A Surprise Visit
Tonight we decided to pay a surprise visit to IOC President Jacques Rogge. We arrived at his hotel, but missed him by seconds as he breezed in with his bodyguards and walked straight into the elevator. I tried to get him on the phone — with no luck of course. I did manage to speak to Paul Foster (IOC “Head of Protocol Events and Hospitality”) who insisted that I go through Robert Roxborough, the Communications Coordinator I had originally spoken with from Tiananmen Square, to get an appointment with Rogge. I told him I’d been waiting for Robert to call me back, and said that I would wait in the hotel lobby for a while.
Soon after talking to the hotel’s General Manager — whom I approached after we found him peering nervously at us from across the lobby — Robert showed up in the lobby. He’s a polite young Scottish guy who came to deliver the message that Jacque’s schedule is too tight to fit in a meeting with me. I told him that this was an opportunity for the IOC to address the issue of human rights one year before the Games, especially as many people are upset with comments made in Guatemala by IOC Coordination Commissioner Hein Verbruggen. Robert listened politely as I described the situation in Tibet and expressed our outrage at the fact that China is using the Games to legitimize its rule in Tibet. Finally, I asked him to take a message back to Rogge asking him to reconsider my request for a meeting. I said I would come to the hotel in the morning and wait for an answer. Robert didn’t seem too keen on that, but he said he’d let me know tomorrow. So that’s where we stand now.
All in all it was another bizarre but productive day in China’s pollution-choked capital. It felt good to stand in Tiananmen Square and speak confidently in front of Mao’s portrait. In the evening, it was surprising to find so little security at Rogge’s hotel. At the end of the long day, it was strangely comforting to return to our hotel and find no less than five plain-clothed security agents waiting for us in the lobby.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings…
Posted: August 6th, 2007 under IOC, News.
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Comments: 15
Comments
Comment from Carine
Time: August 6, 2007, 1:15 pm
Hi dear Lhadon, I am glad to see that you are still fighting for a free Tibet. I met you in Kingston upon Thames, GB, in 2003 I think, I was a friend of Tenzin Bagen (not too sure about the spelling) and a member of Students for a Free Tibet. So I have a favour to ask : his email adress does not work any longer but I would love to keep in touch with him. I hope you can help me!
Take care and keep up the fight!
Carine
Comment from Schnookums
Time: August 6, 2007, 1:44 pm
What a coward!
Don’t stop asking for his time Lhadon — he should know by now that Tibetans (and their supporters) will not rest while the IOC helps China paper over the occupation of Tibet!
Comment from ansel
Time: August 6, 2007, 2:00 pm
Keep up the pressure on him! Good luck tomorrow morning.
Comment from Tenzin
Time: August 6, 2007, 5:18 pm
Looking forward to see what tommorow brings,, be safe ..
As Martin Luther King said “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
Comment from Tenzin
Time: August 6, 2007, 6:53 pm
Great work Lhadon! Keep making us bhoepas proud!
Comment from Angela Dempster-Passang
Time: August 6, 2007, 7:25 pm
You are AMAZING! ALL OUR LOVE AND SUPPORT FOR YOUR MISSION FROM NEW ZEALAND. Keep being clear, patient, strong and brave, you are protected by truth - and by wishing for the greater good of all, will help the lies and negative karma to finally stop. 
:)
Comment from Rigpa7
Time: August 6, 2007, 7:27 pm
You are truly a brave hero and lots of support from here. Good luck this morning. By the way, your updates are great and many thanks to you two.
Comment from Camis
Time: August 6, 2007, 8:34 pm
Dear Lhadon,
Thank you for your brave and important work. I just sent an email to Jacques Rogge - deliberately keeping it as diplomatic as I could . I cc’d Senator Kennedy and Senator Boxer. Ya never know, right? Here’s a copy of my email:
Dear M. Rogge:
I am writing from Los Angeles to ask you to take a
meeting with Lhadon Tethong, the young woman who wants
to meet with you to discusss how The Olympics can help
promote human rights in China and Tibet. You are both
in Beijing right now. Time for a meeting.
