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Council for the , Mr. Kofi Annan Interfaith Call for Secretary General, The Universal Religious 8/6/00 freedom and New York, NY 10017 Freedom of Worship in Tibet Your Excellency,

EXECUTIVE D1RECTQR- I'm writing you now with a proposal, a way you might regain the SUPPOHTERS roorai high ground that you and Bawa Jain so clearly lost after Ngarf Rinpocha that indefensible decision to accede to demands and pressure from BROTHER » ADWSORT OHH , the Chinese government by excluding , the Dalai THE DALAI LAMA ______2SC ---- _u~~-^—- ^.^-c^^^Jff- ...... l.-^- ,-.^™^™^- .r-.... .*5_-- .------.--- -—.,. .------~ - -.^1 -.. -.-•••...... ~---~ •—i^-^-,—- ^ -- r- -. todl Qyarl Mnpoche Lama, from the Millennium Peace Summit. SPECIAL ENVOY OF DALAI LAMA Manl»h JAIN SOCIEtY Of CHICAGO I find myself swimming in so many mixed feelings - outrage, Raw. Marcua Braybrook* gratitude, revulsion, hope - and it was both astonishing and WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS encouraging to see how many people shared these feelings and Pi ofoe*or Diana E«k PLURALISM PROJECT HARVARD wanted to express them. Arun Gandhi M.K. GANDHI INSTITUTE Two weeks ago> I started a petition about this issue over the Dr. hfm Ahmad ISLAMIC COUNCIL. CWCASO internet, and in that short space of time, over 4500 people have Rttbfa) Herman Schoolman TEMPl£ EMANUEL, CHICAGO written hack to sign the petition; we expect that by the end of two Re«, Jaim* Park* Morton more weeks, over 10,000 peo^^ple^ an astonis PfiES. NY INTERFAITH CENTER signed it. People wrote in from all over die world, mostly spiritual Brother Wayne Teaadaie RARLlAMENT/wOflLD SELISIONS people, some with no titles, some fairly prominent - like Nobel Sister Joan Klrby Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguire, and TEMPLE OP UNDERSTANDING Barbara Bernataki Congressman Tom Lantos, co-chair of the Congression Human ASSN GLOBAL NEW THOUGHT Rights Watch and the only Holocaust Survivor serving in Marianne Wllllamaon Congress. (All of the names, with credentials and addresses, are SPIfttTUAL TEACHER AUTHOfl Deapatt Chopra being sent to you; the first thousand names have been posted, SPIRITUAL TEACHS*. AUTHOR along with the Petition, on our web site for the Interfaith Call for MojgorMi Azemon WTL CAMRMGN R» TIBET Universal Religions Freedom and Freedom of Worship in Tibet: John Hocavar http://www.interfaithcaU.com) STUDENTS POT A FREE TIBET Kurt Longer THE HOURS* FUND This exclusion of His Holiness so incensed me that I also started a Cttrlaty Parker letter writing campaign, along with Brother Wayne Teasdale (a SFT, NEW ZEALAND Trustee of the Parliament of World Religions and a well known Catholic theologian and human rights activist). I 't know how P.O.BCW6S2 many letters you and Bawa Jain actually received, or allowed Rowland. PL 32957 561-366-0699 FAX: 388-9798 e-mail; [email protected] 08/Q7/00 MON 12:16 FAX 2123714360 UNHQ TELECOM -»•*•* fax @004

yourselves to receive, but I know hundreds of letters have beeo written to you.

It was the strength of this public outcry, along with all the unwelcome media attention, that assuredly made Bawa Jain reverse himself with a clumsy last minute attempt at damage control; so months after most of the spiritual leaders had received their invitations. Bawa Jain finally extended his much- too-late, much-too-little invitation to His Holiness to come to the Conference, but only at the end, and only at a hotel outside the U.N. This was his attempt to manipulate the media and the public into believing His Holiness wasn't really being excluded and in fact had never been excluded. His Holiness said no, and T.C. Tethong, Minister of Information and International Relations for the Tibetan Government in exile, offered a scathing condemnation of the mistreatment of his Holiness, calling it "an insult to every spiritual person, Buddhists in particular." And referring to the obvious pressure from the Chinese government, he added, "This clearly indicated that the religious purpose of the Convention was being ignored for political considerations."

