Let’s Be Clear About the Lhasa Protests

Posted by Nick G on Jul 30, 2010 in Protests in Tibet, Reports From Tibet, Tibet in the News, Video, Photos & Audio | 0 comments

Following Human Rights Watch’s thourough 73-page report on the 2008 Uprising in Tibet, I Saw It with My Own Eyes , The March 14th protests in Lhasa have once again been the subject of international scrutiny. This week the Economist published an incitful piece “Through the eyes of witnesses,” written by James Miles the only foreign reporter present in Lhasa during the March 14th protests.

As conflicting stories by Tibetans, Chinese, and foreigners who were present in Lhasa have emerged, it is important that we are clear about what actually happened and the language we use to describe the protests.

To be clear, between March 10th and March 13th several peaceful protests occurred in Lhasa. These protests involved monks, nuns, and lay people. No acts of violence occurred and no property was destroyed. These peaceful protests involved sit-ins, mass gatherings, and other tactics that were repeatably used in the over 150 (almost entirely peaceful) protests across Tibet in 2008. It is incorrect to refer to the unrest in Lhasa as a single violent riot.

On March 14th, acts of violence took place in Lhasa. The violence on both the part of Tibetans and Chinese soldiers is real. While the world was only shown images of Tibetans burning Chinese products in the streets, turning over cars, and attacking Chinese civilians by China’s state media; another side of the story has emerged by eyewitnesses and participants in the unrest.

Contrary to Miles’s article, images have emerged “hinting at security forces’ use of lethal force.”The below mobile photos sent to Woeser by a Tibetan in Lhasa show Tibetans carrying the dead body of Tibetan protester.

Photos from uprising archive via Woeser’s blog

Not mentioned in Miles’s article is that the vast majority of property destruction in Lhasa was aimed at symbols of China’s occupation. We should not remember the unrest in Lhasa as random acts of violence but as the expression of Tibet’s simmering resentment to China’s occupation and 50 years of oppression.

ìI Saw It with My Own Eyesî

Take Action: Nepal Forcibly Returns 3 Tibetan Refugees to Tibet

Posted by TenDolkar on Jul 30, 2010 in General | 0 comments

For the first time since 2003, the Nepalese government has forcibly repatriated three Tibetan refugees to Tibet, violating international law and jeopardizing the safety of Tibetan escapees. The three Tibetans, all in their early twenties, were forcibly handed over to Chinese border police in early June. Two of them – a woman named Pempa from Shigatse and a monk from Korchak monastery located close to the Nepal border – have since been jailed in Tibet.

TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to Ms. Sujata Koirala, Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, calling on Nepal to uphold international law.

Call the Nepalese consulate or embassy nearest you to express your concern about the repatriation of Tibetans. Find contact information.

International pressure can help deter the Nepalese government from further violating the rights of Tibetan refugees. The UNHCR has expressed grave concern over the incident, and foreign embassies in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, generally support the “Gentleman’s Agreement”.

Alert your government representatives in Kathmandu to Nepal’s actions. Write to your country’s Ambassador to Nepal and urge him/her to raise this incident with the Nepalese authorities. Find contact information.

If you live in a city with a Nepalese consulate or embassy, please consider organizing an emergency protest to help draw international attention to this incident. For materials and support, please contact Tendolkar at tendolkar@studentsforafreetibet.org.

Nepal’s actions could set a devastating precedent for the more than one thousand Tibetans who attempt to flee Tibet each year by crossing the border into Nepal. The Nepalese government does not grant refugee status to Tibetans, but under the informal ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’, established between Nepal and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1989, thousands of Tibetan refugees have been provided safe transit through Nepal to India.

In recent years, the Chinese government has exerted heavy pressure on Nepal to stop Tibetans from fleeing across the border and recently announced it will grant the Nepalese government 1.5 million dollars (U.S) a year to ‘curb anti-China activities’. Although the situation for Tibetans living in Nepal was already tenuous, the recent repatriations are a drastic escalation in Nepal’s maltreatment of Tibetan refugees.

Nepal Repatriates Tibetans to China, Protest Planned in Toronto

Posted by Home on Jul 29, 2010 in Global Contributors, SFT Global | 0 comments

Nepal has deported Tibetan refugees back to Tibet for the first time in 7 years. Two of the three Tibetans are now in jail in Tibet. This action sets a dangerous precedent for Tibetans escaping to India via Nepal. The Nepalese government has violated their own agreement with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to allow safe transit of Tibetan refugees to India.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Send a letter to Ms. Sujata Koirala, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling on Nepal to uphold the rights of Tibeatn refugees!

If you're in the Toronto area on Tuesday, August 3rd, come join us and protest at the Nepalese Consulate from 12-1pm.

Nepal Repatriates 3 Tibetans to Tibet, Protest Planned in Toronto

Posted by Home on Jul 29, 2010 in Global Contributors, SFT Global | 0 comments

TAKE ACTION NOW

Send a letter to Ms. Sujata Koirala, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling on Nepal to uphold the rights of Tibetan refugees!

If you're in the Toronto area on Tuesday, August 3rd, come join us and protest at the Nepalese Consulate from 12-1pm.

Renaissance Series: Amplify Tibet’s Revolutionary Beats

Posted by Nick G on Jul 25, 2010 in Protests in Tibet, Reports From Tibet, Technology, Video, Photos & Audio | 1 comment

Watch all videos from Revolutionary Beats in the above player.

The second installment in SFT’s Renaissance Series explored the rhythms and beats of Tibetan resistance and dissent in Chinese-occupied Tibet. Program to include performances of Tibetan songs banned in Tibet, commentaries on resistance through music, “reactionary ringtones” sharing and much more.

The program highlighted the popular Tibetan singer, Tashi Dhondup, who was sentenced to 15 months of “re-education” through labor on January 5, 2010 for including revolutionary songs on his album titled “Torture Without Trace”.

To download the pamphlet from Revolutionary Beats, click here.

Videos translated by SFT into English for Revolutionary Beats:

Kunga’s Yi Re Kyo with English subtitles

Kunga’s “Ghangdruk Ghi Dhunlam” (Son of the Snow City) with English subtitles

Jamyang Kyi’s “You and Me” with English subtitles

Jamyang Kyi’s Phayul Dren Lu with English subtitles

View the complete collection of translated music videos here.
*Special thanks to Khenrap Yeshi and Thupgon for their translations and Jigdo for HQ videos.

For That I Shed My Tears

To view translated music videos from Revolutionary Beats, click here.