From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 25 Jul 92 15:23 PDT
Subject: Tibetans Protest Dance Troupe
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700267:000:3519
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jul 25 15:23:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Tibetans Protest Dance Troupe

From amnesty@acs.ucalgary.ca Sat Jul 25 13:01:41 1992

******Tibetans To Protest Troupe*********

# 'Whitewash by China will not hide what is happening'

by Kate Zimmerman
June 23, 1992 (Calgary Herald)

     The Canada Tibet Committee is describing today's performances here by
a touring Tibetan Dance and Song Troupe as Chinese propaganda.

     "This simple whitewash by China will not hide what is happening in
Tibet", says committee member Nima Dorjee.  He claims the Chinese
government is funding the tour in an effort to convince the world that the
Chinese-Tibetan relations have improved.

     "We see the hypocrisy in the Chinese plans."

     Tibet has been under Communist control since 1950. Amnesty
International estimates that since then, over one million Tibetans have
died seeking independence.

     Amnesty called on China in May to stop "horrific violations of human
rights" in Tibet, saying it knows of 200 political prisoners currently
being held without trial.  Amnesty and other groups say torture of
prisoners is widespread and that more than 6,000 monasteries, the Tibetan
centres of culture and learning, have been destroyed.

     Last June, Wen Yezhan, China's ambassador to Canada, dismissed claims
of human rights abuses as "simply nonsense."

     Dorjee keeps abreast of the Tibetan situation through an
international network.  He points to the irony of Tibetans performing
traditional songs and dances here when, in their homeland, a man was
recently sentenced to three years in labor camp for merely suggesting that
friends wear Tibetan costume on a Chinese national holiday.

     At home, Tibetans can jailed for singing their own songs and executed
for singing their own songs and executed for waving their flag, Dorjee
says.  The word "rangzen," meaning "independence," is banned.  Meanwhile,
the Chinese "are trying to show through a small group like this that there
has been no cultural destruction in Tibet."

     Dorjee says the country is experiencing apartheid. He compares the
atrocities carried out against Tibetans by the Chinese to the horrors of
Nazi Germany.

     On a 1987 tour, he saw restaurants throw leftovers on the floor so
Tibetan beggars could fight with dogs for their food.  He was refused
service when salespeople discovered his heritage. "Tibetans are very much
second-class citizens," he says.

     The Tibetan Dance and Song Troupe shows will feature opera, dances,
songs and music from Tibet and China. Scheduled for the Martha Cohen
Theatre at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m., they will be marked by peaceful protests,
just as they were in Vancouver last week.

     The Committee bears no ill will against the performers, Dorjee says.
"They're sort-of like caged nightingales, having to sing the tunes of the
captor.  We have nothing against them.  In fact, we'd love to meet with
them."

     According to Dorjee, attempts by Canadian Tibetans to get together
with the touring company have been rebuffed by Chinese communities in
Vancouver and Calgary.

     But the Canada Tibet Committee is determined to make its presence
felt.

     "We want to counter what the Chinese brought the dancers here to do
and also, I think, let other Tibetans in Tibet know that we have not
forgotten them," says Dorjee. "We have not forgotten the sacrifices they
have made."

     Representatives of the Calgary Chinese Community, which is presenting
the troupe, were unavailable for comment.