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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tibetan Refugees Shot by Chinese Border Guards

Today, I learned for the first time about a horrible event that occurred on Sept. 30, 2006, at the border between Nepal and Tibet. A group of 75 Tibetans, among them children as young as 7 years old, were being led by 2 guides across the Himalayan Nangpa La pass (5,700m). This is near the mountain Cho Oyu, which lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal.



See the link Nangpa La Shootings - This story shows the utter brutality and lack of respect for human life of these "cold-blooded murderers" which masquerade as border guards for the Chinese government.

This story needs to be told, because it also demonstrates that a group of over 100 mountain climbers that witnessed the shootings were reluctant to give any information upon questioning by human rights organizations, supporting the cause of Tibet. They would rather remain silent than risk losing their privilege of climbing the Himalayas from the Chinese side. In other words, they would rather leave the plight of the Tibetans to be forgotten, than risk being black-listed by the Chinese. Fortunately, a couple of brave mountaineers were willing to break the story and to give evidence of the atrocities of the Chinese soldiers on that day in 2006.

An amazing BBC documentary was produced last year, called Tibet: Murder in the Snow. A preview can be seen here: Top Documentary Films -- Murder in the Snow

I was impressed by the quality of this documentary, including live footage from that September day in 2006. It needs to be seen by many people to demonstrate to the world the hypocrisy that is the Chinese government, and their willingness to shoot at their own people (if they claim that Tibet is their own). The more people that know about this, the more pressure can be brought to bear on the regime in power in China to allow for freedom of those who do not belong in China, because they are oppressed by their occupiers. Tibetans deserve to govern themselves, since the Chinese have shown their illegitimacy by their brutal actions.

Rightful government proves its right to govern by protecting human rights, not suppressing them. This message needs to go to all the brutal dictatorships that currently rule on this earth, and bring their ignorant, narrow-minded view to bear on the most precious human beings, those who are willing to fight for freedom of expression, at all costs. The cowards who would suppress them are too stupid to see their own image as it is: cold, uncaring, power-hungry demagogues, whose only wish is to preserve their power once they have grabbed it away from the hands and hearts of the people they are supposed to serve.

Yes, I speak of Iran as well. Need I mention it? Neda lives on in our hearts. She gave her life unwittingly to the cause of freedom all over the world. We will honour her memory by how we also fight for that very freedom, not shying from the dangers that might involve. For to get closer to the universal freedom and justice, we need to extinguish one by one those regimes that have only power and greed as their goals. History has demonstrated again and again that the will of the people cannot be silenced forever, because it grows and engulfs those weak-minded men and women who hide behind the force of arms, rather than to stand on the basis of genuine care for their fellow human beings.