UK SFT ISSUE 4
NEWS
Winter 2011-12
Tibet in crisis
www.sftuk.org
How the Tibetan people are showing they’ve had enough of Chinese rule
Students for a Free Tibet UK, Unit 9, 139 Fonthill Road, Finsbury Park, London N4 3HF
SFT UK news
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Dear Tibetans and supporters,
Contents News 3-9
-Environment -Kardze protests -Repatriation -Tutu, Dalai Lama -More news
10-11 Get active!
-Wen in the UK -UK festivals -Uprising Day
-13 Feature 12
-Enough! Self-immolations and why we need global action 17
14Campaigns
-Nomad Rights -Lhakar -More stories
Online
18-19
-TAI project -Activist apps -More stories
20-21 Grassroots -Action Camp -I won’t celebrate -More stories
22-23 Regulars -Prisoner focus: Lobsang Tenzin -Notice board
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It’s been a busy time and the work for us in the Tibet movement is only increasing. Tibetans in Tibet are sending a strong message to the outside world including to all Tibetans in exile. Tibetans in Serthar are printing illegal flyers that say “Tibetan brethren do not fall asleep under the oppression of the Chinese. Fight for the your religion, language and customs.” We have to listen to what they’re saying; stand up for Tibet, don’t fall asleep now! In the words of Melong Band, time to get visible, time to listen to the voices of Tibetans in Tibet, time to end China’s repressive policies and time to fight for RANGZEN.
It’s an emotional time, and sometimes it really gets to you but we need to stay strong, focused, work together and most importantly, support each other. SFT UK has a very small board and at times it can be very stressful but I am very honoured to have a supportive community around me, which really makes a difference to your energy levels and your work for Tibet. We’ve been organising protests and fundraising events, and it’s always great when Tibetans offer to lend a helping hand; non-Tibetans too. But when exiled Tibetans say they’ll support the work for rangzen, it really touches me and lifts a weight off my shoulders. It also inspires me to continue the work knowing SFT UK and I have the support of the people around us. In a time like this, we need this kind of encouragement, especially for our youth; to nurture them, guide them and bring them forward to lead this movement, and one day to be part of leading a free Tibet. It’s the work we do now that will make Tibetan independence a reality.
I want to see our generation and the future generation united with support for each other; no matter what organisation they’re with, Tibetans have to embrace each other now. In September I attended the China Forum talk at the Labour Party conference, where I listened to China’s Minister Qin Gang talk for 20 minutes on China’s ‘peaceful developments’. It was the most painful talk I have ever had to endure. Just 3 hours before the talk I heard the news of two Tibetan monks selfimmolating so it was vital I mentioned this incident and of course I got the absolute propaganda message and my question was not answered. When news of further self-immolations came through, I was in Switzerland for Rap for Tibet, so the Tibetan Youth Association Europe and I met to discuss what we can do to push the movement forward in Europe. Then at G20 on 2nd November, we kicked things off with a banner hang at the Cannes Ville Station while world leaders arrived, and have been protesting for global action for Tibet. We Tibetans just have to look at each other to understand the sorrows and pain we feel. But we should keep our spirits high, work together and push this movement forward while Tibetans in Tibet need us most. We can’t fall asleep; it’s time to wake up, and rise up. I truly believe Tibetan resistance can only grow, spread and become stronger; it’s inevitable. Bhoe Gyalo!
Pema Yoko, National Co-ordinator, SFT UK
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SFT UK is a volunteer-run organisation. We campaign in our free time, using our own resources. But campaigning for Tibet isn’t free. We always need things like postcards, printing, postage, equipment for protests, travel to venues, web hosting, bills... that’s where supporters come in. If you can spare a couple of pounds each month, join the rangzen circle- you are the fuel behind SFT UK!
Even if you don’t have time to take an active role or don’t want to do it in public, if you fund the resistance, you’re part of the resistance. Join the rangzen circle; you can do it at www.sftuk.org and it’s Paypal so it’s safe and secure. We can only keep going with you! Photos: Pema was one of 9 activists detained in Cannes for taking part in this banner hang on 2nd November, and Pema with MP Fabian Hamilton of the All Party Tibet Group at the Stand Up For Tibet protest march in October.
Tibet’s environment:
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A core interest
The Chinese state always talks about its ‘core interests’ and berates governments which dare to question their policies in key areas. One of those key areas is Tibet, and the environment is at the centre of it. In short, what China is doing to the Tibetan environment exposes the real reasons for the invasion. It blows out of the water all those propaganda claims about ‘liberation’, ‘serfdom’ and ‘development’. The reality is that the occupation of Tibet is a 60 year smash and grab job; China is a looter in the night, breaking into Tibet to steal its natural resources. The looting, and the oppression which goes with it, will continue until China bleeds Tibet’s natural resources dry. China needs these resources to fuel its economy; the only reason China is respected in the international arena. But as always, China has reckoned without one thing; the resistance of the Tibetan people.
China constantly deflects criticism of human rights abuses and environmental damage by focusing on how much money its spending on ‘developing’ Tibet. In September, the regime claimed that it plans to spend 300 billion yuan (over £30 billion) in the next 5 years, including development of roads, railways and power stations. They insist this is “aimed at achieving rapid development in Tibet”. The regime also says money will be spent on health care and education, but for who? Chinese migration continues at full pace, and Tibetans are making a stand against both the inequality and damage that it brings to the plateau.
In Jyekundo, Tibetans left homeless after last April’s earthquake are now losing land which they’ve farmed for generations to a huge influx of Han Chinese migrants. The migrants are then hiring Chinese workers to farm it; another example of how though Tibet’s economy is ‘developing’, Tibetans themselves are being squeezed out. Local Tibetans gathered to protest for three days in April, chanting ‘we own rights to our land’. In Amdo, around 400 students of Golog Senior High School took part in a protest against the effects of mining in the area, marching 60km to a copper mine, where they staged a sit-in. Police broke up the protest but made no arrests; pictures were posted on social network sites and attracted support before being removed by the authorities. And it’s not the only recent example of environmental protests in Tibet gaining popular support.
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What’s happening in Tibet is a story we’ve all seen before and vowed to never allow again. It’s the story of the Native Americans and of the Aboriginal people of Australia. They were thrown off their land and made into second class citizens in their own countries by colonialist invaders; their ancient, environmentally China likes to paint a rosy picture about its environmental credentials, and to an extent friendly and highly spiritual that’s true when it comes to renewable energy in China, but when it comes to Tibet, China cultures consigned to history so only cares about taking the resources. In August, China’s attempts to cover up water that the occupiers could cement pollution in Amdo were exposed after local Tibetans fell ill with lead poisoning from waste their dominance.
produced by a mining and smelting centre. State media agency Xinhua had publicly denounced the factory in 2006, but since then the state has faked tests done on the water Read more in the campaigns and allowed pollution to continue while driving 30,000 farmers off the land to expand the section about how the same is industry. This year, residents have petitioned the state to stop the pollution, which among happening to Tibetan nomads and how we must stop other things impairs children’s brain development. 1,000 children are thought to be history repeating itself. exposed with 100 already taken ill. The letter of concern from residents was published online but was also later deleted by state censors. In Maisu, Tibetans staged a brilliant piece of civil disobedience when they snuck into the camps of Chinese loggers who were cutting down a forest and sabotaged their chainsaws. Then they set up a ‘timber checkpoint’ by placing a small hut in the middle of the road and each village in the area has agreed to send three people a day to man it, refusing passage to timber trucks. “No trees will be taken” said one man, “even if I have to die.” Tibetans have also been fired upon in two separate protests against pollution in the last year, with at least one killed, yet they continue to stand up. Tibet’s environment is quickly becoming a key point of friction between Tibetans and the Chinese regime; another battleground where the fight for a free Tibet will be played out. Read more about the dangers facing Tibet’s environment in SFT’s ‘Roof of the World’ report: at www.issuu.com/sftuk
PHOTOS: Images of Tibet; black yak by Falsalama, girl & lamb by Vincent Van Den Berg
Obama-Lama drama
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Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama met US President Barack Obama at the White House in July amid demands from the Chinese regime that Obama avoid the meeting. By meeting the Dalai Lama, Obama is showing again that the US has a strong opinion on the Tibet issue and that it recognises the opinion of the American people, 75% of whom want Tibet to be an independent nation, according to a CNN poll. However, US state policy remains that it accepts Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. China’s irrational fury at those who meet the Dalai Lama only serves to underline how afraid they are of this man of peace.
And the US State Department again criticised China in its annual report, saying “the (Chinese) government’s level of respect for religious freedom remain(s) poor in Tibet”, which complemented the UK’s Conservative Human Rights Commission report, which said “the suppression of religious freedom in Tibet is a direct assault on Tibetan identity and culture” and called for an end to ‘patriotic re-education’ in Tibet. The CCP’s reaction is that “religious people feel happy” in China and Tibet, and that the US was “trying to smear the image of China”. Maybe the CCP hasn’t noticed Kirti... though the amount of troops sent there indicate they have. The US also said it will not allow China to build new consulates in the US until China allows the US to build one in Lhasa. Elsewhere, Rupert Murdoch, probably pitching for his dream job as boss of Xinhua, insisted the Dalai Lama had a ‘dark side’ but failed to produce any phone-tapped evidence. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama has again countered indications that the CCP plans to name its own Dalai Lama as his successor, much as it has with the state-sponsored Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama said “it’s a disgrace to see they want to control that. They’ve become mad by political power” and that “no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People's Republic of China”.
Birthday actions Flying the flag
Tibetans defied state orders to not observe the Dalai Lama’s birthday on 6th July, when around 300 nuns led prayers at Machen Pomrar hill. Ten thousand Tibetans attended, carrying Tibetan national flags and calling for religious freedom before they were stopped by some 500 security personnel. And at Surmang monastery, 300 monks walked out over plans for pro-CCP public games timed to clash with the Dalai Lama’s birthday.
