While others look away from China's ongoing oppression of Tibetans, or perhaps feel powerless to do something, a relatively small number of people all over the world are compelled to act with their donations or their voluntary service (Richard Gere is among those volunteers) to the International Campaign for Tibet, a non-for-profit peaceful organizations devoted to relieve the sufferings of oppressed Tibetans and to advocate their basic rights.
Indifference about oppressive rulers gives way in Asia, Africa and Latin America to a very unstable World with constant rebellions, massive migrations and unending wars. The case of Tibet's oppression is among the oldest unresolved issues in the whole World. Their submission to Chinese power occurred in 1959, practically at the same time as the Castro's brothers took power and established a totalitarian regime that has been spreading its tentacles all over Latin America since then.
Inaction and indifference do not solve problems - they make them worse.
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is helping to wake up consciences, amplify the voices of Tibetans on the world stage, expose the cruelty of Chinese Communist Party policies in the oppressed country they invaded, and strengthen international support for the people of Tibet even as China attempts to silence dissent far beyond its borders.
The Chinese authorities' masquerade of having "ethnic harmony" in China is a pure propaganda front, and organizations like the ICT are needed for heads of state, parliamentarians, diplomats, journalists and human rights activists worldwide to be well-informed about the truth. They were able to submit a detailed report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in the presence of the Chinese delegation in Geneva last November. The Chinese delegation denied torture as a farce and proclaimed that there were no Tibetan political prisoners. We often have the same disclaimers from Cuban authorities and other tyranies. But Golog Jigme, a Tibetan monk, former political prisoner and one among many survivors of repeated torture was a valuable witness. After his testimony he found a positive reaction in favor of Tibetans and summed up some of the delegates statements with these words:
"It is incredible that a country like China, which is highly regarded in the international community, would come here and use this platform to tell lies".
Despite Chinese officials' denials, at least 646 Tibetan political prisoners are known to be held in China, with an unknowable number subjected to torture and suffering poor health or even dead on account of their mistreatment and injuries.
China tries to cover-up this situation. Actually any access to Tibet is very much limited. They kept Tibet on lock-down for decades. Even now, no one gets in or out without the Chinese government's control, assigning official tour guides and the places where visitors are allowed and the dates when visitors will find everything in order. The US Congress is trying to breach this ban with a bill known as the
Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act (H.R. 1112) that all American citizens may support by writing to their Congressmen and Senators.
We all have a moral obligation to help the people of Tibet, as well as the oppressed people in many other countries.
In the case of Tibet, I invite readers to visit their WEB page:
www.savetibet.org
.
Topic Author
