulate in New York City to promote the writings, poetry, music and other works of art and literature banned in Chinese-occupied Tibet. Images of detained Tibetan artists, writers, and musicians were projected onto the Chinese consulate building to protest China’s attack on Tibet’s culture as “Tibet Week” opened at the Shanghai Expo starting September 1 and will go on till tomorrow.
“While the Chinese government parades state-sponsored Tibetan culture on the stage in Shanghai, scores of Tibetan artists, writers, musicians, bloggers, and other public figures have been arrested, imprisoned, harassed, or disappeared for speaking out about the aspirations, the hardships, and the deepening pride and unity of Tibetans living under Chinese occupation,” said Tenzin Dorjee, president of the SFT.
“So it is for us who live in free countries to amplify what Chinese government is suppressing,” added Dorjee.
With several poems, essays, songs and paintings devoted to Tibetan identity, culture and the enduring spirit of Tibetan resistance emerging out of Tibet, the SFT believes there is a cultural renaissance underway in Tibet.
“We encourage people everywhere to read the books, watch the films and listen to the songs that the Chinese government is trying to censor. By amplifying everything banned in Tibet, we shine a spotlight on China’s crimes, mobilize global support for Tibetans jailed by China, and thus ensure that their voices are not silenced,” said Dorjee.