Later in July, 5,000 people gathered at the Kham Lithang Gonchen to observe the enthronement of a lifesize portrait of His Holiness. Atruk Tseten of the Tibetan government-in-exile said “many people told me that for the first time in their lives they felt as if they really could see the Dalai Lama in person.” The monks who organised the event had told Chinese authorities beforehand that they planned to enthrone the image, and had been warned against it. Monks and nuns from over 100 monasteries in Eastern Tibet attended, and organisers instructed all lay attendees to speak only in Tibetan and wear only Tibetan clothing. They even instructed the Chinese officials to wear Tibetan clothes. This was another example of Tibetans expressing their identity in clever ways which the state finds it difficult to counter. Though he has stepped down from his political role, the Dalai Lama continues to be a symbol of Tibetan identity while the Tibetan people in Tibet are starting to lead on making their political views felt.
Tibetans in Serthar, Kardze staged a brave direct action on 1st October when they hung a large Tibetan flag and a picture of the Dalai Lama off the top of a building in the town. The action was timed to mark the Chinese Communist Party’s ‘National Day’; the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the PRC. It shows yet again that for Tibetans, the idea of having a national day means underling that their nation is Tibet, not China.
The flag and photo were eventually removed by CCP officers, but the protesters, said to be laypeople, evaded arrest when the authorities threw the flag on the ground, prompting hundreds of local Tibetans to begin a protest. Eyewitnesses reported that around 200 people rallied at the main entrance point to Serthar town, shouting ‘free Tibet’ and ‘long live the Dalai Lama’. Some began handing out pamphlets calling for religious freedom, language rights, human rights and freedom of expression. The protest lasted around 20 minutes before 30 police officers arrived to break up the crowds. As with other incidents this year, protesters were heard to chant “wake up, people of Tibet!”. Incredibly, Tibetans in Serthar repeated the action on 13th October, this time hanging a Tibetan flag off a state security building. The Tibetan people have clearly had enough of the Chinese regime, and will not celebrate China’s ‘National’ day. Tibetans will have their own national day; when Tibet is free.
PHOTOS: Obama and the Dalai Lama in the White House, the life-size picture of His Holiness is displayed, the large image is hung off a building on 1st October.
Kardze: protest capital SFTUK 4
People in Eastern Tibet are really stepping it up, especially since the Buddhist period of Saka Dawa. Like Ngaba, Kardze has become a flashpoint this year; another pocket of intense resistance against the Chinese regime. There were over 60 detentions in June alone in Kardze, but protests have continued. A huge security operation is underway and the atmosphere is said to be ‘grim and tense’.
In August, a businessman named Pema Gonpo was detained for passing information on the security lockdown in the area. He was badly beaten, hung from the ceiling and placed in cold and heated rooms to induce nausea. He was released to his family after his condition deteriorated in a state hospital. Meanwhile in Kanlho, four monks who had evaded the authorities since taking part in protests in 2008 were detained when they attempted to return to their monastery. Kaljim and Yonten were released but Tendzin Gyatso and Jigme Samten are still being held. Individual protests have continued through recent months; young monks Lama Tsering and Rinchen Gyatso were arrested for chanting ‘long live the Dalai Lama’ and ‘Tibet is an independent nation’ and were taken away by police while nuns Choesang and Peltruk chanted slogans in the market square and were hand-cuffed then beaten and arrested. The state has issued a ban on monks and nuns visiting towns and says they can only visit hospitals for checkups with written consent from the authorities or face arrest. These directions are being ignored.
In yet another disturbing case, two Tibetan schoolgirls are in a serious condition after being badly beaten by Chinese security for carrying out a peaceful protest against Chinese rule in Kardze. 16-year-old Tashi Palmo and 19-year-old Pema Yangzom of Kardze Middle School called for independence and the return of the Dalai Lama in the centre of town in July before being leapt on by security. They have been arrested and denied medical treatment, and there are worries they will not survive.
China has also started sentencing those who carried out protests in Kardze earlier this year. Samphel Dhondup was handed a 3 year sentence; two Tibetans arrested alongside him, Lobsang Phuntsok and Lobsang Lhundrup, are unaccounted for. The young Tibetans, in their teens and early twenties, had shouted slogans and distributed pamphlets calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, for all Tibetans to unite and for Tibetan independence. They were beaten while being arrested. Elsewhere, a man called Paljor was given a 3 year sentence for taking part in a peaceful protest in March and Lobsang Ngodup, who unveiled a portrait of the Dalai Lama on the main road and chanted slogans, carried on shouting for Tibetan independence as Chinese security beat him unconscious and arrested him. 17 Tibetans were released in August without charge, but they had all been tortured in detention.
The arrests and sentencing are likely to continue as protests have been a regular occurrence in Kardze, Ngaba and elsewhere in Tibet throughout 2011, with at least 150 arrests in the first 8 months of the year alone. China, which is now spending more money on ‘internal security’ than it does on its massive army, is ramping up its security presence, with some reports saying that 500,000 troops were ploughed into Ngaba alone over the recent self-immolations. The tactic is designed to scare Tibetans into submission, but it appears to be having the opposite effect. China is not listening to the Tibetan people’s concerns, so Tibetans are making them louder.
Wage dispute shootings Four Tibetan labourers were injured in Chatreng, Kardze after they were opened fire upon by Chinese police. The incident occurred when officials from the Chinese mining company called in police to deal with a dispute over wages.
The specifics of this case are unclear, but there is often disparity between the wages given to Tibetan workers as opposed to Chinese; Tibetans are often paid less to do the same jobs. There is also growing resentment at the intensified mining projects springing up across Tibet and the Chinese government’s claims that this benefits Tibetans. In fact, Tibetans continue to protest and reject this destructive industry, and in areas like Phondo and Lhundrup Zong, job creation is promised when mines are built, but local Tibetans are turned down when mining actually begins. Zhang Qingli, before he was replaced as secretary of the ‘Autonomous Region’, said “exploitation should be conducted in an environmentally friendly way and help create job opportunities for local people.” It’s interesting that the word ‘exploitation’ is used, as this is exactly what Tibetans feel.
Photos: Troops patrolling the streets of Kardze in June, some of those arrested earlier this year; Passang Rinpoche, Ngawang Lobsang, Tenzin Lhatso, Jampa Choedon, Sheh Lhamo & Tashi Choetso, a policeman watches a Kardze family, Zhang in propaganda mode..
It’s not just Tibetans...
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Chinese state oppression isn’t confined to Tibet, a fact made clear again this July, when 20 Uyghurs were killed in clashes between unarmed protesters and troops in Hotan city. In late August, the regime imposed a ‘strike hard’ campaign on East Turkestan, designed to crack down on dissidents. Around 200,000 security personnel descended on the occupied region, where like Tibet, there have been continual protests since around 200 Uyghurs were killed in crackdowns after protests erupted in 2009. Another similarity is China’s use of death sentences to deter dissidents. In September, when four Uyghurs were sentenced to death for their part in the July protests, they were given terrorist charges; something China continually attempts to place on Tibetan activists like Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche and Phurbu Rinpoche. In the case of East Turkestan, there has certainly been violence against the Chinese regime, but the state has stirred up discontent and practiced violence against innocent Uyghurs. Also like in Tibet, the convictions were based on ‘confessions’ obtained illegally through torture.
In another incident, five Uyghurs were arrested for refusing to show allegiance to the Chinese flag during a ceremony inside a mosque, for which they were accused of ‘inciting separatism’. China is pressing forward with conducting such ceremonies in Uyghurs’ places of worship, displaying disrespect of their culture. Spokeswoman Rebiya Kadeer said “they may succeed in raising the Red Flag in buildings... but the important thing is which flag is being raised in the heart of the Uyghur people.” China also used these protests to warn Tibetans, saying it would ‘completely destroy’ attempts to ‘destabilise’ Tibet.
Disappearance to disappear? Tibet bomb blast The Chinese government has announced a measure which could put over a billion people at risk. It said that it may legalise secret detention of up to six months without charge, meaning that Chinese police will be able to pluck anybody from their lives at any time and keep them imprisoned without having to issue a charge or inform family members. To add further insult to the announcement, the CCP chose to make it on 31st August; the United Nations International Day for the Disappeared, when the world remembers those who have been arbitrarily detained and calls on oppressive regimes to free them. Whether or not the process of forced disappearance is ‘legal’ in China, it still occurs on a regular basis; the CCP has little more respect for its own laws than for international ones. Forced disappearance gives the state time to torture captives and extract confessions where otherwise detainees’ innocence would be clear,
CCP goes Gaga
China’s fear of subversive music is well known, and more and more Tibetans are being arrested for downloading MP3s of music deemed politically sensitive. But in August the CCP announced that it also considers songs by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Beyonce and (about a generation too late) the Backstreet Boys ‘cultural threats to security’, and has ordered download sites to remove them. So anybody wanting to hear Beyonce’s ‘run the world (girls)’, Perry’s ‘last Friday night’ or the edgy, groundbreaking revolutionary anthem that is ‘I want it that way’ better get ready for jail. CCP; who are the little monsters now?
An explosion in a government building in Chamdo, Eastern Tibet, has been labelled a terrorst act, with Tibetans blamed. It’s unclear what actually happened and why, but violent actions are almost unheard of in the movement and China has made false claims before. Nobody was hurt in the blast on 28th October.
The abuse continues...
Former political prisoner Yeshe Tenzin, who served 10 years for distributing pamphlets calling for freedom in Tibet in 2001, has died as a result of a disease relating to torture during his imprisonment. Another prisoner, Tenzin Choewang, reportedly died of the same disease. Another former prisoner, Thinlay, died in August of the after-effects of head injuries suffered through torture.
China continues to release tortured prisoners in very bad health in a cynical attempt to allow them to claim Tibetans do not die of torture in jail; they die of torture out of jail. A prisoner named Wangchuk is the latest at risk of joining this list; he was arrested for planning a flag protest in 2008 and released this June with brain damage. His co-accused Woser should have been released this June but has not been seen. Elsewhere, Ngodup Thinley, who was sentenced to one and a half years for protesting in Kardze in 2009, is still being held even though his release date has passed. It is thought that he is still in detention because he has refused to denounce the Dalai Lama while in jail.
Photos:Chinese military manhandle Uyghur protesters, and Ngodup Thinley
South Africa snubs Dalai Lama
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The South African government has come under sharp criticism from one of its own most celebrated heroes after refusing to grant the Dalai Lama a visa to visit the country.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a key figure in the fight against Apartheid and a friend of His Holiness, compared the current South African government of Jacob Zuma to the disposed Apartheid regime. In succumbing to China’s demands that South Africa deny the Dalai Lama entry to the country, Jacob Zuma has shown none of the bravery of Tutu and Mandela and instead revealed himself to be another weak statesman embarrassingly emasculated by the scent of China’s money.
