DALAI LAMA ADDRESS IN CAPITOL ROTUNDA - VIDEO

President Bush and Dalai Lama admire the great dome of the Capitol Rotunda, during ceremonies honouring the Tibetan leader with the Congressional Gold Medal, October 17, 2007. Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

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t was an important day in Tibetan history, and the ceremony was befitting the occasion. President Bush and several of the other speakers emphasized the need for Chinese leaders to actually meet Dalai Lama, and there was a concerted effort to appeal to them to invite him to Beijing soon.

President Bush's remarks are about 7 minutes. Also on the speakers' list, but which I did not bother to capture from the satellite video feed, were Nancy Pelosi, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Tom Lantos, Diane Feinstein, John Boehner, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell. Dalai Lama's fellow Nobel laureate and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel made a very moving speech which I did capture, and I'd like to draw attention to the following passage:

"Twenty-two years ago a younger writer and teacher, a holocaust orphan, had the rare privilege of receiving from Congress the same honour. And he said then, that he belongs to a tradition that commands him to speak truth to power. Today, in honouring a great man of faith and courage, you members of Congress and you Mr. President, are giving power to truth."

Yes, and they should all be thanked for doing the right thing, regardless of the childish tantrums (tantra?) of the Chinese government.

His Holiness speaks for about 24 minutes, divided into three clips, and the benediction / closing is about 4 minutes (and also worth listening to).


The International Campaign for Tibet has also made a transcript available.

Labels: Tibet, USA

- posted by Agam @ 3:39 PM 0 comments

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