Chitues Ven Thubten Wangchen and Wangpo Tethong
Photo:screen grab
A new website which aims to strengthen Tibetan communities in Europe, The Future of Tibet, www.future-of-tibet.org, was launched on January 13. As well as strengthening Tibetan communities in Europe, the website aims to build up the ongoing Tibet movement and its activities in Europe. It was created by two members of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, Ven Thubten Wangchen and Mr Wangpo Tethong.
A feature of the website is a petition addressed to the Kashag and the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) regarding the need to build a Tibetan community in the west that can meet the challenges of the 21st century. The core objective of this petition is to preserve Tibetan culture and its identity as a community and the petition urges the CTA to take responsibility for the preservation of Tibetan culture in the west and develop policies to further this aim. To achieve these aims, the petition is calling for a combined effort of youth, parents and Tibetan communities in the west, in addition to more leadership from the CTA.
The petition draws attention to the need for Tibetan community centres including temples, and suggests a combination of training/courses, restaurants/entertainment, exchanges on business opportunities/skills, libraries, meeting rooms and offices, which could all play an important role in keeping the Tibetan community together.
Speaking to Voice of America, Chitue Ven Thupten Wangchen said: “We are not asking for full financial support from the CTA but their contribution will clearly show their support for this initiative and that will mean a lot to us. Even with a community hall, we can do a lot of activities to preserve and cultivate Tibetan culture and religion in Europe.
More than 30,000 Tibetans have migrated to the west, changing the balance of the Tibetan exile community within a few years. This is a challenge as well as a huge potential for building a strong Tibetan community in the west.
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