FALL TWO THOUSAND FIVE
HU JINTAO: FREE TIBET NOW! Hu Jintao met rowdy demonstrators at nearly every stop of his first trip to North America since becoming the President of China. Hundreds of Tibetans and supporters shadowed Hu as he met with politicians and business leaders in Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Vancouver. One SFT member, Chris Shwartz, was arrested in Toronto after handcuffing himself to a table and disrupting a dinner hosted by the Canada-China Business Council. In New York, China’s Foreign Minister looked flustered and embarrassed as he was surrounded by a group of Tibetans waving Tibetan flags and shouting “Shame on China” and “China out of Tibet.” At Hu’s final stop in Vancouver, SFT Canada’s National Coordinator Kate Woznow climbed a flag pole and staged a “mock hanging” while displaying signs that said “Tibet’s Pain, China’s Shame” and “Hu Jintao: Free Tibet Now.” Everywhere the Chinese leaders go, we are there letting them know that we will continue to struggle until Tibet is free.
Paris
Montreal
Vancouver
RAIL GIANT BOMBARDIER ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS
SFT MEMBERS WORLDWIDE TARGET THE COMPANY’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE CHINA-TIBET RAILWAY By Kate Woznow In February 2005, Canadian transportation giant Bombardier announced it would supply China with 361 specially designed rail cars for the China-Tibet railway. Most companies would think twice before committing ethical suicide by doing business in an occupied country – but not Bombardier. They jumped on board with little consideration to the social, cultural or environmental impacts of this devastating project. From the beginning we knew Bombardier would prove a formidable opponent. The company has a long history of doing business in China and views this project as an opportunity to secure future rail contracts from the Chinese government. However, SFT also has a history of successfully forcing corporate giants, including B.P. and Holiday Inn, out of Tibet. In April 2005, in conjunction with other Tibet Support Groups, SFT launched an international campaign to demand Bombardier withdraw from the project.
Bombardier Feels the Heat: By May, after having received over 3000 emails and faxes at its corporate headquarters, Bombardier was feeling the heat. Then, on June 7th, SFT’s sights turned to Bombardier’s annual shareholders meeting, held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Montréal. Shareholders arriving to the meeting were met with a rally, which included a mock Bombardier train railroading Tibetans in its path. While SFT’s Executive Director Lhadon Tethong spoke directly to shareholders inside the meeting, an SFT Canada member scaled the roof of the Sheraton Hotel,
2 SFT HQ
in classic SFT style, and unfurled a Tibetan flag, calling on Bombardier to leave Tibet. A week later, during a publicity stunt at an upscale restaurant in Paris, SFT once again forced the China-Tibet railway into the media spotlight. This time, members of SFT France blockaded the entrance of the restaurant to expose the corporation’s attempts to recast their corporate image. SFT flexed its muscle once again on July 26th, when Tibetans and supporters took part in an international fax action targeting Bombardier offices and members of the Bombardier board of directors around the world. We sent faxes and phoned offices in Austria, India, Australia, Canada, Sweden, US, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany, and Belgium.
Keeping the Pressure On: On June 16th, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a parliamentary committee of the Canadian government, approved a motion to call on Bombardier executives to testify about their involvement in the ChinaTibet railway. In effect, Bombardier is being taken to task and will have to publicly defend their decision to forgo a social and environmental assessment before entering the project. The next step for SFT is to increase global pressure on Bombardier. Plans are in the works for an international day of action in the weeks leading up to the parliamentary hearing, scheduled to take place in the fall. Whether at a rail industry meeting in the UK or at their corporate offices in India, SFT members will continue to target Bombardier until they leave Tibet!
3 SFT Canada SFT India Olympics 4 Free Tibet! Action Camp IV 6 Chapter Updates 7 SFT Decade Film Festival Buddha’s Warriors Inside Tibet