Around 70 members of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), World March of Women – Pilipinas, and Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) marched this morning in front of the Chinese Embassy in Makati to protest the ongoing crackdown against the Tibetan protesters.

Holding pictures of Tibetan victims of the killings, the groups denounced the restriction against international media coverage by China, preventing the world to see the real victims and perpetrators in the violence that followed the groundswell of protests last March. China has blamed the Tibetans for the violence, which pushed the Dalai Lama to threaten resignation. According to Tibetan groups, China precisely wanted that to happen towards removing moral authority from the Tibetan struggle and declaring them as terrorist. 

           “Numerous evidences have come out proving that Chinese police have dressed themselves up as monks and 
            as ordinary Tibetans, held knives, robbed and set shops in Lhasa into fire,” according to the statement of the
            groups. Already, at least 140 Tibetans were killed and 1000 imprisoned, most of them monks and nuns.

Speakers underscored the strategic interest of China in Tibet, which has deepened in the recent years. “As China built roads, railways, bridges in and through Tibet, the exploitation of their resources by Canadian, Australian and Chinese corporations left the Tibetan population as among the poorest in the world. Too, China’s primary weapon research and design facility is located in the northeastern Tibetan province of Amdo,” said Jing Geaga, Coordinator of the World March of Women in the Philippines.

Marlene Sindayen of the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) criticized the discrimination against Tibetan workers by the Chinese employers.

“Many Tibetans cannot find employment unless they speak Chinese,” according to Sindayen. Moreover, “virginity testing” is one of the most disturbing discriminatory practices against Tibetan women looking for employment.

The purpose of the virginity test is to determine a job applicant’s “fitness” for employment. This is done by putting a hand inside a woman to check her virginity.  Cases of violence against Tibetan women, especially torture and prostitution in the hands of Chinese authorities, were denounced.

According to Jean Enriquez, Executive Director of CATW-AP, “Sexual torture, is applied to women political prisoners, including the nuns. These include use of dogs, use of lighted cigarettes, stripping prisoners naked, and penetration of the women’s orifices with electrical batons.”

“Prostitution has staggeringly increased in the face of economic hardship and discrimination against Tibetan women. But the most important factor is probably the influx of Chinese soldiers,” added Enriquez. The Tibetan government in exile says there are 300,000 Chinese soldiers stationed in the autonomous region alone Tibetan victims of prostitution are as young as 13 or 14.
The groups made parallels between China’s complicity in the recent killings and imprisonment of numerous monks, nuns, women, students and workers by the Military Junta in Burma, and China’s complicity in the same acts in Tibet. Jun Bans of the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) called on the world to look intently into the incidents in Lhasa, and beyond that, understand the roots of the Tibetan people’s struggle. “Stop the violence against the Tibetans! Let the Olympic torch light the way toward restoring freedoms to the Tibetans,” Bans concluded.

A torch, parodying the Olympic symbol, is carried by the group. It was labeled “torch of freedom for the Tibetans.”
 


*Concerned Filipino and Tibetan Students - Metro Manila   
  Pema-Tetin, Contact Person    [Info to Post Soon]

MANILA, April 4, 2008 (AFP) -
A Tibetan student and 30 Filipino supporters staged a rally outside the Chinese embassy in
the Philippines on Friday to protest China's crackdown in Tibet.  The protesters unfurled banners
saying "Free Tibet Now," "Stop Military Suppression in Tibet," and "Respect Human Rights in Tibet"
in front of the consulate in the Manila financial district of Makati.

Protester Pema-Tetin, who described himself as a Tibetan student, told AFP
that they were not advocating separating from China. "They are trying to speak for peace in
Tibet," he said.  Pema-Tetin said he knew of 17 Tibetans in the Philippines, all of them
students. Most of them were returning home soon and wanted to keep a low profile, he added.
Police watched the peaceful protest from a distance but did not interfere.
There was no reaction from the consulate, and people who approached the building said it was closed.
While street protests are an almost daily occurrence in the Philippines, the activists usually target the
government or Western governments or affiliated institutions.

Unlike other Asian nationalities, many Filipinos are not familiar with the situation in Tibet,
and very few Tibetans study in the Philippines compared to other countries such as India,
United Kingdom and the Uni­ted States.



*Circle of Friends for a Free Tibet 
   Jacinto Vidal, Coordinator / Tel: 092 1761 6447 / Eml: serkol.friends@yahoo.com
   http://www.webspawner.com/users/sacredriver/tibetsupportpil.html

Press Release March 15, 2008
Sources: NYTimes, MsNBC and Reuters News

The Circle of Friends for Tibet – Philippines, a Tibet support group based in Cebu City would like to express its solidarity with the Tibetan people both inside and outside Tibet. Mass actions by Tibetans against the illegal occupation by China since 1949 have come to its peak this March 10, 2008 (celebrated as Tibet’s National Uprising Day). It was on this day in 1959 that Tibetans rose up against the Chinese after HH the Dalai Lama fled to India.

This year is more important to the Tibetans due to China’s hosting the summer Olympics. 
The Tibet issue has largely been unknown due to China’s mass censorship on news inside this occupied country.  Global supporters are currently using this issue to gain worldwide awareness on the Tibetans struggle for self determination, respect for their culture and to practice their religion without any restrictions.  

"One protester was trying to relay a message to the outside world and to their fellow Tibetans in exile saying
this will prove that all Tibetans are discontented and are against China’s illegal occupation of Tibet,
and are requesting all exiled Tibetans to continue with their struggle till Tibet is free."

Since China’s invasion, a million Tibetans have been estimated to have been killed and more than 5 thousand monasteries have been destroyed by the Chinese officials. This also drove their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in exile and currently stays in India.

We, the Circle of Friends of Tibet are requesting the Chinese government through its consular office in Cebu and its embassy in Manila to stop this inhuman treatment being done on the Tibetans. Stop the torture, mass arrest and killings of the peaceful protesters. We join the worldwide condemnation of China’s actions which is in contrast to the harmony and peace, the Olympics games is representing.  

*Free Tibet - Luzon   
  Terry Castro, Contact Person / San Mateo, Rizal / Tel 639207385388