Rev. Danny Fisher

This courtesy of Tibet Will Be Free: Elie Wiesel and twenty-five other Nobel laureates have spoken out about Tibet, condemning the Chinese govement’s violent crackdown on Tibetan protestors.

“We protest the unwarranted campaign waged by the Chinese government against our fellow Nobel laureate, His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” the group said in a statement released by Wiesel.

Wiesel told The Associated Press that the group wanted renewed negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.

“The latest events are dramatic and the main thing is to stop the present oppression, persecution and violence,” Wiesel said.
“I don’t understand the Chinese hierarchy there,” he added. “Why are they afraid of Tibet?”

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Wiesel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, said he is close friends with the Dalai Lama and that the Tibetan leader has repeatedly said he is not asking for a sovereign independent Tibet. “All he wants is religious and cultural autonomy,” Wiesel said.

That autonomy, the statement said, “is fundamental to the preservation of the ancient Tibetan heritage.”

When asked what he would do if the Chinese did not agree to talks, Wiesel said: “If they don’t agree and the violence goes on we will have to ask for more, maybe the reconsideration of the Olympics … but we are not there yet.”

Wiesel said it was not the time for the international community to take actions such as boycotts. But he said pressure for peace and dialogue is needed until we “hear reports from the Tibetan themselves that all has been restored and the prisons are opened.”