CINEMA ‘59

The Russian Revolution of 1917 sparked off a revolution in the way the function of entertainment and art, especially cinema, changed to become a powerful tool of social and political transformation.

The Fear in Lhasa (A poem by Woeser)

A hurried farewell to Lhasa,
Where the fear is in your breathing, in the beating of your heart,
In the silence when you want to speak but don’t,
In the catch in your throat.

Game’s Over, Free Tibet!

The Beijing 2008 Olympics closed the way it opened - with SFT protestors making sure that the Tibet issue was very kept very much alive midst of this “celebration”. During the closing ceremony itself, one could not help notice the disconnect between the CCP officials and the Chinese people. These officials, with stern looks on [...]

Woeser Detained in Lhasa for Taking Pictures

The Times Online in the UK reports that famed Tibetan writer and blogger Woeser was detained in Lhasa for taking pictures. She has since been released. Here’s the report from the Times:
Tibet’s most famous woman writer and blogger has been questioned by police for eight hours, accused of taking photographs on the street, after she [...]

Bad News For Everyone?

Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve been on the war path about New York Times columnist Nick Kristof’s writings on Tibet and China for quite a long time. In my view, Kristof has taken a remarkable arrogant stance on Sino-Tibetan relations that reveal a startling lack of moral fortitude. He consistently tends towards [...]

BBtv (Beijing): interview with pro-Tibet videobloggers in hiding.

Last week, eight American citizens were detained in Beijing for participating in pro-Tibetan sovereignty protests near the site of the 2008 Olympics, with Students for a Free Tibet. Two videobloggers who documented those protest and guerrilla art installations evaded detention, and spoke to Boing Boing TV on Friday Beijing time about why they were there, [...]

Tibetans and supporters rally in London as the Olympics draw to a close

   August 24, 2008London: The Chinese embassy in London was the backdrop for a strong statement of commitment from the Tibetan community in Britain and their supporters. As the closing ceremony of the Olympics commenced in Beijing, the gathered crowd listened to speeches by Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet, Sonam Frasi, member of the Tibetan government in exile and Terry Bettger, Campaigns Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet UK. Pledges were taken both by Tibetans and Tibet supporters to continue campaigning for Tibetans inside Tibet.Tenzin Dorjee addressed the crowd, saying “The Chinese government are vulnerable because they care about their image and they seek legitimacy, which is why they have spent billions of dollars on these Olympics. We must use their vulnerabilities as non-violent tools in our struggle for Tibetan freedom.” Sonam Frasi spoke of the ongoing need to work towards a political resolution between the Chinese government and the Tibetan government in exile before leading a rousing oath: “Mahong par boddon dentha ma salbar, bodkyi chidon la muthue rangnue gangthon gyi badtson jagyu damcha zhugyu yin? [I hereby vow that until the Tibet issue is resolved, I will dedicate myself to the best of my potential to the just cause of Tibet]. Terry Bettger spoke of the eight protests carried out in Beijing by Students for a Free Tibet activists, and said to those gathered ?Even when the Chinese military do all they can to stifle the cry for freedom from the Tibetan people, we still hear it, and we will amplify that courageous Tibetan voice so that it echoes around the world.?The rally was the last of a series of events in London during the Olympic games organised by UK based Tibet support groups, which included a bicycle rally, a Tibetan women?s protest, a formal raising of the Tibetan flag opposite the Chinese embassy and a march ending with the presentation of a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for a strong stance from the British government in support of the Tibetan people.    

A Celebration of Lies

As the Beijing Olympics comes to a close there are probably not many people on this planet who have not heard, read about, or witnessed the series of lies, deceptions, scams, manipulations, control-operations….

Spectacular action on the chinese ambassy

On the 23th of august,

two activists (one of SFT France) went on the roof just boarding the Chinese ambassy to hang a banner of 5 X 2.5 m saying "China Lies, Tibetans Die".

We had a very good media coverage : several TV Channels and newspapers talked about that.

