MONKS,PROTEST,TIBET,& SUMMER GAMES

Monks, Protest, Free Tibet, Threats to Summer Games!

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GOOD MORNING FLINT!
BY Terry Bankert 3/11/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book
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Full article at Flint Talk with discussion
http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=26051#26051
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HUMAN RIGHTS , SERIOUS OR A GAME(SUMMER)

Bystanders cheered the group Tuesday as they walked along the mountain roads. Police were not around.[afp]

A simple act of defiance by an oppressed people.[trb]

Tibetan monks have defied Chinese authorities by staging a protest in the remote Himalayan region's capital Lhasa, provoking Beijing to respond that it would strike hard against such illegal activities.[g]

China still practices summary execution.[trb]


U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia cited a source as saying at least 300 monks marched from a monastery outside Lhasa to demand the release of monks detained last year after the Dalai Lama was awarded a Congressional medal in the United States.[g]

HUMAN RIGHTS CHINA AND WILL WE BOYCOTT THE GAMES?

Tibetan advocates say the protests are part of a worldwide effort to call attention to China's record of human-rights violations and to urge nations and businesses to boycott the upcoming Olympics in Beijing if China does not improve the situation in Tibet.[VOA]

THE SUMMER GAMES BEGIN

“For nearly six decades Tibetans have had to live in a state of constant fear under Chinese repression,” the 72-year-old said from his base in Dharamshala, India. Meanwhile, hundreds of Tibetan exiles defied an Indian police ban on an historic six-month trek to their homeland as part of pro-independence protests ahead of the Beijing Olympics. [t]

This is an act of courage.[trb]

In protest of Beijing's hosting of this summer's Olympic Games, hundreds of Tibetan exiles in northern India resumed a march to Tibet and planned to defy a police order restricting them to a single district.[ap]

The demonstrations coincided with the 49th anniversary of the crushing of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule by the People’s Liberation Army of China. Exiled Tibetans staged high-profile protests around the world to mark the day. [t]

EXILES ARE COMING HOME

"Tibetan refugees have the right to return to Tibet, the land from where we come," said Tsewang Rigzin, leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress.[afp]

The exiles' planned six-month march began on Monday, the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet that forced the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959.[ap]

The marchers had stopped for the night near the northern Indian city of Dharmsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Local police chief Atul Fulzele said the marchers were banned from leaving the Kangra district, which contains Dharmsala, following a recommendation from the Indian government.[ap]

But Tenzin Tsundue, one of the march leaders, said Tuesday the protesters would ignore the police order.[ap]

WORLD WIDE PRO TIBETIAN MOVEMENT

Tibetans all over the world took to the streets yesterday to commemorate the 49th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule and to press their demand for independence ahead of the Beijing Olympics. [t]

Among them, according to a report on Radio Free Asia, were up to 300 protesters who tried to march from Drepung monastery on the outskirts of Lhasa to the symbolic Potala Palace in the city centre. [t]

Paldin says he hopes the protests in New York and others that took place around the world, will encourage people to take action on local, national and international levels. In Greece, a Tibetan freedom torch-lighting ceremony was held, and pro-independence exiles in northern India began a months-long march, hoping to cross the Chinese border into Tibet.[VOA]

One protester who came to New York for the demonstrations says she sees the upcoming Beijing Olympics as a chance for her to voice her opposition to China's policies. Pema Yoko is the national coordinator in Britain for Students for a Free Tibet, another group that helped organize the event.[VOA]

"I think we can make a difference, especially on an occasion like this. For me, growing up and being born in exile, I have not had this kind of opportunity and I feel like the Olympics is my time to fight China finally," he said.[VOA]

Yoko says China should not be allowed to glorify itself on the world stage as long as Tibet is oppressed and illegally occupied.[VOA]

FUNZIES

"This is the fun part now," he said. "We are ready for any kind of obstruction. We will be very peaceful but when so many people are determined to give their lives up, no police can stop us."[ap]

Chinese troops killed tens of thousands of Tibetans as they quashed the 1959 uprising, according to the Tibetan government-in-exile’s website. Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled his homeland following the uprising. [t]

China has ruled Tibet since 1951, a year after sending troops in to “liberate” it, and continues to denounce the Dalai Lama for what it says are his efforts to seek independence for his homeland. [t]

