Letter to Hans-Gert Pottering, President of European Parliament
24 August 2008
Warsaw, August 25, 2008
Mr. Hans-Gert POTTERING
President of the European Parliament
European Parliament
Correspondence with Citizens
GOL03A012
L-2929 LUXEMBOURG
Fax: (352) 43 00 27 072
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing in regards to your statement made before the Beijing Olympics about solidarity actions with Tibetans during the Games. We would like to inform you that Polish weightlifter Szymon Kolecki made a visible sign of solidarity, as he had pledged to do before the Games. We hope you will express your support for his gesture, in accordance with your statement before the Games (“I would like to encourage the athletes, men and women, to look at things as they are, and not to turn away”). To our knowledge, he is the only athlete who made such a symbolic gesture.
On Sunday, August 17th, before competing and winning a silver medal in the 94kg class, Polish weightlifter Szymon Kolecki shaved his head in a gesture of solidarity with Tibetan monks.
After the medal ceremony, Kolecki told online Polish sports magazine Sportfan, “This haircut is from this morning. I can’t directly say why I did it. It’s connected with certain things that the Olympic Charter forbids. But I will say that it’s symbolic.”
On March 20th this year, a week after the Chinese government brutally suppressed peaceful protests in Lhasa and sparked a country-wide uprising, Kolecki told Polish news portal Interia, “Unless the Chinese regime becomes more moderate, I’ll compete with my head shaved in a gesture of solidarity with the Tibetan monks.”
Since the Athens 2004 Olympics, Tibetans and Tibet support groups have been appealing to Olympic athletes to stand up for Tibet at the Beijing Games. In June 2008, an international network of more than 150 Tibet organizations launched AthleteWanted.org, a website with suggestions as to how athletes could demonstrate support for Tibet during the Games. Students for a Free Tibet also placed a full-page ad in the front section of the New York Times a week before the start of the Games.
Head-shaving to display solidarity with Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns who have borne the brunt of the Chinese government’s crackdown on freedom protests was one of the suggestions of the campaign. In Poland, the campaign was carried out by the Inna Przestrzen Foundation’s Tibetan Programme, as part of which Polish athletes were contacted directly as well as via the Internet.
Following this year’s dramatic events in Tibet, Kolecki also said:
“I am outraged by what’s going on in Tibet. When I read about it, I can hardly believe I’ll compete in a country that bloodily suppresses street protests and persecutes people who don’t agree with the party. I can’t believe the Chinese have launched an immense operation to block Lhasa.” He continued, “This month in Beijing is a chance for the world’s biggest audience to see how China persecutes the Tibetan people.”
We are looking forward for your positive reply,
Your sincerely,
Piotr Cykowski
Tibetan Programme
