Yearly Utah Tibetan demonstration full of hope

The Utah Tibetan community together with its allies and friends gathered in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 10, 2006 to commemorate the 47th anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Communist Chinese control over Tibet. The uprising was brutally repressed by China’s military and was followed by a wave of reprisals and actions against the Tibetan people and a strengthening of Communist Chinese occupation of Tibet which continues to this day.

China’s actions in 1959 also forced the Dalai Lama to flee from Tibet to safe harbor in India where a Tibetan government in exile was established and still exists. (To read the Dalai Lama’s yearly statement about the plight of his people and land that was released on March 10, 2006, please go to:
http://www.savetibet.org/news/newsitem.php?id=922.)
The past 47 years of Communist Chinese occupation of Tibet have been unmatched in their barbarism. Many Tibetans have been tortured and summarily executed, especially those who in any way have resisted Chinese suppression of Tibet’s people and culture.

More than 80 demonstrators assembled at the federal building plaza on the corner of 1st South and State Streets at 10:00AM and listened to prayers, speeches and songs in both Tibetan and English. They then marched and chanted and wound up back at the plaza where they listened to a few more speeches. The action was organized by the Utah Tibetan Association.

There was a great deal of hopefulness in this year’s speeches and protester comments that things will change in a positive direction for Tibetans both insideTibet and in exile. In addressing the rally, Westminster College professor Chuck Tripp indicated he sees a hint of change in average Chinese attitudes toward Tibetans as demonstrated by the fact that some of China’s younger successful entrepreneurs, apparently exhausted by the chase after money, are searching for more spiritual meaning in their lives by reconnecting with their own now-lost Buddhist heritage. Since the current Communist government in China has all but wiped out the country’s Buddhist legacy, and since Tibetans are the only people within China who have maintained knowledge of Buddhist practices, some Chinese have hired Tibetan Buddhists as teachers to help them rediscover the spiritual ways of the Buddha.

As Tripp pointed out, this is a change in the treatment of Tibetans created by the Chinese people themselves, not their government.

Mr. Lobsang Gendun, Secretary of the Utah Tibetan Association, was the last speaker and received hearty applause from the protesters for his assertion that just a few years ago no one thought the powerful Soviet Union would ever fall of its own weight, but it happened; and the same thing will occur in Communist China as well as economic change overtakes its government’s ability to repress its own people.

Further applause flowed when Mr. Gendun stated that the Chinese people’s yearning for more freedom will lead them to reduce the degree to which their Communist government controls their lives, and as the Chinese free themselves they’ll also help Tibetans become freer.

Comments from a group of demonstrators with connections to Westminster College of Salt Lake City had a positive tone as well. Westminster student and protester Carl Evans stated that he was personally inspired by the demonstration and was amazed to view such a gathering supporting “a cause that stems from halfway around the world.” Another student-marcher, Nissa Roper, said, “Joining the Tibetan community in their cry for justice, action, and ultimately peace was an unforgettable experience” for her and that she planned “to stay aware and sensitive to the situation of others” who are suffering around the world.

Nicole Croft, a student who attended with her 11 year old daughter Cassady, indicated, “It was an honor to stand with the Tibetan community” and say, ‘We will not forget, and we will not stop until this unjust situation has been resolved, and Tibetans are free to return to their homeland.” Cassady said, “It was important to be there because Tibet and Tibetans have been mistreated for a long time.”

Finally, student demonstrator Spencer Bacon stated that attending the gathering was “very eye-opening and also emotionally stirring” and that the plight of Tibetans is an issue that will never be “swept under the table.”