Remembering March 10th Tibetan Uprising Day

Seattle, March 2018. 

We're gathered here today to commemorate the 59th Anniversary of the very first Tibetan Uprising in Lhasa against the invading Chinese force that ultimately led to the Dalai Lama's escape into exile.

This one day a year when we Tibetans all across the world, wherever we are, come together, in a united front and march in protest against this illegal Chinese occupation of Tibet.

This is a time to honor the men and women that surrounded the Norbulingka Palace that ominous day in 1959 in defiance of the occupying Chinese government forces.

And while we honor those brave men and women, here today with prayer and memory, this is also a time for us to reflect on how far we've come and where we are in our struggle.

While our call these past almost 60 years has been for Freedom, our fight is for justice, equality, human rights, values that are universal and human. What we have going on for us, even in these troubling divided times is that our issues is one that unites across political lines. People all over the world have these same values, black, white, Asian, American, Democrat, Republican, rich, poor. 

For too long we've looked to America and the western world to fight for us, to lead us, to speak up for us, to defend us. 

    It is time, fellow Tibetans to look to ourselves for answers, for solutions. 

    It is time, fellow Tibetans to stop looking at ourselves as just victims.

    It is time for us to use the many benefits of the freedoms we’ve enjoyed in exile, and empower ourselves and our kids, to be challenged to step up, to speak up, to lead and to engage. 

Challenged to fight for those that face the same injustices as we do. 

And how do we fight this giant behemoth rising power, China. By banding together. By banding together not just as Tibetans but by banding together with other causes, nations and people that suffer the same injustices, the same abuses of human rights, the same atrocities of unchecked tyrannical power. 

For too long we've shouted and screamed for a Free Tibet while we've stood in silence and watched the plight of other nations. Sympathised but done nothing. Our cause loses moral ground when we shout and scream against the injustices we face and do nothing for the injustices of others. Because we are a people that face injustice, we have to stand up for others that face injustices too, wherever they may be. 

In the words of MLK - Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. 

It is in our interest that we stand up, we speak up, we engage, we collaborate when others face the same injustices as we do.

Even HHDL has said “because of the profoundly interconnected reality of today’s world, we need to relate to the challenges we face as a single human family.”

Meaning - we’re all in this together.

When you speak up for the plight of the Rohingyas in Myanmar - you are speaking up for Tibet!

When you speak up for the plight of the Syrian people - you are also speaking up for Tibet!

When you speak up at the atrocities in Yemen, South Sudan - you are speaking up for Tibet!

We don’t lose when we speak up for the injustices of others, our cause only grows because we do.

We often blame isolation as the mistake made by our older generations in Tibet. Let us not make that same mistake, in exile, isolating ourselves in the comforts of our own communities.

Let us get out of our homes and engage.

Let us talk to our neighbors and engage.

Let us participate with our communities and engage.

Let us speak up for the injustices we see and engage.

Let us speak up for the freedoms of the Syrian people, the Rohingyas, the Palestinians and engage.

The freedoms they seek are no different than from the freedoms we seek.

To be able to live peacefully in their own land, speak their own languages, do their own thing. 

It is crucial we engage. It is necessary we align. Is is vital we advocate.

So Yes, we've come a long way, literally, economically, and as a community. Yes, we've all build good successful lives for ourselves in exile but make no mistake, let we get too comfortable, our struggle isn't over.

Our brothers and sisters in Tibet still face oppression. Our families in Tibet are still treated as second class citizens in our own country, still lack the basic freedoms we enjoy and often take for granted in this country we now call home.

Let us by our actions make our fellow Tibetans in Tibet proud. Give them hope. So that they are not driven to acts of desperation but instead are inspired and uplifted by our efforts.

Bhod Gyalo!

Jamyang Dorjee

for Tibetan Association of Washington