For Immediate Release
14 March 2016
Contact Persons:
Lobsang Tseten (Program Coordinator, Students for a Free Tibet-India): +91 9882545938
Jyotsna George (Campaigns Director, Students for a Free Tibet-India): +91 8894933740
Tibet Activists stage photo action on Brahmaputra River
Guwahati, March 14: Two Tibet activists staged a photo action on the Brahmaputra river today on ‘International Day of Action for Rivers’ to raise their voice against China’s incessant damming, mining and diversion of Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet and the dangerous consequences for downstream communities dependent on the Brahmaputra, as the river is known in India. Along with Indian students, the activists displayed banners reading “Tsangpo-Brahmaputra | Say No to Zangmu Dam”, “If Tibet Dries, Asia Dies”, “Tibet’s Rivers, Asia’s Lifeline”.
Lobsang Tseten, Program Coordinator at Students for a Free Tibet-India said, “Tibet is the Water Tower of Asia, providing freshwater to nearly 2 billion Asians. The Yarlung Tsangpo is facing an environmental crisis. We use this occasion of International Day of Action for Rivers to spotlight the Zangmu dam, a 512 MW mega-dam on Tsangpo, and raise the alarm of devastating implications for downstream areas of Tsangpo-Brahmaputra.”
Jyotsna George, Campaign Director at Students for a Free Tibet- India said, “We are here on the Brahmaputra to gather solidarity from local Indians who are directly affected downstream by China’s merciless mega-dam building and mining on and around the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet. The Brahmaputra is the lifeline for parts of India like Assam and along with other Indians, today, I take this opportunity to protest the Zangmu Dam, and call out China’s blatant stealing of our collective natural resources.”
SFT-India head office Dharamsala, and SFT-India chapters in Delhi and Bangalore organized photo-actions in Indian colleges and landmark sites.
Students for a Free Tibet works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. We are a chapter-based network of young people and activist around the world. Through education, grassroots organizing and nonviolent direct action, they campaign for Tibetans fundamental right to political freedom.