Monks and ordinary citizens protest peacefully, shouting “Free Tibet” and “No Losar Celebrations” to mark their opposition to Chinese rule. Police beat them and take them away. Nothing has been heard about them since.
Tibetan rights groups are planning to protest against China’s ongoing harsh repression by not celebrating New Year. Beijing is trying to show that everyone is happy; at the same time it is persecuting and arresting anyone in favour of the boycott. Here is an interview with a Tibetan official.
Driven far from home, school-age children have practically lost an entire school year as the current one comes to end shortly. Orissa authorities are moving refugees to temporary camps near their home villages, but moving back home is still not yet in the cards. Discrimination and other intimidatory acts continue. As the April elections come closer, tensions is rising.
The Missionaries of Charity run a centre for physically and mentally disabled children in Mumbai. The disabled are not “vegetables” but people with “special needs” and a “blessing” for a world that imposes models based on “productivity.”
On the occasion of the World Day of the Sick, faithful of every religion and social class are visiting the basilica of Our Lady of Health in Tamil Nadu. Fr. Xavier, rector of the basilica says, that "every form of human life" should be defended, even if it is marked by suffering or affected by disability. Pilgrims are contributing money for victims of anti-Christian violence in Orissa.
Samdhong Rinpoche denounces arbitrary prison sentences, persecution, violations of rights. He says that the international community wavers between supporting Tibetans' rights and indifference. But he talks about his hope that proclaiming the truth is still valuable.
Hindu radicals had previously tried to destroy it in 2000. The situation remains tense. Christians are humiliated and marginalized, unless they convert to Hinduism.
He was in danger of being burned alive, like his assistant, Rajni Majhi. After a period of recuperation, he has gone back to Orissa to understand the reason for this violence, a "personification of evil," but also in order to forgive his attackers. The region is still insecure, and all of the Christians have fled, unable even to participate in the upcoming elections. An appeal to the international community.
The Carmelite convent in Andheri East is a place of peace, home to ten cloistered nuns, “the hidden heart of the city,” according to its mother superior. On the day the Church invites everyone to pray for the Consecrated Life, here is the story of Sister Mary Joseph. Born in a family of Hindu Brahmins, she became a Canossian and then a cloistered nun.
They had attended the ordination of the first native local priest. On the way home, they were stopped by local Hindu groups. The bus was attacked by hundreds of people, and the men and priests were beaten.
Urgen Tenzin, an activist, denounces the systematic genocide practiced by the Chinese authorities in Tibet. Thousands of raids and acts of intimidation in recent days. Without international help, this genocide could succeed.
Instead of celebrations, there will be silence and prayer vigils in memory of the Tibetans killed by Chinese security forces in 2008. An appeal to Tibetans all over the world.
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