Richard Gere to visit Tibetan Uprising commemoration in The Hague

American Actor Richard Gere will be in The Hague for the commemoration of the Tibetan Uprising of March 10, 1959. The 75-year-old Golden Globe winner is the chair of the International Campaign for Tibet, an organization that aims to promote human rights and democracy for the Tibetan people. Their country has been part of the People’s Republic of China since Tibet was invaded in 1950 and annexed a year later.

Gere will join the solidarity demonstration on Monday, and will also address the attendees. Gere, who worked with the Dalai Lama for almost 40 years, wants to remind people of the importance of peace and justice. He also thinks that “solving” the Tibetan issue will lead to a reduction in tensions on the Asian continent.

The Pretty Woman actor has been committed to human rights for the Tibetan people and the preservation of Tibetan culture since 1980, and he often speaks out publicly about the issue. In 2012, the actor said that China wants to turn all Tibetans into communists.

“It’s never going to happen. Their whole lives have revolved around Buddhism, around their teachers, around their gurus, the high ideals of Buddhism,” he said “They are not going to change that in a hundred years, two hundred years, a thousand years, that will never go away."

In 1993, Gere was banned from attending the Academy Awards after he criticized China’’s war on Tibet when he was presenting the Oscar for Best Art Direction. He spoke of the “horrendous human rights situation there is in China.”

The Tibetan Uprising will be commemorated on Monday, exactly 66 years after it took place. The revolt started in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and were largely, but not entirely peaceful. China regained control of the capital 13 days later.

In the end, tens of thousand of people were killed. The Tibetan Government in Exile put estimates at 87,000 fatalities. It is not clear how many losses were suffered by the Chinese military, though some estimates put it at close to 2,000.

The Dalai Lama escaped arrest, and fled Tibet as China seized control of Lhasa after the uprising. He fled to India, where he continues to live in exile.