First Day of the San Diego March for Tibet's Independence 2000!
May 29, 2000
Speeches from the kickoff of the south walk, 5/29/00
Professor Nawang Phuntsok:
President of the Tibetan Alliance of Southern California
"Give Tibet back to the Tibetans who are the rightful owners of the country! I truly believe that the grassroots political movement in this country is going to work in favor of Tibet so I would like to encourage as many people as possible in this country to support Tibet. We do need your help. At this very critical moment in our history, please support us."
Phillip Wu:
President of the Formosan Association for Human Rights
"China not only threatens the Tibetan culture's existence,
it actually will threaten the security of the United States and the
peace of the whole world. Remember the lesson of Munich: history should
not be repeated! The illegal occupation of Tibet should not be tolerated
by the international community!
"I think it's only a fariy tale that there is a huge market in China.
Let me tell you, Coca-Cola had a dream which never came true. Their
hope: that each Chinese person would drink one can of Coke -- that's
more than a billion cans consumed. It never happened and I donŐt see
it happening soon unless the Chinese government lets its people have
freedom and demoncracy. Eastman Kodak film also was hoping each person
would buy a roll of film. Unless China is free and democratic that will
never happen. Tibet has its right to be independent -- we should give
them their right to have self-determination. Tibet is only for Tibetans!"
Dr. Edith Eva Eger:
Holocaust survivor, psychologist, public speaker
"I'm crying and putting myself in the shoes of the people
who are in prison. And I'd like to really see in what way they are capable
of rising above the situation, to be able to see the world not as it
is but as it could be. To be able to find the power from within.
"It reminds me of when in 1944 on the way to Auschwitz my mother told
me in the cattle car, she said 'We donŐt know where we're gonna go my
darling, but just remember, wherever we go and whatever happens no one
can take away from you what you put in your mind.' And perhaps my talk
this morning is for the people who are using that gift, that beautiful
gift of the mind, the power to be able to fight when everything is taken
away from you from your outside. [It reminds me of] when I was seeing
my mother burning in a gas chamber and when I saw the fire coming out
of the chimney, and my sister and I were clutching each other saying
the spirit never dies. [I want] to thank you all for standing for something
for believing in freedom and yes I too have a dream that someday we're
going to hold hand in hand and form a human family so we can finally
survive on this planet. I love you, I thank you, God bless you."
Harry Wu:
Chinese dissident, author, and director of the Laogai Research Foundation
"Every time I stand together with Tibetan brothers and
sisters I feel I have some energy, some more energy comes up to me because
these people are tireless in fighting for their future, fighting for
their own religious freedom -- actually helping me and the Chinese put
down the communist systems. That's why I feel all the time that we Chinese
owe Tibet too much. I always remember how the Dalai Lama says we are
brothers and sisters. Not only Tibetans and Chinese, but the Americans
and all of us are brothers and sisters. We have only one enemy: Communist
China. I want to say maybe this is the last communist tyranny of the
world.
"Unfortunately, today some people don't recognize that, and the president
wants to give this tyranny system a kind of favor -- so called PNTR.
Anyway, I donŐt think the history will belong to these people; history
did not belong to Nazi Germany and it did not belong to Soviet Stalin
and also will not belong to the communists in China. Maybe there's something
there today, the communitsts in China may be different than they were
before. But anyway, this is still a communist regime. And I am the survivor
of the Laogai. The Laogai is still assisting China, the Laogai is just
like a machine, serves the operation just like the Nazi Holocaust and
the Soviet Gulag. One day the Laogai system will be ended and communist
system will be ended.
"I think Tibetans have the right to seek what kind of religion they
want, what kind of political system they want. And I think they really
make an impact in their own country and also in China and in the rest
of the world. I hope this walk in California is leading the people to
be aware that we exist and we are still there and we are not going to
give up, and the fight will eventually lead to our victory! Long live
the Dalai Lama, long live the Panchen Lama, long live the Tibetans!
Thank you."
Dory Beatrice:
Director of the San Diego Friends of Tibet
"If we were all standing here now in Tibet this would all be completely impossible. We would be surrounded by security forces and beaten and all taken to prison. This is the situation we're fighting for: the freedom to simply do this that we're doing right now, the freedom to express an opinion."
Palden Gyatso:
Political prisoner in China for 33 years, author and Tibetan monk
"The main reason why we're walking today is that China
has illegally occupied Tibet and it has been 41 years that China has
occupied our country. Since 1949 China has brutally suppressed our freedom
of religion and human rights in Tibet and His Holiness has continually
asked for a peaceful and nonviolent resolution to the situation.
"Until now we have resisted the Chinese persecution and they are still
not listening to the voice of peace and nonviolence. For example, I
was imprisoned in Tibet in 1959 and was a witness to the Chinese brutality
for 33 years. If Tibet was a part of China they would not need to use
all this brutality to suppress the Tibetans. They have to use this brutality
because Tibet is not a part of China and Tibetans cannot live under
China. So one of the main reasons we're walking today is to remind the
American people about the issue of Tibet. Another reason why we're walking
today is to secure the release of the young Panchen Lama and for people
who are imprisoned today in Tibet only for expressing human rights and
right to religious freedom. With this I'd like to wish that one day
His Holiness and the Panchen Lama will be able to return in a free Tibet."
Geshe Gyaltsen:
Head of Thubten Dhargye Ling monastery
"É the Dalai Lama's message is world peace, not individually or one part of the people or one part of nations, he wants all nations to become peaceful and respect each other and he wants freedom for everybody. That's why I think it's important for him to have long life." (followed by long life prayers for the Dalai Lama, prayers for the release of the Panchen Lama and for world peace)
International
Tibet Independence Movement
PO Box 592 Fishers, Indiana 46038-0592 United States
e-mail: rangzen@aol.com
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