An outraged Tutu, who had invited the Dalai Lama to his 80th birthday, said "our government is worse than the apartheid government because at least you would expect it with the apartheid government. Let the ANC know they have a large majority. Well, Mubarak had a large majority, Gaddafi had a large majority... Our government, representing me, says it will not support Tibetans being viciously oppressed by China. You, president Zuma and your government, do not represent me.”
Zuma’s ANC is not only kicking to the curb South Africa’s long-fought triumph over oppression, but is making the South African people once again slaves to a colonial master. China’s presence in Africa is expanding, with new mining projects and other industries popping up all over the continent as China curries favour with Robert Mugabe, Omar Al-Bashir and some of Africa’s most notorious autocratic strongmen in exchange for access to more of the natural resources which have fuelled its occupations of other countries.
Meanwhile Ela Gandhi, grand daughter of father of Indian independence Mahatma Gandhi, was intending to present the Dalai Lama with a peace prize during the visit. She said "Everybody thinks this is because of pressure from China. It's very sad another country is allowed to dictate terms to our government. It's going back to apartheid times. I am ashamed of my own country." The Dalai Lama was also refused a visa to South Africa two years ago. If Zuma believes that doing as the bully says will improve South Africa’s standing, he has fatally misunderstood the nature of the bully and as Tutu has warned, faces a difficult reaction from South Africans. In contrast, Tutu has shown successfully that he knows how to deal with bullies; stand up to them. ,
Divided they’ll fall
A dozen elite Chinese scholars, including government advisors, have warned the CCP that it faces increased instability unless it reforms. They said the regime’s obsession with ‘stability’ actually threatens to increase instability. Professor Jiang Ping said that the CCP’s insistence that stability is more important than human rights is ‘absurd’ and ‘totally against the rule of law’, while Hu Yaobang said “how come pro-democracy forces (within the party) have always been sidelined like a housemaid while those favouring centralisation of power are always in the dominant position?”
Despite there being some rational voices within the CCP, there’s little doubt that the party will elect hardliner Xi Jinping as Hu Jintao’s replacement in 2012. But even the elite bicker; Ma Xiaoli addressed a gathering of powerful Chinese families in October by saying “The Communist Party is like a surgeon who has cancer; it cannot remove the tumour by itself, it needs help from others, but without help it can’t survive for long.” With friends who say as much as that, and with Tibetans increasingly united, it’s no wonder the CCP is so paranoid about their opponents!
The finger is free!
The CCP continues its struggle to silence Chinese artists and dissidents.
China was criticised across the world for its arbitrary detention of artist Ai Weiwei in 2011, and released him on bail in June. They also released activist Hu Jia slightly early to deflect criticism during Wen Jiabao’s European visit. On his release, Weiwei said “They can make me disappear. I have no protection, no lawyer. So I have to be careful... because I may lose my life.” But since then Weiwei has again criticised state corruption, labeled Beijing a ‘city of violence’ and urged support for fellow dissidents; “if you don't speak out for Wang Lihong and... Ran Yunfei, (arrested earlier this year) you are not only a person who doesn't stand up for justice... you don't have any self-respect .“ China is also intimidated by the prospect of a movement led by Anna Hazare in India, which got people on the streets and forced through new anti-corruption laws. The CCP, knowing how deep their corruption goes, banned 6,000 Chinese websites which had praised Hazare.
Photos: Vetoed in South Africa; a meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chinese president-to-be Xi Jinping and Ai Weiwei gets some practice with that famous one finger salute...
Tibetans spared repatriation
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After international pressure, the Nepalese government has relented on plans to send 23 Tibetans back to Tibet after ‘illegally crossing’ into the country. Police initially indicated they would agree to the Chinese Embassy’s demand to return them to Tibet, where they would be likely to suffer imprisonment and torture since attempting to escape Tibet is seen as a high crime by the Chinese state.
But SFT and other groups rallied to support the refugees, demanding Nepal honour the responsibilities it has to the United Nations Torture Convention, which bans repatriation where refugees may suffer torture on their return. Though Nepal, with Maoist influences in government, has been swayed by Chinese demands recently, the Nepalese Supreme Court’s decision on this matter should be commended. The 15 Tibetan boys and 5 girls, aged between 16 and 18, are likely to be granted safe passage to settle in India. Earlier this year, Wikileaks revealed that the “Chinese government rewards (Nepali forces) by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China.” In another positive move, the Nepali government has rejected Chinese plans to ‘develop’ Lumbini, birthplace of the Buddha, into a commercial hub. The Nepalese foreign ministry said China’s multi-billion dollar scheme was “a groundless plan that ignored the host country.” Nepal has huge strategic importance to China in its battle with India to dominate the region, and it’s good to see Nepal reasserting its sovereignty over these matters. ‘
Fake Panchen rejected
China’s state-sponsored ‘Panchen Lama’ Gyaltsen Norbu received a frosty reception in Eastern Tibet this August. Visiting Labrang monastery as part of a propaganda retreat, he was met with what New York Times observers called a ‘sceptical crowd’, ‘forced to cheerfully welcome him’.
Most of Labrang’s monks support the real Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima; still missing since being detained aged six. Arja Rinpoche, who escaped Tibet when he learned he was to tutor Gyaltsen Norbu, said “just forcing him on the faithful can’t win hearts and minds but keeping him in Beijing all the time is also not good for his reputation." One monk said to the reporters allowed to attend the event; "he's not the real Panchen Lama. Why does Beijing think they have the right to interfere with our traditions?"
The visit was originally penned in for July, but local Tibetans refused to prepare the lavish welcome demanded by Chinese officials. The state had threatened to cut the wages and axe the jobs of Tibetans who refused, but the locals stood resolute, forcing the trip to be postponed. In the end, the visit required 1,000 Chinese troops stationed around the monastery for it to go ahead. It’s another example of how effective the tactic of civil disobedience can be; the visit cost the regime far more than expected, and even then the end result is ridicule in the world’s media.
Gaddafi: friend of the regime
While the world has cheered on the Libyan rebels as they’ve brought down Colonel Gaddafi’s murderous regime, the desperate despot found one friend to help him; guess Hu?
Chinese state arms manufacturers struck deals with Gaddafi’s forces in late July to sell them £150 million worth of weapons and ammunition for him to use on his own people. China, who refused to back NATO actions against Gaddafi, claimed they were not providing military support to him, but then leaked documents showed Chinese companies thanking Gaddafi’s forces “for their discretion, emphasis(ing) the need for confidentiality, and promis(ing) to manufacture more supplies if necessary.”
But like in its oppression of Tibetans, China has been backing the losing side in Libya. Head of Libya’s new National Transitional Council Omar Hariri commented on their discovery of a cache of suspected Chinese-funded weapons, “I’m almost certain these guns were used against our people.” Rebel spokesperson Abdulrahman Busin said the transitional government would hold to account any countries which had violated sanctions against Gaddafi through international bodies. Meanwhile, a senior official at the Arabian Gulf Oil Company in Benghazi stated that he would be reluctant to do business with Chinese companies in future because of the stand China had taken against the rebellion. Just like in Zimbabwe, China’s sponsorship of state terror is bad for business. Photos: Some of the young Tibetan refugees who had been captured while escaping Tibet, the stateappointed ‘Panchen Lama’ Gyaltsen Norbu and celebrations at the capture of Gaddafi in Libya.
China threatens neighbours
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In the past few months, China has upped its military presence on the Indian border, intensifying fears of larger scale conflict. There have been hundreds of separate incursions by Chinese troops into Indian territory in 2011 alone, with the focus being Arunachal Pradesh in the North East of India, where Peoples Liberation Army troops have crossed the Line of Actual Control and pulled down a wall erected by Indian troops while also sending PLA patrols and unarmed aerial vehicles across the border. Chinese troops have also intruded on other Indian territory and there is a growing presence of some 4,000 Chinese troops in Kashmir. Indian defence Minister A K Antony said China is “aggressively building its capabilities along the Line of Actual Control”, while the Indian opposition’s Shahnawaz Hussain said “this is a very serious issue. The government should review its policy towards China.”
But they aren’t stopping at India. In January, the government of Tajikistan handed over 1,158 square kilometres of land to China to ease a border dispute. There’s a simple reason why these borders are unclear; they aren’t really China’s borders at all. Aranachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand border Tibet and Tajikstan borders East Turkestan. The military incursions underline China’s true nature as a colonialist power continually seeking to expand its territory.
New Tibet despot
China has replaced Zhang Qingli, who oversaw the 2008 Tibet crackdowns, with new hardline TAR chief Chen Quanguo. Good riddance to Zhang, who will most likely move on to oppress Christians in Hebei instead.
For your consideration...
The Chinese state launched it’s own version of the Nobel Peace Prize last year after losing face over human rights activist Liu Xiaobo’s 2010 victory and previous Nobel laureate His Holiness the Dalai Lama. But China’s ‘Confucius Award’ list for 2011 looked more like a rogue’s gallery, including Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, suspected rapist Jacob Zuma and state puppet ‘Panchen Lama’ Gyaltsen Norbu. The CCP were probably struggling for candidates following the demises of Colonel Gaddafi and Osama Bin Laden. But China couldn’t even orchestrate the awarding of the ‘Peace Prize’, let alone actual peace; the prize was disbanded and the department who made the selections shut down for being ‘unauthorised’, which is probably a better result than last year’s, when winner Lien Chan said he didn’t want the ‘prize’. So the CCP succeeds in looking incompetent again. Somewhere in China, Confucius could be heard turning in his grave...
Chinese rise up
‘Harmony’ isn’t what it used to be. Around 180,000 protests occur in Chinese-ruled territory every year, and a large amount of these are by Chinese people. Most are about economic rights, poor construction and corruption and most are organised by China’s poverty stricken classes. But this August around 12,000 middle class Chinese took to the streets in Dalian to oppose state plans to build a new £950 million factory. And the interesting thing is, they won. “It’s the environment that makes us angry” said one well-off protester; “In my memory Dalian has always been a clean, beautiful coastal city. We cannot endure its destruction.”
