Speech at International Tibet Network 2013 European Regional Meeting
By: YANG Jianli
Sept.27-29, 2013, Basel, Switzerland
Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters,
Tashi Delek.
I am delighted to be with you again and feel honored to speak to you.
On the flight to come here, I asked myself: “What can I say to you this time after I have said so much on so many occasions in support of a free Tibet ? What can I say that has not been said before. What can I say as we continue to be confronted with so many of my indifferent Chinese compatriots and, indeed, the motionless world?”
Then I felt the need of going back to listen once again to the voices in the saffron flames to search for my words, indeed, my moral compass.
The Tibetan writer Gudrub wrote before setting himself on fire:
We are declaring the reality of Tibet by burning our own bodies to call freedom of Tibet. Higher beings, Please see Tibet. Mother earth, Extend compassion to Tibet. Just world, Uphold the truth. The pure land of snow is now tainted with red blood, where military crackdowns are ceaseless. We as sons and daughters of the Land of Snow will win the battle. We will win the battle through truth, by shooting the arrows of our lives, by using the bow of our mind.
From this heaven-and-earth-moving outcry, I hear four resounding words: truth, compassion, courage and hope.
Let’s begin with the truth we all know:
The Truth is that, since the Chinese government occupation, over one million Tibetans have been killed through imprisonment, torture, executions and mass killings.
In 2008, a United Nation report concluded that the use of torture in Tibet was “widespread” and “routine”.
The Chinese government has destroyed more than 6000 Tibetan monasteries.
Since March 2011, 130 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in protest of this oppressive occupation.
Tibetans are steadily losing their land, their language, and their culture through Chinese government programs which include a vast migration of Han Chinese into the Tibetan Autonomous region. If not stopped, this oppression will soon make Tibetans a demographic and economic minority and ultimately a lost civilization.
This is the truth we all know. We must not let the truth be hidden from world’s conscience, nor that of China. We must be perseverant in expanding our global campaign of truth and, in our dear brother Gudrub’s word, we will win the battle through truth, by shooting the arrows of our lives, by using the bow of our mind.
The Tibetan self immolators’ act of compassion would be unthinkable and pointless if they did not have a profound confidence in the conscience of man. We must carry their spirit of compassion forward to appeal to the conscience of the people around the world. Especially,we should make special efforts to reach out to the Chinese people with the Truth about Tibet and empower them with compassion for them to recognize the truth and end their silence. I believe that the Tibetan selfless martyrs had a strong belief that compassion can clean conscience, including that of the Chinese, and clear conscience does not hide truth.
Dear brothers and sisters, you know I am a proud man. But a proud man shamed andembarrassed by the unspeakable suffering the Chinese government has systematically inflicted upon the people of Tibet and by the general apathy of the Chinese public. A proud man brought to his knees by the weight of his grief, the force of his anger, and the unbearable feeling of helplessness in the face of such powerful evil. Yet I draw courage from you, my dear Tibetan brothers and sisters; you inspire me through your unbelievableendurance. And I draw courage from good people like you, the supporters of free Tibet, your relentless efforts have kept the issue of Tibet alive and helped the worldwide Tibet support network gain momentum. We may seem few in face of the overwhelming indifferent many. But ” one man with courage makes a majority”, “they are the one to be afraid”. We must not lose hope.
When you run from fear, you’ll run into fear wherever you go. But when you run toward hope, you’ll find hope wherever you go. Let’s run toward hope. We draw strength and inspiration from the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who said, “Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength. No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.”
Let’s run toward the burning flames of martyrdom in Tibet because it is the burning of brave lives of compassion and love and because the martyrs committed the very act of self immolation with the hope that the flames would shine for the world to see the truth and the truth would set us free.
I said loudly on many occasions that I am a Tibetan. I said so because I believed, as I continue to believe today, that nobody can say that he is not a Tibetan if he sees the burning flames in Tibet and is not numb to pain himself and that nobody can say she is not a Tibetan if she hears the voices cry out from the flames and is still in possession of a heart to love and a mind to understand.
But today I want to highlight my identity as a Chinese. I want to so because I want to highlight the fact that, with your courageous efforts to meet the Chinese with compassion, more Chinese like myself will be awaking to the Truth, will be set free of the bondage of bigotry and malice, and will even share your just cause for freedom. That is to say, with your courage, compassion, and your perseverance in hope, you can turn Saul to Paul.
Today I recommit myself to the cause of free Tibet. My dear brothers and sisters, I will continue to struggle side by side with you and walk with you every step on the road toward home and freedom.
Thank you.