Paris, January 26 – Special lecture on Tibet was organised for the first time at the Political Science Institute in Toulouse on the 25th January 2006. Over 140 persons, mainly students of the Institute attended the lecture session entitled “Tibet, today’s perspectives” during which Mr Wangpo Bashi, Secretary of the Bureau du Tibet, Paris, presented the contemporary history of Tibet, the exile community and the consistent efforts being made by the exile administration under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to resolve the Tibet issue through dialogue.
Mrs Renee Courtade of the Amnesty International presented different aspects of the grave violations of human rights in China and in Tibet. She urged every person to act as a citizen of the free world and explained the efficiency of the opinion pressure on China.
Mrs Jordane de Marliave, of the local TSG Rencontres tibetaines, exposed various actions undertaken by her association for the last fifteen years in liaison with other 55 TSGs at the national level and also at an international level networking with some 350 different groups and associations. Mrs Marliave assured that she respects the Chinese people and says she speaks and writes the Chinese language and travels every year in China. She argued that while respecting China, we should not however ignore the dramatic situation of the Tibetan people and do all we can within the framework of non violence and democracy.
Question reply session which lasted for the second half of the duration, has been extremely interesting with series of sharp questions which were mostly responded by Wangpo Bashi. He could explain in details the Middle Way approach and the basic proposals made by the Tibetan leadership. He also updated an information on the going Sino-Tibetan relations which resumed since 2002. This Tibet lecture session shows that most of the students have heard and studied about the issues of the Tibetan people. The day before, a movie on Kundun was shown at the Institute.
In all, the lecture lasted for three hours. Petitions and information literature on Tibet were distributed after the lecture.
The lecture was organised by the Institute’s Students’ Association for Development and Solidarity action.
