We are old enough here to recall seeing with profound shock, in the press and on TV during the VietNam/America war, South Vietnamese Buddhist monks self-immolating in political protest.
. . . .
In recent months we have received urgent reports from Tibet about Buddhist monks, and now a nun, self-immolating in protest against ongoing Chinese repression.
1. Ngaba Crisis Update :3. Please email Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd today and ask him to speak up for these young Tibetans (CLICK HERE)
Kirti Rinpoche speaks of self-immolations ;
death of two former Tibetan monks
The exiled head of Kirti monastery, Ngaba, where six monks have set fire to themselves since March, has spoken to the International Campaign for Tibet about their actions and his views on why Tibetan monks are choosing this new form of protest and sacrifice. Two monks who were taken to hospital after they set fire to themselves on October 7 have died.
Read the article here
2. Received from Australia Tibet Council :
I am writing from Dharamsala in India where I have come to attend a regional meeting of the International Tibet Network. Saddened and shocked, Tibetans and Tibet supporters here held a candle light vigil last Saturday as 19 year-old Norbu Damdul became the sixth monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba to set himself on fire in less than a fortnight.
Many of you have emailed Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, calling for an urgent Australian government statement on the monks of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba. Even as the crisis continues to escalate at the cost of more young lives in eastern Tibet, Australia has not taken a stand.
As Tibet support groups around the world ramp up their campaigns for their leaders to speak up, we need to increase our efforts to reach the Foreign Minister.
Yesterday as senior members of the Tibetan government-in-exile prepared to leave for New Delhi to organise a series of hunger strikes and rallies in a solidarity movement, yet another Tibetan took the most desperate measure of self-immolation. Tenzin Wangmo, from Mame Dechen Chokorling nunnery in Ngaba, called for freedom in Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama after which she set herself alight. She was only 20 years old.
For the first time in the Tibetan resistance movement, a nun has burnt herself to death in her resolve to draw attention to the situation in Tibet and bring an end to the Chinese repression.
The loss of these young lives saddens and shocks Tibetans in exile and the Tibet supporters alike. However it is also the spirit of resistance of these Tibetans in Tibet that continues to inspire us all.
The Tibet movement's determination in finding a resolution for the Tibetans was palpable at the meeting here in Dharamsala, where I spent the last few days strategising campaigns with around 40 activists from Asia and Australia.
I urge you to join us today in putting direct pressure on the Australian government to play its part in delivering justice and freedom in Tibet.
In solidarity
Tsering Kyinzom
Australia Tibet Council
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