Rally for a free Tibet

By Paul Howes

SYDNEY — On March 10, 400 people marched from Town Hall to Circular Quay to mourn the death of more than a million Tibetans who have died since the Chinese occupied Tibet in 1951. The protesters marched behind an eight-foot Chinese soldier who was pushing along three Tibetan women.

Democrat Senator Vicki Bourne stated, "Australians can no longer sit back and do nothing about the continued Chinese occupation". Justice John Dowd of the NSW Supreme Court expressed concern that western governments still refused to recognise Tibet's independent, but occupied, status. Chris Doran from the Wilderness Society spoke of the environmental degradation in Tibet, which has major ramifications for the rest of Asia.

Namgyl Tsering from the Australia Tibet Council read out a letter from the Dalai Lama which stated that the protests around the world are aimed at the Chinese government, not the Chinese people.

From GLW issue 224