Atlantida, a summer resort of Uruguayans located just 45 kilometers away from the Uruguay’s capital city, Montevideo, is celebrating this month a centenary of town’s birth in 1911. As a part of the celebration, the town authorities and a league of civic and other commercial associations of the town organize a range of activities to celebrate the jubilation.
The organizers of the centennial celebration of the town also kindly invited the local Tibet Support Group “Tíbet Patria Libre” to organize a Tibet Awareness Program as a part of the jubilation.
While gladly accepting the invitation, the Tibet Patria Libre headed by Aloma Sellanes organized a series of exhibition of photos on the life of the Tibetan people both inside and outside Tibet as well as a display of conceptual art works on the wisdom of the Buddhism created by Uruguayan artist, Ciro Jaumandreu. The event took place in the center of town on April 16th, 17th and 18th 2011.
Apart from the display of art works and photos, the Tibet Patria Libre screened four powerful films on Tibet at the event – Red Flag Over Tibet (Frontline 1994) directed and narrated by American author and a leading observer on China, Orville Schell; What Remains of US (National Film Board of Canada 2004) directed by Hugo Latulippe and François Prévost; The Sun Behind the Clouds (White Crane 2009) directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam; and The Forbidden Team (2003) directed by Chap Chappell and Arnold Kroigaard.
The event was opened with a talk by Aloma Sellanes, who briefed the audience about the current situation in Tibet, particularly the tension at Kirti Monastery in Amdo Ngaba after the self-emollition of a 21-year-old Tibetan monk on 16 March in Ngaba to protest against the continued repression of the Chinese authorities on the Tibetan people.
Both the local TV and the local radio covered the event. The day before the inauguration of the event at Atlantida, a Uruguayan radio also interviewed Aloma Sellanes for about 40 minutes on the current situation in Tibet. During the interview, Aloma spoke in details about the critical situation that has been faced by the monks of Kirti Monastery in Amdo Ngaba and a special appeal His Holiness the Dalai Lama made urging the international community, the governments around the world, and the international non-governmental organizations, to persuade the Chinese leadership to exercise restraint in handling this situation. The interview was enriched by the participation of a senior Uruguayan journalist who just returned from a tour across China.
The event in Atlantida was well received by the people in the town. Many people were moved after watching the movies on Tibet. One woman, after watching the film “What Remains of US”, told the organizers: “please, express Tibetans our solidarity”.
