With 2023 just around the corner, we are looking back on 2022 and reflecting on what Australia Tibet Council has achieved thanks to you
Firstly, we offer our deepest gratitude to you for being a valued member of the Australia Tibet Council. Your support is crucial in our ongoing campaigns for the freedom and human rights of Tibetans. Without you, our 2022 would not have been as successful as it was.
Let’s take a look at the year that was.
In February, many ATC members and supporters took part in the ‘I will not watch’ campaign. ATC, together with Tibet support groups from around the world, put together a website with many alternative options to watching the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic games. Many of those films and documentaries are still available should you be looking for content to view in the coming holiday period.
In the lead up to the federal election in May, many of you wrote to and spoke to your candidates about their Tibet policy. From these responses, ATC compiled a comprehensive Election Scorecard rating each party on their responses to key questions about Tibet and human rights.
Also in May, we launched a new report ‘Overcoming Obstacles: Protecting Tibetan Religious Identity’ at NSW Parliament. The event was well attended and the report outlines the systemic attacks on Tibetan religious identity and the threat to the succession of the future Dalai Lama.
In conjunction with the report, ATC launched an online pledge to protect Tibetan religious identity which you and many Tibet supporters around Australia took. Thank you to everyone that made the pledge! More than 1,000 pledges were presented to Senator Janet Rice during Tibet Lobby Day.
With your support, we took 14 Tibetan delegates to Parliament House in Canberra for Tibet Lobby Day 2022. After a full day of training in advocacy, they met with Australian MPs and Senators and briefed them on the current situation in Tibet and spoke to them about the actions they can take to help Tibetans in Tibet. This was our first Tibet Lobby Day conducted in person since 2019 due to the pandemic. It was great to be back in Canberra and we look forward to an even bigger and better Lobby Day in 2023.
In addition to all of this, Tibet supporters took action by reading and engaging with our updates, buying raffle tickets, supporting Tibet Lobby Day, signing petitions, enquiring about leaving a legacy bequest for Tibet, attending events like Tibetan New Year, Tibet Uprising Day, Dalai Lama’s Birthday celebrations, rallies, movie-night fundraisers, and our AGM. You also bought our merchandise! We have loved seeing you wearing those Free Tibet t-shirts and we look forward to exciting new merchandise announcements in early 2023. All these things add up and make a huge difference.
And in a very encouraging end to the year, a generous ATC supporter has offered to match donations to ATC’s appeal up to $5,000! So for the next 30 days, your donation of $30 can become $60! Your gift of $75 becomes $150, and a contribution of $150 becomes $300!
Please give now to ensure that your donation is matched dollar for dollar.
Our current focus is the Chinese Communist Party-run boarding school system in Tibet, which is separating Tibetan children as young as six years old from their families. This is the biggest threat facing Tibetan identity today.
The Chinese government has forcibly separated 80% of Tibetan children in Tibet from their families and cultural roots to Sinicize them in these boarding schools.
We are asking our members and supporters to say ‘Not on our watch!’. Australia cannot and will not stand idle and risk a future Stolen Generation of Tibetan children.
As Co-Chairs of the ATC Board of Directors, we thank you for standing with us as we continue to further the Tibetan cause.
Best wishes,
Tenzin Lobsang Khangsar and Katie Camarena
P.S. It is because of the kind support of people like you, that the Australia Tibet Council can continue our campaigns for the freedom and human rights of Tibetans. With your support we can maximise our efforts and help stop Tibetan children from being separated from their families, language, religion and culture. And by donating today, your contribution – and your impact – will be doubled!