SIXTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Sumchhung was the first to arrive on the steps of the San Francisco City Hall this month for a rally to commemorate the 66th Tibetan Uprising Day.
In what has become an annual event, Sumchhung was among hundreds of Tibetans from the Bay Area who gathered for the March 10 memorial. Their goal was to bring attention to human rights abuses they say are widespread in Tibet under the Chinese government rule.
Exiled from Tibet at the age of three, Sumchhung first took refuge in India and joined the Indian military before finally coming to the United States in 2016.
“I have been coming for the march every year since I came to America,” Sumchhung said, noting that it took him over an hour to get to the city from El Sobrante. “This is the least I could do for my people who are not free.”
The protesters marched from City Hall to the Chinese consulate office on Laguna Street, holding off the traffic and drawing attention from passersby with their slogans. “No language rights in Tibet,” one protester said, as another shouted, “Shame on China.”
At the Chinese consulate, Tibetan parliament member Tenzing Jigme, representative of the exile government based in Dharamshala, India, addressed the crowd. “I came all the way from Minnesota to be with you all to commemorate this real important day in history,” he said. “From the mountains of Tibet to the exile community around the world, our resilience has been our greatest weapon.”
The Tibetan Association of Northern California’s board member Ugyen Kyab, who was part of the organizing committee, said that the call for action stemmed from what actually happened seven decades ago. Tibetans on March 10, 1959, resisted the People’s Republic of China army at Potala Palace in capital city Lhasa as a last-ditch effort to preserve their independence. The uprising was suppressed by the army, with estimates of as many as 80,000 deaths as a result, and the Dalai Lama was forced to flee into exile.
The Chinese consulate in San Francisco did not return calls and email requesting comment. Since the occupation, the Chinese government has maintained that Tibet is an integral part of mainland China. Last year, in response to President Joe Biden’s signing of the ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act,’ the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a statement said it firmly opposed U.S. interference in China’s “internal affairs.”
“No one and no force should ever attempt to destabilize Xizang (sinicized name for Tibet) to contain and suppress China. Such attempts will never succeed,” the ministry said.
New perspectives from a new generation
This year’s March 10 protest included a range of voices, most notably from a unique ally who represented a perspective not many know about.
A former teacher in China, Ginger Duan, who is now based in California, heads the organization Chinese Youth Stand for Tibet. She spoke in front of the Chinese consulate in solidarity with the Tibetan people. In her speech, Duan urged the new generation of Chinese activists to confront the offenses committed by CCP and to envision a future without occupation.
“I condemn the Chinese occupation,” she said in an interview. “Tibetans cannot go abroad, they cannot even go to the holy city of Lhasa, because they don’t have the freedom to travel around. And that’s basic human rights.”
Tibetan Association of Northern California board member Ugyen Kyab said work to free Tibet can’t be limited to an annual protest.
“This is an ongoing movement,” he said. “Tibetans in exile should work every day to bring to light what’s actually happening back home.”
According to a 2020 diaspora demographic analysis published by the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamshala, India, over 3,000 Tibetan Americans live in Northern California. That number is surpassed only in the New York-New Jersey region and Minnesota. The Tibetan Association of Northern California runs a community building initiative which oversees over 3,000 Tibetans in the East Bay. It has Sunday language and culture classes for Tibetan children, along with a community center that organizes talks, events and cultural dances bi-weekly to keep the community engaged.
The March 10 march saw first generation Tibetan protesters who had set aside their school days to join the commemoration.
Tenzin Thinley, a member of Students for a Free Tibet and a volunteer at the TANC-run school, told his teachers at Albany High School that he would be missing classes because he was taking part in the march for Tibet. The 16-year-old draws his inspiration from elders in the family who were exiled as a direct result of Chinese colonization following the 1959 uprising. His family comes from Lhodrak, a region in southern Tibet.
“My parents told me not to worry about missing class,” he said. “This day comes only once a year, and they said we have to be the ones taking the cause forward, so here I am!”