Transcript of Press Conference by Tibet Activists on Eve of IOC Meeting in Athens
TIBET ACTIVISTS SPEAK OUT ON EVE OF INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE MEETING IN ATHENS
TRANSCRIPT OF STATEMENTS MADE AT PRESS CONFERENCE
JUNE 3RD, FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION OF GREECE, ATHENS
1) INTRODUCTION BY LHADON TETHONG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET (SFT) INTERNATIONAL
2) TENDON DAHORTSANG, PRESIDENT, TIBETAN YOUTH ASSOCIATION IN EUROPE, ON THE CURRENT SITUATION IN TIBET
3) BORIS EICHLER, PRESS OFFICER, TIBET INITIATIVE DEUTSCHLAND, ON THE TORCH RELAY THROUGH TIBET
4) LHADON TETHONG, SFT, ON INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ACCESS TO TIBET
Below is the transcript of remarks by Tibet campaigners at a press conference at the Foreign Press Association of Greece in Athens, June 3rd. The press conference was broadcast live on the Internet and can be viewed at: www.sfttv.org. The remarks were followed by questions by reporters present in the room as well as by viewers who watched the press conference live online and asked their questions in an accompanying web-forum. Transcript may vary slightly from the remarks as delivered by the presenters but the following should be regarded as the official remarks of the identified activists.
INTRODUCTION BY LHADON TETHONG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET INTERNATIONAL
Good Morning and thank you everyone for joining us.
My name is Lhadon Tethong and I am the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet International based in New York.
As you know, we are here in Athens because the International Olympic Committee is meeting from tomorrow, June 4th to June 6th. This is their last meeting before August, followed shortly thereafter by the Beijing Games. Meanwhile, the meeting also comes just days before the Olympic torch is scheduled to make its first stop in Tibet.
Two colleagues join me today. From Zurich we have Tendon Dharotsang, President of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, and from Berlin, we have Boris Eichler, spokesman for the Tibet Initiative Deutschland.
All three of us will speak briefly and we will have time for questions at the end of the session.
We are also taking advantage of the latest communications technology to broadcast this press conference over the Internet to journalists in Beijing and elsewhere.
We apologize now if there are any technical difficulties.
Firstly, Tendon from the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe will touch on the current situation inside Tibet.
REMARKS FROM TENDON DAHORTSANG
PRESIDENT, TIBETAN YOUTH ASSOCIATION IN EUROPE
TOPIC: CURRENT SITUATION IN TIBET
Good morning.
It has been nearly three months since peaceful protests by monks in Lhasa sparked a major countrywide uprising across all three provinces of historical Tibet.
Those protests, the vast majority of which were peaceful and targeted at symbols of the Chinese government’s colonial control in Tibet, continue today, despite a massive military campaign to suppress Tibetan national sentiment.
In fact, over 13 protests have been reported across Tibet in the past month, but of course with a complete media ban in all Tibetan areas, the global community has heard very little about these events and the ensuing crackdown.
In the past few weeks, more than 80 nuns have been detained in various incidents of protest in Kardze, an area of Eastern Tibet now known as Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and administered under China’s Sichuan Province.
One of these brave women is the nun you see in the picture here. Her name is Sangye Lhamo; she is only 23 years old. Sangye was detained last Thursday, May 29th, along with two other nuns, after they staged a peaceful protest and distributed leaflets in Kardze town. We have no information about her current whereabouts.
In another incident just one day earlier, Chinese forces opened fire and shot at Rigden Lhamo, a 21-year old nun, after she unfurled a Tibetan national flag and shouted “Long Live the Dalai Lama,” “Freedom for Tibet” and called for the “immediate release of all political prisoners” in front of the county government headquarters.
These recent and incredibly courageous demonstrations were met with a swift and violent response.
According to an eyewitness report, in the case of Rigden Lhamo and the two other nuns, “police and soldiers responded violently to the protest and the nuns were arrested on the spot, many got severely beaten up and stains of blood were seen on the street, with nuns’ robes and shoes scattered everywhere. The nuns were seen being taken away in trucks. People were too scared to pick up the nuns’ robes for fear of being detained themselves.”
The story of the nuns of Kardze is not unique in Tibet right now.
This second wave of protests is largely in response to arbitrary detentions, arrests, disappearances, beatings and torture that is now widespread in Tibet. Tibetans from all walks of life have taken to the streets in April and May to protest the “anti-separatist” and “political education” campaigns imposed on them by Chinese authorities.
Reports coming from Tibet speak of Tibetans’ widespread refusal to denounce the Dalai Lama, raise the Chinese flag and stand by and watch as Cultural Revolution-like political campaigns are carried out in their sacred temples and monasteries.
