Members of Tibetan community hold anti-China vigil in London
Feb 15, 2021
London [UK], February 15 : A vigil was held in London last week outside the Chinese Embassy against the atrocities inflicted by Beijing on the people residing in the region.
People were seen carrying posters, "China lied, people died. CCP (Chinese Communist Party) shame on you," according to Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM).
Another placard read, "China stole; my land, my voice and my freedom."
"The vigil also marked the final "#LhakarDay of Tibetan Royal Year - 2147. Tibetans celebrated Losar - Tibetan New Year - 2148 - on 12th February 2021," wrote GATPM in a Facebook post.
According to another post by a New York-based Tibetan blogger, Ugyen Gyalpo: "It's such a paradox to say Happy Independence Day when our country is still under colonization. But what is not paradoxical is when we don't take ownership of our historical past which is the basis of our fight. We must own our past and not suppressed it. We have compromised enough."
"We celebrate the 4th of July like it is our own. We celebrate the 15th of August like it is our own. We celebrate Canada Day like it is our own. But we are hesitant to celebrate and reclaim our historical proclamation of independence on this day in 1913 by the 13th Dalai Lama. Are we living and embracing the world of alternate distorted facts. The only thing that separates our fight with China is the truth and if we are trying to be politically correct by denouncing anything to do with Independence, we are stabbing yourselves to death," the blogger added.
In another post shared by the organisation, Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan writer and activist based in India, is urging people "to sign his online petition asking the Government of India to repeal its One-China policy". He also hopes that his "campaign will converge with a global campaign asking governments to repeal their One-China Policy."
Tsundue started his month-long 500 kilometres solo Peace March from Dharamsala on 12th February 2021 on Losar - Tibetan New Year, according to the post.
"To fully appreciate the complexities of the Sino-Indian border conflict, the people of India must understand the issue of Tibet. The Indian government and its people must understand very clearly that India's border will be permanently secure only when the Tibetan issue has been resolved," the post read.
The 2018 International Religious Freedom report has categorized China as a country of particular concern regarding severe religious freedom violations, along with the likes of North Korea and Syria.
Since its forceful settlement of Tibet, the CCP has relentlessly pushed for the persecution of religion, especially Tibetan Buddhism. By employing its state machinery, it has executed campaign after campaign to meet its objective, each more brutal and oppressive than the last.
Sangmo reported that the Tibetan government in exile's oft-repeated account of China's political repression, economic marginalization, cultural assimilation, and environmental destruction hardly begins to encompass what goes on.
Today, Tibetans are degraded as to being second-class citizens in Tibet unless they toe the Chinese party line and disown Tibet's sovereign history in favour of uniting with the Chinese motherland, which is a foreign and unpalatable concept for Tibetans.
The party's nervousness about the growing clout of Tibetan Buddhism in the world and within China is reflected in the CCP's recent actions.
According to Sangmo, in 2007, the State Religious Affairs Bureau's Order No. 5 issued a decree requiring the reincarnation of Tibetan Lamas to be approved by the communist government.