Good Morning! Here’s the headlines: the US Congress has authorized 1.5 millions dollars in humanitarian aid to Tibetans, While the senate put more pressure on the government to do something about the human rights situation in Tibet: China appears to have retaliated by denying Tibet visas to two important senators: uprising day observed in unlikely places like Warsaw and Kathmandu: support for Tibet grows in Canadian and Lithuanian parliament: a Belgian minister cancels trip to Tibet: an Italian MP stands up for China: Finns shows interests in Tibetan religion while Israelis probe its traditional healing methods.

So, crowded within a space of one month there have been quite an international lineup of events focused on what many still regard as an unimportant corner of the world. And all this in the wake of the UN debacle which some thought would result in gradual easing out of Tibet from the international scene. Even Tibetans in Tibet are reported to be highly dismayed by the failure at the UN. There were dark visitors of Tibetans being left to their own pitiable devices after all these years of hard work in winning friends and influencing people. Fortunately, continuing events seem to prove this foreboding wrong. We still have friends in high places as well as among the general public. And the numerical strength seems to be growing rather than diminishing despite the failure of the UN resolution. It is as if everyone is saying, no UN support for Tibet, so what?

So this. Although the world body appears to be a useless institution as far as our problem go, it is from there the ultimate pressure on China to end their presence in Tibet will have to come. We can go on making friends anywhere we can but abandoning the work at UN level is not necessary or even advisable. The two ends are not at cross-purposes and are in fact complementary. Developing support at the grass-roots level means aiming for support from their elected leaders since the general public can hardly be expected to march into occupied Tibet for us. What they can do is try and convince their elected leaders that supporting the Tibetan causes is right thing to do. Once those elected leaders are sufficiently convinced, it still does not mean that they will declare war on China; it means that they will add their voices to the chorus which is being rehearsed to sing the Tibetan tune.

The silver lining in the recent UN cloud is that it demonstrated how strongly the Tibet supporters believe in the CAUSE. The failure of the resolution has not disheartened them. Far from thinking that they are wasting time on a foolish errand, they have renewed their efforts. It is important for the Tibetans to see this clearly and carry on contributing their bits wherever they are. If they lose courage and seem tired of working for the ultimate goal, then the supporters are liable to be thrown into confusion. That time—if it comes to pass—will be more dangerous for us than the recent sitting of the UN commission. Our position at the moment is clear. With few individual exceptions, both the government and the people want full independence restored to our country. SO if we can keep to the straight and the narrow, the future outlook is far from gloomy.