These middle class protesters are the shape of things to come for the CCP. They’re affluent, with (real!) designer clothes, access to technology and knowledge, including about rights. Another thing the state is going to have to get used to is the fact that this protest was organised through social media. They expressed a clear goal, they defied the state and they achieved it. Of course, the state is more heavy handed with occupied peoples, but dissent in China is here to stay, and if even affluent Chinese oppose the CCP, who’s left?
Granpa Wen: neglect with a smile
And the best Actor award goes to... not Wen Jiabao, judging by his latest PR gaffes. A bullet train crash in China in July should have been the time for China’s leaders to join the rest of the world in showing their sympathies to the 40 who died and 191 injured. But their priorities were different; censor news of the wreck online, blame foreign technology for the disaster and flood state news channels with images of Premier Wen Jiabao holding hands with injured children.
Wen is often seen showing sympathy for victims of tragedies, but this time Chinese bloggers have exposed his true colours. An amazing 26 million messages were posted on China’s weibos (microblogs) criticising the railways and state explanations for the crash, but it got worse. Photos of Wen at the crash site emerged only 5 days after the event, with the Premier saying he had not visited earlier due to illness, but bloggers soon posted photos of him in the days immediately after the crash, in perfect health at state functions. An embattered Wen had been forced to stand alongside Hu Jintao to promise a ‘thorough investigation’ into the crash, but microblogs are providing a critical forum for people to air greivances, and may yet cause the CCP to crash themselves.
Photos: Soldiers look out at different sides of India’s border, a Chinese sign goes up in Tajikstan, protests in Dalian, the train crash
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Wen can’t escape Tibet
If Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao thought he was going to get through his June trip to the UK without being reminded of Tibet, he must’ve been bitterly let down. When violent criminals are dragged through the streets, they’re jeered, shouted at and ridiculed. Wen Jiabao is no different, and neither he or his already tainted image emerged unscathed.
Things started off with a low key protest at a car factory in Birmingham, where despite the last minute announcement of Wen’s visit, a handful of Tibet supporters showed up and were interviewed on Sky News; one of the UK’s biggest TV networks. Later, Wen was greeted at his Hotel, the Mandarin in Knightsbridge, by protesters gathered by SFT UK, other Tibet groups, Uyghurs, Falun Gong, Chinese and Burmese democracy activists; standing in solidarity while the rent-a-mob Chinese ‘supporters’ tried to drown them out with drums. This time they avoided singing the deliberately antagonising propaganda song ‘Tian Lu’, and their business suits indicated they are paid well for such ‘work’. But the magical heavenly road of the song didn’t emerge for Wen as he made his way to Downing Street the next day to meet PM David Cameron.
We were again out in force, and the media had latched onto the story with the UK’s main TV stations ITV and BBC reporting the protests on their prime time news slots. The protests were also covered in London’s two free papers the Evening Standard and Metro, picked up by over a million commuters every day. The Standard even quoted all of our slogans! And the Guardian newspaper had already published a letter criticising the visit, signed by SFT UK and other groups. More protests took place outside Wen’s talk at the Royal Society, where he stopped and turned angrily to took at the protesters and had a Tibetan flag flown in the face of his cavalcade as it passed. We leafleted attendees after the event, and those we talked to said they were unconvinced with Wen’s rhetoric when he was quizzed about human rights by the head of the Royal Society. SFT UK board member Liam had a 5 minute conversation with one of the attendees, former UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, and broke down Prescott’s argument that we should accept human rights abuses because China is ‘developing’. Liam made it clear that China is a superpower and has no excuse for human rights abuses, and reeled off the names of Tibetan and Chinese political prisoners when Prescott challenged him to ‘name one’ aside from Ai Weiwei, who along with Hu Jia had been released just before the tour to deflect criticism from China’s peers. Prescott was more vocal about rights abuses in China at the Labour Party conference in September.
The protests continued in Germany, where black balloons were released to greet Wen, and once again a Chinese leader saw red during a series of high profile visits; the red, blue, yellow and white of Tibetan flags. China’s leaders are still a public embarrassment to their country and will never be able to travel without being reminded of Tibet.
Remember the uprising
Every year, we mark the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising by marching through the streets of London and staging a mass lobby of the UK parliament. In 2012, Uprising Day will fall on a Saturday It’s 2012 and by then the eyes of the world will be on London as Olympic fever kicks in; four years after SFT stopped China using the Beijing games to convince the world of its propaganda about Tibet. And the 2012 march is significant for another reason too; it’ll be 100 years since the last of many times Tibet has declared its independence. In 1911, Chinese forces flooded Tibet, terrorising the population as they attempted to occupy the country. Though the Dalai Lama was in exile in India, Tibetans formed a powerful resistance and declared war on China on 26th March 1912. In the end, the Chinese surrendered to Tibet and the Dalai Lama underlined the fact that Tibet was an independent nation. It was also around the time that the long-standing Manchu Empire in China fell. So in March 2012 we’ll have some historical similarities on our side; nobody’s expecting independence to come around again in 2012, but looking at the resistance in Tibet today we’re certainly getting there. Join us in March; be a part of history! The mass lobby is a really important event for Tibet. Think of it this way; you talk ACT NOW!to your MP, your MP talks to Chinese leaders; it’s your chance to make sure they
talk about Tibet! To sign up for the lobby, (the week before March 10th), email liam@sftuk.org Photos: Tibetans and supporters make sure Wen and his entorage can’t avoid Tibet during his UK visit, Liam talks to Prescott, black balloons in Germany, a Tibetan government meeting around 1920, invading Chinese troops are forced to leave Tibet in 1912.
SFT UK hits the festivals
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Glastonbury is one of the biggest music festivals in the world, and this year SFT UK was a part of it as we ran a three day Tibetan workshop for kids in a nomadic tent in the Kids Field area. Thousands of festival goers bring their kids to Glastonbury, and it was great to be able to open them up to Tibetan culture! We were showing kids how to make Tibetan hats and rangzen bands, colour yaks and learn their names and phrases in Tibetan. We were also able to talk to them about freedom in Tibet; the Tibetan cause is such an easy one to support and when kids hear about the Panchen Lama and see how rich Tibetan culture is, we hope they’ll become supporters for life, or at least until Tibet is free! It was also encouraging to see so many Tibetan flags in the crowd at Glasto. Watching it on TV across the world, you could pick them out during the headline sets by bands like U2, Coldplay and Beyonce. We didn’t spot any CCP flags; maybe the Embassy’s busloads of paid tools got stuck in mud!
After Glastonbury, SFT UK had a stall selling merchandise and getting people to sign petitions at the Womad world music festival between 29th an 31st July. With music increasingly being used to resist Chinese rule inside Tibet, festivals are a great place to get noticed!
SFT UK events: a chance to get active!
We’re all about getting active at SFT UK, so we’ll be out doing events, protests and socials; come along and get involved! Aside from working the festivals, we’ve been hosting events to celebrate the renaissance in Tibetan art and culture inside Tibet, amplifying the voices of brave Tibetans who speak up for their country despite the dangers to themselves. They know that getting out there, getting active is the only way freedom is going to come to Tibet.
SFT UK events are a great place to meet the board, sign postcards, get information and of course have a good time. Join our mailing list to stay informed; info@sftuk.org
London has had ENOUGH!
Like Tibetans in Tibet, we’ve had enough of Chinese oppression, enough of Chinese abuse, enough of Chinese rule in Tibet. So we’re showing our support for Tibetans in Tibet as they continue to bravely stand up for their country.
There have been a number of public actions in support of the campaign for global action as Tibet support groups the world over unite and show we’re behind the Tibetan people. SFT UK and the coalition of UK Tibet groups organised protests, vigils, marches and street theatre throughout October and the Global Day of Action on 2nd November. We know Tibetans in Tibet find ways to get around state controls and find out about protests outside, and we’re proud to support them. They’ve had enough, and if the Chinese Embassy and visiting Chinese leaders have had enough of protests, and of their country being shamed as human rights abusers, then they’d better get used to it because we’ll continue to make our voices heard until the Tibetan people have their country back.
Tibetans say that “the restrictions in Lhasa are frightening... Groups of 10 soldiers, standing in back-to-back formation, are posted at every intersection with their fingers on triggers, ready to shoot.” And that’s just the so-called ‘Autonomous Region’; in the restive areas of Eastern Tibet, things are said to be even worse, as recent video footage of the military lockdown confirmed. China, for it’s part, says it will deal with recent events in Tibet by seeking to “re-sculpt the minds of Tibetans” and “espouse patriotism and love for China” by sending Chinese national flags and large numbers of photos of Chinese leaders to all Tibetan villages. To any rational person this would seem like a sick joke, but what the CCP doesn’t realise is we’re not joking; Tibetans in Tibet really have had enough. And we’re proud to get on the streets and support them, so keep a look out on our Facebook group, twitter.com/sftuk and www.sftuk.org for more protests taking place!
Photos: Introducing kids to Tibet at Glasto & outreach at Womad, Nomad Rights postcards at a Dalai Lama birthday event, protests and vigils for Ngaba, Pema (SFT UK) and Karma (TYUK), Downing St
Global intervention for Tibet
What started as a lone protest by 20-year-old monk Phuntsok Jarutsang in March first resulted in a lockdown and has now become a crisis. The Tibetan people are at breaking point; oppressed, sidelined and abused by the occupying Chinese forces to the point where young, intelligent, peaceful people are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to draw attention to the Tibetan cause. The Chinese regime has tried to detract attention from the fact that it’s lost control in Ngaba, but despite witnesses saying there’s now a military police officer for every two Tibetans, protests continue.
When Phuntsok self-immolated, the authorities beat and arrested him. He died later. They then laid siege to Kirti monastery, attempting to starve the monks out. They beat laypeople who showed support for the monks, killing two senior citizens. They arrested and tortured some of Phuntsok’s family and associates and Tibetans who had simply talked about the crackdowns. They even tortured the young daughter of a man who shared information about the crisis for a week, denying medical treatment, all despite the fact that she had no connection to these events. Monks who carried out peaceful protests got lengthy sentences; two were even sentenced for ‘murdering’ Phuntsok after they refused to hand him over to authorities when he was injured, knowing that Tibetan protesters are often arrested in state-run hospitals and abused. And they cut phone and internet lines to make sure that even now we don’t know the full story. Who knows what else the Chinese state is keeping secret?
