Free Tibet
Chinese troops first invaded Tibet in 1950. After 50 years of Chinese occupation, the Tibetans' culture, religion and environment are being systematically wiped out. Their very existence as a distinct people is under threat.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile in 1959 following a failed uprising by the Tibetan people against Chinese rule. He settled in India and now lives in Dharamsala where the Tibetan Government in Exile is based. He works tirelessly to seek a nonviolent solution to the occupation of Tibet and also to promote peace and nonviolence throughout the world. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
The Dalai Lama's Five-Point Peace Plan
In 1987 the Dalai Lama proposed a Five-Point Peace Plan for the restoration of peace and human rights in Tibet. The plan called for:
- Transformation of the whole of Tibet into a zone of Ahimsa, a demilitarised zone of peace and non-violence;
- Abandonment of China's population transfer policy, which threatens the very existence of the Tibetans as a people;
- Respect for the Tibetan people's fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms;
- Restoration of and protection of Tibet's natural environment and abandonment of China's use of Tibet for the production of nuclear weapons and dumping of nuclear waste; and
- Commencement of earnest negotiations on the future status of Tibet and of relations between the Tibetan and Chinese people
Suggested reading
- The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947
by Shakya Tsering
- In Exile from the Land of Snows: The Dalai Lama and Tibet Since the Chinese Conquest
by John F Avendon
- Tears of Blood: A Cry for Tibet
by Mary Craig
- Seven Years in Tibet
by Heinrich Harrer
- Return to Tibet
by Heinrich Harrer
- Freedom in Exile
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- My Land and My People
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Born in Tibet
by Chogyam Trungpa
- Fire Under the Snow (also published with the title The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk
)
by Palden Gyatso
Movies about/related to Tibet
- Kundun (1997)
Director: Martin Scorsese
- Himalaya (1999)
Director: Eric Valli
- The Cup (1999)
Director: Khyentse Norbu
- Windhorse (1999)
Director: Paul Wagner
- Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
- The Shadow Circus: The CIA in Tibet (1998)
Directors: Ritu Sarin & Tenzin Sonam
- Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (2003)
Director: Tom Peosay
- Samsara (2003)
Director: Pan Nalin
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