Sources: (AFP)

WIEN — Up to 10,000 people came out to greet the Dalai Lama on Saturday after Vienna ignored warnings from China that ties with Beijing could be harmed by hosting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

China made its objections clear to the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate’s meetings with Austrian leaders but Chancellor Werner Faymann said he would decide whom to meet.

The Dalai Lama, who is on an 11-day visit to Austria with the prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay, spoke at Vienna’s historic Heldenplatz (Heroes’ Square) for about 30 minutes to a crowd of 10,000, organisers said.

Speaking from a stand emblazoned with the words “Tibet needs you now”, he underscored the importance of protecting Buddhist culture, the environment and human rights.

“Our time will come, it is close. Democracy is universal,” said Sangay, who spoke before the Dalai Lama.

He referred to the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled veteran dictators in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia as well as Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was released from seven straight years of house arrest in November 2010 and has now been issued with a passport, enabling her to travel abroad for the first time in 24 years.

“All the promises that were made in 2008 at the time of the Olympic games have been broken. The Tibetans are in a minority in their own region,” a member of the Save Tibet organisation who gave her name as Erika told AFP at the rally.

The Dalai Lama met Faymann earlier Saturday, a day after saying he was open to dialogue with China and calling for real autonomy for Tibet.

The social democrat chancellor, however, dismissed the warnings from Beijing voiced Monday by its ambassador to Vienna and repeated Saturday by the foreign ministry.

“I answer the question of whom I meet myself, and that goes for the Dalai Lama,” he said. “Austria is a country which has always shown itself to be on the side of human rights, and I alone am responsible for my agenda.”

Calling their meeting “a clear political signal for human rights, non-violence and dialogue and against oppression,” Faymann said he was personally interested in meeting such an “eminent figure”.

China condemned the talks as “a severe interference with China’s internal affairs” which “hurt the feelings of Chinese people”, the state Xinhua news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying Saturday.

The Dalai Lama was “a political exile who has long been engaged in anti-China secessionist activities in the name of religion”, spokesman Hong Lei said.

The foreign ministry in Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in Austria would “both lodge solemn representations to the Austrian side”, he said, warning of the impact on ties between the two countries.

Chinese ambassador to Vienna Shi Mingde said on Monday that Austria should not offer a platform to the Dalai Lama’s “separatist tendencies”, warning that it would not be beneficial to relations with Beijing.

The Dalai Lama told journalists on arrival in Vienna Friday that he wanted a solution with mutual benefit for Tibet and China.

Sangay stressed that it was not a question of securing independence for Tibet but that the region aspired to real autonomy within the Chinese constitution.

The Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since 1959, has a long relationship with Austria and visits regularly — the last time in 2007.

As a young man, one of his teachers in Lhasa was Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, whose autobiography inspired the 1999 film “Seven Years in Tibet” with Brad Pitt.

Austria has also released a special stamp in the Dalai Lama’s honour.

China has imposed tight security to contain simmering discontent in Tibetan regions since 2008, when deadly rioting against Chinese rule broke out in Lhasa and spread to neighbouring Tibetan-inhabited regions.

Schaffhausen, Switzerland: 1st May, 2012

Expressing concern over violations of human rights in Tibet, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the democratically elected body of the Tibetan exiles, has called upon Beijing to restart dialogue to end the ‘conflict’, an official statement said here Monday.

“The conflict can be resolved through sincere and constructive dialogue and negotiations at the highest level between the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives,” said the statement quoting a declaration of the Sixth World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet that concluded in Ottawa on Sunday.It said: “Unilateral action in Tibet by China, such as the imposition of new policies that do not reflect the aspirations of the Tibetan people, cannot lead to a solution.”

Clarifying its stand on the issue of Tibet, the convention said: “A sustainable solution can be achieved through genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within the PRC.”

Calling upon the Chinese to end accusations against the Dalai Lama and the CTA, it said: “The Tibetan proposals expressly formulate a solution within the constitutional framework of thePRC.”

But the declaration said the CTA was alarmed at continuing grave violations of human rights in Tibet by the PRC authorities in reaction to peaceful protests by Tibetans.

“We call upon the PRC to end the repression in Tibet, provide access to all Tibetan areas in thePRC, schedule the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ mission to China, especially to Tibet, and to resume the dialogue with the envoys of the Dalai Lama,” it said.

The last round of talks — the ninth — between the Chinese and the Dalai Lama’s envoys was held in Beijing in January 2010.

The CTA submitted an ‘explanatory’ note to the Chinese leadership in 2010 to clarify its stand on genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people.

China, however, said after the talks that the two sides had ‘sharply divided views as usual’.

Those who spoke in the panel discussion included Mr Jayadeva Ranada, Distinguished Fellow with the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi; Ms Sharon Hom, Executive Director, Human Rights in China, New York, and Mr Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, DC.

