Yeseterday, a rally was held in protest of the plight of Tibetans and the rememberance of the 47th anniversary of Uprising Day at the Federal Building Plaza in downtown Salt Lake.
The Utah Tibetan Association holds this protest every year to educate the public on the near extinction of Tibetan people since being held under Chines Occupation.
Chuck Tripp, a Desert Greens Green Party of Utah member and political science professor at Westminster College participates in the event every year.
“This issue hasn’t gone away,” said Westminster College professor Chuck Tripp, who was joined at the protest by some of his political science students.
Protests and bumper stickers reading “Free Tibet” have been met with cynicism over the years, according to Tripp. “It became something of a joke,” he said.
But times have changed, Tripp added, and people are more “sophisticated” and less “misty-eyed” about Tibet’s ongoing struggles.
Tripp said he wanted to expose his students to Tibet’s culture of nonviolence and its brand of Buddhism. He praised Tibetans’ courage and staying power after decades of exile and “brutal” attacks by the Chinese government.
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Keith Johnson, Deseret Morning News
Dawa Bhuti prays during the Salt Lake demonstration Friday. About 50 people gathered to protest China’s occupation of Tibet.
“I think that’s a great lesson for all of us,” Tripp said.
One of his students, Joey Caputo, 24, held signs that called for a free Tibet. His reasons for protesting every year for the past four years run deeper than a distant quest for independent Tibetans.
“China as a whole I kind of have a problem with,” Caputo said. “China needs to open up and become more transparent.”
Caputo would like to see consumers make decisions that don’t finance a communist China — his shoes, for example, are union-made, and he buys used clothing.
Photos of yesterday’s event, taken by Tom King:
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 