Nexus - 0110 - New Times Magazine-pages

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L hasa's streets are deceptively calm. Wild looking nomads still swaggerround the market and red robed monks wander the streets chanting scriptures for alms. Many Tibetans are nonchalant and curious about soldiers, yet below the surface Tibetan anger is growing. Despite the lifting of Martial Law, the cause of discontent remains. The paeeuen ef colts roepe andtanks patrolling the Sp most sacred shrines in Tibet provokes impatient youth. “* Twelve million Tibetans (one-sixth of Tibet's population) died as a direct result of the Chinese occupation. * The International Commission of Jurists found in 1960, that genocide was being committed in Tibet and that 16 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were being violated. * The U.N. General Assembly passed three === CIS DALAI LAMA'S Resolutions condemning China for “violations ENVIRONCRENT STACEMENT of fundamental human rights of the Tibetan Peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it-are people”, and called on China to respect the now threatened. by human activities that Jack a Tibetan people’s rights, including their rights to commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of self-defermination. nature and natural resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the éarth’s: living things. Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and . ** In an effort to annihilate Tibet’s religion and culture, Chinese militia systematically bountiful, which it is. destroyed 6,254 monasteries and temples: 80% Many people -in the during the “democratic reforms” before 1966, past also ‘saw. nature and the remaining 20% during the Cultural as inexhaustibly sust- ainable, which we Revolution, according to Chinese officials. f * é . " know is the case only o One out of ten Tibetans has been held in if we care for it. It‘is prisons, or forced labour camps, for periods of notdifficult to forgive ten to twenty years. Most were beaten and destruction in the tortured. Today about 100,000 Tibetans remain _ that resulted in captivity for anti-state activities. oe ya aad . . .. oday, however, * Forced abortions and sterilization of we have access to Tibetan women arecommon. In Chamdo, Tibet’s more information, and itis essential that we re-examine third largest city, fetuses have been found in ethically what we have inherited, what we are storm drains and hospital trash. responsible for and what we will pass on to-coming generations. Clearly, this is a pivotal generation. Global be Medical care and education of Chinese communication is possible, yet confrontations. take children in Tibet is far superior to that available place more often than meaningful dialogue for peace. to Tibetans. 70% of places in higher education Our marvels of technology are matched, if not are reserved for the Chinese. outweighed, by many current tragedies, including - s ¢e : human starvation in some parts of the world and % Ti t y P : oe a — _— oan by the erage extn other life forms. Many of Earth’s habitats Communist Party and army. Pe ing appoints a animals and plants that we Know as rare may not be senior government and Party officials, most of known at all by future ames We have the whom do not speak Tibetan. capacity and the responsibility’. . . we must act before it is too late! 16 Nexus “10 fe Se 4 “o fe te