The Kalon Tripa continued where the Dalai Lama left off, speaking about the democratic legitimacy of the new exile Tibetan leadership; referring to the desperateness of the human, political and environmental situation in Tibet today; drawing attention to the brutality and intransigence of the Chinese government, and urging strong international support for the Tibetan struggle. He acknowledged with gratitude the actions many lawmakers had taken in their respective countries, including in Italy, the EU, the USA, and Japan to draw attention to the Tibet issue and to the seriousness of the situation in Tibet today which had seen 35 self-immolations by protesting Tibetans since 2009, resulting in at least 25 deaths.

The convention was jointly organized by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet and Canada Parliamentarian Friends of Tibet.

The first WPCT was held in New Delhi in 1994, followed by those in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 1995, Washington, DC in 1997, Edinburgh in 2005 and Rome in 2009.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev during the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates held in Chicago, Illinois, on April 25, 2012.

YANGON, Myanmar, 18 April 2012

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi plans to travel to Britain and Norway in June on her first trip abroad in 24 years, her party spokesman said Wednesday.

The 66-year-old democracy icon has not left Myanmar for more than two decades because of fears the nation’s authoritarian rulers would not allow her to return.

The junta that ruled the country for almost half a century ceded power to a new government last year that has embarked on a series of widely praised reforms, including opening a dialogue with Suu Kyi and allowing her to run for — and win — a seat in parliament.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, said the trip would prove that Suu Kyi “can travel freely. This is a very positive indicator.”

Suu Kyi has not left Myanmar since 1988, when she arrived from Britain to visit her ailing mother and ended up leading the country’s struggle for democracy.

Since then, the daughter of national independence hero Aung San has spent 15 years under house arrest. For most of that time, she was separated from her husband Michael Aris and their two children, who still live abroad. In 1999, Suu Kyi refused to leave Myanmar to visit Aris as he was dying because of concerns that the former ruling junta would not allow her back.

During a brief visit to Myanmar on Friday, British Prime Minister David Cameron invited Suu Kyi to visit, saying it would be a sign of progress if she were able to leave and then return to carry out her duties as a lawmaker.

Suu Kyi replied that “two years ago I would have said thank you for the invitation, but sorry. But now I am able to say perhaps, and that’s great progress.”

Nyan Win said the trip would include a trip to Oxford, where she attended university in the 1970s and raised her two children.

Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her democratic struggle but was unable to collect the award in Oslo because she was under house arrest at the time.

She has previously told visiting Norwegian ministers that if she ever travels abroad, Norway would be her first destination, Nyan Win said.

Svein Michelsen, a spokesman for Norway’s foreign minister, confirmed that Suu Kyi is preparing a June visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

“We’re very much looking forward to it,” Michelsen said. He said the exact dates have not been decided.

The United States, whose top diplomat Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Myanmar in December, welcomed Suu Kyi’s “her ability to go out and travel”and hold dialogue with foreign governments. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said she would always have an “open invitation” to visit the US and continue the dialogue she began with Clinton, but did not know of any current plan for that.

WISHES OF THE LATEST SELF IMMOLATOR

 1.  May His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the champion of world peace, live for tens of thousands of years! He must be invited to Tibet. I firmly believe and pray that Tibetan brothers and sisters would gather together in front of Potala Palace and sing the Tibetan national anthem thunderously.Jampel Yeshi wishes in Tibetan

2.  My fellow Tibetans! If you care about your happiness and future, you must have the spirit of patriotism. Patriotism is the soul of a nation. Moreover, it is the confidence in search of truth; and also the harbinger of a happy future. My fellow Tibetan! If we are spire to peace and happiness in par with other people around the world, we should hold dear to your heart the word ‘patriotism’. You should make effort in all deliberations, big or small. In general, ‘patriotism’ is the insight that distinguishes truth from falsehood.

3.  Freedom is the foundation of peace and happiness of the living beings. Life without freedom is like a lamp amidst the wind. This is our direction: we know it clearly that if the six million fellow Tibetans of the three province of Tibet consolidated our energy / effort we will achieve our goal. I beg you! Never give up!

4.  What I express here is the issue of six million Tibetans. I reckon that we need in our struggle for our people are: if you have money and wealth, it is high time to spend on it; if you have knowledge, it is a critical time to bring them together; and if you have a life, this is the day to sacrifice it. Offering the precious human body to the fire in the twenty- first century is a sheer signal of the six million Tibetans telling the people of the world that Tibetans have no human rights and equality. People around the world! If you have concern and compassion, please pay heed to the plight of the poor Tibetans.

5.  We want freedom to practice our religious tradition, our traditional fields of learning and the Tibetan language. We want equal rights enjoyed by the people around the world. People of the world, please stand up for us! Tibet belongs to Tibetans.

Victory to Tibet!

