Transcripted by Tsering Namgyal
Home. Where is home for one that has never seen their own beautiful country and, in my case, “bhoe” (Tibet)? Tashi Delek, everyone, my name is Chemi Lhamo, and I was born stateless in South India. Yearning my whole life for a place that I call home but have never seen, but I also fight every single day to someday return home.
In my community, we often say every Tibetan born after 1959 is born an activist that’s because when there is a colonial regime out there in the world that is actively on a global expansionist mission attempting to eradicate every aspect of our Tibetan identity, our existence just our mere existence becomes resistance. In Tibet, simply holding this flag, the Tibetan national flag, results in imprisonment, devotion, and faith in Tibetan Buddhism. Our literature and music are banned.
During this Tibetan New Year, Gaychum Dorjee was arrested for singing a song simply referring to Tibetans as birds stuck in a cage. His whereabouts are still unknown today, just like His Holiness the Panchen Lama, who in two days will have been missing for 29 years. That’s longer than I have been born.
The attack is on, one, our culture; two, our way of life; and three, our language. You see, culture is often referred to as the way of life of an entire society. It’s the collective programming of the mind that makes us unique humans; it’s what dignifies us and gives meaning to our lives. And that is exactly what the Chinese government is hellbent on eradicating to our way of life, which is deep in our environment but is being ravaged by the Chinese government with mega development like the dam that they have built in Dege, Kham. Displacing tens of thousands of our local community who have ancestral branches of knowledge that have allowed them to care and be the compassionate towards one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world. , the same ecosystem that serves the water source for 1.4 billion people in the downstream countries.
The very environment that, as I speak, is where the Chinese government is stealing lithium, gold, copper, and rare earth, producing high-end tech consumer products that are sold to more than 180 countries in the world.
Just two years ago, Tibet Action Institute released a report where 8000 Tibetan children between the ages of 6 and 18 are being forced into colonial boarding schools. But you know what? They are hiding something else. , there is a hidden policy where children, even 4 to 5 years old, are stolen from their families, which Dr. Gyalo, educational sociologist, spoke last year on this stage about with firsthand research where he saw his own grand nieces no longer being able to speak in their mother tongue within just three months.
With these insidious tactics of the Chinese government, I am reminded that the last generation that saw a free Tibet is passing away. Our stories and newer generations are being psychologically modified to become like the Chinese. Mother’s Day just passed. I remember talking to my mother and telling her to thank you and that I love you. But the million Tibetan children inside Tibet they are separated from their mothers; they are awaiting the action of this international community.
You see, every aspect of our Tibetan identity is under attack because the Chinese government has realized that violence, the oppression, the social and economic discrimination, the cultural-religious oppression, and the environmental destruction.
The re-education camp, the forced displacement, and the torture of political prisoners. All of that does not work on us. Has not worked because our people, my people, back home inside Tibet continue to rise until today.
Over 160 Tibetans have self-immolated themselves. The act of burning oneself on fire, not harming anyone else themselves, and calling for two things. One is the return of his holiness, the Dalai lama, to his rightful place inside Tibet. And two. Freedom with billions of dollars invested by the Chinese government. Their oppression goes beyond the borders of Tibet to control and infiltrate our societies. To intimidate us to sell their narratives. Silence our calls for freedom. And I got that stark reminder in 2019 when I ran to become my student union university’s president.
There was a petition signed by over 11000 people saying I didn’t deserve to run. Because to run. Because of my Tibetan spirit, I was subjected to a flurry of thousands of threats, dead, and rape against me and my family members. I was constantly under daily surveillance. Students on my own campus were sent on a mission to follow me. Take pictures, and follow me into the washroom. Still, to this day, one moment that I remember is getting personal messages that said your mom is dead. I remember having to call my mother at random times to make sure that she was okay without scaring her.
Two years later, in 2021 in Greece, during the Olympic torch ceremony, simply being Tibetan in the streets, my friends were subjected to unreasonable detainment under the direction of Chinese operatives that were undercover—instructing Greek police.
Just recently, in 2023, during the apex summit in San Francisco in the USA. Three young people and I unfurled a 30 ft banner on the fourth floor of a parking lot that was opposite the hotel that Xi Jinping was in. Suddenly, while we were holding our banner, we felt tugs on our wrists. Suddenly, our weights started to shift over the railing. They tried to pull us down from the fourth-floor parking lot. Soon after letting go, we were attacked by 15 men who marched as a unit on American soil and stole our banner.
Be it in Canada, San Francisco, or Greece, we, the voice of dissent, are subjected to violence because of the complacency and the inaction of the international community, from 2014 where students were denied to bring the rights to Tibetan flag into their Canadian universities because of Confucious institute. To now, local police are getting directives to stay silent. Or in the case of just a few days ago in Hungary during the last leg of the Europe trip of dictator Shi Jinping, where the Chinese police were not just giving directions, they were given authority by the Hungarian government to control Hungarian streets. So for us, even in exile, no matter where we are, they deploy. to silence us.
Given exactly this context, our international community this international community must not, cannot be silent. This silence is not golden when it results in emboldening a regime like the Chinese government. Economy ties the excuse. While your democratic country actively chooses to shake the bloody hands of the Chinese government. Also results and means that you have blood on your hands.
What is truly golden, and Norbhu, as we say in Tibetan for the precious jewel, is the voices uniting. It’s the work of our youth activists at Students for Free Tibet and everywhere around the world. Despite not being even allowed to bring this, just days ago in Paris, we unfurled a 10-meter banner that read “Free Tibet Dictator Xi Jinping Your Time Is Up” right in front of his motorcade.
With the spirit of my ancestor, the resistance of Tibetans inside Tibet, and thousands of young Tibetans around, we are constantly reminded of our duty and responsibility. Not just as Tibetans but as global citizens, to fight for a world that is free for everyone. The rise of autocracies today is because of their intricate connection. They share secrets with each other. Tactics on from the genocidal people. So it’s ever more crucial that we work together. The human activist defenders, supporters, allies, and democratic governments, we must also continue to rise and work together because when the people are united, we will never be defeated.
Rather than being complicit and benefiting at the cost of Tibet, I ask you, the members of the international community, to stand with us and say the words “Free Tibet.” Make moves to act on the calls that are ignored by the Chinese government. Just one year ago, when your experts called for the abolishment of the coercive residential school in Tibet, push for unfettered access to Tibet for an independent investigation.
And someday, very soon, I can’t wait to invite you all to join my people and me in free Tibet. We shall host you with a warm welcome Tibetan greeting by touching our foreheads, eating Tibet, and enjoying our tea, which is not made with milk and sugar but actually with butter and salt. Thank you, bhoe gaylo and Free Tibet.
Lhamo’s Speech:http://Chemi Lhamo – Free Tibet | 2024 Geneva Summit
