Photo: VOT
His Holiness the Dalai Lama granted an audience to the exiled Tibetans supporting the cause for an independent Tibet on the final day of the fifth International Rangzen Conference in Dharamshala. Rangzen, which is Tibetan for “freedom”, is the name of a movement which describes itself as a “loose network of volunteers” who believe in and work for an independent Tibet free from Chinese rule. It has no official status and its main objective is to “keep the dream of Rangzen alive”.
More than a hundred Tibetan activists, students and community leaders from India, Nepal, United States of America and Europe attended the three-day meeting which began on May 23.
May 23 was chosen for its historical significance as the day the “Seventeen-Point Agreement” was signed on May 23, 1951, in Beijing. The agreement was signed by Ngabo Ngawang Jigme – he was the leader of the Tibetan delegation sent to China in 1951 to negotiate for Tibet’s freedom in the face of the Chinese invasion. Today China still uses this document to validate its claim that Tibet is part of the People’s Republic of China and not an independent country.
Prominent Tibetan independence advocates Jamyang Norbu (left), Lhasang Tsering (second right), Tenzin Tsundue (right), and supporter Vujay Kranti, during the Fifth International Rangzen Conference
Photo: Tibet Sun
During the conference the participants reviewed the Tibetan freedom movement and discussed issues ranging from the ongoing crisis in Tibet to creating and agreeing practical steps for the freedom movement.
The opening ceremony was attended by Ajay Singh Mankotia, President of the Dharamshala Indo-Tibetan Friendship Association as Chief Guest. The guests of honour included Tibetan writer-activists Lhasang Tsering and Jamyang Norbu, veteran Indian journalist and long-time Tibet supporter Vijay Kranti and Tibetan Parliamentarians Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar, Geshe Monlam Tharchin, Tenpa Yarphel, Serta Tsultrim and Juchen Konchok.
The conference concluded on May 25 with a declaration that the demand for an independent Tibet, which is “the will of the dead and hope of the living” will be passed on as inheritance from father to son and generations to come will treat this struggle as their soul.
Rangzen conferences have been held since 2012, the first in Dharamshala in 2012 since when three more have taken place: Delhi in 2015, New York City in 2016, and Paris in 2017.
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