DC: Buddhists protest over Dalai Lama’s religious discrimination on American soil, and his refusal of dialogue
(PRWEB) March 06, 2014 -- Demonstration:
Friday March 7, 7am - 12 noon opposite the National Cathedral, Washington DC.
Over 500 members of the International Shugden Community are to stage an impassioned demonstration.
The Dalai Lama is being accused of widespread religious persecution and discrimination by the International Shugden Community who are staging a protest with hundreds of Buddhists outside his talk at the National Cathedral in DC on Friday.
The demonstrators accuse the Dalai Lama of forcibly banning a mainstream religious practice of the Buddha Dorje Shugden and openly discriminating against people of this religious faith.
Demonstrators from across the globe including hundreds of Americans, many Tibetans and also monks and nuns, want to bring attention to what they believe is a hidden, intensive persecution campaign by the Dalai Lama, creating a religious apartheid, segregation, and a system of persecution in the Tibetan exile community, including refusal of medical treatment, violent attacks on citizens and making hundreds of monks homeless.
(Al Jazeera Reports, Dalai Lama: The Devil Within, April13, 2009, http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2008/09/200893014344405483.html or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqa2DeOIEQM).
The Dalai Lama’s US tour which began in San Francisco last week was trailed by hundreds of protesters and covered by local news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofotYwJ41Uc
International Shugden Community representative Len Foley, states “One unacceptable aspect of the Dalai Lama’s discrimination right here in the US, is that he has openly banned people of this faith [Shugden faith] from attending his talk at the National Cathedral this week. This means that thousands of Americans who rely upon the practice of Dorje Shugden are not welcome to attend. To our knowledge this is the first time in the history of the National Cathedral that people have been turned away from this illustrious National monument on grounds of their religious belief. http://falsedalailama.com/resources-dalai-lamas-ban/
http://www.dalailama.com/messages/dolgyal-shugden/his-holiness-advice
We have made the National Cathedral and members of the government aware of this and ask that they withdraw his invitation to speak there unless he publicly lifts this ban. The National Cathedral has declined to respond.”
Len Foley continues “The Dalai Lama himself also has not allowed any dialogue on this issue. We have petitioned him for dialogue for 18 years and to this day he has still not agreed to one single meeting or conversation to discuss this issue of his treatment of Shugden people.
His religious discrimination, his abuse of basic human rights and its resultant suffering has been ongoing for many years and will continue endlessly unless something is done about it. Because he is such a powerful political leader and famous speaker we have no other method to ask him to stop this suffering other than to demonstrate against him - to shout at him with our American freedom of speech - requesting him to change his mind and give people freedom. We also sincerely ask the Western media and American people to please investigate the actions of this so called man of peace and hold him to account.
The International Shugden Community has therefore organized impassioned yet peaceful demonstrations exercising the civil liberties and freedom of speech that this country affords us. There is no free press in the Tibetan Exile Community and peaceful Shugden demonstrators have been met there with intimidation and violence [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWVq77F4pP4&sns=em The local police in DC as well as the police in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Berkeley and LA have been very supportive towards us and we thank them for that. Berkeley City also commended us for being careful and conscientious demonstrators.”
International Shugden Community Media Contacts
Rachael Jeffrey 631 405 8511
Lisette Salari 415 827 7717
[email protected]
Rachael Jeffrey, International Shugden Society, http://www.internationalshugdensociety.com, +1 6314058511, [email protected]
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