“Free Tibet” finds space in Italian artist’s scream of protest
Phayul[Monday, May 18, 2009 12:19]
By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala. May 18: Paola Pivi, an Italian performance artist, is lining up 1,000 volunteers to take part in a real-life, simultaneous howl of protest at Tate Modern in London.

While some participants will shout to free Tibet from Chinese rule, others may simply wish to scream as loudly as they can, the Sunday Times reported.

The Italian artist, who lives in Alaska, has so far found 700 recruits for the performance entitled “1,000,” which will take place next Monday (May 25) at 5pm, it said.

The volunteers, recruited from charities, community groups and campaign organisations, including Free Tibet, will congregate on a walkway 25ft above the floor of the gallery’s Turbine Hall to scream once in unison, the report said.

“I liked the notion of all these different people coming together to perform something completely unrehearsed,” the newspaper quoted Pivi as saying.

Pivi reportedly said her performance was not intended “to startle anyone” and did not have any “specific meaning”.

She maintained it was part of a four-day festival of public art at the London museum, starting on Friday.

To take part in the event, email paolapiviperformance@gmail.com

Tomorrow, April 25th, the 11th Panchen Lama, Gendun Choekyi Nyima, turns 20 years old. Sadly, he will spend yet another birthday as a prisoner of the Chinese government.

In 1995, after the Dalai Lama recognized Gendun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, the boy was kidnapped along with his family by the Chinese government. He was six years old at the time, the world’s youngest prisoner of conscience. He has not been seen nor heard from since. Tibetans everywhere deeply mourn his absence as they observe his 20th birthday.
 

Sign this petition to demand the Panchen Lama’s release.

While inspiring acts of Tibetan resistance continue, in the 14 years that the Panchen Lama has been held prisoner by the Chinese government, the situation inside Tibet has gotten worse. Today, Tibetans inside Tibet are living under virtual martial law.

Last week, the Chinese government handed out a series of harsh sentences to Tibetans, which demonstrates an alarming escalation in Beijing’s campaign to terrorize Tibetans into submission and silence.

On April 8th, China sentenced four Tibetans to death for their alleged involvement in “starting fatal fires” in last year’s protests in Lhasa. Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak were sentenced to death while Phuntsok and Kangtsuk received death sentences with a two-year reprieve. Meanwhile, just this week, Penkyi, a 21-yeal old Tibetan woman from Sakya County, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, while another young woman named Penkyi was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Please call on the Chinese authorities to stop the executions and overturn these unjust sentences, and demand an independent inquiry into these cases. Please note that China and Tibet are 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

BEIJING:
Ministry of Justice, Wu Aiying
Tel:+86 10 8313 9065 +86 10 6520 6706

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yang Jiechi
Tel: +86 10 6596 1114 +86 10 6596 3100

Supreme People’s Procuratorate
Tel: +86 10 6525 2000 +86 10 6559 2000

LHASA:

Secretary of the Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)
Tel: +86 89 1632 5889

TAR People’s Government
Tel: +86 89 1633 2067

TAR People’s Congress
Tel: +86 89 1683 2423

With hope and prayers,

Lhadon, Tendor, Kate, Heather, Chand and everyone here at SFT HQ