PRESSEMELDING 13.08.08

Tibet-aktivister henge banner, sperret Beijings "KINESISK ETNISKE KULTUR PARK"
Tibetanske kvinne sammen med Syv andre er i arrestert i Beijing i dag.
Link bilde og video:
http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/ethnicpark/
Beijing – Five Tibet activists blockaded the front entrance of the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, at the south end of the Olympic Park, at 12:30pm today. The five were behind locked bicycles across the entrance to the park, which prominently features an exhibit of Tibetan culture. They wore t-shirts reading "Free Tibet" and held a banner reading "Tibetans Are Dying for Freedom." A sixth activist, a Tibetan-Japanese woman, made a statement about what they were doing and the situation on the ground in Tibet. Nearby, two other activists unfurled a banner over a pedestrian bridge, which read "Free Tibet."
The two activists at the bridge were immediately detained by security officials. The six outside the park were detained after approximately five minutes. The activists are: Pema Yoko, 25, a Tibetan-Japanese woman resident in the UK; Americans Tom Cohen, 41; Martin Thomas, 36; Jennifer Kirby, 30; Jene DeSpain, 31; James Brady, 41; Bani Campozano, 20; and Jonathan Fox, 29, an Israeli-American. Their present whereabouts are unknown.

Construction for the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park began in 1992 when Beijing bid for the 2000 Olympics. A key priority for the Chinese government in its Olympics propaganda has been to portray a picture of harmony between Han Chinese and Tibetans, as well as Chinese minority groups. The Culture Park is a tool in the Chinese government's attempt to convince Chinese citizens as well as the rest of the world of the legitimacy of its rule in Tibet.

"The Chinese government is actively waging an Olympics propaganda campaign to showcase Tibet as legitimately theirs and Tibetans as happy under Chinese rule, but the reality is much different," said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. "While Tibetan song and dance is on display in Beijing, in Tibet, our culture is under siege and our people are being forcibly kept from speaking out about their repression at the hands of the Chinese authorities."

As part of this crackdown, there has been a dramatic increase of troops in sensitive areas in eastern Tibet. Two Tibetan women were shot last Saturday, August 9th, in Ngaba, eastern Tibet (Chinese: Aba, Sichuan). One was injured in the hand and one in the leg; they are currently in the Ngaba County Civil Hospital. Since August 3rd, troops have increased from 2,000 in the town and surrounding area to 10,000 in the town alone. On March 16th, Chinese paramilitary troops fired into a crowd of peaceful protesting Tibetans in Ngaba, killing up to 13 according to eyewitnesses.

Den norske TIBET-komité

Den norske Tibet-komité er en partipolitisk uavhengig, landsomfattende organisasjon som er dannet for å arbeide for tibetanernes rettigheter. Tibet-komitéen ble stiftet våren 1989 og har ca 1500 medlemmer. Det finnes tilsvarende støtte-organisasjoner for Tibet over hele verden. Den norske Tibet-komité er en av de største og mest aktive. Våren 1994 arrangerte vi i Norge en konferanse for de europeiske støttegruppene.

Norge og nordmenn har fått en spesiell stilling blant tibetanere etter at deres religiøse og politiske leder, Dalai Lama, i 1989 mottok Nobels fredspris. Flere av de tibetanerne som kom til Norge på 60-tallet, bor her fortsatt, og de er aktive i komitéen. Våren 1996 begynte radiostasjonen Voice of Tibet med sendinger til Tibet, og Norge har igjen styrket sin posisjon i tibetanernes bevissthet.

Tibet ble okkupert av Kina i 1950, og tibetanernes situasjon blir stadig forverret. Fundamentale menneskerettigheter brytes, og den rike tibetanske kulturen står nå i fare for å bli utslettet.

Den norske Tibet-komité har som formål å:

• Få norske myndigheter til anerkjenne Tibet som et okkupert land
  
• Informere om brudd på menneskerettigheter, økonomisk utbytting og diskriminering av tibetanere
  
• Gjøre Tibets rike kultur kjent i Norge