About 100 members of the local Tibetan community and their supporters rallied in front of the State House and marched at Boston Common yesterday as part of an annual commemoration of Tibet’s uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
According to a Tibetan Association of Boston press release, yesterday’s demonstrators joined Tibetans around the country and the world in remembering China’s suppression of the rebellion 43 years ago, which lead to 80,000 refugees fleeing to India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim. The protesters called for recognition of what they see as various injustices and human rights abuses under Chinese rule and occupation.
Members and supporters of the Tibetan cause held flags and placards as they stood outside the State House. They listened to a statement released by the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans who lives in exile in India after fleeing from a failed uprising in 1959.
“My position on the issue of Tibet is straightforward,” said the Dalai Lama in his statement. “I am not seeking independence. As I have said many times before, what I am seeking is for the Tibetan people to be given the opportunity to have genuine self-rule in order to preserve their civilization and for the unique Tibetan culture, religion, language and way of life to grow and thrive.”
Tibetan community supporter Laura Zimmerman, who has been involved in the Tibetans’ cause since 1992, said people need to remember the suffering of Tibetans under Chinese rule. She said she sponsored the resettlement of 50 Tibetan exiles under the Tibetan Resettlement Act started in 1990.
“I think it’s an important commemoration of the Tibetan struggle,” Zimmerman said. “It’s a way of remembering the people who are still in Tibet suffering. It’s also a way for the exiled community to come together and support the cause.”
Pema Tsewang, a Tibetan by birth and former Fulbright scholar who came to Boston in 1998 from India, said the commemoration was important in creating greater awareness and garnering more support from the international community.
“The Tibetans, in their struggle, have much more international support than other communities under suppression,” Pema said. “It’s because the Tibetan struggle remains non-violent, as advocated by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.”
A member of the Tibetan community also read to the crowd a “Proclamation of March 10” as Tibet Day by acting Gov. Jane Swift.
The reading was followed by a march around Boston Common, in which the group shouted such slogans as “Free Tibet!” and “China is not Tibet!”
The commemoration ended with a candlelight vigil on Boston Common.
The local Tibetan community, of which there are about 450 members, is spread throughout the Greater Boston area, including Arlington, Cambridge, Medford and Somerville.
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