In August the same happened again, this time in Tawu, where 29 year old Tsewang Norbu died of self-immolation. Again, the Chinese regime used this as an excuse to turn on the Tibetan people; rounding them up, committing beatings and arrests. Then in October, a string of self-immolations proved that these acts are anything but one-offs. Teenagers Khaying and Choephel self-immolated on 7th October while clasping hands in prayer. After the flames were put out, Chinese police beat and arrested them. In the lead-up, Choephel said the “current atmosphere of repression is unbearable”, underlining the reason for their action. Both died, but before his death in hospital, Khaying said he felt no regrets and “please don’t feel sad for me”. Chinese authorities refused to release their bodies to family and warned locals they would be arrested if they expressed condolences. Locals rejected this order by closing their shops for three days in Ngaba town in a sign of respect. Kasang Wangchuk; another Tibetan teenager who set himself on fire in October, is receiving aggressive interrogation and beatings at the hospital where he should be recovering while 20-year-old nun Tenzin Wangmo died on the scene, and the wellbeing of the other young Tibetans to have self-immolated; Phuntsok’s brother Lobsang Kalsang, Lobsang Konchok and Norbu Damdul is unknown. The immolations of monk Dawa Tsering and nun Palden Choesang brought the total to 11 by 3rd November. Pamphlets in Ngaba say more Tibetans are willing to self-immolate.
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It’s pretty clear that the Tibetan movement is now being led by Tibetans in Tibet. The self-immolations are upsetting, but they can be a real catalyst for change. Let’s not forget that it was the self-immolation of fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi which kick-started the revolution in Tunisia in 2011, leading to the heavily military-equipped Egyptian regime being toppled and reactionary movements coming to the fore in Libya and Syria. It’s the final straw for Tibetans; they’ve had enough of Chinese rule and they’re going to keep pushing the movement forward until they’re rid of it. It’s up to us as supporters and Tibetans in exile to get active and get behind Tibetans in Ngaba, Kardze and across the nation. To do that, we have to pay attention to what these protesters are demanding.
During his self-immolation, Tsewang Norbu called for “freedom and independence for Tibet” while Kesang Wangchuk protested against Chinese rule in Tibet. Choephel and Khayang chose to call for ‘Tibet’s freedom’, ‘the return of the Dalai Lama from exile’ and ‘for Tibetans to unite and rise up against the Chinese regime’. Norbu Damdul shouted for ‘a return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet’ and “complete independence for Tibet”. These could have been the final words of these young men. So it’s up to us to honour them. Tibetans in Tibet clearly see no contradiction between supporting the Dalai Lama and supporting independence for Tibet, and they’re the ones who are right there in the firing line. Tibet supporters have differing political views on what a ‘free’ Tibet means, but the word ‘independence’ is increasingly becoming a buzz word in Tibetan protests, and it’s vital that we recognise that. These self-immolations are a wake up call for Tibetans and Tibet supporters, whether in Tibet or in exile. The time for differences is over. Tibetans have had enoughof Chinese rule and the world has to unite and help them resist.
PHOTOS: Tibetans who self-immolated Mar-Oct 2011; Norbu Damdul, Tsewang Norbu, Kasang Wangchuk, Tenzin Wangmo (no photo), Lobsang Kalsang, Dawa Tsering, Lobsang Konchok, Khaying & Choephel (no photos), Palden Choesang, Phuntsok Jarutsang, (left:) Tsewang photo @ Chinese Consulate Mancs, Lobsang Konchok alight.
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Nobody can deny that five self-immolations in one week goes to prove what the world is increasingly realising about China’s rule in Tibet; the claims of ‘development’ and ‘harmony’ are a smoke screen. It’s old fashioned propaganda spewed out at a world which knows better. While China’s been isolated, the world has learned how propaganda works; from the Nazis, from the Stalinists and from other brutal dictatorships. There are no excuses now; regardless of how strong the Chinese economy is (and there are now indications that it’s growth is slipping), China is a threat not just to Tibetans but to everyone, and it’s time for other nations to protect both Tibetans and ourselves by getting behind the Tibetan people.
First off, we can call for global intervention to save Tibetan lives. That’s the immediate call; nobody wants to see more self-immolations, but they’re going to keep happening unless China is pressured by its peers to seriously address Tibetan grievances. The US State Department reported that “several monks also reportedly committed suicide as a result of the harsh conditions and religious restrictions.” World leaders know what’s going on; it’s time to get serious. That’s why the International Tibet Network is pooling our resources together to focus on the ‘enough!’ campaign; if the free world is united in it’s call for change, it can be effective.
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It’s no good just waiting for China to stop oppressing Tibetans, or for them to back down and grant some kind of autonomy; they’ve got no motivation to do that. We can’t rely on our governments to act either; they feel pressured by China’s power so they won’t act unless we, as people whose votes they depend on, pressure them ourselves. We all have to unite against China; here’s how: Write to MPs; go to www.writetothem.com, tap your postcode & e-mail them; say Tibetans are at breaking point and you want them to publicly express support for them; it’ll take 5 minutes. Start a group in your uni or if you’re not a student, in your community. We can give you materials. Get trained as an activist at an SFT training event or conference; ask us when the next one is. Apply for the SFT UK board. Whether you’re Tibetan or not, you can volunteer and help lead us. If you have no time due to work, family our other commitments, that’s what SFT UK’s volunteers are here for. Join the rangzen circle; your £3 per month pays for our resources to keep going. Sign and share the petition for global action at www.standupfortibet.org; the more the better!
China is ducking questions about Ngaba while it expels thousands of monks and abuses Tibetans. At Labour’s conference in September, SFT UK’s Pema asked Chinese Vice-Ambassador Qin Gang “why, when the Chinese constitution allows religious freedom, is their such repression in Tibet on religious freedom?”. He avoided the question, saying “Tibetans enjoy basic rights of freedom. “ They’re on the back foot; help us put pressure on China’s leaders.
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If you’re reading this, the quote above means you. And it means me and everybody living in a country where we have the right to speak up without facing arrest, torture and death. A lot of people reading this are already active in working for a free Tibet, but the more people doing that the better. Tibetans in Ngaba and Kardze are stepping it up, so we have to do that too.
China have backed down over net censorship, political prisoner releases, deforestation, factory building and corruption; they aren’t as powerful as they want us to think and just like Tunisia, Egypt and Gandhi’s independence movement, we can defeat them if we’re unified and if we’re active. When things get so bad that young people with so much life ahead of them see no way out but to self-immolate, it’s got to the point of no return. We’re at that point; the point where like Tibetans in Tibet, we have to actively resist. The self-immolations are our wake up call. If we want Tibet to be free, this is the time to say enough is enough. This is the time for global action.
PHOTOS: Protest at the Chinese Consulate, Manchester, Tenzin Tamding, who got 13 years, Chinese Embassy action in Switzerland, Lobsang Tenzin, who got 10 years for refusing to hand the wounded Phuntsok to authorities, Radiohead and Joanna Lumley have signed the standupfortibet.org petition, troops flood Ngaba, October 2011, a ‘stand up for Tibet’ vigil.
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Civil disobedience: Tibetan style! The Lhakar Movement is a bold new trend in the Tibetan resistance, and its growing momentum. As with much of the movement post-2008, it’s being led by Tibetans inside Tibet, who are using the strategy of civil disobedience to both challenge the Chinese state in imaginative ways and to amplify their identity as Tibetans.
Every Wednesday (the Dalai Lama’s soul day), Tibetans have been banding together to do things like buy only from Tibetan grocery shops, fine each other for mixing Chinese words with Tibetan and avoiding Chinese food to counter the Chinese state’s continual bombardment of Tibetan areas with Chinese cultural influences. The significance of civil disobedience in resistance movements isn’t lost on Tibetans; they’re all aware of how Gandhi used it to great effect, and Lhakar is especially significant as it marks the step into a new phase for the movement; the phase of non-cooperation.
In the exile community, Tibetans are using Lhakar to express their identity by making a special effort to speak Tibetan language, wear Tibetan clothes, eat Tibetan food and shop at Tibetan shops. Tibetans are encouraged to take the ‘Lhakar Pledge’:
1. The Nature of the Movement This modest movement called Lhakar comes from the fact that I am Tibetan, and it is like a note reminding us that we are Tibetan in our daily life. Through this movement, we restore, renovate and keep our language, culture, identity and tradition. Through this technique we can keep the people of the Snowland’s soul language till the end of humankind. This technique helps us retain Tibetan culture, Tibetan good morals and the traditions which are born from our soul language. This technique is easy and it is meaningful. 2. Anticipation This Lhakar movement began in anticipation as remedial medicine for hundreds of diseases for Tibetan brothers and sisters who live in every region. I hope that many Tibetan brothers and sisters will participate in this movement without any invitation and follow the eight promises or keep even one of them, and practice it. I am requesting all Tibetans to keep this pledge as I kneel down on my knees and humbly fold my hands on my chest, and make this request innumerable times. I am Tibetan, from today I will speak pure Tibetan in my family. I am Tibetan, from today I will speak pure Tibetan whenever I meet a Tibetan. I am Tibetan, from today I will remind myself every day that I am a Tibetan till I die. I am Tibetan, from today I will wear only Tibetan traditional dress, chuba, every Wednesday. I am Tibetan, from today I will speak only Tibetan every Wednesday. I am Tibetan, from today I will learn Tibetan language. I am Tibetan, from today I will stop eating meat and only eat a vegetarian diet and gain more merit every Wednesday. You can read more about the Lhakar movement in Tibet at www.lhakar.org and Tibetans are invited to contribute to the Lhakar blog at : www.lhakardiaries.com
Chalk Tibet
Another ongoing initiative founded in Switzerland as a reaction to the crisis in Ngaba has been Chalk Tibet. It’s a bit like planking and some of the other internet photo fads like owling, teapotting, and batmanning. If all of that’s nonsense to you, don’t worry; chalking is the only one you need!
