Video of Mt. Everest Protest: Tendor’s Words

This short clip was linked in the previous post on the banner unfurled by free Tibet activists on Mount Everest. Tenzin Dorjee, deputy director of Students for a Free Tibet, talks about what he is doing and why he has chosen to go to Mount Everest to raise his voice for Tibetan independence.

Here’s a transcript of the video:

Tenzin Dorjee: Can I say something Shannon?

Shannon Service: Of course you can.

Tenzin: So, we are at base camp right now. Mount Everest Base Camp. Chomolungma Base Camp. And behind us you can see the majestic mountain, the highest mountain in the world. And it belongs to the Tibetan people. This is Tibet. I’m a Tibetan, and this is my land. The Chinese government has no right to be here. If you look over there, you can see a couple of tents. Those are tents put up by the Chinese government, getting ready for the expedition to carry the Olympic torch up to Mt. Everest.

You know, the Chinese government: You can carry your torch up to the highest point in your own country. Carry your torch to whatever is the highest mountain in your own country. Don’t come to Tibet. This land doesn’t belong to you. For the past fifty years, you have bruised this land. Blood is coming out of this land. You have hurt the people who own this land. The Tibetans have lived on this land for generations and generations. They have developed the capacity of lung, and the genetic capacity to live on this land. And they, and their children, and their children can live on this land. No one else. Think about it.

Today is April 25th. Today is the birthday of the Panchen Lama. He’s turning eighteen. And since he was a six-year old boy, the Chinese government kidnapped this little boy. You know this huge, monstrous government is afraid of a little boy like him. A six-year-old boy. And today he turns eighteen. What are you going to do? Are you still going to say he’s a child, and needs your protection? He’s an adult. And he knows, no matter how much you can brainwash him, no matter how much you try to brainwash the Tibetan children, the Tibetan youth – you can take them to China; you can take them to Beijing; “educate�? them; brainwash them; you know send them to Chinese schools; teach them Chinese; make them forget Tibetan – but you can never, never own this land, you can never change the Tibetans into Chinese.

There’s a saying, there’s an age-old saying in Tibetan: “Gyami Gyana la kyipo yoe rey, Bhoepa Bhoe la kyipo yoe rey — The Chinese are happy in China; the Tibetans are happy in Tibet�?. Let’s keep it that way, let’s keep it simple. Go back to China. Tibet belongs to Tibetans. We cannot live together. You cannot oppress us. You live in China, we’ll live in Tibet. We can be neighbors, we can be friends. There’s no other way.

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