Heavenly Tibet? or Hell on Earth?

The Shanghai World Expo, which runs from May 1st to October 31st, is yet another multi-billion dollar propaganda spectacle. Through its “Heavenly Tibet” Pavilion, the Chinese government is trying to whitewash its human rights abuses in Tibet.

Heavenly Tibet? or Hell on Earth?

Just last year the Dalai Lama stated that 60 years of Chinese occupation have turned Tibet into “hell on earth.” Tibetans inside Tibet are risking everything to tell this truth to the world.

Spread the word and help shut down China’s propaganda pavilion:

1. Post & Share this image on your Facebook, blog, website, and other social networking sites.

2. Write to your government leaders urging them to speak out against the Tibet Pavilion and to refuse to visit it if they attend the Shanghai Expo. Click here for a sample letter.

Now Accepting: Free Tibet! Action Camp XI Applications

We’re excited to announce the return of Free Tibet! Action Camp (the last FT!AC in the USA was back in 2007 in San Diego).

Space is limited! APPLY TODAY: www.studentsforafreetibet.org/application

The wait is finally over! We are now accepting applications for Free Tibet! Action Camp XI which will be held at the beautiful Menla Retreat Center in upstate New York this June 23-29. Get ready to pitch your tent, meet amazing students and activists from around the world, be inspired, learn cutting-edge tech activism skills, and become a non-violent campaign guru – all in a week.

WHERE: Menla Mountain Retreat & Conference Center, Phoenicia, NY [3hrs drive north of New York City]
WHEN: Wednesday, June 23 – Tuesday, June 29, 2010
WHO: Students and youth activists/organizers. You must be 18 years of age or older to apply. If you are younger than 18 but very active with SFT or another Tibet organization, you may be eligible for a special application.
Registration Fee of $125 to help cover food, accommodation, shuttles, and training costs. If you can not afford the fee, please contact: camp@studentsforafreetibet.org.

DEADLINES:
Application deadline: May 19, 2010
Travel details confirmation: May 26, 2010
Please note: SFT has a limited number of camp travel scholarships for qualified participants. Please email camp@studentsforafreetibet.org to apply for a scholarship.

Free Tibet! Action Camp provides basic and advanced training on nonviolent resistance, grassroots organizing and strategic campaigning to current and future leaders of the Tibet movement to advance the goal of human rights and freedom for Tibet.

For more information on camp and workshops, visit www.studentsforafreetibet.org/camp
Questions? Try Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Action Camp at www.studentsforafreetibet.org/campFAQ

Still got questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact SFT USA Grassroots Director Tenzin Dolkar at tdolkar@studentsforafreetibet.org or call 212.358.0071

Twenty-One Candles for Panchen Lama

The flame of a candle symbolizes perseverance, awareness, knowledge and spirituality. A symbol used by human rights groups, religions, hospitals and schools around the world, the candle is used as well to celebrate one’s day of birth, or to mourn someone’s passing. The Panchen Lama turned 21 years old on the 25^th of April, and we commemorated this event with a candle-light vigil co-organized with various other Tibetan organizations from Toronto. Abducted and placed under house arrest along with his family since 1995, the Chinese government has yet to reveal the whereabouts or well-being of the once youngest prisoner in the world, the Panchen Lama, birth name Gendun Choekyi Nyima. Since the oppressive regime that is China refuses to acknowledge the worldwide concern for his whereabouts and well-being, we at SFT Toronto created a massive birthday card to install at the front gates of the Chinese consulate in Toronto, with the amazing and creative teamwork of Tenzin Gaychey, Thupten la, Rinchen Dolma, Urgen Sangye, (more...)

Earthquake in Tibet, Leading Tibetan Intellectual “Shogdung” Detained in Xining

KYEGU, ON MY MIND

When I saw photographs of the tough, determined looking monks digging through the ruins of Kyegu town, I was struck by a sense of helplessness and frustration. Probably, some of you readers felt that way too. I wanted to be out there with those monks, helping to find survivors in the rubble, or at least unearthing the bodies of those that had perished — cleaning them up, restoring some dignity to them, before taking them away to be cremated. The only thing I could actually do that was perhaps faintly comparable, in a feeble academic sort of way, was to go through my library and my notes and dig up all the information, geographical, historical, ethnological, cultural — everything I could — on the people and land where the earthquake had struck. I wanted, in my minds eye, to see all those who had perished there not as faceless victims, but as actual, flesh-and-blood individuals, with real lives and stories, and try to establish the role that they, their forbears, and their homeland or phayul had played in the ongoing story of the Tibetan people and civilization. (more...)