Tibetans across Tibet are living in an intense climate of fear. Military personnel have surrounded even the most remote towns and villages. Meanwhile, in some key areas of unrest, like Amdo Ngaba’s Kirti monastery – which saw large-scale protests in March – the monks are living under house arrest with their monastery sealed off and surrounded by troops.
At this point, the full extent of China’s brutal military crackdown inside Tibet is still not known as no foreign media or independent observers are allowed into Tibetan areas.
Most people are too afraid to talk on the phone or over the Internet for fear of being monitored and suspected of passing information. My colleague, Lhadon Tethong, will speak more about this.
Tibet is under a military lockdown, leaving Tibetans to suffer under a cloak of silence, while their protests for freedom continue largely unseen by the free world.
It is against this backdrop of suffering and brutal repression that the International Olympic Committee continues to give the green light for the Chinese government to parade the Olympic torch through Tibet.
It is unconscionable to think that while Sangye Lhamo, Rigden Lhamo and countless others are missing, detained and likely being tortured, the Olympic torch will be carried through the streets of Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, including eastern Tibet, where the majority of protests have taken place.
REMARKS FROM BORIS EICHLER
PRESS OFFICER, TIBET INITIATIVE DEUTSCHLAND
TOPIC: OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY THROUGH TIBET
Thank you Tendon. Good morning everyone.
Tibetans and supporters have opposed the plan for China to take the Olympic torch relay through Tibet from the moment the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games proposed the torch route in April 2007.
The Tibet leg of the relay in particular was clearly designed as a propaganda exercise on the part of Chinese authorities to legitimize their brutal rule in Tibet to the world. China’s assault on Mount Everest with the torch last month is the clearest example of the political motivations behind bringing the torch to Tibet.
However, taking the torch through Tibet after the most widespread protests in 50 years is no longer just a political move, but an action that will serve to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Tibet.
The Tibetan people are in crisis and living under a state of military siege and yet the IOC leadership remains silent. They have resolutely refused to acknowledge any ability or responsibility to stop further suffering in Tibet by removing the Tibet leg from the torch relay.
Jacque Rogge and the IOC were silent when China’s Governor in Tibet made a statement on April 9th promising that Tibetans will be “treated harshly and with no leniency” for protesting during the torch relay. They even turned a blind eye when the Government of Nepal authorized the use of lethal force against anyone staging a protest during the ascent of Mt. Everest.
Tibetan exiles and campaigners have heard from sources inside Tibet that Tibetans are unequivocally opposed to China taking the torch through their lands and are determined to protest.
Despite our repeated attempts to initiate a dialogue with the IOC on this issue, they have refused to meet with us.
Instead of using its influence to protect Tibetan lives, the IOC has instead chosen to craft a public relations strategy in an attempt to prepare itself for when protests do occur in Tibet and lives are lost.
Why is the IOC preparing a public relations strategy to respond to a tragedy that is still in its power to prevent?
Last month, IOC President Jacques Rogge told the Belgian daily Le Soir, “We must now think of our activities in terms of human rights.”
We agree with this statement and believe Mr. Rogge should follow through with it by showing leadership – or at least a backbone – when the IOC faces this critical decision.
Rogge and the IOC have a choice between abetting a successful propaganda exercise by the Chinese government, which could dangerously exacerbate an already dire situation, or defend the Olympic movement’s goal of “building a peaceful and better world.”
And now, after the torch’s schedule in Tibet was cut by two days, some reports have mistakenly claimed that there is only one stop in Tibet. But this is not true.
There is only one stop in what China calls the Tibetan Autonomous Region. But the Olympic torch will still travel to Eastern Tibet, outside the TAR, where the majority of Tibetans live and in the regions that have seen the vast majority of incidents of protest in recent months.
In fact, the first stop is next week, on June 11th when the Olympic torch is expected to pass through a place called Shangri-la administered under Yunnan province. Shangri-la is actually in the Gyalthang region of the Tibetan province of Kham.
And then later in June, following a one-day stop in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, the torch will go to Gormo (Ch: Golmud) and Kokonor (Ch: Qinghai Hu), which are actually part of Amdo province of historical Tibet, but are now administered under China’s Qinghai province.
If you refer to the maps provided to you, you can see these stops’ – along with those nearby in Chinese Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu – close proximity to the areas of unrest in eastern Tibet.
As you can see, in places like Qinghai, or the Tibetan province of Amdo, the torch will travel to Xining (what Tibetans call Siling) less than 2 hours drive from Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) where just recently on April 17th, over 100 Tibetans were detained and severely beaten for demanding the release of Tibetans detained in earlier protests. Not surprisingly, tensions in that area are said to be very high.
Tibetan sources on the ground have repeatedly stated that they believe “Tibetans will do everything in their power to protest when the torch is in Tibet.”
They describe an atmosphere of increased fear and tension in the buildup to the torch relay as the authorities are taking all measures to ensure an undisturbed environment for the torch to pass through Tibet. This has resulted in even more restrictions than before.