For many of us, the issue was never solely about whether or not His Holiness was invited to this conference as a full participant, although that should have happened and was important. We are also very concerned with the UN's longstanding policy of again bowing to Chinese pressure and influence, by refusing to consider in any of its sessions the many abuses of religious liberties and human rights now threatening tile very existence of the Tibetan people. 1 urge you to join us in standing up for the moral imperatives offered in our Petition, First, we ask the U.N, to reverse its long-standing policy^one that was started long before you became Secretary General "of bowing to political pressure and choosing to ignore the genocide now facing the Tibetan people.** Secohdlyrwe are calling upon "the spiritual leaders attending this Summit to organize their own conference at the UN - to examine the flagrant abuses of human rights and religious liberties in Tibet" And we go further, saying in our petition that "if the U.N. refuses to host this conference, because of the power exerted there by the Chinese government, then we need to further demand these religious and spiritual leaders show their courage and moral leadership by convening this conference about Tibet elsewhere - a conference to which they would certainly invite His Holiness, the Dalai Lama," 08/37/00 MON 12:17 FAX 2123714360 UNHQ TELECOM -*•*-* fax

Of course, it's clear these goals pose political problems for you, and for the U.N. itself, but a man of your stature, talent and moral principles can surely find a way.

Namaste (the light in me bows to the light in you).

Founder and Executive Director, Interfaith Call for Universal Religious Freedom and Freedom of Worship in Tibet President, World Tibet Day Foundation fyrajimadastgjaol.com

Cc: Bawa Jain 08/oj/oo MON 12:15 FAX 2123714360 UNHQ TELECOM *»-. fax

Blacklisting the Dalai Lama

Editorial

August 7, 2000

Blacklisting the Dalai Lama eopolitics has tainted the Forwm G Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders planned for New York City later this month. The meeting, paid for mainly by private foundations, will be held at the United Nations a week before a similar gathering of world political leaders. It win bring together more than 1,000 religious figures. But under pressure from China, organizers have not invited the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, to attend any of the meetings on the grounds of the U.R Other attendees and the conference's financial backers should oppose bis exclusion.

China detests the Dalai Lama because he is a symbol of the distinctive Tibetan culture Beijing has been trying to destroy for the past 41 years. China regularly uses its power as a member of the Security Council to block his participation in U.N.-sponsored events. The Dalai Lama has told the conference organizers that they should go ahead without him. But it would be better to take a stand against his unjustifiable exclusion.

Some have already done so. Desmond Tutu, the retired archbishop of Cape Town and himself a Nobel Peace laureate, has urged the U.N. secretary general, Kofi Annan, to invite the Dalai Lama to the conference, So have Representatives Tom Lantos and John Edward Porter, co-chairmen of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. The conference's chief financial underwriter, Ted Turner, and the religious leaders planning to attend should make clear that if the U.N. is not prepared to reverse itself, they will move the conference to another location. A gathering of spiritual and religious leaders for world peace should not have a political admissions test.

http:/Avww,nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/07mon3 .html 8/7/00 . 09/pJ/OO MON 12:15 FAX 2123714360 UNHQ TELECOM -*-*-* fax

Fax Tranamittal Form

Fax Number:

DATE: 8/7/00

Please Deliver the Following Pages To: NAME: HIS EXCELLENCY, MR KOFI ANNAN THE SECRETARY GENERAL

ORGANIZATION: THE UNITED NATIONS

PHONE NO.: FAX NO.: (212) 963-4879

TOTAL*OF PAGES INCLUDING COVER LETTER: £

FROM: BRAHMA DAS Fouiider and Director, Interfaith Call for Universal Religious Freedom & Freedom of Worship in Tibet President, World Tibet Day Foundation

If You Did Not Receive AU Pages* Please Advise ASAP. My Telephone Number is: (561) 0699.

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