Message from the Dalai Lama's eldest brother

I am confident that the campaign to boycott Chinese products will gain the support of freedom loving people around the world, and will eventually succeed in forcing China to respect the rights of its own people and acknowledge Tibetan independence.

As in South Africa, this campaign must be, and clearly seen to be, fighting for definite political goals. The anti-apartheid campaign was never about saving the culture, religion or any other native African traditions. People worldwide joined the economic campaign because they opposed the injustice of white minority rule and supported the freedom of all South Africans. It is around similar clear-cut political issues that we need to galvanize our boycott campaign.

The struggle for the restoration of Tibet’s independence represents the struggle to create a world where the rights of small nations are not trampled underfoot by despotic imperial powers and where the human spirit has the freedom to express itself on its own terms.

I am further assured that the boycott campaign will connect all its participants and supporters with the brave struggle that the people inside Tibet are waging – the struggle for dignity, justice, and freedom.
I call on all Tibetans and friends to join with us in the pure and sacred struggle to free our country.

Thubten Jigme Norbu / Taktser Trulku
Professor Emeritus, Indiana University
Former abbot of Kumbum Monastery

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