According to various sources, Tibetans are stockpiling food out of fear that curfews will be extended, preventing people from leaving their homes when the torch comes in June.
One reported that “when the Olympic Torch is in Lhasa only local people and Chinese are allowed to be here. They did that few years ago too during the 50 year peaceful liberation celebration.”
In the unfortunate case that the IOC irresponsibly allows China to parade the torch through Tibetan areas under clampdown, the IOC must take immediate measures to ensure that international media be allowed access to Tibet before the torch enters. That means now.
And now Lhadon will speak more about this issue.
REMARKS FROM LHADON TETHONG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET INTERNATIONAL
TOPIC: INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ACCESS TO TIBET
Thank you Tendon and Boris.
My colleagues have highlighted the current situation inside Tibet, an environment of repression, fear and suffering.
The fundamental principles of the Olympic charter are “the establishment of a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity”.
If IOC Executive Board members truly stand behind the universal values of Olympism, they should immediately withdraw authorization for China to take the Olympic torch through Tibet.
In the unfortunate case that the IOC irresponsibly allows China to parade the torch through Tibetan areas under clampdown, they must at the very least take immediate measures to ensure that international media be allowed access to Tibet before the torch enters. That means now.
This complete media ban directly violates the IOC’s only pre-condition to awarding China being Olympic Games – the promise of free media reporting in the lead up to and during the Games.
This commitment to media freedom was a centerpiece of Beijing’s bid for the Games, and in fact centerpiece of the IOC’s reasoning for awarding the Games to Beijing.
“The freedom of foreign journalists in their news coverage will be ensured,” says Liu Qi, President of BOCOG, in the Preface to the Service Guide for Foreign Media Coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period.
Nonetheless, Chinese security forces continue to deny reporters access to Tibetan areas and at this time, Tibet remains completely locked-down – a no-go zone for the people who can provide independent information about the truth of the situation on the ground.
The IOC must take responsibility now to pressure the Chinese government to live up to its commitments and immediately allow international media access to Tibetan areas.
In only six weeks after the major Lhasa protests of March 14th, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China reported more than 50 separate incidents of interference in the work of international news media trying to report in Tibetan areas. The FCCC reported that foreign correspondents were detained, prevented from conducting interviews, searched, and had their reporting materials and information confiscated or destroyed. Furthermore, authorities have intimidated Chinese staff and sources, and in some cases ordered them to inform on the activities of foreign reporters.
In denying access to Tibet for international media, the Chinese government is attempting to prevent confirmation and coverage of killings, beatings, arrests, detentions, re-education campaigns and other such incidents.
In addition to denying foreign reporters access to Tibet, the Chinese government is actively repressing Tibetans and Chinese who serve as sources of information for foreign reporters, or who themselves write on issues sensitive to Beijing, including Tibet.
Last month, high-profile Chinese human rights activist in Beijing Hu Jia was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. He was convicted of inciting the subversion of state power and the charges against him cited as evidence five articles he wrote that appeared online, and comments he made during interviews with foreign media.
Last week, Radio Free Asia reported that a Tibetan man named Nyima Drakpa, was arrested in mid-April in Sichuan province for providing information to foreign reporters. Also last week, well-known Tibetan writer and blogger Tsering Woeser – who goes by the single name Woeser in the Tibetan tradition – had her website hacked and her skype internet phone hijacked by people who impersonated her and tried to gather information from her contacts.
She was placed under house arrest when the protests began in March, has been harassed by police, and continues to face a campaign of intimidation for writing about Tibet.
These are just a few recent examples. The urgent matter remains international media access to Tibet.
Sun Weijia, BOCOG’s head of media operations said “We have no restrictions on travel for foreign journalists in China. So once they get the visa, they can travel anywhere in China.”
The Chinese government is betraying the commitments it made to press freedom in its bid for the Games. And the IOC has done nothing whatsoever to hold Chinese officials accountable.
In fact, in instance after instance, the IOC has served to defend the Chinese government’s backsliding on its Olympic pledges and on human rights throughout China and Tibet.
If the IOC leadership hopes to salvage a shred of credibility, they need to show a backbone and apply real pressure to the Chinese government to make good on its commitments.
For Tibet and Tibetans the commitment to press freedom is fundamental, as Chinese authorities wage a campaign of repression behind a curtain of silence they have drawn across Tibet.
We are joined by people worldwide today in calling on the IOC to do the right thing by canceling the Tibet leg of the torch relay. Besides contributing to the further suffering of the Tibetan people, the wrong decision risks tarnishing the Olympic torch and sullying the Olympic movement for years to come.
But as the IOC gives no indication that they will respond to the global appeals of for the torch out of Tibet, providing for media access to Tibetan areas is a life-and-death matter.
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