House Proceeding 03-11-09 on Mar 11th, 2009 :: 1:59:40 to 2:02:50
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1:59:39 to 1:59:59( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: beijing that says this, talks to the dalai lama and bringing relingous atonomy is an essential benchmark that china must meet in order to advance relations with the united states. i thank the gentlelady for yielding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield to the chairman of the human rights

1:59:40 to 2:02:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: James P. McGovern

2:00:00 to 2:00:20( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: commission, mr. mcgovern of massachusetts, three minutes. mr. mcgovern: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of this important resolution. and i want to thank my friend, congressman rush holt, speaker nancy pelosi, and the chairman

2:00:21 to 2:00:41( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: and ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee for their leadership in the long struggle for freedom, dignity and human rights in tibet. mr. speaker, for six decades the history of tibet has been marked by violence. even before 1949 the people's liberation army of china entered the eastern areas of tibet during the long march. in 1951 they finally occupied

2:00:42 to 2:01:03( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: the capital. 50 years ago on march 10, the tibetan people rose up against chinese rule. the backlash was furious and brutal. on march 17, the dalai lama by some 80,000 tibetans for life in exile.

2:01:04 to 2:01:24( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: tens of thousands of tibetans who remained were killed or imprisoned. thanks to the thriving exile communities in india, europe and the united states, tibetan culture --ty debtan culture and language identity have survived. they focused world attention on the tibetan struggle.

2:01:25 to 2:01:45( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: but each year and every year the situation inside tibet grows worse with more oppression, more arrests, more displacement, more destruction of the language, culture. one year ago, new protest rose up in tibet. they were the result of the greater controls over religious and cultural activities,

2:01:46 to 2:02:06( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: development that mainly benefited chinese my grants. thousands and thousands were arrested. to date, there has been no full accounting of chinese authorities of those arrested, detained, tried, sentenced or released. no access to those detained by the international community or

2:02:07 to 2:02:27( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: the red cross or other international observers. and all the time the tibetan people become more of a minority in their own land. mr. speaker, as a new co-chair of the tom lantos human rights commission, it is humbling to follow in the footsteps of tom lantos. the congressional human rights caucus, which he founded, was

2:02:28 to 2:02:48( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: the very first to give the dalai lama a voice on capitol hill in 1987. on this 50th anniversary, let's be very, very clear that the american peoe and this house stand with his holiness. we will not rest until meaningful and full autonomy for the tibetan people is achieved and the dalai lama and his people can fulfill the

2:02:49 to 2:02:51( Edit History Discussion )

James P. McGovern: dream of returning home to tibet.