Tibet in Atlantida – An ancient culture in a centennial celebration[Friday, 22 April 2011, 2:16 p.m.]

Aloma Sellanes, head of the Tibet Patria, speaks at the event.

NEW
YORK: Atlantida, a summer resort of Uruguayans located just 45
kilometers away from the Uruguay’s capital city, Montevideo, is
celebrating this month a centenary of town’s birth in 1911. As a part
of the celebration, the town authorities and a league of civic and
other commercial associations of the town organise a range of
activities to celebrate the jubilation. The organisers of the
centennial celebration of the town also kindly invited the local Tibet
Support Group “Tíbet Patria Libre” to organise a Tibet Awareness
Programme as a part of the jubilation.

Participants at the event

While
gladly accepting the invitation, the Tibet Patria Libre headed by Aloma
Sellanes organised a series of exhibition of photos on the life of the
Tibetan people both inside and outside Tibet as well as a display of
conceptual art works on the wisdom of the Buddhism created by Uruguayan
artist, Ciro Jaumandreu.  The event took place in the center of town
from 16 – 18 April 2011. Apart from the display of art works
and photos, the Tibet Patria Libre screened four powerful films on
Tibet at the event – Red Flag Over Tibet (Frontline 1994) directed and
narrated by American author and a leading observer on China, Orville
Schell; What Remains of US (National Film Board of Canada 2004)
directed by Hugo Latulippe and François Prévost; The Sun Behind the
Clouds (White Crane 2009) directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam; and
The Forbidden Team (2003) directed by Chap Chappell and Arnold
Kroigaard.The event was opened with a talk by Aloma Sellanes,
who briefed the audience about the current situation in Tibet,
particularly the tension at Kirti Monastery in Amdo Ngaba after the
self-immolation of a 21-year-old Tibetan monk on 16 March in Ngaba to
protest against the continued repression of the Chinese authorities on
the Tibetan people. Both the local TV and the local radio
covered the event.  The day before the inauguration of the event at
Atlantida, a Uruguayan radio also interviewed Aloma Sellanes for about
40 minutes on the current situation in Tibet.  During the interview,
Aloma spoke in details about the critical situation that has been faced
by the monks of Kirti Monastery in Amdo Ngaba and a special appeal His
Holiness the Dalai Lama made urging the international community, the
governments around the world, and the international non-governmental
organisations, to persuade the Chinese leadership to exercise restraint
in handling this situation. The interview was enriched by the
participation of a senior Uruguayan journalist who just returned from a
tour across China. The event in Atlantida was well received by
the people in the town. Many people were moved after watching the
movies on Tibet. One woman, after watching the film “What Remains of
US”, told the organisers: “please, express Tibetans our solidarity”.