I
Keep hope
A n exclusive street
paper interview with
the Dalai Lama
BY DANIELLE BATIST
S T R E E T N E W S S E R V IC E
hat is age?
Having just turned 77 on July 6, His Holiness
the 14th Dalai Lama still travels the world to
spread his message of peace and reconciliation.
It seems he has been on the road for more than 50
years.
In March 1959, as Chinese troops crushed an
attempted uprising in Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th
Dalai Lama, fled into India. Then a young man in his
mid-20s, the future must have seemed bleak.
With few countries prepared to respond to
China’s actions, he faced a difficult task to
protect Tibetans and their traditions. Yet despite
50 years in exile, the reach of Tibet’s spiritual
leader has extended far beyond his community
and he is now recognized as one of the
world’s leading religious figures.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1989 for his consistent opposition to
the use of violence in his quest for
Tibetan self-rule. But Beijing continues
to view him as a “splittist,” although
he has repeatedly stated that his goal
is for Tibetan autonomy rather than
independence.
During his recent tour in Great
Britain, themed “Be the Change,”
the Dalai Lama gave an exclusive
interview to the International
Network of Street Papers, of which
Street Roots is a member.
W
D a n ielle Batist: Many o f our 12,000
street paper vendors in 40 countries around the world
have been homeless. The Buddha was homeless for the biggest part of
his life, and you, like many o f your people, have spent most o f your
life in exile. What does homelessness mean to you?
D alai Lama: For people without a home, it is almost like they
have no basis from which to conduct their lives. They have no
anchor. That is very sad. But from a larger viewpoint, I would say
that this whole planet is our home. The individual may be in a
difficult situation, but he is still part of the society of humanity. I
think it is innate to human nature that if someone is going
through a difficult time, there is some kind of willingness to help
out of a sense of concern that we have. So from that viewpoint, for
homeless people their direct home is no longer there, but the big
home is still there. So people who are homeless should not feel
See DALAI LA M A, page 8
P H O T O S : S IM O N M U R P H Y
Inside
Peer pressure
People power
There's room fo r
Teen court works
to keep youths out
o f the criminal
justice system
against powerful
everything’
people
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Jonathan Cornelison
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A new book by the
man behind Egypt’s
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Page 6