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Feb. 27-March 5, 2020
Queens Public Library pulls photo exhibit
following protests from Tibetan community
BY BILL PARRY
Queens Public Library removed
a controversial photo
exhibit from its Elmhurst
branch on Feb. 22 following
protests by the Tibetan
community.
Students for a free Tibet
and the regional Tibetan
Youth Council and their allies
argued the exhibit sponsored
by the Chinese Consulate was
propaganda and was unacceptable
in Queens, which has
one of the largest diaspora
communities of Tibetans in
the world.
“The Chinese Consulate
and its affiliate made the decision
to discontinue the exhibit,”
Queens Public Library
said in a statement. “We thank
the Tibetan community for the
ongoing conversations with us,
and we look forward to future
collaborations with them.”
More than 200 Tibetan
community members and supporters
joined to celebrate the
victory of the campaign and
organized Tibetan cultural
dance outside the Elmhurst
Library. Congressman Tom
Suozzi, who sits on the Executive
Commission on China,
joined the celebration.
“Congratulations! This is a
big victory. Because there is a
lot of money involved, a lot of
bureaucracy involved, but in
the end the truth prevailed,”
Suozzi shouted into a bullhorn.
“We should thank the library
people for removing this exhibition
and we should thank all
the supporters and organizers.
This is a very serious issue.
The American people need to
realize how China treats its
own people not only Tibetans
but the Uyghur, the students
in Hong Kong and we have
Tibetan protesters declare victory after Queens Public Library pulled a controversial photo exhibit from its Elmhurst branch.
to stand up for human rights
for all the people throughout
the world. I will continue to
fight for you. Congratulations
on the victory of the Tibetan
people.”
A member of Students for
a Free Tibet raised the issue
during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
Forest Hills town hall on Feb.
19. The mayor acknowledged
that “no one has suffered more
than the Tibetan people” since
the independent country was
invaded by China in 1959 and
continues to be occupied today.
“I didn’t have any reason
to believe that any of our library
systems would present
the Chinese government
point of view,” de Blasio said.
“I would’ve assumed the other
way around, honestly, and I’d
be getting the complaint from
the Chinese government.”
Former political prisoner
Nyima Lhamo, a niece of the
late religious leader Tenzin
Delek Rinpoche who died in
Chinese custody while serving
a sentence on charges of “terrorism
and inciting separatism,”
supported the Elmhurst
protests.
“After escaping Tibet and
eventually moving to Queens,
I didn’t think that I would still
be confronted with Chinese
lies about my people,” Lhamo
said. “Inside Tibet, thousands
of human rights defenders and
activists like us are still being
Photo courtesy of Students for a Free Tibet
silenced every day. Today is a
major victory for Tibet, but we
must continue fighting to amplify
and uplift the voices of
those still inside Tibet.”
The protesters said the exhibit
showed several pictures
of Tibetans and Tibet that
aimed to educate viewers using
distorted facts about the
political status of Tibet. The
exhibit depicted Tibet as a
place where freedom of religion
and language rights are
respected, lies which whitewash
China’s brutal human
rights atrocities.
“This is a huge victory for
Tibet and the Tibetan community
in Queens. The decision
of the Chinese consulate to
shut down their propaganda
exhibition at the Queens Library
shows that activism
and truth are more powerful
than propaganda and dictatorship,”
Student for a Free Tibet
Executive Director Dorjee
Tseten said. “This is also a lesson
for other institutions to be
careful of similar propaganda
efforts by the Chinese government.
We must continue
to hold libraries, universities
and all economic institutions
accountable for sharing accurate
information.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by
e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4538.
Vol. 8 No. 9 40 total pages
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