Three journalists and one of the activists get arrested, the other one managed to run (Guillaume :p)

China Deports Eight American Tibet Supporters During Olympics Closing Ceremony

August 24, 2008Contacts: In Asia: Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director, and Kate Woznow, Campaigns Director, +66 846 517 681 or +1 917 289 0219China Deports Eight American Tibet Supporters During Olympics Closing CeremonySFT Calls for Immediate Release of Tibetan-German and Briton Still Jailed***Photos and bios available at  http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/beijing10Students for a Free Tibet activists worldwide welcome the news of the release of eight American Tibet supporters jailed by Chinese authorities in Beijing during the Olympics. Students for a Free Tibet calls for the immediate release of Briton Mandie Mckeown and Tibetan-German Florian Norbu Gyanatshang, who have been held since early morning on August 21st.”After two days of negative publicity over its extrajudicial detention of ten Tibet supporters, the Chinese government is seeking to suppress a story that would have cast a shadow over the closing ceremony of these Olympic Games, which includes a final propaganda push to legitimize China’s rule in Tibet, with Tibetans singing and dancing along with other so-called “ethnic minorities,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet.The Beijing Olympics have become synonymous with overt Chinese government propaganda, heavy-handed security and intolerance of any form of protest or dissent. In the lead up to and during the Olympic Games, hundreds of Chinese have been placed under house arrest, have disappeared or suffer in re-education-through-labor camps since being swept up in an Olympics crackdown on human rights advocates and others Beijing considers ‘undesirables.’”Thousands of Tibetans remain missing or detained in China’s ongoing crackdown against predominantly peaceful protests that began in Lhasa on March 10th and moved like a tidal wave across Tibet,” said Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “During the Olympics, Tibetans have seen a vast troop build-up throughout the entire Tibetan plateau that suggests Chinese authorities are preparing a new assault against defenseless Tibetans who risked everything this spring, taking to the streets to demand human rights and freedom.”Taiwanese-American tourist Wen Yan-King who was detained and interrogated in Kham, eastern Tibet the week before the Olympics, described the areas she visited as “a war zone.” In order to conceal its intensifying repression in Tibet, the Chinese government has completely sealed off most of the Tibetan plateau. Tibetans in Tibet and Tibet analysts fear an escalation of the Chinese government’s clampdown in Tibet after the Olympic spotlight on China has moved on. Tibetans continue to live in a climate of surveillance, intimidation, acute fear, and a threat of violence from Chinese troops, paramilitary and police.Students for a Free Tibet calls on the international community, and the International Olympic Committee in particular, to demand that the Chinese authorities immediately release all those people who have been unjustly detained for their political or religious views in China’s crackdown before and during the Olympics.-30-Notes for editors:1) The four activists detained at 12:05am Beijing time on August 21, 2008 are:-Jeremy Wells, 38, of New York, USA-John Watterberg, 30, of New York, USA-Florian Norbu Gyanatshang, 30, of Stuttgart, Germany-Mandie McKeown, 41, of Bristol, United Kingdom The four were swarmed at just past midnight by dozens of plainclothes police after a brief protest near the Bird’s Nest stadium. McKeown acted as an observer while Gyanatshang displayed a Tibetan flag and Wells and Watterberg raised their fists in the air in a gesture modeled on the 1968 protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico City games. The action took place early Thursday morning shortly after the men’s 200-meter dash final at the Bird’s Nest, the event at which Carlos and Smith held their historic protest. See http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/tibetanflag/2) The six Americans detained on August 19th are: -James Powderly, 32, New York, USA-Brian Conley, 28, Philadelphia, USA-Jeffrey Rae, 28, New York, USA-Jeffrey Goldin, 40, New York, USA-Michael Liss, 35, New York, USA-Tom Grant, 39, New York, USAPowderly, a high-tech graffiti artist, was planning a pro-Tibet laser art exhibition in Beijing. The five others