NORTHAMPTON — Sitting under an open tent outside the First Churches of Northampton, more than a dozen people leaned against an icy wind and chanted together in prayer Saturday morning as Tibetan national flags, prayer flags and the American flag whipped back and forth in the breeze.
To mark the 59th anniversary of Tibet National Uprising Day, members of the western Massachusetts Tibetan community and Tibet supporters gathered for a day of fasting and prayer from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to “honor this historic day and to pray for those brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for the just cause of Tibet,” according to Thondup Tsering, a member of the western Massachusetts Tibetan community.
“We’ve had cold, wind, some snow today,” Tsering said in the afternoon, after supporters had been sitting and praying outside the church for nearly five hours. “But compared to what the Tibetans inside Tibet are going through, this is nothing.”
China’s People’s Liberation Army took control of Tibet in 1950, and China has controlled the region since, despite rebellions and uprisings by the Tibetan people. March 10, 1959, became known as Tibet National Uprising Day after thousands of Tibetans surrounded the summer palace of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fearing that Chinese troops planned to kidnap him.
The Dalai Lama escaped the capital city of Lhasa seven days later, traveling to India where he has remained in exile, but thousands of Tibetans were killed in a crackdown by the Chinese government. According the U.S. State Department, Chinese statistics estimate 87,000 Tibetans were killed, arrested, or deported to labor camps during the suppression of the 1959 uprising.
“This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the 2008 peaceful protest campaigns throughout Tibet, which were ruthlessly suppressed by Chinese forces,” Tsering said. “For more than half a century, Tibetans have suffered unimaginable hardship under the Chinese rule.”
The 2008 protests culminated in an anti-China riot in Lhasa on March 14, 2008. Since 2009, human rights groups say, 153 Tibetans have burned themselves to death to protest Chinese rule over Tibet, one as recently as March 7, just a few days before the 59th anniversary.
On Saturday, supporters in Northampton held signs reading “China: we demand human rights,” “USA stand up for Tibet” and “153 self immolations in Tibet: China is responsible.”
Nima Zidig, of Hadley, who said her parents were forced to flee from Tibet, explained the chant filling the air as tufts of snow swirled around the men, women and children sitting outside the church.
“The chant is Tibetan Buddhism. It’s a mantra,” she said. “Especially, we pray in memory for the 153 lives who have self-immolated in Tibet. Even though the Chinese claim there are all these freedoms, really I think it’s like an open-air prison inside Tibet.”
Tenzin Dolma, a Tibetan living in Greenfield, said she was glad to see the community support and added that she would like to see more support like this in the future for a free Tibet.
“Being a Tibetan, this is an important event,” Zidig added. “This is a chance for all of us to come together as a community to support the Tibetans suffering in Tibet.”
At 3 p.m. Saturday, those gathered sang the Tibetan national anthem and the Tibetan National Uprising song. A statement from the president of the Central Tibetan Administration was read and local officials read statements from Amherst, Northampton and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Mayor David Narkewicz presented a proclamation naming March 10 Tibetan National Uprising Day.
“The occupation and ongoing suppression of human rights and freedom in Tibet and the degradation of Tibetan culture and identity should continue to be a concern for all freedom-loving people everywhere,” the statement said.
“It’s really an honor for me to be here today,” Narkewicz told the Gazette. “To hear stories of journalists saying it’s harder to get into Tibet than North Korea, that really says something. It’s an honor to stand with our local Tibetan community and to continue to call for the Chinese government to allow the people of Tibet to practice their religion and honor their culture and not see their history destroyed.”
Connie Kruger of the Amherst Select Board read a statement from the town of Amherst proclaiming March 10 Tibet Day.
Keith Barnicle shared a statement from McGovern, who Tsering said is one of the strongest and loudest supporters on Capitol Hill for a free Tibet.
“Today I stand with Tibetans around the world in their struggle to end these abuses and exercise their basic human rights, to speak and teach their language, protect their culture, control their land and water, travel within and outside of their country, and worship as they choose,” the statement read. “The human dignity of the Tibetan people must be respected.”
The congressman’s statement urged supporters to call on the Chinese government to bring the Dalai Lama back to Tibet and to call on members of Congress to support legislation like the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2017, which McGovern sponsored.
On Thursday, U.S. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a resolution to commemorate March 10, 2018, as Tibetan Rights Day, and express support for the Tibetan people to choose their own leadership and faith.
“According to the Department of State, the Government of the People’s Republic of China is engaged in the severe repression of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage, and is engaged in gross violations of human rights in Tibet, including extrajudicial detentions, disappearances, and torture,” the resolution states.
Chinese authorities say that from 1950 to 1959 China liberated Tibet from serfdom, bringing economic growth to the region and allowing the Tibetan people extensive freedoms.
The annual Freedom in the World Report, prepared by independent watchdog organization Freedom House each year since 1972, scored Tibet a 1 out of 100 on the scale of free countries in its 2017 report.
In the late afternoon on Saturday, the group of supporters marched down Main Street chanting slogans such as “Free Tibet” and “Long live the Dalai Lama.” Passers-by stopped to sign a petition denouncing the Confucius Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which Tsering said promotes censorship and the undermining of human rights.
As the group moved down Main Street, the Tibetan national flag could be seen flapping above Memorial Hall. The flag will fly over Memorial Hall for 59 days in honor of the 59th anniversary of the national uprising.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.