Back in Boston, Tethong is hopeful. "If you think about the resources that the Chinese state has thrown at occupying Tibet and crushing Tibetan spirit, this issue should be over," she said. "And it's not far from it. I think that the resistance spirit that was in the streets in Lhasa in March 1959 still exists with an entirely new generation of Tibetans inside Tibet where protests and resistance continues to this day."
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From Salt Lake City, home to many Tibetans:
The marchers in Salt Lake City on Sunday joined Tibetans across the world in holding a rally to mark the 60th Tibetan National Uprising Day, and renewed their call for an end to Chinese occupation and the return of the Dalai Lama to his home. Waving Tibetan and American flags and holding signs with statements such as "Human Rights in Tibet," "Long live his Holiness the Dalai Lama," and "China out of Tibet," local Tibetans marched from the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building, 125 South State Street, to the state Capitol.Before the march, the group rallied with prayers, chants and the reading of several proclamations, both in English and their native language.
A proclamation by Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski declaring Sunday as "Tibet Day in Salt Lake City" was read. In it, the mayor stated that, "Salt Lake City is committed to promoting and preserving the Tibetan culture, heritage and religion."
A statement by the Central Tibetan Administration was also read to the group. The administration called for "freedom-loving people of the world to commit to end oppression in Tibet and to commit to fight against impunity."
There are approximately 280 Tibetans in Salt Lake City, according to the Utah Tibetan Association, including many that came to America directly from Tibet.
"I think most of us Tibetans, we were born in exile, but our parents' generation thought that they would get to return back to Tibet after a couple of years in exile, and now we're at 60 years. The Dalai Lama is 83, so we're kind of pressed against time for him to return to his homeland. We want China to have a dialogue with his holiness, the Dalai Lama. We want to be able to go visit our country. We want to be able to have the basic rights that Tibetans are given, or birth right, to be able to practice their religion, their language, to be able to speak and be able to worship whoever they want," said Tenzin, treasurer for the Utah Tibetan Association, who asked to only be identified by her first name.
Tenzin said her parents fled to India in their teens before moving to Utah 40 years ago. She said they still have a desire to return one day to Tibet.
"One of our biggest desires is to go back to our homeland and settle there. Unfortunately it's really difficult with the amount of surveillance and the amount of systematic pressures from China. They have surveillance where my father is trying to go there and he cannot. We had to get a lot of documentation from family members in Tibet, but it makes it really difficult because with those verification now those family members are under surveillance. So it's kind of a double-edged sword," she said.
Tenzin did not want to give her last name because she fears surveillance. She said the Chinese government monitors Western media and then uses facial recognition methods against her people. That's why while Tibetans want to rally at events like the one on Sunday, in support of their homeland, Tenzin said they also want to do it anonymously.
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Tibet Photos of the Week: The illegal occupation of Tibet turns 60
Sydney On March 10, 2019, the Tibetan community of NSW, Tibetan supporters and Chinese supporters of Tibet, came out in force to protest at the gates of the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, as thousands of other Tibetans and their supporters take to the streets across the world to mark the 60th anniversary of National Uprising Day of Tibet.
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