h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You Could Help Save A Life

... that of Tibetan monk, Tenzin Delek Rimpoche, under sentence of death since 2002, under a trumped-up charge of "causing explosions." There is no evidence whatever that he was in any way involved with "subversive activity" in Tibet. He was a popular upholder of Buddhism, active in social and environmental concerns, therefore unpopular with the Chinese authorities. His colleague was executed after a show trial two years ago, while Tenzin Delek's sentence was suspended till now.

He could be taken out and shot any time between now and January 23rd (depending on which date the Chinese decide terminates the suspension of his death sentence.) Even if he is not executed, life imprisonment in a Chinese labour camp is an effective death sentence, with torture, malnutrition, overwork and disease a constant threat to his well-being.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION IF YOU CAN (Courtesy of SFT...Students for a Free Tibet, Canada)

It's day 4 of the Week of Action for Tenzin Delek, and today, we are asking you to call the Chinese embassy in Canada. Please call +001-613-789-3434 and dial extension '248' (political affairs). You will be transferred, and then hear a recorded message. Please leave your message after the tone. If you don't make the call on Sunday, then please try to call during embassy hours on Monday: 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm, Eastern Standard Time. Dial the same extension, but be prepared to speak to a person. If that extension doesn't work on Monday, you can also try 223 (administration).


Please say:
- You are calling to ask China not to execute a Tibetan monk who is in prison, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
- Tenzin Delek could be executed in the next few weeks for crimes he did not commit.
- China must overturn his death sentence and free him.
- Please make sure to pass this message on to Ambassador Mei Ping.

Perhaps if I were equipped with information regarding all sides of this situation I might be in a position to take a stance on it.

However, as with almost all of these kind of posts/chain emails/shouting students waving useless petitions in the street, there's only one massively simplified viewpoint on offer. It is offered with nothing but the best of intentions, but regrettably from an uninformed position, and (as here) specifically worded and designed to appeal to the sympathies of good natured people whilst giving out the minimum of actual information for fear of people being able to make their own judgements.

I therefore feel it would be unwise and irresponsible of me to take any of the action you suggest. Perhaps I could suggest you could take some sort of action in your own community - save, or at least improve the quality of, a life nearer to home. Sadly there are few people who can say that there aren't people living and dying in hardship, sadness or poverty within a few miles of their homes. I think you'll find your efforts will have far more effect there.

Those who need to learn more should visit A2170982 - h2g2 Friends of Tibet page where I am sure j-t-g and Chaiwallah have more information available.

If you want to run something in The Post you need to formulate a rounded, informative entry and submit it to the Post Offive.

shazz

Dear Psychochicken,

I have no doubt that your remarks are well-intentioned, even if your manner is more than a bit condescending. It may interest you to know that in some sixteen years of working for the cause of the much-abused Tibetans [who languish under one of the cruellest current regimes (which, incidentally routinely executes many times more people per annum than the rest of the world put together)] I have seen several of our campaigns have direct effects on the lives of the prisoners concerned. The release of the young nun Ngawang Sangdrol, and several of her colleagues, from Drapchi prison in Lhasa last year being a case in point. The release of Gendun Rinchen back in 1994 was another case where our campaign led directly to an early release ( despite a possible death-sentence!)

This situation is not to be compared with the endless self-perpetuating internet petitions that circulate to little effect.

As to problems nearer home, that point is perfectly valid. But neither should it be made an excuse for inaction. Particularly where China is concerned, the worrying trend, especially in Europe just now, is that our politicians are so keen to trade with China, that all human rights considerations are being hurriedly side-lined. And this is of concern not just for Tibetans, but for the Chinese themselves. The most recent statistics show that in China, mine-workers are dying at the rate of over 15,000 per year, 100 times the global average. But safety considerations count for little in a country where cheap coal still provides 80% of the country's hungry industrial energy needs. Free Trade Unions are strictly forbidden, and protesters after a recent mine disaster were shot by police for demonstrating about dangerous work conditions.

