Tibetan Uprising Day rallies on 10th March 2024

Cultural genocide and religious persecution

• Nearly 1 million Tibetan children have been forcefully separated from their families and sent to Chinese colonial “boarding schools” where they are indoctrinated with Chinese propaganda and not allowed to speak their language.
• Tibetan Buddhism is seen as a threat and possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama can result in imprisonment and torture.
• The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. The Chinese Communist Party is planning to appoint its own Dalai Lama to replace the now 88-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader.

Environmental destruction and displacement

• The Tibetan plateau is known as the “Third Pole” and “Asia’s Water Tower.” But Tibet is warming three times faster than the rest of the world.
• China is exploiting Tibet’s resources, including lithium and copper, to fuel its expansion. China’s mining and damming in Tibet are threatening Tibet’s fragile environment, displacing nomads and villagers from their lands and livelihoods, and destroying sacred religious sites.
• In February 2024 Chinese authorities violently arrested over 1,000 Tibetan monks and villagers for peacefully protesting against a massive Chinese dam project that would destroy six Buddhist monasteries and forcibly relocate two villages in eastern Tibet.

The history of Tibetan Uprising day

10th March 1959 was a historic day when tens of thousands of Tibetans took to the streets of Lhasa, Tibet’s capital. They were rising up against China’s illegal invasion and occupation of their homeland. Concerned about the life of the Dalai Lama, they surrounded the Dalai Lama’s home, the Potala Palace, determined to protect his life and the future of the Tibetan nation.

Tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed when Chinese soldiers opened fire, but they refused to surrender, and many risked their lives to ensure the success of the Dalai Lama’s escape to India, where he has lived in exile since, tirelessly advocating for the people of his homeland, Tibet.

Since that time, 10th March has been known as Tibetan Uprising Day – a day where Tibetans around the world, including in Tibet show their continued defiance of the Chinese Government.

This March, Tibetans and their supporters in major cities around the world will rise up for Tibet to:

Stand in solidarity with the Tibetan people to show them they are not alone and that the world is responding to their calls for freedom and call on our governments to challenge China’s repression in Tibet and to unite to help resolve the Tibet crisis.

10th March is a day that serves as a reminder to all – especially to the Chinese Government – that the spirit of the Tibetans who rose up on that day in 1959 grows stronger every day, that a new generation of Tibetans is determined to complete the struggle that began over half a century ago, and that a growing global community stands in solidarity with them in their fight for freedom.

We’ve made some print-out Placards and Signs

They are A3 in size and can easily be printed at any local printers. Here is the file.

New Chants – Tibet’s Stolen Children

You can also take a print out of our chants for Uprisng Day that you can download here.