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Tibet Relief Fund – time4tibet

After 60 years
It’s time to turn this around

#Time4Tibet

60 years. It’s a long time to be without human rights.

It’s a long time to endure seeing your culture being destroyed. It’s a long time to live under someone else’s rule.

For over 60 years, China has occupied Tibet, taking ownership of their land, culture and economy. In that time, over 100,000 Tibetans have fled their country, over 4,000 monasteries have been destroyed and over 1 million Tibetans have lost their lives.

This is unacceptable. It’s why for 60 years, Tibet Relief Fund have been working with the Tibetan community (in and out of Tibet), to provide support and basic needs such as healthcare and education, in order to build a brighter future.

Despite this hardship, every year, on 10th March, thousands of people across the globe take to the streets for National Uprising Day, a day of defiance against China’s occupation, with 2019 marking the 60th anniversary.  

To learn more, or to see how you can make a difference, come back over the next 60 days where in the run-up to this year’s National Uprising Day, we’ll be posting daily exclusive content.

It’s time to turn this around.
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2017
“Every problem on this planet, including our problem, must be solved with respect and mutually acceptable solutions…That’s my vision. That’s my hope.”

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

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“Everything I hear about Tibet nowadays makes me realise how lucky I was to have lived there in 1986 and 1987 when it was relatively open to outsiders. Backpackers, travellers, tourists and mountaineers were allowed to wander freely. It didn’t last long. I now realise that I witnessed a Tibet that has now been lost — and I don’t mean the pre-Communist 7 Years in Tibet. When the Chinese Communists devastated Tibet in the 1960s and 70s they destroyed monasteries and killed people, hundreds of thousands if not millions of them. But they didn’t destroy their culture or ancient economic system. When there was a partial opening in the 1980s the ancient culture and economy were ready to put out shoots.

But now, with the modern brand of Chinese ‘capitalist’ Communism, with the new train line and big business interests, China is able to uproot the ancient culture far more efficiently than ever before. Until recently, Tibetans could make a living in the villages or in the towns, doing what they had always done — survive. But now the Chinese can demolish old housing, abolish the nomadic lifestyle, ban open markets and destroy the ancient economic system that has sustained this population for millennia. We need to remember them and do a lot more to help.” – Rupert Wolfe Murray, author of 9 Months in Tibet

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2012
“I swear I will do everything in my power to change the situation in Tibet where human rights are being suppressed. Tibet seeks freedom and democracy and we agree on those values.”

Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan

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2008
“If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against Chinese oppression and China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world”

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives

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“Having witnessed first-hand the ongoing destruction and oppression of the land, culture and people of Tibet, it’s clear that it’s time for us all to take a stand against the ongoing human rights abuses in Tibet after nearly 70 years of occupation.” – Dan Hillier

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2002
“The systematic extinction of a nation and its culture is unpardonable. But, the fact is that the West has no fundamental security interests in Tibet. This limits what we can do — though not, of course, what we should say in every international forum.”

– Margaret Thatcher, Statecraft, 2002

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“Tibet Relief Fund is working to give back basic human rights to Tibetan people. To allow things we can all take for granted, such as clean water and healthcare. To enable Tibetan people to have the means to be self sufficient and to create a safer, brighter future.” – Amy Savage

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1999
“The trouble is, and always has been, that Tibet is of zero economic interest to anyone whereas China is vital to the whole world in the next millennium. Although the Government insist that there is no play-off between commerce and human rights, I am afraid that the current position of the Tibetans tells a very different story.

I know that the Government are sympathetic to the plight of the Tibetan people. But this is simply not converting into anything useful for the Tibetans. It is like sitting on a beach being sympathetic about a person drowning”


Earl of Carrick, former president of Tibet Society UK, addressing the House of Lords

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1995
“As an American who cares deeply about justice, freedom and democracy, I can tell you that this is a cause that touches at the core of our own values. It is about the survival of a people who seek only to democratically determine their own government, to have the freedom to practice their own religion without interference, and to bring up their children in a safe environment where they can be proud of their unique heritage.”

Harrison Ford, addressing the United States Congress

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“Tibet Relief Fund works tirelessly to give the Tibetan people back their basic human rights. They enable Tibetan people to have the means to be self sufficient and to create a safer, brighter future.” – Zara McDermott

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1989
“I accept on behalf of the six million Tibetan people, my brave countrymen and women inside Tibet, who have suffered and continue to suffer so much. They confront a calculated and systematic strategy aimed at the destruction of their national and cultural identities. The prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage and determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated.”

– Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama accepting the Nobel Peace prize

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“The Tibetan people, their language and unique way of life is one to be cherished and preserved. Furthermore, their struggle for freedom is unique in history through its non-violent approach and if we are to strive for a peaceful world, then we must recognise its importance and support this in every little way we can.” – Pempa Lobsang

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“To sustain Tibetan identity, it is imperative to empower Tibetans to take their place in the global world. And this can be done by supporting their aspirations and ensuring that all windows of opportunities are open to them” – Youdon Aukatsang

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1989
“This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to H.H. The Dalai Lama, first and foremost for his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people’s struggle to regain their liberty … Here, as in other parts of the world, it is becoming increasingly obvious that problems cannot be solved by the use of brutal military power to crush peaceful demonstrations. In Tibet, as elsewhere, conflicts must be resolved politically through the medium of genuine negotiation.”

– Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee [read full]

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“In tattooing, tradition is everything, respecting those that paved the way for us. Many Tibetans have been arrested for trying to preserve the history of their culture and religion” – Aaron Clapham

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1987
“It is not my purpose to enter into a political/legal discussion here concerning Tibet’s status. I just wish to emphasize the obvious and undisputed fact that we Tibetans are a distinct people with our own culture, language, religion and history. But for China’s occupation, Tibet would still, today, fulfill its natural role as a buffer state maintaining and promoting peace in Asia.”

– Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, addressing the United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Washington DC

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1973
“Would not my noble friend agree that the brutal Chinese occupation of Tibet is one of the worst things that have happened in the world since the German occupation of Poland? Further, is she not aware that the Chinese Government was convicted of genocide in Tibet by no less a body than the International Committee of Jurists, and is that not reason enough for Her Majesty’s Government to welcome with courtesy a person of the eminence of the Dalai Lama?”

– Lord Belhaven and Stenton, speaking in the House of Lords

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Time4Tibet Caroline Carver
“Speak out and be imprisoned. Without freedom of speech who are we? Tibetans deserve more than just a voice. This needs to end now.” – Anto Sharp

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1961
“It is our hope that they will be successful in the struggle for restoration of basic human rights in Tibet, and that Tibet will one day be governed in accordance with the manifest wishes of the Tibetan people.”

– President John F Kennedy in a letter to Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama – 1961

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1965
“ever since Tibet came under the strangle-hold of China, the Tibetans have been subjected to a continuous and increasing ruthlessness which has few parallels in the annals of the world.” “

– India, speaking at the UN General Assembly

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Time4Tibet Caroline Carver
“I chose not to have the tape on my photograph, because I feel that although speech is stifled in Tibet, my own speech isn’t – I can speak out and say what I believe is right. If anything, I’d like a loudhailer! China doesn’t care about Tibetʼs people or their culture, or its wildlife, because China is short of water. Tibet isn’t.” – Caroline Carver

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1959
“I am not in a position to make a statement about refugees. As hon. Members know, communications are extremely difficult in the part of India where the Dalai Lama and his party are. I share the general feeling of deep concern with regard to what has been happening in Tibet, and about Tibetan autonomy. I am sure that the whole House sympathises with the Tibetan people in their present troubles.”

– Mr. Selwyn Lloyd, Foreign Secretary speaking in the House of Commons

Read the speech here

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Time4Tibet Jason Flemyng
“I worked with Tibetans in the foothills of the Himalayas in 2008, they had been displaced and were working in the train stations in Northern India. I learnt their monasteries had been destroyed, their families arrested, they couldn’t go home.

We drank coffee, smiled and they worked harder than anyone I have ever seen, carrying film gear up and down the mountain. I have never forgotten them, what has happened to them and their countrymen is a disgrace. ” – Jason Flemyng

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1950
““His Majesty’s Government “have always been prepared to recognise Chinese suzerainty over Tibet, but only on the understanding that Tibet is regarded as autonomous.””

– Kenneth Younger, Foreign Secretary speaking in the House of Commons

Read the speech here

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“The continued illegal occupation of Tibet is a stain on the conscience of humanity. It has been disgracefully neglected by both governments and the media. They appear to accept that might makes right. But international law must prevail.” – George Monbiot twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot

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Time4Tibet George Monbiot
1993
“I wondered if Deng Xiaoping is actually watching this right now, with his children and his grandchildren, and with the knowledge that – that – that – what a horrendous, horrendous human rights situation there is in China, not only towards their own people but to Tibet as well…”

– Richard Gere 1993, at the Oscars

Watch the speech here

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Time4Tibet Joe Charman - The skills guy
“Our culture helps define us and shape who we are, it gives us a unique voice and offers a sense of community and belonging. The people of Tibet are being stripped of everything that makes them who they are, their language, their land, their religion and even their flag often via cruel and inhumane methods…

With their voices being taken away, it’s up to us to speak up so they can be heard.” – Joe Charman twitter.com/joecharman

It’s time to turn this around.
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