According to Harry Wu, who spent 18 years in a Chinese labour camp, and has famously documented the way in which much of China's competitive cheap labour depends on labour camp "factories," the current regime in China, having shed all pretence of communist idealism, is now, in the strictest sense, a nationalist, socialist, totalitarian regime, in a word, Nazi.

So finally, Psychochicken, my feeling is that we who are aware of the appalling abuses which are routine under this regime, behind the glowing facade of economic liberalisation, have a duty to speak up for those who are tortured, imprisoned without trial or shot if they attempt to speak for themselves. There is nothing as bad as this "at home," for which I am deeply grateful, but I do contribute to organisations helping those in need here.

If you're interested in taking action, you could also call the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand:

Today, please call the Chinese embassy in New Zealand at +64-4-472-1382. Enter extension 619 (for the Ambassador's secretary), and wait to be transferred. A recorded message will come on, and you can leave a message after the tone. (Remember to be prepared to speak with a person, just in case.) If extension 619 stops working, you can also use extension 612 or 616, both for the political office, and just follow the instructions to leave a message.

(1) That China does not execute Tenzin Delek Rimpochay
(2) That he is released unconditionally
(3) That this message is given to Ambassador Chun Mingming

Thanks folks, remember, you can help save his life.

PS Psychochicken, if you are interested in more detailed background information...
Here's a link to the newly published ( today) Amnesty International Report on Human Rights in China:

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa170452004

Chaiwallah,

You say that your post "is not to be compared with the endless self-perpetuating internet petitions that circulate to little effect". Unfortunately I found it completely indistinguishable, but at least now anyone reading your first post will have ready access to more information to make their own choice (even if much of it is from the far from balanced and overtly political organisation that is Amnesty). Thank you for clarifying the situation - it strenghthens your appeal immesurably.

I never doubted the nobility of your intentions, and sincerely apologise for any offence caused, but it really gets my goat when people go off metaphorically parading around the world solving everyone else's ills, when there are so many real issues to be resolved right here at home.

Sure, we don't have too many people being executed or much in the way of forced labour camps (call centres aside), but there are many hundreds of thousands of people living in poverty and sadness all around us. Children suffer horrific abuse or are without proper families for all sorts of reasons - none of them their fault; the elderly sit lonely without visitors, shivering in homes which they cannot afford to heat - many die each year from hypothermia; disabled people in this country (the UK, by the way) currently get the rawest deal in Europe when it comes to accessibility of services and amenities. I choose to invest my energies and resources in helping them. Someone's got to, when the socially hip people are off helping people on the other side of the world.

I've been to your home page and see that you have posted this message there too - I would never have questioned you there, but here, in The Post's public forum I'm afraid you have to be ready for people who will disagree with you.

Kind regards and best wishes for your cause,


PS: Interesting tea ideas.....

Yesterday, the US Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for Tenzin Delek's release. This is the result of your work and others like you - congratulations! Click here to see the text of the resolution.


Today, please call the Chinese embassy in India and ask for Rinpoche's release. Dial the following numbers between 9am - 4pm (5 1/2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time).


Please call: +91-11-26886258. If you aren't getting through and would like to try other numbers in India, please call:


Consular Section: +91-11-26116682


Administration: +91-11-26118939

Press Office: +91-11-26881249


If you would rather send a message by fax, please send to: +91-11-26885486.


*If no one is picking up the phone in India, please call the Chinese Embassy in Ireland at +353-1-2691707 instead.

Please say:
- You are calling to ask China not to execute a Tibetan monk who is in prison, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
- Tenzin Delek could be executed in the next few weeks for crimes he did not commit.
- China must overturn his death sentence and free him.
- Please make sure to pass this message on to Ambassador Hua Junduo (pronounced Whah Juen Doo-O) in India, or Ambassador Sha Hailin (pronounced Hai as in 'bye' and Lin as in 'bin') in Ireland).

Please, Chaiwallah, I have already requested you nicely to go through the proper channels if you want something included in The Post:

>>If you want to run something in The Post you need to formulate a rounded, informative entry and submit it to the Post Office.<<

This is starting to become too much like spam - albeit spam with the best of intentions - and, as such, may well be removed.

shazz