Around 50 community members waved Tibetan flags and held signs demanding freedom from China to commemorate the 66th Tibetan National Uprising Day in the Ithaca Commons on Monday. The demonstration was organized by the Tibetan Association of Ithaca, which is part of the larger International Tibet Network that is dedicated to maximize “the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement.”
In 1950, the People’s Republic of China invaded Tibet and the region was integrated as an autonomous region under Chinese rule in 1965.
On March 10, 1959, Tibetans rebelled against Chinese occupation in Lhasa, and gathered to protect their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama amid fears of an assassination attempt. In the aftermath of the uprising, the Dalai Lama fled to India, where he established a government in exile.
Now, every year on March 10, Tibetan communities all over the world commemorate this day with protests.
In 2023, U.S. Department of State recorded human rights violations in Tibet including restrictions on freedom of expression, religious freedom and assimilation policies that are “aimed to suppress ethnic Tibetans’ cultural, religious, and linguistic identity.”
Tibetan Association of Ithaca board member Chime Dolma emphasized the importance of the demonstration in amplifying Tibetan voices who face suppression.
“Tibetans in China are not able to protest today,” Dolma said. “So people all over the world, like Tibetans in India, America, in Europe … we gather together today to [let] China [know] that we want our freedom back, in a nonviolent way.”
Demonstrators chanted slogans including “China lies, people die,” and “What do we want? We want justice,” as they marched.
Yangzom Noga ’27, a member of the Coalition of Students Resisting China, a group of Tibetan, Taiwanese, Uyghur, Chinese and Hong Kong students who aim to achieve collective liberation, highlighted the Tibetan movement’s focus on nonviolence.
“[Even] when faced with such an invasion, [Tibetans] reverted to their true morals and said, we have to combat it with nonviolence,” Noga said. When Ex-Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay came to speak in 2023 at Cornell, Noga explained that he said in a “scenario where we get Tibet back as our nation, we would still remain with the nonviolent strategy, because it’s rooted in Buddhism — that's who we are.”
Dhondup Zurkhang, a member of the Tibetan Association of Ithaca and a Cornell custodian, said that the Tibetan community in Ithaca preserves their culture by educating the next generation of Tibetans.
“Every Saturday and Sunday, we have a class at the Namgyal Monastery where our young children are being taught Tibetan dance and our cultural background. So we've been successful in keeping our identity alive,” Zurkhang said.
Located on 201 Tibet Dr., the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies serves as the North American Seat of the Dalai Lama’s Personal Monastery. Established in 1992, the monastery offers opportunities to study Tibetan Buddhism and is a cultural center for the Tibetan community in Ithaca.
Noga explained that while visiting the Tibetan Sunday school, which is part of the Namgyal Monastery, she taught children about the significance of the Tibetan National Uprising Day and led a workshop to create posters before Monday’s protest. During the workshop, each person was asked to share one word about what Tibet means to them. Workshop students shared words like “hope,” “home,” “love” and “community.”
“During March 10, every single one of those people who marched out on the streets of Lhasa, had the same words in their hearts,” Noga said to the students. “We have to keep having the same words in our hearts too, as we go out there in front of the Ithaca streets as well.”
Having worked at Cornell for over 7 years, Zurkhang reflected on the University’s relationship with Tibetan issues. While acknowledging Cornell’s past support for Tibet, he criticized what he saw as the University’s reluctance to take a more outspoken stance.
Cornell Media Relations did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the University’s position on Tibetan issues by the time of publication.
Additionally, Noga pointed to opportunities and limitations within the University’s academic offerings in regards to Tibetan culture. She shared that she found Cornell “special” for offering the shared course initiative, but she said the China and Asia-Pacific Studies major is “flawed” as it only offered one class during the fall 2024 semester that centered on Tibet.
For Zurkhang, the Tibet Uprising Day is a reminder of the three Rs that drive the Tibetan movement: “remember, resist and return.”
“We should never forget and remember [that] our forefathers have laid down their life for the our country, do whatever we can do [to] preserve the traditional culture before the Chinese eradicate us, [and] hope one day we can return to Tibet with [the] Dalai Lama,” Zurkhang said.
Correction, March 12, 10:00 p.m.: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Dhondup Zurkhang worked at Cornell for 30 years. The article has been corrected to reflect he worked at Cornell for 7 years.
