"I stood outside the prison for a while getting more and more frustrated at having to abandon these brave men, and eventually when the cops weren't really paying attention, I sprinted past them and then down into the jail. They started trying to pull me away and actually got my shirt off, but I managed to get one hand into the cell, and then those Tibetans pulled like hell and I was inside--back among the guys."
On the morning of March 10th, 2008, on the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising in Lhasa, 100 Tibetans, mostly monks, set off from the town of Dharamsala, India, with the intention of walking to Tibet. They were marching to focus global attention on the plight of their countrymen, timing their arrival at the Indian-Tibetan border with August's Beijing Olympics. One of the marchers was Tenzin Tsundue, the poet and activist, who has become an icon of creative resistance among Tibetan youth.
They were only a few hours in to the march when they were stopped by local authorities under orders from Delhi Central government and forbidden to leave the district of Kangra in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Unperturbed, they continued on and the following day, all 100 were summarily arrested at the Kangra district border.
The Tibet Connection's Ronny Novick spoke with Lex Pelger, a 25- year-old Pennsylvanian writer who is traveling with the marchers.
Lex spoke by cell phone from outside the jail at Jawala Mukhi about the marchers' dedication to non-violent resistance, why he and 9 other Westerners joined the hunger strike they mounted, and his attempts to break INTO an Indian jail....
[Transcript Available]
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Piece Description
"I stood outside the prison for a while getting more and more frustrated at having to abandon these brave men, and eventually when the cops weren't really paying attention, I sprinted past them and then down into the jail. They started trying to pull me away and actually got my shirt off, but I managed to get one hand into the cell, and then those Tibetans pulled like hell and I was inside--back among the guys." On the morning of March 10th, 2008, on the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising in Lhasa, 100 Tibetans, mostly monks, set off from the town of Dharamsala, India, with the intention of walking to Tibet. They were marching to focus global attention on the plight of their countrymen, timing their arrival at the Indian-Tibetan border with August's Beijing Olympics. One of the marchers was Tenzin Tsundue, the poet and activist, who has become an icon of creative resistance among Tibetan youth. They were only a few hours in to the march when they were stopped by local authorities under orders from Delhi Central government and forbidden to leave the district of Kangra in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Unperturbed, they continued on and the following day, all 100 were summarily arrested at the Kangra district border. The Tibet Connection's Ronny Novick spoke with Lex Pelger, a 25- year-old Pennsylvanian writer who is traveling with the marchers. Lex spoke by cell phone from outside the jail at Jawala Mukhi about the marchers' dedication to non-violent resistance, why he and 9 other Westerners joined the hunger strike they mounted, and his attempts to break INTO an Indian jail.... [Transcript Available]
Broadcast History
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Transcript
TRANSCRIPT OF THE TIBET CONNECTION INTERVIEW WITH LEX PELGER--A 25 YEAR OLD AMERICAN WRITER WHO JOINED THE HUNGER STRIKE ON THE MARCH TO TIBET
Recorded on March 13th, 2008 for THE TIBET CONNECTION RADIO
thetibetconnection.org
THE TIBET CONNECTION: Lex, I know that at Sarah the other day, they were issued with orders of detention?
PELGER: Yeah
TTC: ...saying that they were not allowed to leave Kangra district
PELGER: About fifty police officers stopped the march at the Kangra district line.
TTC: And can you tell me what the scene was like?
PELGER: We saw the police in the distance, and the march approached them, and 100 monks sat down directly in front of them in two rows. The support marchers sat behind them. Tenzin Tsundue was taken in a separate vehicle. I heard that it took eight police officers to get him into that vehicle. I believe he passively resisted like...
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Timing and Cues
INTRO
On the morning of March 10th, 2008, on the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising in Lhasa, 100 Tibetans, mostly monks, set off from the town of Dharamsala, India, with the intention of walking to Tibet. They were marching to focus global attention on the plight of their countrymen, timing their arrival at the Indian-Tibetan border with August's Beijing Olympics.
They were only a few hours in to the march when they were stopped by local authorities under orders from Delhi Central government and forbidden to leave the district of Kangra in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Unperturbed, they continued on and all 100 were summarily arrested at the Kangra district border.
The Tibet Connection's Ronny Novick spoke with Lex Pelger, a 25- year-old Pennsylvanian writer who is traveling with the marchers. Lex spoke by cell phone from outside the jail at Jawala Mukhi about the marchers' dedication to non-violent resistance, why he and 9 other Westerners joined the hunger strike, and his attempts to break INTO jail....
OUTRO
The latest news on the marchers is that they are going to be detained in a government hostel for two weeks and then be released. The hunger strike is over, and all the foreigners have returned to Dharamsala.
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