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Shouting for those denied a voice
On a cloudy Saturday afternoon, nearly three hundred people from all over the Northwest gathered in downtown Vancouver to support the current Tibetan uprising in China. Crowds adorned with red, yellow and blue rallied in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery and marched down Granville Street to the Chinese Consulate, clogging one of Vancouver’s busiest routes to the downtown.
“Those of us who live in countries that have free speech feel it’s our obligation to be involved because those inside Tibet are literally risking their lives just by speaking out for human rights, freedom and democracy,” said Mati Bernabei, spokesperson for the Canada Tibet Committee.
The independent organization joined with other Tibetan groups, including several from Washington and Oregon to express to the Canadian and Chinese governments that the recent violence is not going unnoticed.
Baernabei says tensions are reaching new levels. She has friend, at a Tibetan vocational school in Dharamsala, India, who says his students will be taking part in a hunger strike on March 30 — until death.
“The momentum is growing and the frustration is building,” she said. “China has quite literally gotten away with murder.”
Chinese authorities say at least 20 people, mainly Chinese, have died in recent clashes.
However the Tibetan government-in-exile says that at least 99 people, mainly Tibetans, were killed. Authorities claim to have arrested 24 people linked to the Tibetan capital protests.
“The number of people arrested that we’re hearing right now are way below what’s actually happening,” said Bernabei, “and it may be years before we know just how many people disappeared. Under Chinese law, people can be detained for up to three years without informing anyone.”
The Canada Tibet Committee believes the Olympics present the perfect opportunity for Canada to show it’s support with the Tibetan community.
“We would like Canada government officials to withdraw their acceptance to the Olympic functions,” she said. “We are not asking them to boycott the Olympics but it should not be used to promote their administration. When our representatives go there, China uses that as a propaganda tool.”
The Chinese government views the Tibetan uprising as a criminal act of violence involving beating, destruction of property, looting and arson, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang in a press release last week.
“The incident is premeditated, organized and instigated by the Dalai clique, and perpetrated by the separatist forces of ‘Tibetan Independence’ both in and outside China acting in collusion. It has again exposed the separatist nature of the Dalai clique, as well as the hypocrisy and deception of their claimed ‘peace’ and ‘nonviolence.’ Their acts are a gross trampling on the fundamental human rights and the principle of freedom.”
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