I spent yesterday lobbying Congress on Tibet in my capacity as a Board member of Students for a Free Tibet and as a supporter of Tibetan freedom and rights. With me were about 150 Tibetans and supporters, meeting with House and Senate offices from across the country. It was a powerful statement of the involvement of the Tibetan exile community in American politics and the embrace of American democracy by Tibetan immigrants, while still looking for an end to China’s military occupation of Tibet.

Today – March 10th, 2009 – marks the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising, which began in Lhasa and provided the opportunity for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government to escape the Chinese military and relocate to India.  China first invaded Tibet in 1949. By 1959 there was a tense atmosphere, marked by armed resistance in many parts of Tibet. The Chinese military completely occupied Lhasa. Reports broke that the Chinese were going to attack the Dalai Lama, so hundreds of thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Dalai Lama’s summer palace, the Norbulinka. The Chinese military proceeded to bomb and shell it, as well as the Potala Palace, the Dalai Lama’s main residence in Lhasa. In secrecy, the Dalai Lama was able to escape. The Chinese were not aware of his absence for over two weeks.

The following 50 years of Chinese military occupation have resulted in the death of 1.2 million Tibetans, the destruction of nearly all of the religious institutions in Tibet, population transfer of ethnic Han Chinese to the point that Tibetans are a minority in their own country,  and the rape of one of the most important ecosystems in the world. Despite these drastic offenses, the Tibetan spirit and desire for freedom has not been extinguished. In the last year we have witnessed massive, passionate, peaceful protests across Tibet. These have not been limited to the small area defined by the Chinese government as Tibet, but stand out as a clear demarcation of the real borders of Tibet, as they stood more than 60 years ago.

China has turned Tibet, an area that makes up a quarter of their landmass and about the size of Western Europe, into the world’s largest prison. Cell phones are offline between March 10th and April 1st, an effort by the government to shut down Tibetans’ ability to communicate with each other and with the outside world. The internet inside Tibet is blocked. Foreign journalists are not allowed inside any part of Tibet. Foreign tourists have been banned from Tibet for over a month. In short, the only way information can get out of Tibet is by Tibetans who put their lives on the line to communicate with the outside world, often on lines of communication that are being monitored by Chinese security.

With all this going on, it’s not shocking that the Dalai Lama’s March 10th statement is a step forward in terms of his rhetoric and his willingness to not pull punches when describing the current situation.

Having occupied Tibet, the Chinese Communist government carried out a series of repressive and violent campaigns that have included “democratic” reform, class struggle, communes, the Cultural Revolution, the imposition of martial law, and more recently the patriotic re-education and the strike hard campaigns. These thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth….

These 50 years have brought untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet. Even today, Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear and the Chinese authorities remain constantly suspicious of them. Today, the religion, culture, language and identity, which successive generations of Tibetans have considered more precious than their lives, are nearing extinction; in short, the Tibetan people are regarded like criminals deserving to be put to death….

If Chinese leaders had any objections to our proposals, they could have provided reasons for them and suggested alternatives for our consideration, but they did not. I am disappointed that the Chinese authorities have not responded appropriately to our sincere efforts to implement the principle of meaningful national regional autonomy for all Tibetans, as set forth in the constitution of the People’s Republic of China.

Lhadon Tethong writes about this March 10th on Tibet Will Be Free, providing a much better contextualization of what’s really happening and how Tibetans are responding.

I am constantly moved by the incredible support that Tibetans receive from people of conscience all over the world. If it were up to the people, Tibet would have been freed a long time ago.

And, in times like these, when Tibetans inside Tibet are being so viciously terrorized by the Chinese authorities, global solidarity actions are like a light in the darkness – giving us all the morale boost we need to keep moving forward.

Already today, hundreds of people held an emotional rally at the Chinese embassy in Canberra while monks across Japan held prayer ceremonies and vigils for Tibetans suffering under Chinese rule. And Tibet Initiative Deutschland in Germany reported that 996 mayors will raise the Tibetan flag. They said last year the number was 922. This year, 11 dropped out due to Chinese government pressure but 85 new ones joined.

I’ll have more updates throughout the day.

Tyranny and brutality will not win out. After fifty years of occupation, it’s time for the Chinese government to recognize that no amount of suffering will force Tibetans to cease in the desire for their birth right of a free nation and human rights. The time to end the occupation is now.