Christian Group Calls On IOC to Cancel Beijing Games Following Arrest of 2 Priests

It’s important for Tibet supporters to remember that China’s tyrannical ban on religious speech and practice extends far beyond their restrictions on Buddhism and the Falun Gong, but to Christianity as well. Two Catholic priests were recently arrested for unknown reasons, following the detention of a prominent Bishop this past November. The Cardinal Kung Foundation called on the International Olympic Committee to consider canceling the 2008 Beijing Games because of China’s continued lack of respect for religious freedom and human rights.

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Yingsel, the Rangzen Antelope: Game 1

Yingsel, the Tibetan Antelope, was captured by the Chinese authorities, renamed “Yingying,” and forced to be one of the “Friendlies” – the Beijing 2008 Olympic mascots.

You are Yingsel . Use the cursor keys to navigate the maze. Eat the power-up momo’s* and use your Rangzen* power to defeat Jingjing the Cybercop.
Collect all the tsampa* dots to win your freedom!

[ Click here to play ]

The Palestinian Authority’s Shameful Hypocrisy Toward Tibet and the Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama paid a high-profile four-day visit to Israel last week. The visit received enormous media attention in Israel where he has long been a popular figure. No government officials met with the Dalai Lama out of fear of antagonizing the biggest buyer of Israeli weapons – the Chinese government. The Chinese embassy predictably lodged a formal protest that His Holiness was even allowed into the country.

More disturbing however was the cancellation of the planned visit to Bethlehem in the West Bank. The Dalai Lama had been invited by the Holy Land Trust, the Bethlehem-based Palestinian NGO that hosted the Celebrating Nonviolence conference that Tendor and I attended in December, representing SFT. After a request by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Holy Land Trust withdrew the invitation and a Foreign Ministry spokesman for the PA made a very candid statement including this stunning quote:

“At the request of the Chinese government, we have not received or dealt with him given his separatist ambitions for Tibet.”

Separatist ambitions?! This would be hilarious if it was a satiric Onion article but no… welcome to the desert of the real.

As I just recently spent time with them, I have written a letter to the Holy Land Trust expressing my deep disappointment. I have also posted it on the blog I created for the Celebrating Nonviolence conference. I have not yet received a reply to my letter and I don’t know whether they realize the link at the top of the Holy Land Trust’s website will take anyone to the blog to view the open letter. The letter is my opinion and does not represent the position of Students for a Free Tibet.

Below is a brief excerpt of my letter to the Holy Land Trust:
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Rather than expressing solidarity with another people living under occupation, the Palestinian Authority has sided with the occupier — the Chinese government — against the Tibetan people. The PA’s citation of the Dalai Lama’s “separatist ambitions for Tibet” is so obviously and egregiously hypocritical that it hardly seems worth noting.

Read the rest of the letter on the Celebrating Nonviolence blog >>>

Palden Gyatso on Hunger Strike at Turin Olympics

Palden Gyatso, Tibet’s second longest-serving political prisoner, and two young Tibetan men have been on a hunger strike in a tent outside the Turin Olympic Vilage, Italy, to call attention to China’s oppression in Tibet. The Indefinite Hunger Strike, organized by the Tibetan Youth Congress and other local Tibet Support Groups in Turin, started more than a week ago but the world has been slow to catch up to the news of it.

Palden Gyatso, who is now in his seventees, was a young monk when he was first arrested and imprisoned for peaceful pro-independence protests in Lhasa. After 33 years of imprisonment, beatings, interrogation and solitary confinement, he was released by the Chinese authorities in response to immense pressure from other governments and Tibet supporters in the global community. Once he escaped into exile, he traveled the world like a gypsy, spreading the truth about China’s occupation of Tibet and opression of Tibetans. With his raw honesty and clear memory, he has inspired compassion, courage and a burning concern for Tibet in countless students in the West. Many of us who’re involved in this movement today can trace our reasons to the time when we heard his story or read his book. (Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk, also published as Fire Under the Snow).

As Palden Gyatso, Sonam Wangdu and Tamding Choephel enter their second week of hunger strike, please express your messages of support at http://www.tibetanyouthcongress.org

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“Burning the animal skin revolution sparked in Tibet”

Under this awkward title, a recent Phayul.com article gives new insight into the recent phenomenon of masses of Tibetans in Amdo burning animal skins in response to a recent appeal from the Dalai Lama. At the Kalachakra intitiation in southern India in January, the Dalai Lama spoke pointedly, saying he was “ashamed” to see images of Tibetans decorating themselves with skins and furs. It has been estimated that nearly 10,000 Tibetans from Tibet journeyed to India for the Kalachakra. On the last day of the religious ceremony, the Dalai Lama spoke directly to Tibetans, saying “When you go back to your respective places, remember what I had said earlier and never use, sell, or buy wild animals, their products or derivatives.”

According to the Phayul “animal skin revolution” article, the public burnings began in north-eastern Amdo in a small town called Tsodruk where more than 250 fox skins were set ablaze. On February 9th, the 14th day of the Amdo New Year, more than ten thousand Tibetans gathered at the Kirti Monastery in Amdo for a mass burning of giant piles of animal pelts and skins, and garments made from them. Besides the recent exhortation from the Dalai Lama, the timing of the mass burnings is no coincidence. It’s Losar in Amdo, a time of the year when Tibetans gather with their families and communities, attend teachings at the monasteries, and say prayers and make resolutions in order to enter into the New Year with auspiciousness.

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