【Villagesoup】Rally for Tibet on Camden Village Green

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Rally for Tibet on Camden Village Green

http://knox.villagesoup.com/Community/story.cfm?storyID=162262
By Lynda Clancy  The Herald Gazette Editor



CAMDEN (June 8): The Midcoast Chapter of Amnesty International and the organization's student group at Camden Hills Regional High School sponsored a rally for Tibet June 7 on the village green in Camden.

The Camden Village Green on June 7 was alive with color as the Midcoast Chapter of Amnesty Internati

The Camden Village Green on June 7 was alive with color as the Midcoast Chapter of Amnesty International held a rally for Tibet. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)


Later, at 5 p.m. at the Congregational Church, Jigme Norbu, nephew of the Dalai Lama, spoke about the current situation in Tibet and the struggle there for religious freedom and human rights.  "It is all about freedom of speech and freedom of expression," said Mary Ellen Crowley, co-coordinator of the Midcoast Chapter.  The rally for Tibet focused on assembling messages -- written, drawn or spoken -- in support of human rights to be sent to Wen Jiabao Guojia Zongli, prime minister of the People's Republic of China.  Amnesty International was founded in 1961 as a grassroots effort to stop human rights violations across the globe. Its mission is to expose the unjust imprisonment, discrimination, torture, abductions and executions in the world. The organization is independent and says in its mission that it "neither supports nor opposes any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion."

Messages were recorded to be sent to China. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Messages were recorded to be sent to China. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Amnesty International urges action via letter-writing campaigns, and lobbies government officials.  At the rally, Crowley was taping messages from citizens who sat before the camera. The messages were then to be loaded onto a DVD and packaged with the poster on the table, the petition, and individual letters, and sent to China.

The Amnesty International chapter established at Camden Hills Regional High School helped create pos

The Amnesty International chapter established at Camden Hills Regional High School helped create posters for the rally at the Camden Village Green. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Jigme Norbu is the son of the Dalai Lama's elder brother, Thubten Jigme Norbu, who died last September. He was also known as the Taktser Rinpoche, and was a writer, teacher and civil rights activist. His son, the 43-year-old Jigme, recently completed a walk from Indiana to New York City.  Norbu began his walk for peace, human rights and Tibet’s independence on March 10, the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in Lhasa. He dedicated the walk to the memory of his father, who spent his life fighting for Tibet’s independence, and all those thousands of Tibetans who have died as a direct result of China’s invasion and occupation of Tibet, according to the International Campaign for Tibet.

Messages to be sent to China included written posters. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Messages to be sent to China included written posters. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Crowley said the Midcoast Chapter of Amnesty International followed Norbu's walk and invited him to visit Camden. The chapter flew him to Maine and arranged for his June 7 talk.