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 41 year-old Tsering Deki and her family are part of a world-wide diaspora community that campaigns for the rights of Tibetans remaining in Tibet. She speaks to Meera Atkinson.
Tsering Deki is an Australian citizen of Tibetan heritage and president of Australian Capital Territory Tibetan Community Inc. Like many Tibetans, her parents followed the Dalai Lama into exile in India in the wake of the Chinese invasion. Deki grew up living in India with her parents, although extended family members remained in Tibet. After living for many years in Japan and now Australia, 41 year-old Deki and her family are part of a world-wide diaspora community that campaigns for the rights of Tibetans remaining in Tibet. Deki spoke with Meera Atkinson just after the Olympic torch relay had passed through her hometown of Canberra. Have you always been an activist?
I’ve always been interested. Every year on the 10th of March, which is the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan national uprising, we take to the street and commemorate that day. This is my first experience of being political. Even in India when I was little on the 10th of March we would always protest.  This March was the 49th anniversary of the uprising day and in Canberra we held a candlelight vigil and protested outside the Chinese embassy. In Tibet they had a huge protest which led to smaller protests happening all over and that’s when the Chinese cracked down on the peaceful protests, which caused people to become violent and that’s what caused the riots the Chinese are talking about.
In Tibet the protesters are simple people who don’t have any arms and aren’t looking for violence. They were peacefully protesting but in Tibet it is seen as a crime to raise your voice against the Chinese government so they were crushed quickly. Other Tibetans who saw this couldn’t stand by and not feel any frustration and anger. Describe the energy in the Tibetan diaspora community at the moment...
Tibet has been illegally occupied by China since the 1950s and right now we have close to 130,000 Tibetans in exile. The oppression of the Tibetan people in Tibet has been so brutal that the Tibetans have been not able to express any freedom of speech or practice our own culture. It’s been going on for so long and the world doesn’t know much about it. Tibet is closed to the rest of the world. No journalists are allowed inside, no independent fact-finding delegations are allowed in even though the United Nations and other agencies want to send them. For those of us living in freedom outside we feel it’s a moral obligation to be a voice for those inside Tibet. From the March protests and up to now we know that more that more than 153 Tibetans died and over 4,000 Tibetans have been imprisoned just since March. These are precious lives. Nuns and monks took part in the protests and the monasteries and nunneries are being punished by having food and water supplies cut. They’re starving to death. And this is what we know about. Tibet is shut off from the world. We don’t know what goes on there. There could be many who are unaccounted for. Have Tibetan people given up on independence?
There are some who still feel, “Why should we give up independence when we were an independent country until China took over?” But many, like the Dalai Lama who is the leader of Tibet, are thinking of a middle way approach, where Tibet will not seek independence from China and will remain a region in China but will have genuine autonomy to look after Tibetan affairs and preserve our own culture and identity. What was the torch protest like?
We wanted to do our best to raise awareness and we protested in a peaceful way. We want to make it clear we’re not opposing the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing and we don’t have anything against the Chinese people. We are saying that the human rights situation in Tibet has to improve. What do you say to people who say these protests have been inappropriate because the torch is supposed to be a non-political symbol of unity?
China is using the Olympics and the torch relay to show the world what a great power it has become so they’ve already politicised it. If that was not the case why take the torch to Tibet? That is to legitimise that Tibet is part of China. There are so many other parts of China they could take it to. How does your Buddhist faith relate to your activism?
Tibetan Buddhism is not just chanting prayers, it’s a way of life for Tibetans. We practice compassion and kindness so even though the Chinese have done bad things we practise forgiveness. These things are common in all religions and it gives us strength.
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