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00:00:47 | Tibetan dialogue, English subs:
My people have no freedom of language. |
| 00:00:52 | Everyone is mixing Tibetan and Chinese. |
| 00:00:57 | Be that as it may...take my wealth...I don't need it. I don't need it. |
| 00:01:11 | What has happened to my land of snow? |
| 00:01:16 | What has happened to my land of snow? |
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| 00:01:31 | TITLES |
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| 00:02:06-00:02:17 | Hello? Hey, how are you doing? I'm fine. Can you hear me? Yeah I can hear you fine. Did you hear about the self-immolations today? |
| 00:02:18-00:02:36 | Yes, it is definite that two people self-immolated today. But it is not clear what their names were...or who their parents are. They were burned so badly. It is said they are going to die soon. |
| 00:02:37-00:02:52 | Do you think you could try to get the pictures of the victims soon? We have a candlelight vigil tonight. If we get the pictures then we are going to distribute them. It seems wrong to do the vigil without the pictures. |
| 00:02:53-00:02:59 | I am about to get their pictures and names. Someone is going to send them to me. |
| 00:03:00-00:03:19 | This mobile number that you sent me...is it yours or someone else's? This is mine. I bought it specifically for this kind of contact. I change number every few days. They aren't onto me yet. The sim card is not registered. |
| 00:03:20-00:03:35 | Next time it would be good if you could send me your number, ok? Ok I'll send it to you. Ok great. We're going to need to be in touch. |
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| ASTON | McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India |
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| 00:04:28-00:04:55 | As individuals, I strongly feel that we all have an obligation to our people. My intention...and greatest desire in life...is to make the world aware about the Tibetan issue...through activism. To struggle against China is my primary objective. |
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| 00:05:28-00:05:55 | I honestly think it would be better...if we stopped doing self-immolation. Even though around 50 people have already set themselves on fire...still we haven't witnessed any positive results. |
| 00:05:56-00:06:25 | Of all the six million Tibetans, those who have self-immolated...are - in my opinion - the most courageous, the most patriotic, the bravest of the brave. They committed the unimaginable deed...of setting themselves on fire...in order to serve Tibet. |
| 00:06:26-00:06:38 | Those people who have self-immolated have great bravery and feelings for our country, but they all died. Who knows where we will end up if we stay on this path! |
| 00:06:39-00:07:09 | I would say that we should keep doing self-immolations. We should keep self-immolating? Yes. Because if we stop now then all those 50 or more people who self-immolated would have died in vain. But also us Tibetans outside Tibet should raise greater awareness about this...among the international community - that is our responsibility. |
| 00:07:12-00:07:19 | So we must keep protesting! The important thing is not whether we succeed, but that we have the intention to act. |
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| 00:07:28-00:07:38 | English dialogue, Tibetan subs:
We are going to start the candlelight vigil soon. Come and join us. We are distributing the candles for free from here. Come and join us in the freedom struggle of Tibet. |
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00:07:40-00:08:08 | Tibetan dialogue, English subs:
May the precious spirit...of altruism...develop in those...in whom it has not arisen...May it never decline...where it has arisen...May it increase forever more. |
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00:08:11-00:08:40 | English dialogue, Tibetan subs:
Yesterday at around 8 o'clock in the morning two young Tibetans, both teenagers - Lobsang Kelsang, aged 18, monk of Kirti Monastery, and Dhamchoe, former monk of Kirti Monastery - both of them came out together engulfed in flames. Until the evening we weren't able to get confirmed information, but now it is confirmed. And with this, the count has come to 51. |
| 00:08:41-00:09:08 | Earlier our prime minister said again, that this may just end up becoming a number, and it is a fear that it may end up like that. But the real situation in Tibet is what the Chinese government is refusing to accept. They know that they cannot stop this, and therefore they must listen to the people's aspirations. |
| 00:09:12-00:09:37 | And if there is any reason that is driving this series of self-immolations, it is the failed policies of the Chinese government, it is the brutality with which these policies are maintained, targeting the decimation of Tibetan culture. It's not that the Tibetans are doing this to prove their heroism - these are the only options left to them. |
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00:10:10-00:10:32 | Tibetan dialogue, English subs:
I escaped from Tibet for the first time in 2003. This is the picture I took on the way. When I arrived in India, I discovered it was not the same as in Tibet. There were none of the restrictions on our freedoms. So I was happy here. |
| 00:10:33-00:10:53 | I decided not to return to Tibet, and instead brought my children over to India too. They arrived in Feb 2006. We were all so happy. But in January 2006, the Dalai Lama gave the Kalachakra teachings in South India. |
| 00:10:54-00:11:29 | What he said was that each and every one of us 6 million Tibetans...have a responsibility...to our country and our people. And we should act on that responsibility. When he was giving that speech, I cried. I thought that of course we should all take that responsibility. Hearing his speech motivated me to action. |
| 00:11:32-00:11:53 | Therefore, I made the decision to sacrifice my life, and return to Tibet. However, I have neither wealth nor an education with which to serve my country. I realized that all I could do was make an effort to struggle in my own way for Tibet and its people. |
