The World is Listening
On Friday May 16, the Western Shugden Society organized another demonstration against the Dalai Lama, this time in Germany.
Almost 400 people gathered in the Ruhr district town of Bochum to protest against the Dalai Lama’s continued religious discrimination against Shugden practitioners, and his abuse of human rights.
It was a truly international demonstration with protesters coming from Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, USA, Canada, and even Australia.
There were monks, nuns and lay people, all united in their outrage at the hypocrisy of the Dalai Lama lecturing people in the West on human rights while inflicting unbearable suffering on his own people.
And, once again, conspicuous among the protesters was a group of Tibetans, including exiled Geshes, who showed remarkable courage in publicly declaring their opposition to the Dalai Lama despite the very real threat to them and their families.
Growing interest
A remarkable feature of the demonstration was the extraordinary amount of press interest it evoked, with dozens of journalists, cameras, and radio reporters interviewing our spokespeople.
That evening and the following day many articles and TV and radio features appeared in the German press.
And once again, thousands of booklets, The Tibetan Situation Today, this time in German, were handed out to passers by and people attending the event.
One of the Tibetan members of the Western Shugden Society stood at the edge of the road handing out leaflets to passing cars. What a wonderful spectacle it was to see a line of approaching cars with their windows wound down and hands held out at the ready to receive the leaflets.
Tired arguments
At one point the Dalai Lama’s translator Dorje Damdul and the Dalai Lama’s representative in Geneva were sent out to talk to the demonstrators
Using the same tired arguments they have used before, the Dalai Lama’s agents sought to convince those present that there was no persecution of Shugden practitioners.
Their protestations won little favor from Kelsang Pema, the WSS spokesperson, who had visited India on two occasions and witnessed the persecution first-hand – not to mention from the assembled Tibetan Geshes, monks, and lay people, in particular Geshe Kunchog Gyaltsen, all of whom had harrowing tales to tell of persecution, intimidation, and ostracism they had personally experienced.
PR Machine
In truth the Dalai Lama presented to the West by the Tibetan PR machine is a far cry from the tyrant experienced by the Tibetans and Shugden practitioners worldwide For political reasons he has abandoned a precious 400 year old practice given to him by his own Spiritual Guide and then sought to justify his actions by demonizing those who still practice it.
And he and his government in exile will stop at nothing to ensure the practice is totally eradicated, regardless of the immense human suffering he causes in the process.
Common voice
But now the victims of the Dalai Lama’s human rights abuses have found a common voice in the Western Shugden Society, and they are committed to protesting whenever he makes a public appearance until the world understands the true nature of his actions and he is forced to stop persecuting those who refuse to join him in abandoning their heart practice.
As the demonstration in Bochum showed, the world’s media and politicians are beginning to listen – and it will not be long before people begin to see for themselves the dark truth behind the Dalai Lama’s smile.
Published: 21 May 2008