Everyone in the world knows there is a big problem
here, and one of the most constructive ways to move
toward a resolution is for us to request help from
people like you - people who are in a position of
direct influence. You have a responsibility, a moral
obligation, to work for human rights as you work on
The Olympics. One Dream, justice.
I graduated from The University of California some
years ago, so I am no longer a student, but I support
Students For A Free Tibet. I have never met Lhadon
Tethong, but I have tremendous admiration and respect
for her committment to Tibet and to human rights in
general.
She is thoughtful and serious about this work. Please
meet with her to exchange ideas on this important
issue. As we used to say in the 60’s:
The Whole World Is Watching.
Respectfully,
Joan Liepman
Comment from karma khangsar
Time: August 6, 2007, 8:48 pm
Hi lhadon lak,
Keep going your great job and good luck..may god bless you.BOD GYAL LOOOO..FREEE TIBETTT…
karma khangsar from sarah college,
Daramshala(Exile Home)
Comment from Camis
Time: August 6, 2007, 8:48 pm
Hey…. my email to Jacques Rogge bounced back to me due to a “Fatal Error” in the address. I used the address someone posted here: [email protected]
Is that correct? Have they changed it?
Camis
Comment from chemi
Time: August 6, 2007, 9:07 pm
Dear Lhadon,
Keep it up. Never loose ur hope. Best of luck. Hope to meet him soon.
TAKE CARE
LONG LIVE H.H THE DALAI LAMA
FREE TIBET
BOD GYALO
Comment from minaktsang
Time: August 6, 2007, 9:31 pm
Dear, Lhadon la, you are doing a great job in Beijing, keep it up and we are standing with you.
Comment from Shao Loong
Time: August 6, 2007, 9:36 pm
That’s ironic that he’s staying at a hotel named after the British colonialist, Stamford Raffles.
Did you see that Reporters Without Borders staged a protest in Beijing?
You’re doing great!
Comment from Cindy and Bill Hipple
Time: August 6, 2007, 10:28 pm
Good luck in the morning! I am praying for you!!
Love,
C
Comment from wangyal
Time: August 7, 2007, 1:49 am
Tibetan mass movement
It is the time to doing something for our nation, which is under the red Chinese. The 2008 Olympic created a stage for us to demonstrate what is true and what fake in Tibet, as a result some no governmental organizations took this golden chance to organize the Tibetan mass movement, these organizations are Gu Chu Sum and Tibetan women’s association and Tibetan youth Congress, alone with 14 hunger strikers.
We have to support them financially and mentally, we have to stay alone with them now and then, they are doing all those things for sake of a whole nation, a nation who lost its fate 50 years ago and we are on the way to build a nation and develop it. I really appreciate their work and contribution in our history, the history will remember you especially those 14 brave people who left behind dear ones and near ones, they really brave enough to do such things for a nation, the Tibetans must support them from abroad and in Tibet. We have to stand as one and unite as one single group.
At this time we need more appreciation and inspiration from our own people, need more youngster activist in our society who can lead the nation to war, a war of peace and non-violence in south Asia. The youngster like Tedhon Lhadon and Tenzin Tsuldue. Such youngsters with modern education and energetic activist.
In the process of Tibetan mass movement we have to be aware of rumors and some other consequences which attempt to destroy the movement, like some people went to Delhi and come back to Dharamsala, they blame that the organizers wont take care of the public, it is maybe true some distances but they don’t have free time to look after each and single person. We have to look after ourselves and it is not responsibility of only those organizers, it is sole duty of the whole nation. Please don’t bring such rumors and clueless talks to the public hear, especially those participants who are come from far away.
I would welcome any comments !
Yours sincerely
Amtig contact me: [email protected]
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