The action involves lying down ‘dead’ in a significant location, which may be a tourist spot, landmark or most likely outside a Chinese embassy or consulate. Somebody else then draws around your body with chalk as if you’re a corpse at a crime scene. Tibetans and supporters have been ‘chalking’ all across the world since October, often marking their chalky outlines with the names of Tibetans who have died as a result of the Chinese occupation- notably those who have self-immolated. Photos are then taken of the chalks and flowers, khatags, photos or prayer wheels are sometimes left to honour those who have passed away, and of course to let passers-by know about them. There are photos of the chalk outlines from places as diverse as the US, UK, India, Japan, Austria, Germany and France at : www.chalktibet.org. First to chalk in China...
Photos: Tibetans in Nangchen buying groceries from Tibetan sellers only, marking White Wednesday at SFT Action Camp, students at SFT Hastings get into the Lhakar spirit, Chalk Tibet in San Francisco, Bavaria and London.
Nomad rights
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Tibetan nomadic culture has existed for centuries and is intrinsic to the Tibetan way of life. It’s also intrinsic to the health of the fragile Tibetan plateau. But nomadic culture is under threat.
China rules that “all herdsmen are expected to end the nomadic life.” They had aimed to make Tibetan nomadism a thing of the past by the year 2000. They failed to do that, but they’re getting closer day by day. The Chinese state has forced 1.43 million of Tibet’s 2.25 million nomads into bleak, tightly packed urban tenements already, and it’s building more of these poverty-stricken ghettos for them month in, month out. China plans a future for nomads reminiscent of the fate of the native American Indians and the Australian Aboriginal people. And this time, we have to stop them.
Tibetan nomads understand nature. They move with the seasons over large areas of land with their animals; yak, sheep, cattle and horses. The grazing leaves the land time to recover. Images of Tibetan nomads strolling freely across the vast plateau capture a sense of wonder; their lives are so different from the tense, stuffy atmosphere of cities and the highly unsustainable consumer lives we lead, eating away at the planet. We could learn so much from the nomads, but China, in it’s endless march towards industrial growth at all costs, doesn’t see the big picture. At first glance, the resettlement complexes don’t look that bad. This is the skill in the con trick. Nomads live a hard life, and like anyone, they see over-glamourised glimpses of urban existence. Some are tempted when Chinese officials offer them a concrete house, so some move willingly, but there isn’t really a choice, as those who refuse soon find out. Their livestock; animals they’ve raised, tended to and depended on, are taken from them. Sometimes minimal compensation is paid, sometimes the animals are simply slaughtered. And the nomads are moved into their new homes, living for the first time in close quarters with others and with little space to move. Pretty soon, those four cramped concrete walls feel like they’re closing in...
Because the trap has been sprung. Resettled nomads are stuck. They soon realise that the well honed agricultural skills which they’ve passed on for generations are useless in an urban environment. They realise there’s no training on alternative careers available to them. They realise the schools, hospitals and public amenities which the state officials promised are not going to materialise. And they realise that their beloved livestock, their rolling plateau and their freedom are gone forever. With no urban skills, they can’t find jobs, can’t feed families and slip into poverty, gambling, alcohol, depression and suicide. These proud nomads have become nobodies.
But why? There are two simple reasons. One; the same reason China invaded Tibet in the first place; with the nomads off the land, it can be used for heavy industry; mining, damming, factories, resource extraction. It’s the mineral wealth of Tibet and other occupied territories that fuels China’s booming economy. And secondly, Tibetans are troublesome, especially nomads with their unique culture, customs, attitudes and national identity. That scares China, and when China is scared it goes into lockdown mode. It’s easier to control people if you contain them in one, concentrated place.
Resettled nomads’ stories are unsettling. One said “the grassland without animals is like a child without a mother... I feel so stuffy inside the house. It’s so different from living in the tent.” Another said of the resettlements, “life here is incredibly hard. People are suffering from hunger and hardship. Nobody wanted to move here... we live in fear.” So we’re bringing the issue of forced resettlement to governments, to businesses who trade with China and to international bodies and conferences such as G20 and the Climate Change Summit. China claims that relocation is voluntary, but Human Rights Watch state that “the relocations often have not been carried out transparently, with the advance consultation and post-relocation compensation required under both domestic and international law.” China’s own laws state that those who are to be relocated must be consulted first, but in practice it’s very different. China’s policy is to end the nomadic way of life for ever. Ours is to end to China’s resettlement policy. We can’t leave Tibet’s nomadic culture to be eradicated. After the Olympics, SFT’s Nomad Rights campaign is a big focus area. What’s happening exposes China’s overall exploitation of Tibet. Read more at www.nomadrights.org.
Photos: Nomadic woman on the plateau by Jim McGill, nomad tent, a nomadic man, nomadic boy in an urban setting by Jim McGill, nomad rights protest in the US, a resettlement camp
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Making occupation costly
It isn’t always easy to pinpoint the successes of a campaign like ours; Tibetan independence won’t happen suddenly. Let’s be honest here; the Chinese politburo isn’t going to wake up one morning, feel bad about what they’ve done in Tibet and give it back to it’s rightful owners. SFT works on long term goals and strategies; we grow pressure on the Chinese regime, we build awareness inside and outside and we train the next generation of Tibetan leaders. SFT’s vision is to make Tibet’s occupation more costly for the Chinese government; both in terms of finance and reputation, than it is worth. We want to get to the point where China’s ‘cost-benefit analysis’ will determine that occupying Tibet is a more detrimental to China than it is advantageous. That’s when China will finally get out of Tibet.
In order to do this, we wage strategic campaigns that cost the Chinese government money and embarrass them on the international arena; what China calls ‘losing face’. Apart from the material advantages, maintaining face is something which is high on China’s agenda for cultural reasons, and it’s why the CCP reacts with such fury when organisations, governments and journalists deliver any kind of criticism or show respect to China’s opponents.
One of the most important ways to make China’s occupation costly is not led by SFT, or any other organisation. The thing that makes China’s occupation more costly than anything else is the resistance of the Tibetan people, and it’s that which will finally push China out. It’s easy to look at China, with its tanks and guns, its strict controls, its dominance of business, industry and the judicial system and all those hundreds of thousands of troops and say China is too powerful for the Tibetan people to ever make the occupation costly. But what do you think those troops, those controls and the resources required to keep things like the prison system running cost? And who do you think is paying for all that? The Chinese government. So we’re not starting from scratch here. The Tibetan people’s resistance is already costly to China; it costs countless billions. All we have to do, step by step, campaign by campaign, is take it to the point where we tip the boat, or more accurately, help the Tibetan people get to where they tip the boat, and by doing so, tip the CCP back over the border.
SFT seeks to pry open space for resistance inside Tibet by forcing China to respect fundamental human rights. Currently, the lack of basic human rights, freedom of religion, speech, and assembly make open dissent by the Tibetan people almost impossible. By embarrassing the Chinese government internationally and deluging them with faxes, emails, petitions and letters every time they imprison a Tibetan who speaks out, we can gradually moderate China’s response to dissent. By reducing the danger of expressing dissent inside Tibet, we can help Tibetans establish a public resistance to the occupation. And arrogant as they are, Chinese leaders do listen to foreign representatives. We know from embassy staff that the Chinese state monitors the level of public response to individual prisoner’s cases and specific issues. We see at every protest Chinese personnel sneaking around to take photos and increasingly we see organised counter-demonstrations. The embassies even pay Chinese people and ship them in to reduce the embarrassment Chinese leaders will have when they see protesters and to limit the ammunition journalists have when reporting on public opinion about Chinese policies. So even there China is doing the equations we’re forcing them to do over Tibet; is it more costly to pay for a counter demonstration or more costly to be embarrassed again? Is it more costly to pay to police Tibetan resistance or more costly to leave?
So we won’t end the occupation overnight. They don’t end that way; even when it seems they do, there’s actually been a groundswell of change building behind the scenes for a long time. That’s what we’re doing; building that groundswell. And more importantly, we’re helping the Tibetan people do it. We have weapons at our disposal; some are physical things like new technologies which Tibetans can use to circumvent controls and organise a resistance. Others are less tangible, like the rights we have to engage China’s political counterparts. China already spends hundreds, if not thousands of billions on keeping hold of Tibet. So every little action you take, don’t think it’s a small action; every action is chipping away at that iceblock. Think of it this way; it might be this little action that turns out to be the straw that breaks the CCP’s back.
Taking Tibet to world leaders
SFT UK joined Tibet groups from around Europe to organise protests at the G20 summit in Cannes, France, attended by world leaders. It’s time for global action; our leaders need to know that Tibetans aren’t happy with Chinese rule and that just as Tibetans in Tibet are saying, we must all be united in calling Hu Jintao and China’s regime to task and backing Tibetans’ call for independence.
Photos: High profile direct actions like this banner hang on the Golden Gate Bridge in 2008 caused both reputational and financial cost to China as it’s Olympic credentials were rubbished. Protests in London, Tibet and Washington and TYAE’s Norbu at G20 also cost the CCP.
China’s gold rush hits a snag
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China is rapidly expanding its gold mining projects in Tibet; another of the riches for which China invaded Tibet in the first place. The Dachung gold mine in Yulshul, Eastern Tibet will likely become one of Asia’s largest, yielding 300 tons by 2015. Predictably, gold mining has boomed since the opening of the Gormo-Lhasa railway in 2006, which ferries natural resources worth around £80 billion per year, much of it back into China.
The Chinese state is working alongside Canadian-based company China Gold, who SFT have been campaigning against. Tibetans are protesting against these mines too, with 50 arrested in protests against various mines in Dzogang County, Chamdo alone. Meanwhile the World Gold Council is reviewing its definition of ‘conflict gold’, listing ‘respect for human rights’ and ‘a credible and accessible grievance mechanism’ as principles which should be in place for gold to escape being labeled ‘conflict gold’. SFT encourages the WGC to use this definition to describe gold mined in Tibet as conflict gold, making it less attractive in the marketplace and reducing its value.
Artists targetted
China’s crackdown on the arts continues as Tibetans use the mediums of song, film and literature to call for freedom. Singer Hortsang Lhalung Tso was detained on 20th August on her way to sing at a Tibetan cultural event. The reasons for the Amdo singer’s arrest and her wellbeing and whereabouts are unknown.
Writer Choepa Lugyal was arrested in October, and in August, CD shop owner Kunsang Choegyal was arrested for selling speeches by the Dalai Lama; his whereabouts are unknown; even police claim they are unaware. These follow the arrest of popular writer Pema Rinchen, who was badly beaten and arrested in July after his book ‘Look’ criticised Chinese policies, and the sentencing of magazine editors Jolep Dawa to 3 years and Tashi Rabten to 4 years. Over 65 intellectuals have been arrested since 2008.