"If stopped, we are going to practice non-violence," one of the coordinators of the campaign, Lobsang Yeshi, told Reuters. "If arrested we will try to resist." [g]

"If they detain us, we will start again as soon as we are released," added veteran Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue.[g]

ONE COUNTRY: LEGAL ACTION IS ANOTHERS :EXECUTION SYSTEM

Fulzele said police would take "legal action" against the marchers if they attempted to breach the Kangra boundary. He did not elaborate.[ap]

Tsundue said the marchers were expected to reach the district boundary, 34 miles away, by Wednesday.[ap]

The Foreign Ministry spokesman did not say what fate the protesting monks in Lhasa may face, but other people voicing dissent against Chinese rule in Tibet have previously been handed long jail terms. [t]

Among the high-profile cases, a number of nuns were given jail terms of up to 15 years after they secretly recorded songs in 1993 about the Dalai Lama on a tape that was smuggled out and reached the West. Human rights groups say that even carrying images of the Dalai Lama in Tibet can lead to harsh punishments[t]

In Nepal, many protesters were hurt on Monday when police used batons to break up a march on the Chinese embassy, while in Greece activists complained of harassment by police when they lit a torch at Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic Games.[g]

MONEY TALKS PROTEST WALKS

India has been sympathetic to the Tibetan cause in the past. It has clamped down on public protests in recent years, however, fearing they could embarrass Beijing and damage burgeoning relations between the two Asian giants.[ap]

Fulzele said the march went against an agreement between New Delhi and the Tibetan government-in-exile.[ap]

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Protesters rallied Monday in the Indian capital, New Delhi and in Katmandu, Nepal, where hundreds of activists clashed with police. Pro-Tibet demonstrations also took place in San Francisco and in Olympia, Greece — the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games.[ap]

Monday marked the 49th anniversary of the spiritual leader's escape from Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.[afp]

FIRE PROOF?

In Lhasa, Tibet, as many as 300 monks marched in the city center to mark the anniversary of the uprising, and Chinese authorities detained 50 to 60 monks, reported Radio Free Asia, a private broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress.[ap]

The report by the US government-funded broadcaster said between 50 and 60 of the marchers were arrested as police and paramilitary police blocked roads and encircled other monasteries around Lhasa to prevent the protests from growing.[t]

AMERICANS JOIN IN THE PROTEST

Waving Tibetan and American flags, hundreds of demonstrators marched from the U.S. Federal Court House in downtown New York up to the United Nations building. At the same time, hundreds of other protesters rallied outside the city's Chinese Consulate. [VOA]

NOW HERE IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT

Meanwhile the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, accused China of "unimaginable and gross violations of human rights" in the Himalayan region. He was speaking at a separate event in India.[ap]

However, none of the groups taking part in the protest walk were affiliated with the government and neither the Dalai Lama nor Tibet's government in exile have issued any official statement on the march.[ap]

ONE OF MANY

The exile groups said the march was to be one of several protests around the world before the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games.[ap]

STAMP DANCE

The groups say Beijing's preparations for the Games come at a time when China is attempting to stamp out Tibetan Buddhist culture and to increase the government's presence in Tibet.[ap]

HISTORY OR ILLUSION

Beijing maintains that Tibet is historically part of China, but many Tibetans argue the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries.[ap]

"We will continue on our homeland march despite the order that has been served on us," said B. Tsering, head of the Tibetan Women's Association, one of five organisations sponsoring the march.[afp]

The Dalai Lama last week rejected a Chinese accusation that he was trying to sabotage the Olympics, saying he always supported Beijing's right to host the Games. [g]

Posted here by
Terry Bankert ...GOOD LUCK
http://attorneybankert.com/
Join my political party of preference,
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–where did this stuff come from---
[ap]
The Associated Press
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g8RkM4F8_R23FgMJ7F-y5joBrgAwD8VB55380
[TRB] Comments of Terry Bankert to include Cap Headlines
http://attorneybankert.com/
[t]
Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3528078.ece
[afp]
AFP
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jpMrtJDxeVCyeIjF_paruDPykSlQ
[g]
Guardian
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-7374799,00.html

[v]
VOA
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-03-10-voa65.cfm


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