Ground Report: Tibetan Refugees in Paris: Story of Faith, Exile, Resistance in face of Chinese Wrath

Oneindia

Inside a peaceful Parisian park lies a powerful story of faith, exile, and identity. Every year, Tibetans gather at the Pagoda of Vincennes for the Sakya Monlam prayer—thousands of kilometers from their homeland. As tensions rise with China over the Dalai Lama’s successor, refugees like Tenzing and Lobsang share their fears, hopes, and ties to India—whom they call their “second homeland.” This is more than a spiritual gathering—it's a silent resistance for a forgotten people.    #Tibet #Paris #TibetanRefugees #DalaiLama #ChinaVsTibet #TibetInExile #HiddenTemple #BoisDeVincennes #TibetanCulture #HumanRights #FaithAndResistance #IndiaTibet #TibetanDiaspora #FreeTibet #TibetanVoices #TibetanPrayer #ChinaPolitics #ExileStories #Buddhism #SpiritualResilience

Transcript

00:00foreign

00:14foreign

00:20foreign

00:28A Buddhist temple, a six-day festival of a community of refugees that are settled here

00:41in Paris, and a chance for this community to come together and remember their roots.

00:47This beautiful park in Paris hides a little secret.

00:50Twice every year, Juan de Monsen comes to life with refugees seeking shelter in Paris.

00:57More than 7,000 kilometers away from their homeland in Tibet.

01:00Our country is like this, so we can't go there, so we can't go there.

01:05This is a place where we can live in India, and this is a place where we can live as a

01:11country.

01:12We can do everything wherever we are, so we can do everything in China, so we can't do everything

01:20in China.

01:21We can do everything in China, so we can't do everything in China, so we can't do everything

01:27in China.

01:28That's why we can live here.

01:30Today's prayer is going on the sixth day, six days.

01:34This prayer is for two or three days.

01:38The prayer is going on the third day on the third day, and the prayer is going on the public.

01:46That prayer is ==

01:52The prayer death?

01:55The prayer death?

01:57Is it either on the island or bad or injuries or sometimes im errors in ourines?

02:03In Canada, there is a deep feeling feeling like that.

02:06What about it?

02:07We can say بالفicture about it.

02:08We have to trust the relationship.

02:10Theiracey if they want to live in your family, then the prayer doesn't一起.

02:11As if they need to trust their pride in China, the prayer includes such a home that nothing

02:13does it, it does it.

02:13This puja is being held in the temple.

02:16Sereng is volunteering here at the Pagora in Vansen,

02:19where the Sakya Monlam prayer is being held.

02:23Tenzing is visiting the temple with his wife and kids.

02:27They both explain that their fight is not with the Chinese people,

02:32but the Chinese government.

02:35People are not bad in China.

02:37The politics of politics is that.

02:41China is being held here in France.

02:45They are very sad that they are here.

02:47They are here as much as we live here.

02:51What do they say?

02:54The protest.

02:56Sorry, I'm wrong.

02:58When we come to the protest,

03:00many Chinese people come here to help us,

03:03because they are also very sad that they are here.

03:06The politics of politics, they are not leaving us.

03:08We will leave them.

03:10We are very sad that they have no freedom.

03:16Wherever we are going to protest,

03:18or we will do something, we will make videos,

03:20they are all banned.

03:22There is no freedom.

03:24They are not for themselves.

03:26What do you think about China?

03:28We are not against the Chinese people,

03:32we are against the Chinese government.

03:34So that's why, you know, but one day we will go back, you know.

03:38Driven out of their homeland by China in 1959,

03:42many Tibetans took refuge in India and neighbouring countries

03:46such as Nepal and Bhutan over the years.

03:49The rest moved westward, such as here, to France.

03:53Lobsang, who came to Paris as a cook,

03:57runs a small food stall outside the temple during the event.

04:01But Tenzing, Lobsang, and many others like them

04:04are afraid for their family back home in Tibet.

04:09Our family is in Tibet.

04:11They are banned from their parents.

04:13My mother has passed away.

04:15But our parents are banned from their parents.

04:16Do you know about their life?

04:18Do you know about their stories?

04:19Their stories were not done before.

04:22But now it was very little.

04:23They were stricken.

04:25Our parents were doing a lot of work with us.

04:29Who did they use WhatsApp?

04:30They have also been banned from them.

04:33And now they have also banned from the phone.

04:34They are also working here.

04:36They are working.

04:37And they are working with us.

04:39It is a problem with this.

04:40I have to talk a few times.

04:42Here I have seen a lot of people

04:45trying to talk a little bit.

04:47Yes, we are repudy.

04:49We don't have to say much about it.

04:53We don't have to do it from Tibet.

04:58We don't have to say anything about it.

05:02We don't have to say anything about it.

05:06But we will torture it from Tibet.

05:10China?

05:11Yes, China.

05:13China is torture?

05:15Yes.

05:16They will know that people will be aware of it.

05:19If there is our photo,

05:21or if you have got any photo,

05:23you know they will be aware of it.

05:25You see the news,

05:26then they will be aware of it.

05:28The system looks like it's what it is,

05:30which one is what it is,

05:32and what it is,

05:33and that it is difficult for them.

05:35For Tibet, the people of Tibet do not want to talk about it.

05:39If they want to talk about it,

05:41we will be able to go to the street.

05:43In June of this year, China mounted opposition to the Dalai Lama choosing his successor.

06:00His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a spiritual and political leader of the Tibetans and lives

06:06in exile in India.

06:08Who will succeed him has been a matter of intense political battle.

06:13Between the Tibetan government in exile and the Chinese Communist Party, with allegations

06:18emerging on the CCP of abducting a six-year-old successor named by the Dalai Lama.

06:24For Tibetans here, it is a matter of preserving their identity.

06:29If you have a question, I will answer your question.

06:33Our Holiness is not alone.

06:36It's been a long time now.

06:38If something happens, they will leave their own signs.

06:43So, what China does, it will never be true.

06:46Because, as we have been killed for six years,

06:50when it was six years old, they were kidnapped.

06:54Today, they don't know their identity.

06:56Now, think about that.

06:57If they have made the Dalai Lama, then they are under,

07:01If they were under, they could never be our own.

07:06That's why India should support them for them.

07:11The country is mostly supporting them, but they will leave China.

07:17According to figures from 2022 and 2020,

07:21of the 7 million immigrants in France,

07:23only about 8,000 to 10,000 are Tibetan refugees.

07:27This is a small number compared to the Tibetan immigrant population in India.

07:34With family back in Dharamshala, Dehradun or Delhi,

07:38the Tibetans here have a special connection with India,

07:41which they often describe as their second homeland.

07:44India is very fond of it.

07:46Now India is saying that it's the wrong place.

07:52India is our second motherland.

07:58So our second homeland is that.

08:00So we miss India only more than the Tibetans.

08:05We are living here, so we are adjusting here.

08:10For one India, Paradi Bhannot from Paris.

08:38Subscribe to one India and never miss an update.

08:45Download the one India app now.

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