Making it personal
Lama Jigme re-arrested
Jigme Gyatso or Guri, a well respected monk from Labrang monastery, was re-arrested on unknown charges in August.
He was also arrested in March 2008 for allegedly organising protests which he did not even attend. At the time, he was tortured to the point of death but released as the authorities could not place any charges on him. He then posted a video testimony on Youtube detailing the torture and noting Chinese troops’ attitude; “a young soldier pointed a rifle at me and said ‘this is made to kill you Tibetans... I will throw you in the trash and nobody will ever know.’” He was re-arrested for making the video but soon re-released, having been treated better; perhaps because the state knew his case was now public and being watched. His current detention began when police raided his room and seized CDs, a computer and took photos of the Dalai Lama from Jigme and his brother. Once again, we are campaigning for his release.
We want all Tibetan political prisoners released, but by using individual cases we can highlight the abuse in Tibet today and give the issue a personal edge which people can connect with. Campaigning on behalf of individuals has often been successful in making China more careful about their treatment of these prisoners, knowing the world is watching. Tibet supporters can also use such examples to quickly win people over to the cause. KARMA SAMDRUP Environmentalist serving 15 years for criticising the state when his brothers were jailed for exposing corruption. Tortured. TENZIN DELEG RINPOCHE High lama whose death sentence was reduced to life after campaigns. Also framed.
PALJOR NORBU 81-year old serving 5 years for printing the Tibetan flag. Relatives fear he wil not survive.
PENKYI 21-year old given death sentence after 2008 protests. The evidence against her for arson is sketchy; two others have been executed.
NORZIN WANGMO Writer serving 5 years for talking about the situation in Tibet on the phone and web. Tortured. WANGDU Public health worker given a life sentence just for sending email about Tibet to friends overseas.
Photos: Mining in Tibet, Hortsang Lhalung Tso, Pema Rinchen, Tashi Rabten, Lama Jigme before his arrest and in hospital after being tortured during his first detention, some of the hundreds of political prisoners in Tibet today and the ‘crimes’ they supposedly committed.
PHURBU RINPOCHE Community figure serving 8 1/2 years- framed after his nunnery staged protests. Tortured.
RUNGGYE ADAK A nomad who stood at a festival and said the Dalai Lama should return. This alone earned an 8 year sentence.
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Activism for the digital age
The Tibet Action Institute is a new paradigm of Tibet movement organising for a post-2008 uprising world. It’s a Students for a Free Tibet project which brings together campaigners and technology experts at the forefront of the Tibet movement in order to develop and implement an end-game strategy; the tools and the approach Tibetans in Tibet can use to win their non-violent struggle for rights and freedom.
Technology has been the great equaliser in recent freedom struggles, with micro-blogging, social networking and useful apps being vital in helping activists organise and evade capture during the Arab Spring. China knows how powerful technology can be; just one app or information sharing facility has the potential to blow the lid on state internet controls, to break China’s strategy of dividing common causes to conquer them or to allow resistance movements to converse with each other and plan without having to get around phalanxes of troops to get to chat tactics. China ploughs huge sums and resources into policing the internet, tracking down Tibetans who get political online and intercepting information to identify ‘splittists’, but the technologies which the Tibet Action Institute are developing could prove to be game-changers for Tibetans in Tibet.
Lhadon Tethong, SFT’s former Director and now Director of TAI, said “We’re looking at new technologies that haven’t come out yet and how they can be used in Tibet... You can’t stop (technology). The force is just too strong. We worked with young and innovative technical experts and geeks from the beginning. The optimistic part is that the advances in communications technology are happening so quick that the Chinese bureaucracy can’t keep up. Saying you can’t do this or that because they’re too good is just not true.” In June, Lhadon was one of the recipients of the James Lawson Award for Non-violent Achievement, but TAI has a lot more up its sleeve. In spring 2011, TAI launched the Lhakar Academy; the Tibetan School of Leadership and Change, to bring a new level of knowledge and skill to strategic non-violent action and secure use of communications technology to the leaders of the Tibetan freedom movement. SFT UK’s Pema Yoko was one of the first students. Technology will be at the forefront of the non-violent fight for an independent Tibet, and with the Tibet Action Institute, SFT will be at the forefront of technology.
The Tibet Action Institute is developing apps like the ones on the next page. See more at www.tibetaction.net And remember the Chinese state is forever hacking, monitoring and inconveniencing those who it feels are a threat. Make sure you’re safe by following simple security tips at tibetaction.net/knowledge/tech
‘I will tell the people of the world....’
Video activism has really risen to the fore since 2008. You will already have read on the previous page about the re-arrest of Labrang monk Lama Jigme. In his 2008 torture testimony he says “I said to the face of my captors; if you kill me, then that will be the end of it. But if I am able to go outside and get the opportunity, I will talk about the torture I went through.” Lama Jigme shares his compulsion to tell the world about the suffering of the Tibetan people with Dhondup Wangchen, whose groundbreaking film ‘Leaving Fear Behind’ gave Tibetans a forum to express themselves to camera, with Dhondup effectively acting as a citizen journalist.
Bold videos by Tibetans came to light in 2009, when Amdo monk and intellectual Kalsang Tsultrim’s video emerged, distributed underground amongst Tibetans in Amdo and Kham on VCD. His testimony was aimed at educating Tibetans inside Tibet about the current situation as well as to ask the world for help. This need was underlined when a VCD entitled ‘Bloody Omen’, featuring images of Chinese repression was produced by monks. All these video makers have since been detained.
A short, stunning video titled ‘I Am Tibetan’ also started to be passed around in 2009 and later found its way to Youtube. The video is powerful and creative; the camera focuses on random Tibetans who state ‘I am Tibetan’ before going on to say why; a powerful assertion of how people identify themselves. Video activism has continued to grow, with ‘Hope in a Disaster’ about the 2010 Jyekundo earthquake and even the mobile video of Phuntsok’s selfimmolation showing that despite the dangers, Tibetans can use this format to make their voices heard.
Photos: Tinetans utilising new technology, China’s net controls are a joke the wolrd over, Chinese net cafe in Lhasa, Lhadon (far left) with other James Lawson Award winners, Lama’ Jigme’ video, Dhondup Wangchen, Kalsang Tsultrim, I Am Tibetan
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Mobile phones are playing an increasing role in movements for social change. Since the birth of smart phones, documentation of rights abuses, mobilisation and mass communication have been revolutionised. It’s amazing how many of the protests during the Arab Spring were organised through social network sites and smart phones; using technology to get around tight government controls. China’s ‘Great Firewall’ is an ominous system but China is struggling to combat the swift sharing power of microblogs and phone apps. It’s an arena where huge economic reserves, huge military strength and huge political clout are suddenly irrelevant; where information access is king, and that’s a battle we can win. As smart phones get smarter, we have an ever-expanding market of apps for Tibet activists:
-UTalk Tibetan is a good app for learning basic Tibetan phrases, numbers, and vocabulary. Even without Tibetan font support, it displays Tibetan letters. Great for people learning Tibetan. Price $9.7 Android or on iPhone for $9.99. -Beiks Tibetan English Dictionary is for both Tibetan speakers to look up words in English and vice versa. Price $12.95, while the English Tibetan Dictionary translates, giving a list of choices. Android $4.02, iPhone $2.99. -Free2Work is an awesome app promoting transparency by rating major brands based on their policies to address this human rights issues. It can find specific companies, get updates from other activists, see the latest video and photos from the field and how companies like Nike and Adidas are rated. Android, free. -Obscura Cam is a ‘Visual Privacy’ photo app which detects faces in photos then protects the identity of the subjects by obstructing their faces. Android, free. -Orweb: Privacy Browser + Tor helps enhance privacy, break firewalls and communicate more safely. Orbot is like Tor for Android; Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy. Android, free. Tor on PC; www.torproject.com -Gibberbot is a great app; a secured chat client capable of firewall and filter circumvention from Guardian. Surveillance blocking and end-to-end encryption. Android, free. -Twitter has been successfully used for organising protests and keeping the world updated as events are happening. As citizen journalism becomes increasingly important, Twitter is an essential app for any activist. TweetDeck makes it easy to link social networks. Free. -Qik Video makes it easy to shoot video and have it stream live to the web. Many Androids have Qik built in. For long casts, apps like Ustream are available. Also on iPhone. Free. -IPhones apps include PhayulNews (Tibet news), AiCandle (Amnesty), Human Rights Watch, TibetanReading, Write Tibetan. See buddhistapps.com for iPhone and Nathan Freitas’ work for Android.
Technology is changing all the time, so keep up with new apps; China can ban popular websites like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter all it wants, but the smarter tech is and the smarter we are, the less control they have.
True intentions
Technology can render propaganda useless because propaganda is pre-packaged information designed to make you believe what the state wants you to while modern technology allows people to share a free-flow of information. The other way oppressive regimes are exposed is through whistle-blowing websites who leak information to the public. Just before the 90th anniversary of the CCP on 29th June, a Danish group published Chinese government documents which stated “we must reduce the power that supporters of Tibetan independence and Xinjiang’s separatist forces enjoy in the international public opinion” and that “crackdowns should occur against any aggression directed against the party and its leaders as well as against the promotion of other political systems and a free press.” Though on the surface China talks about ‘development’ and ‘harmony’, this is what’s really going through the CCP’s heads; curtailing free speech and avoiding criticism. China uses its economic clout to avoid criticism, but it can’t outrun technology forever.
Photos: Mobiles being used as a tool for networking and mobilisation during the Arab Spring, and in use in Tibet
Inspired at Action Camp!
SFT UK was delighted to be a part of Free Tibet! Action camp in Germany in August, and we’re more confident and inspired than ever to bring freedom and independence to Tibet!
Action camp, organised by Students for a Free Tibet and Tibet Youth Association of Europe, brought together some 50 activists from around the world to be trained in all aspects of non-violent direct action. We all learnt a lot from each other and will use this training going forward! We’ve also picked up some new tricks and training sessions to use in SFT UK’s annual training conference, and plan to roll some sessions out to other events and groups we network with, like the Tibetan Community and student groups.
