Three protests in London
Thursday 22 and Friday 23 of May saw two days of protest in London England, with growing numbers of people taking to the streets to expose the hypocrisy of the Dalai Lama and demand an end to the religious discrimination and intimidation he is inflicting on millions of Shugden practitioners around the world.
In an act of bare faced hypocrisy, the Dalai Lama began Thursday by meeting with the British Foreign Affairs Committee to testify against human rights abuses by China, while he and his government in exile are inflicting such abuses on thousands of his own people, and now on countless innocent people around the world outside of the Tibetan community.
Using his celebrity status as a smokescreen, and taking full advantage of the sycophantic adulation of politicians and decision makers around the world, he is perpetrating an extraordinary inversion of the truth by outlawing a perfectly harmless practice he himself once enjoyed and then demonizing those who continue with it.
Using the medieval structures of his government in exile he is ensuring that those who refuse to comply with his acts of religious treachery are subjected to intimidation, humiliation, and ostracism, while he receives awards in the West for his pursuit of the “way of peace” and his championing of the cause of religious freedom!
Little wonder then that when he and the Committee members arrived at Portcullis House on the banks of the Thames, they were greeted by cries of “Dalai Lama, Stop Lying” from the assembled protesters from the Western Shugden Society.
In the shadow of Big Ben, at the very heart of the seat of the British Government, the protesters once again delivered their message with placards, banners, slogans, press interviews, and booklets documenting the Dalai Lama’s human rights abuses.
That afternoon, the Dalai Lama gave yet another talk on human rights, this time at the Royal Albert Hall.
What a shock it must have been for him as his motorcade drove past over 1000 protesters lining almost an entire city block standing in opposition to his exploitation of his religious office for narrow political purposes.
As he turned into Kensington Gore and the chants of “Stop Lying, Stop Lying” reached a crescendo, it must have been very clear to him that people living in a free, democratic country will not tolerate his crude attempts to suppress their religious freedom, not to mention the insults and innuendo he levels against the practice of Dorje Shugden and those who rely on it.
There were people from many different countries and ethnicities – almost half of them monks and nuns united in their outrage at his hypocrisy. What must the public have made of the spectacle of nearly 400 monks and nuns lining the streets of London to demand the Dalai Lama stop lying?
Certainly the press had a lot of questions to ask. Our spokesperson, Kelsang Pema conducted interview after interview against the backdrop the 1000 protesters. For five hours the people chanted their protests, and for five hours the press asked questions.
The information we gave them is all verifiable fact, and it is just a question of time before the world press investigates the murky world of Tibetan politics and discovers for themselves the truth about this hidden persecution.
Those who lined the streets of London were not an uncritical mass all too willing to buy into his superstitious talk of cultic deities and evil spirits, but an intelligent, discerning group of people from all walks of life who have personal experience of the beneficial effects of the Dorje Shugden practice in helping them develop pure minds of love, compassion, and wisdom, and who refuse to allow the Dalai Lama to dictate to them what they can and cannot practice.
The strength of feeling they expressed in their chanting and the passion that showed in their faces were indications of how seriously they take this issue, but the happiness and laughter in between, the good natured behaviour of the crowd, and the praise they won from the police for their conduct are indications that in truth this was a group of mature Buddhist practitioners exercising their democratic right to expose an injustice to the British public.
By now, the Dalai Lama and his agents can have little doubt about the scale of the opposition to his religious discrimination. Indeed, as the convoy of buses left from the South Steps behind the Albert Hall at the end of the day, it was clear to everyone that here was a group of people to be taken seriously.
The next morning, the Dalai Lama drove to Lambeth Palace to meet the British Prime Minister, and once again the Western Shugden Society was there, at the gates, to deliver their message to him, the British Government, and the world’s press.
And as he left the palace and looked from his car to see the protesters still there with no less enthusiasm or determination, he must have wondered if he would ever again be able to make a public appearance without these voices of protest being raised.
And the answer is, Yes – just as soon as he lifts his ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden, ceases to discriminate against those who rely on him, and leaves people alone to practice their religious beliefs freely without interference, intimidation, or humiliation.
Published: 25 May 2008