| 00:11:54-00:12:07 | I remembered the indescribable happiness I felt when I reached Nepal en route from Tibet to India and for the first time in my life saw the Tibetan national flag flying in the reception centre there for Tibetan refugees. I wanted others to feel the same encouragement. |
| 00:12:10-00:12:37 | So I decided that I would plant a Tibetan national flag in a place where many Tibetan people could see it. I thought it would raise the spirits of many Tibetans as few of them had ever seen our flag flying before. However, I didn't tell anyone about my decision - not my younger brother, not my wife, not my kids. Embarking on such a mission, I had to assume that I wouldn't return to India alive. |
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| 00:12:53-00:13:15 | The situation inside Tibet is now very serious....and it is time to publicise to the world what is really happening there. Until now we have organized a candlelight vigil...every time a new self-immolation has been announced. But some people have suggested that we could be doing other more effective activities...rather than just doing the same thing all the time. |
| 00:13:15-00:13:28 | Another problem we have with the candlelight vigils is that, although we hold them frequently...few people actually come out and participate. So if you have any thoughts or suggestions about this matter, please feel free to share them with us. |
| 00:13:31-00:13:58 | Until now around fifty people have self-immolated, and still it is very difficult to know...how to respond meaningfully to their cry for help. No one has given a satisfactory answer to this question...and even the scholars cannot answer it. Here in our exile society no one can speak about this topic. But personally I feel very concerned about it. |
| 00:14:01-00:14:10 | I think that this is a very tragic and dangerous situation...and we really have no idea what to do. |
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| 00:14:30-00:15:19 | There were two girls and four men. They beat me together. I was like an animal in the hands of a butcher. The two girls were stronger and more vicious than most men. They were both Tibetan. I believe they had been trained to inflict torture. |
| 00:15:22-00:16:02 | "You are already here in this place...But you act as if you are still out there in society...So confident...You should realise where you are." The interrogation continued for six or seven days...during which I was not allowed to sleep. |
| 00:16:10-00:16:50 | The entire sentencing procedure happened behind closed doors. No lawyer and no contact with my family. I did not have any power. On April 10th 2007, I was sent to Chushul prison in Lhasa. I was put in room number 10. I had to stand up facing the wall for two hours in the morning, afternoon and evening. |
| 00:16:51-00:17:50 | Like that I was in that room for three years. I had the feeling that it would be better to die. But at the same time, I was not happy because...I had taken a Tibetan flag all the way from India, with the intenetion of planting it near my hometown in Eastern Tibet...and I had been arrested before I could plant it. So I felt that my mission was incomplete. Otherwise I would have had no regrets about dying. |
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| 00:18:26-00:19:01 | It was June 13th, 2009 by the time I finally returned to India. The next day I went with my wife and youngest son...to visit my other two children in school. I will never forget that day. When I see the pictures of that day I still remember the great happiness I felt. |
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| 00:20:13-00:20:37 | Everyone loves their parents...their children, wife and family. And of course, I also love them very much. It's not that I didn't think of them when I left for Tibet - their wellbeing was very much in my mind. However, I had resolved to go, and I sacrificed my wife and children...for the sake of my country and people. |
| 00:20:41-00:21:11 | But when our nation is in such a tragic situation as this...I do not think it is right...to focus only on one's family. It is necessary not only to think about one's country and people, but to act! When I was in prison, I faced many hardships. They permanently damaged my eye and my ear, and one of my kidneys is now beyond repair. |
| 00:21:13-00:21:29 | But I found a way to make these problems seem smaller. That is because I considered the Tibetan issue to be bigger than my own interests. |
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| 00:21:33-00:21:57 | May the precious spirit...of altruism...develop in those...in whom it has not arisen...May it never decline...where it has arisen...May it increase forever more. |
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00:22:00-00:22:38 | English dialogue, Tibetan subs:
The sacrifices that are being offered by Tibetans shall not go in vain. Freedom demands sacrifices. There were times when people doubted that India would ever be free. We have seen South Africa, where people were thrown into jails, and nobody ever thought that they would emerge. But when they came out, they brought freedom for their country. |
| 00:22:41-00:23:23 | But the time, I would say, for the world community, is running out fast. The Tibetans have become so desperate that so many of them are resorting to self-immolation. When one Tunisian did it, there was a revolution there, the whole world's conscience was shaken. But what has happened to the same community, why is it silent? Is it only because of the money that they see in China? Is that going to decide the fates of nations? |
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00:24:09-00:24:16
00:24:17-00:24:25 | END TITLE CARDS
In February 2014, the number of Tibetans who have set themselves on fire since 2011 reached 125.
104 of the Tibetans who self-immolated are known to have died following their protest. 24 of the victims were aged 18 or under. |
| 00:24:25-00:24:32 | Hope for change in Tibet tentatively rose in November 2012 as a new administration in China was sworn in for the next ten years. |
| However, early signs have shown little indication of a policy change. Since January 2013 Chinese authorities have responded to the intensified wave of self-immolations by criminalising the suicides and arresting protesters' friends. |