Tawu Jampel Yeshi

16 March, 2012

Translated from Tibetan by Dr. Chok Tenzin Monlam peltsok along with Tenzin Gyaltsen

“The secretary general affirms the right of all people to peaceful protest. He is, however, very concerned about the health of the hunger striking protesters,” Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky was quoted as saying by AFP.

Hours before Ban’s message of concern, Jamyang Palden, a 34 year-old monk from Rebkong, eastern Tibet set himself on fire raising slogans for the return of Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

Now into their 23rd day of fasting, the three Tibetans are appealing for UN intervention in the ongoing crisis inside Tibet.

The fiery wave of self-immolation protests in Tibet has witnessed 28 Tibetans torch their bodies demanding freedom in Tibet. Mass protests in recent weeks have been violently suppressed following a call for “war” on peaceful protests by senior Chinese leaders.

Ban’s statement came after a visit to the “Indefinite Fast for Tibet” venue by UN assistant secretary general Ivan Simonovic on Monday.

Ivan Simonovic had expressed his “deep concerns” for the health of the hunger strikers and said that he will “directly contact” Secretary General Ban and Human Rights Commissioner Navannethem Pillay regarding the demands of the hunger strikers.

The UN assistant secretary general had apparently met with China’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations and briefed Ban’s office on his talks with the hunger strikers as well as Tsewang Rigzin, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, the organisers of the fast.

However, no details have been made public of the meeting.

Rigzin, who heads the largest Tibetan pro-independence group in exile welcomed the UN statement but said, “it is not enough.”

“We want real UN support for the people of Tibet,” Rigzin told reporters.

1,212 cities, municipalities and counties all over Germany hoisted the Tibetan national flag on 10 March at town halls and public buildings as well as displaying the flag on their websites.

Several regional capitals – Bremen, Hanover, Magdeburg, Potsdam, Saarbruecken, Stuttgart and Wiesbaden and the parliament of the state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen flew the Tibetan flag.

By hoisting the Tibetan national flag, the cities, municipalities and counties affirmed on behalf of thousands of their citizens “the Tibetan people’s right to self-determination and protest against the violations of human rights and the destruction of the Tibetan people’s culture, religion and national identity,” said Flag for Tibet organisers’ press release.

Tibet Initiative Deutschland, the German Tibet Support Group initiated the project in 1996.

“It is time now for the international community to listen to the Tibetan people and to put the long neglected Tibet problem on its agenda”, said Monika Deimann-Clemens, coordinator of the flag for Tibet, “otherwise we become responsible for a further escalation of the situation in Tibet”.

The press released called on the German government to send a fact-finding delegation to Tibet.

In the Czech Republic, as part of international action “flag for Tibet” campaign, over 400 councils, municipalities and county offices of Czech towns and villages hoisted the Tibetan flags as a symbol of support for the non-violent Tibetan struggle for their rights and efforts to preserve national identity.

In Switzerland 200 local councils and municipalities hoisted the Tibetan flag.

About 20 Italian regional councils have passed motions condemning the Chinese atrocities in Tibet.

Dharamsala, February 4: In reports coming out of Tibet, three Tibetans have self-immolated on February 3 in the undersieged town of Serthar in eastern Tibet.

A Tibetan in exile with contacts in the region told Phayul that two Tibetans survived the self-immolation but one is feared dead.

“The three Tibetans called for the unity of the Tibetan people and protested against the Chinese government,” the Tibetan who didn’t want to be named said.

The two who have reportedly survived have been identified as Tsering, around 60 years of age and Kyari, around 30. The third Tibetan who is feared dead cannot be identified at the time of reporting.

Serthar has been under an undeclared martial law with a heavy military lockdown since the January 24 mass protests. At least six Tibetans were reportedly shot dead in indiscriminate police firings on unarmed Tibetans.

Preceding the mass demonstrations, Tibetans in rural villages in Serthar had carried out protests on January 18 and 22 while a larger demonstration was also reported on January 23 in Serthar town where a banner reading: “We protest against failed Chinese policies in Tibet” was unfurled.

The same source told Phayul that in the January 18 protests, a large number of ‘wind horse’ prayer scrolls with the Tibetan national flag and slogans calling for the Dalai Lama’s long life and ‘Victory to Tibet’ printed on the backside were spread in the region.

Following the protests, the entire region has been cut off from the outside world with no phone or internet connections. The roads leading into the region remain blocked as earlier shown by a CNN report in which its reporters were detained and sent back while trying to enter the region.

In photos received by Phayul of the January 24 Serthar protests yesterday, Chinese military personnel could be seen severely beating and dragging Tibetans on the road.

Since Tapey’s self-immolation in 2009, 19 Tibetans have set themselves on fire demanding the return of the Dalai Lama and protesting China’s occupation of Tibet.

Amnesty International in a release last week called on China to avoid using excessive force in response to Tibetan protests and expressed fear of “further violence and bloodshed” in Tibet.