Mr. Speaker, today marks the 61st anniversary of Tibetan national uprising day. We mark 61 years of resistance to the Communist occupation of Tibet, the Land of Snows.
The Tibetan resistance has a unique character. Tibetans do not desire recrimination or division and they do not respond to their oppression with violence. They desire reconciliation, a middle way, which allows Tibet genuine autonomy within the framework of the Chinese constitution. They build, they love and they will outlast.
In their resistance, Tibetans model the immortal words of Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force.”
The deep spirituality and endurance of the Tibetan soul force will overcome the mere physical force of aimless dialectical materialism.
This year the Communist Party introduced a new draconian "ethnic unity" law to eradicate virtually all of the distinct elements of Tibetan identity.
However, we celebrate today that even under the growing oppression which the Land of the Snows endures, the Tibetan spirit is as strong as ever, inside Tibet, in Dharamsala, here in Canada and around the world.
Bhod Gyalo.