It’s a key period for the Tibetan independence movement right now, as Tibetans find new, brave and inventive ways to challenge Chinese state control. The Lhakar movement is really taking off, inspired by the likes of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. This is the spirit which characterises our movement, and like Gandhi and King, we’re just as confident that we will also be successful.
It was great to meet so many passionate, skilled and diverse people at action camp; people who are doing their bit in their own ways and in their own communities to amplify the call for Tibetan independence and to inspire others to do the same. And it’s great to see how everybody learns from each other. Learning and sharing is what makes SFT the dynamic organisation it is; we’re not interested in resting on our laurels or on doing things the same old way, year after year. If we were doing that, we’d have to question whether the movement was really moving forward. We know nobody’s an expert on everything and we need each other to make this movement the best it can be, and that’s why we’ll continue to work, continue to learn, continue to grow. Even SFT’s leaders, the world’s leading Tibet activists, do that; they’re open to new ideas and that’s why they and us stay ahead of the game and ahead of the CCP.
There are so many ways we can push the movement forward. This togetherness, this inventiveness, this passion and this belief in our cause are things the Chinese government doesn’t have. It’s closed, backward and repressive approach has no place in the modern world; a world of social networking, user generated art and literature, individual choice and community spirit. Right now in Tibet, a movement is building; more and more Tibetans in Tibet are becoming activists, taking the fight to the CCP. The more we learn from experts, the more we link up with like-minded individuals and the more we witness how Tibetans are using their initiative to oppose the occupation, the more we see that CCP control has an expiry date. That expiry date’s getting closer and closer; all we need to do is speed it up. to get inspired as well, come to SFT UK’s weekend training conference ! If you inwant October-November) or other events. Ask us when the next one is and book ACT NOW(usually your place! info@sftuk.org. And if you’re already in an SFT uni group, have you got a copy of our new resource pack and DVD? Mail us or get the pack online at www.issuu.com/sftuk
Building the movement
We can all see that things are changing inside Tibet. It isn’t just monks and nuns challenging China, it’s ordinary people; young, old, students, artists, parents, kids, nomads, workers. And it isn’t Tibetans following people; it’s Tibetans leading themselves. This is where the Tibetan cause moves from becoming support groups to a really active movement. Tibetans in Tibet are leading this movement now, and we need Tibetans in exile to lead too. Non-Tibetans can also help make that happen. We understand it’s difficult and intimidating to get active, but that’s what SFT UK are here for; to encourage and train Tibetans to play active roles in SFT UK. This is a movement for Tibetan freedom, and it’s only going to work if Tibetans lead it. So if you’re a Tibetan in the UK reading this, SFT UK NEEDS YOU! If you’re not confident, it doesn’t matter; nobody is confident at the start, but leave that to us; we can train you. We want Tibetans to not just come to events, but to our conferences, to join our board and make our movement effective. We can’t do it without you so contact pema@sftuk.org. Now is the time for Tibet; let’s seize the moment! Photos: Free Tibet! Action Camp; banner hangs, strategy, blockades, team building, brainstorms, mock actions, street theatre, SFT UK training Tibetan community, SFT India
Nothing to celebrate
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1st October saw the 62nd Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, when Chairman Mao formally brought the country (minus Taiwan) under Communist control. Whilst the Chinese government held their usual parades and functions to mark the occasion, activists around the world stood up to send out the message that there is nothing to celebrate.
The PRC hasn't only brought suffering for the Tibetan people, whose land was invaded just a year after it came into being, resulting in countless deaths and the steady destruction of their culture; Uyghurs in neighbouring East Turkestan were also quickly brought under PRC control, with the communist troops killing those who stood up to resist and continuing their brutal occupation to this day. And of course, millions of Chinese people have faced misery and hardship thanks to the PRC; from those who perished during Mao's bloody Cultural Revolution, to those who were gunned down around Tiananmen Square and those who remain imprisoned today for their activism or their beliefs.
Students for a Free Tibet UK was proud to join with other members of Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan Solidarity UK (CUTS UK) on the anniversary, to gather at the Chinese Embassy and show that these atrocities are not forgotten or ignored. Protesters wore white masks to represent the millions, whose faces we will never know, who have suffered and died- and continue to suffer and die under the PRC. Holding placards highlighting the PRCs innumerate crimes, they heard speeches from Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan exiles -before sending a loud and clear message to the embassy opposite. At Students for a Free Tibet UK we will continue to work alongside the Chinese and Uyghur struggles; as well as those in other neighbouring nations such as Inner Mongolia and Burma, and those further afield such as Zimbabwe and Darfur, which are also affected by the PRC’s abusive policies and suppression of human rights. On 1st October there was nothing to celebrate... but if we continue to work in solidarity, share our skills and stand united against the Chinese government- one day there will be.
Friends, brothers, brutal dictators
Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, wanted around the world for war crimes, was welcomed to China with open arms in late June, where he was given a red-carpet salute and a military fanfare by Hu Jintao, who Al-Bashir referred to as his ‘friend and brother’. The feeling seemed to be mutual.
But the International Criminal Court doesn’t see Al-Bashir in quite the same light as it continues to seek justice following a tribunal in 2009 in which the United Nations concluded that Al-Bashir’s actions have left 300,000 people dead and forced millions to flee their homes in Sudan. Despite sitting on the human rights council of the UN, and despite proclaiming to be a ‘developed’ nation, Hu Jintao did not take the opportunity to arrest Al-Bashir so that he could finally face justice for the three counts of genocide which have been levelled against him. Perhaps instead the pair discussed tactics for getting rid of dissidents, exchanged notes on torture techniques or maybe Hu consoled Al-Bashir over his recent loss of South Sudan, which finally won its long independence struggle this year. Maybe Hu was taking notes to try to avoid the same happening to Tibet.
But the same will happen to Tibet, and it’ll happen sooner if we network with similar causes, especially those, like the Sudanese people, whose oppressive governments are propped up by the Chinese state. So while Hu Jintao has a leisurely game of golf with Kim Jong-Il, sips a skinny latte with the Burmese junta or gets ready for a night of karaoke with Robert Mugabe, we’ll continue building more wholesome and progressive connections with groups who oppose the Chinese regime, like the Uyghurs, Mongolians, Falun Gong, persecuted Chinese Christians and democrats. The independence bug’s catching; maybe Hu should keep friends like Omar further away.
SFT UK supports Uyghurs, Inner Mongolia and other causes. Read more about how we’re networking with them on the minisite: www.sftuk.org/onestruggle
Photos: CUTS UK protest outside the Chinese Embassy on the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the PRC and Hu Jintao welcomes Omar Al-Bashir.
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Lobsang Tenzin Tibetan hero in bad health
Lobsang Tenzin, one of Tibet’s longest serving political prisoners and a hero of the movement, is reportedly in a serious condition in Chushul prison. The former student protester is suffering from diabetes and his eyesight has weakened, causing periods of blindness. He is due for release in 2013.
Arrested in March 1988 after protesting in Lhasa, Lobsang Tenzin was accused of killing a policeman, who was allegedly thrown from a window during the demonstration. Five other Tibetans were charged alongside him in 1998. He was first handed a death sentence with a two year reprieve, but this was later commuted to a life term in 1993 after international pressure influenced the regime not to execute him. China delivers such harsh sentences because it knows that activists are no longer a threat to their authority while they’re locked away out of sight, but not Lobsang Tenzin. Despite being held at Drapchi, Tibet’s most notorious prison, he continued the fight for Tibetan freedom from behind bars. In 1989, while still awaiting death, he founded the Snow Lion Youth for Tibetan Independence group, alongside three fellow prisoners, including Migmar Tashi and Dawa. When prison authorities learned of the group, the inmates received brutal beatings and were put in solitary confinement for 34 days. Lobsang Tenzin had to wear shackles for 17 months, while Migmar Tashi and Dawa were executed in 1990 after attempting to escape prison.
The ever-present threat to Tenzin’s life didn’t deter his resistance; when prisoner Lhakpa Tsering died of torture in 1990, Tenzin tore a bedsheet to make a banner which read “we mourn the death of Lhakpa Tsering” and, “we demand improvements to the conditions of political prisoners.” Tenzin then organised a protest of 150 Tibetans inside the jail, marching through the courtyard waving banners. All involved received a 6 year extension to their sentences but rioted against the decision, forcing the authorities to reverse it.
: Support a political prisoner!
SFT UK can only keep running with donations from supporters, and by setting up a monthly Paypal donation you can pick a prisoner you’d like us to focus on and get updates on their case.
Think of it this way; could you spare the price of a coffee once a month or 10p change every day? That’s £3 per month and it’s all we need to keep SFT UK alive. And if you set up a monthly donation, you only have to do it once and can cancel any time. www.sftuk.org/guardians
In March 1991, he and fellow prisoner Tenpa Wangdrak gathered signatures from torture victims, stating they’d been abused and attempted to hand it to visiting US Ambassador James Lilley. But Lilley’s Chinese interpreter confiscated the letter and they were caught, badly beaten and kept in isolation. Lilley later played an instrumental role in pushing China to overturn Tenzin’s death sentence, which was reduced to 20 years. Tenzin had become a hero among the Tibetan prisoners, who regularly appealed for his release and secured him extra food rations. He has since been transfered to another jail.
Despite suffering all manner of torture during his 23 years in jail, Lobsang Tenzin has repeatedly challenged Chinese authority and protected fellow prisoners. It’s quite likely there will be uproar if he does not receive the medical treatment he needs.
Help the campaign; sign the petition for him to receive treatment and be released at freetibetanheroes.org/petitions
Photos: Lobsang Tenzin, protests in 1988, Drapchi and Chushul prisons, example of extreme effects of torture in China & Tibet, Lhakpa Tsering
SFT UK NOTICE BOARD
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Upload a photo of you rself in a run down urban environment wit h a picture of the Tibeta n plateau for our ‘Wish I Was There’ nomad pro ject www.sftuk.org/wish-i -was-there
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IF YOU LOVE TIBET...
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One of the best ways to get yourself and tibet seen is by wearing SFt clothing and kitting yourself with other merchandise. it’s the uniform of the resistance!
SFT merchandise is available at www.studentsforafreetibet.org, www.sftuk.org, other SFT networks and chapters, plus at SFT events. Wear the cause, back the cause, be the cause!