Cannes sheds its black tie image for G20 riot gear - Activists released

[Nada Jung]

 

Cannes sheds its black tie image for G20 riot gear

 

Activists released in France; Tibetan nun sets self on fire

 

by Tendor Tibet Dorjee བསྟན་རྡོར་ on November 5

 

Dear Friend,

 

The nine Tibet activists -- including SFT HQ's Deputy Director Kate Woznow -- arrested by French police Wednesday after unfurling a banner and Tibetan flag from the roof the train station in Cannes, France have been released.

The action -- which took place on the eve of the G20 Summit -- was precisely timed to build pressure on world leaders to raise the Tibet issue with Chinese President Hu Jintao, and was part of the Global Day of Action in over 65 cities worldwide to demand global intervention to stop China's escalating repression in Tibet. SFT members helped to organize rallies, vigils, lobbying initiatives, street theater, and petition deliveries from Dharamsala to Delhi, Cannes to San Francisco, New York to Toronto, Ottawa to Washington, DC, and London to Paris.

As the G20 Summit opened in Cannes, we received the tragic news of yet another self-immolation in Tibet.

At round 12:30pm on Thursday in Tibet, 35 year-old nun Palden Choetso from Tawu in Kham, eastern Tibet, lit herself on fire while shouting for freedom in Tibet and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Sources from Tibet say she died at the scene, and her body is now at Nyitso monastery -- the same place Tsewang Norbu, the monk who self-immolated on August 15th, was from.

Palden Choetso's sacrifice makes her the tenth Tibetan in the last ten weeks to have taken this extreme action.

I have no words to describe what a difficult time this is for Tibetans and supporters. Every day we are losing precious lives inside Tibet; many are feeling helpless.

But this is no time for despair. In fact, there is so much we can and must do.

A couple of hours after Palden Choetso's self-immolation yesterday, we received a powerful message of hope from a Tibetan in Tawu. The message said: "We know about your efforts on our behalf, especially your global actions yesterday around the world on Wednesday. Everything you do makes a difference for us."

We are hearing reports that various governments will soon make official statements censuring the Chinese government's repressive policies in Tibet. On Wednesday, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, together with the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, issued a rare statement of concern about the "severe human rights restrictions" in Tibet. They declared that "such restrictive measures not only curtail the right to freedom of religion or belief, but further exacerbate the existing tensions, and are counterproductive."

Now is the time to intensify the grassroots pressure on our political leaders.

In solidarity,

Tendor
Executive Director