2004-04-12 - 11:02 p.m.
March tenth is the anniversary of the exile of the Dalai Lama from Tibet to India. The Chinese have murdered many thousands of Tibetans including a large number of the remaining intellectuals and religious leaders in their mission to “repatriate” ethnic Tibetans. In the process most of the major temples have been systematically and ruthlessly destroyed. This is nothing less than genocide and to the United States shame that we have no official recognition of it as such. Every year there is a protest near the United Nations. A couple of thousand Tibetans and other people of conscience show up to demand China out of Tibet. The Dharma Bums play each year and I try to make it when I’m in town. A little background: the Dharma Bums is the group that I went to India with to play at the World Festival of Sacred Music put on by the Indian government at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The circumstances surrounding my meeting the band and being asked to go and participate in the festival are set down in my India Journal, which I plan to publish at a later date. The Dharma Bums are led by Phil Void. He holds a masters degree in Tibetan Buddhism and writes folk rock songs based on Tibetan Buddhist dharma. Every year he performs his song Rangzen at the March 10th protest. Rangzen means freedom in Tibetan and the song is a demand for freedom for the land of snows. It seems the entire Tibetan population of the world knows this song and it’s an amazing experience playing it for the crowd of Tibetans at the UN. They all raise their fists and sing along on the chorus….”Rangzen, freedom for the land of snows!” The wild thing is that a group of five or six hundred of them did the same thing when we sang it in the bus square in the middle of Dharamsala, India (there’s a picture of this in the gallery on my website) and Phil claims the same thing happens in Katmandu, Nepal and Lhasa, Tibet when it was performed there. This time we were to perform the song twice. Once at the UN and then again after the march to Chinese Embassy on the other side of town. After an hour or more of speeches and slogan yelling we get to play. Across the street at the embassy a small group of young Chinese gather out of curiosity. After we play they are shooed back into the building and the metal shutters are closed. This is met by what seems to be orchestrated, derisive laughter by the thousand or so Tibetans. The look of them all; arms akimbo and doubled over in exaggerated laughter is surreal. We are slapped on the back and thanked profusely. It’s always a great experience doing the March 10th protest and I hope to do it again next year.
