"I feel the outside world has a great lack of knowledge or understanding about Tibet. Some filmmakers have depicted the Dalai Lama as the standard bearer of human rights. I feel that is not accurate. Before 1959, the policies he pursued and defended in Tibet are much darker and crueler than the Negro slavery system in the United State before the Civil War. Since 1959, China has made progress in all areas, including human rights, in Tibet."
Mr. Hu
Chinese Government Spokesman,
APEC Summit, Seattle
"We don't want the Chinese in Tibet. We want our independence. We want our country back. The Chinese forbid us from saying that."
Ngawang
Nun, arrested for participating in pro-independence demonstrations
"For an outsider it looks that the Chinese are doing a great thing to have hospitals, schools, roads in Tibet, but it's very hard for a Tibetan to say that I am a Tibetan and I want to see Tibetan culture or Tibetan religion being promoted or preserved. The worst thing for a Tibetan under the Chinese rule is that one cannot say that I am a Tibetan, as simple as this."
Gendun Rinchen
Former Lhasa Tour Guide and Political Prisoner
"Ours has been a long struggle. We know our cause is just. Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our struggle must remain non-violent and free of hatred"
H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama
"Many people have talked to me and said, there are so many problems faced by the Chinese people -- why are you spending your time to also talk about the Tibetan issue? My answer is that this is not a question simply for the Tibetan people, this is a question for all people who see such human rights abuses. This is a problem for all of us living today on this earth."
Wei Jingsheng
Chinese Human Rights Activist & Former Political Prisoner
"All leaders in the world are talking about peace, but nobody is doing anything about it. Everybody is condemning violence, but nobody is doing anything to support non-violence."
Lhasang Tsering
Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamsala, India
"We must never give into the idea that it's hopeless or impossible. Everyone would have said that the Berlin Wall would never go down, and look at what happened. Russia changed, which was every bit as impossible in people's minds as China letting go of Tibet. Tibet can be free... "
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