00:00For those of you who are just joining us, we are here celebrating the birthday of Tibet's 11th Panchen Lama,
00:10who is a very important religious leader, a spiritual leader of Tibet, who was kidnapped in 1995 when he was a 6-year-old boy.
00:19And today he is turning 23 years old. This is the 17th birthday he is spending in captivity.
00:26This is the 17th birthday he is spending against his will.
00:36What we are doing right now is sharing poems, sharing music, sharing lyrics from songs that Tibetans inside Tibet,
00:45as well as Tibetans in exile, have written in expression of their love and devotion to Tibet's Panchen Lama, the stolen child.
00:54Can I ask Namgyal Lau to come up and share the lyrics to another song?
01:07Hello everybody. My name is Namgyal. Thank you all for joining us.
01:11I'm going to read the English translation of the song Yi Re Kyo by Kunga.
01:19Kunga, a widely popular Tibetan singer, was born on September 3, 1981 in eastern Tibet.
01:27Kunga is one of many Tibetan singers, including Yadong and Jamyangki, who have vowed never to sing in favor of the Chinese Communist Party.
01:38The following song, Yi Re Kyo, which means Heart Saddened by Kunga, calls for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet
01:48and sings in reverence to the Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama, and the Karmapa.
01:55Kunga refers to the Dalai Lama and the kidnapped Panchen Lama with concealed analogies, the Dalai Lama to the sun and the Panchen Lama to the moon.
02:07Here's the translation of the song.
02:10Sun sets behind the saddened mountains. The white moon gets consumed by the clouds.
02:17And the stars have fallen amid rain and clouds. Heart saddened, unable to meet you three.
02:29Oh the sun, the moon, and the stars. The stars have fallen amid rain and clouds.
02:35Heart saddened, unable to meet you three. Heart saddened, unable to meet you three.
02:43At the center of the planet Earth come eastern Tibet, echoes the reverent Lama's teaching.
02:51Now I'm left alone and unable to hear such teachings.
02:56Heart saddened, I'm unable to see my Lama. Heart saddened, I'm unable to see my Lama.
03:04Oh my Lama, now I'm left alone and unable to hear your teachings.
03:11Heart saddened, I'm unable to see my Lama. Heart saddened, I'm unable to see my Lama.
03:19My dear father and mother, ashen hair, close to departure, now your kindness yet to be repaid.
03:28My youthful heart saddened, my youthful heart saddened.
03:33Oh father and mother, now your kindness yet to be repaid.
03:38My youthful heart saddened, my youthful heart saddened. Thank you.
03:50For those of us joining us, we are Tibetans in exile and our supporters here at Union Square
04:02to celebrate the 23rd birthday, the 23rd birthday of Tibet's Panchen Lama.
04:08The Panchen Lama is one of the most important religious leaders of Tibet.
04:12Him, the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama are one of the two most important religious leaders of Tibet.
04:18The Panchen Lama, Gendun Chukyi Nyima, he was six years old when he was recognized as Tibet's Panchen Lama, the reincarnation.
04:28At six years old in 1995, he was abducted by the Chinese government.
04:34At six years old, he was the youngest political prisoner.
04:39Him and his family were abducted by the Chinese government
04:43and it has been years since anybody has heard anything from him or seen anything about him or known his whereabouts.
04:51And the Chinese government refuses to give that information over.
04:55Today is his 23rd birthday.
04:5817th birthday in captivity, 17th birthday kidnapped, 17th birthday since his kidnap by the Chinese government.
05:10What we are doing here is asking everybody, asking our New York friends, our New York neighbors to join us in calling for his release.
05:22Alright, so do you see Occupy as changing things in this country?
05:29Yes.
05:31Alright, how long have you been in Occupy?
05:34Since September 17th.
05:39Have you been on a lot of direct actions?
05:41Not really.
05:43Okay, you just kind of hold down the fort?
05:45Yeah.
05:46Okay, did you stay in any of the squats?
05:48Yeah.
05:49How was that?
05:50Terrible.
05:52I hated it.
05:54Wow, is it true that people were like fighting and being raped and all that?
05:58Yep.
05:59Wow, anybody know?
06:01Nope.
06:02Okay, but you heard people tell you what happened to them, right?
06:05Yeah.
06:06And it was pretty bad.
06:08Yes, it was.
06:11Was it just girls being assaulted or guys too?
06:14Both.
06:15Both were being assaulted, wow.
06:17So it was a very unsafe condition, right?
06:20Yeah, basically.
06:21Unsafe place.
06:22But we tried our best.
06:24You tried your best. Well, you did what you had to do. Well, I'm glad you're out of it.
06:27Are you now sleeping out on Wall Street or somewhere else?
06:30I'm sleeping out here on Wall Street.
06:32Well, actually this is Wall Street and Broad Street.
06:39On the corner of Broad Street.
06:41Broad Street, okay.
06:43So that's good though, I mean like everyone is back again because in the winter time it was pretty cold and it seems like a lot of people went away.
06:50Yeah.
06:51But to me it looks like a lot of people are coming back now that it's warm and now Occupy is in the news again, so all good, right?
06:59Yep, all good.
07:01Alright, one last question. Where do you think Occupy will be by the fall?
07:06By the fall?
07:07Yeah.
07:10Hopefully in a mass number that 500,000 people come.
07:16Alright.
07:17And overwhelm the police. The police don't have enough police for 500,000 people.
07:24Yeah, New York City only has 40,000 police, so 500,000 people would be significant.
07:29And it would be like, hello, we're marching down here if you like it or not. You are not arresting all of us.
07:38That, yes.
07:40We'll march down every street, every corner, every alleyway, every inch of the sidewalk, we'll just take off.
07:48Okay.
07:49And then people will turn around and say, wow, 500,000 people, 40,000 cops, who's going to win this one?
08:01And most likely they're going to have to call the National Guard and assist help from all the neighboring states to spare any police officers that they can.
08:15Which, New Jersey doesn't do it because they hate New York City. New York State, the state of New York, won't do it.
08:25From Pennsylvania all the way up to Maine won't even do it. Won't even help New York.
08:32Yes.
08:33Basically, New York is stuck by itself. New York City is stuck, stranded in the middle of the ocean by itself with no backup.
08:41With no backup.
08:42Except for the National Guard, and then we can have a field day.
08:45Okay. That'll be very interesting to see. So we have to wait and see. Thank you.
