A Tibet supporter’s analysis of Google’s China stand

Josh Schrei, former SFT board chair and lifelong Tibet support posted a must-read analysis piece on Google’s decision to stand up to China in Huffington Post: The War Over Words: Why Google’s New Approach to China Should Be the Only Approach

He lays out the broader implications of Google’s move to take the power back in its relationship with China and encourages other western corporations and political leaders to do the same.

While I applaud Google for their brave decision, their “discomfort” around having to censor should have been taken more seriously the first time around, because there are very few good places such a decision can lead. Once you go down that road, it will inevitably lead to places of greater ambiguity, greater ethical dilemma, and greater concern. Luckily, free thinking minds prevailed, before the unthinkable ( for example, the company NOT disclosing China’s shenanigans in favor of keeping the relationship strong) happened. Over the next few weeks I encourage the Google-folk to maintain the firm stance they did yesterday. Bending on these issues is not an option. Too much is at stake.

Hopefully Google’s actions will start to show some US companies — and our good President, for that matter — that they do have influence with the Chinese, they do have power in that relationship…. and that we can make change by living according to principle. Moving forward, other companies MUST follow Google’s lead. Restrictions should be put in place on selling the Chinese government technology, software, or hardware that enables surveillance and digital privacy invasion. And when Beijing plays foul, in any circumstance, companies have a responsibility to call them out on it, as Google has done.

Read the full article.

SFT’s Statement on Google’s new approach to China

STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET

January 14th 2010

Contact: Tenzin Dorjee, +1 646-724-0748
Kate Woznow, +1 917-601-0069

Tibetans, Supporters Welcome Google’s U-Turn on China Censorship

New York – Tibetans and their supporters worldwide applauded Google’s decision on Tuesday to stop censoring Internet searches in China. This decision was made in light of recent cyber attacks from China targeting the Gmail accounts of human rights advocates in the USA, China, and Europe. As of Tuesday evening, it was reported that websites previously blocked on Google.cn were accessible, including those displaying images of the Dalai Lama and information about the March 2008 Uprising in Tibet.

When Google announced in late January 2006 that it was launching Google.cn, a version of its popular search engine custom-built to meet the Chinese government’s cyber restrictions, Students for a Free Tibet was at the forefront of the campaign to oppose this decision. We encouraged anyone who was outraged and felt betrayed by Google’s actions to  join an online boycott of the company’s services, and on Valentine’s Day more than 12,000 people “broke-up” with Google. 45,000 people sent emails to Google’s executives voicing their concern and protests were held outside Google offices worldwide.

“Access to information is a critical tool to Tibetans struggling for human rights and freedom. We hope that Google will uphold its decision not to censor search results on Google.cn,” said Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “Let this be a wake-up call to other western corporations operating in China. Colluding with Beijing’s repressive policies does not bring about positive change or greater freedoms for anyone.”

Tenzin Seldon, a regional coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet, was one of a dozen people whose Gmail accounts were attacked by Chinese hackers. “My email account was likely hacked because I am a Tibetan activist. In recent years, the Tibet movement has successfully publicized the Chinese government’s human rights abuses and unmasked its repressive and colonialist policies in Tibet. This has made us a target of email viruses and other cyber-attacks from China,” said 20-year old Seldon, whose experience was referenced in an article published by the New York Times.  “But this has only demonstrated the effectiveness of our work for human rights and freedom in Tibet.”

“While deeply disturbing, it is not surprising that Google users who advocate human rights in China were targeted by these cyber attacks,” said Nathan Dorjee, Students for a Free Tibet’s technology advisor. “Tibet activists have become all too familiar with these attacks in recent years. During the March 2008 Uprising in Tibet, we experienced a marked increase in the volume and sophistication of email and other cyber-based attacks designed to collect information and to impede our work.”

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One American’s response to China’s ‘Lincoln’ statement

SFT’s former board chair, Josh Schrei, responds to Chinese spokesman Qin Gang’s outlandish comparison of Tibetan society under the Dalai Lama to slavery in the U.S.

Read more about Qin Gang’s statement here: http://studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=2100

Josh Schrei’s response:

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.”
– Abraham Lincoln

The Chinese Government’s most recent abomination — comparing Abraham Lincoln’s war on slavery to the PRC’s brutal invasion and occupation of Tibet (and wrapping it all up with a ‘you-should-understand-slavery-because-you’re-black’ message to President Obama) — is only worth commenting on because there may be those uninformed unfortunates that actually give pause to the PRC’s stance.

Fundamentally, there is no comparison. Yes, President Lincoln declared war on secessionists. He also strongly championed the values of individual liberty and freedom and took considerable political risks to ensure that all people were entitled to these freedoms. None of the freedoms that Lincoln championed are on display in Tibet or China. And drawing reference to one of the great champions of individual liberty from a government that has no interest in such liberty is — to any student of American history — insulting. Lincoln’s name should not even be mentioned in the same sentence as Beijing’s current cronies. Luckily, most thinking people know this.

President Obama, we will not insult your intelligence — a your current hosts have –  by explaining to you why it is racist, colonist, and utterly unfounded to make comparisons between the Confederate South and Tibet.  I’m sure you are as shocked and outraged as we are, as is the entire world community.

What we do question is why the world community continues to legitimize, fund, and coddle a dictatorship that is so dangerously out of touch with the norms of modern society. The Chinese government is positioning itself as — and quickly becoming — the next great world superpower, and we are busily helping them. It is high time this stopped. You did not meet with the Dalai Lama before you left for China. But you can make a difference now. We urge you to publicly distance yourself from the Chinese Government’s recent statements and to push for immediate improvements in Tibet, where the people enjoy no freedom of speech and are still suffering the results of a brutal crackdown after last year’s March protests. As someone who respects Lincoln’s name and has an understanding of his politics, this is the least you can do.

The simple truth is that the people of China and Tibet have no freedom, and the fundamental issue is the right of people to determine their own future, which our President Lincoln was a champion of to the end. In the absence of that right — and in defense of the repression of it — mad minds make ludicrous claims. Comparing Lincoln to the current leadership in Beijing is a violation of all that we as Americans value. We trust that — as our President — you will respond accordingly.

Tibet Activists Protest Empire State Building’s China Honor

On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the People’s Repbulic of China, the Empire State Building – possibly the most iconic building in the United States – will shine red and yellow in honor of communist China.

Tibetans, supporters and concerned New Yorkers took to the streets today to voice their outrage at the Empire State Building’s kowtowing before the totalitarian Chinese state. Read media coverage of the protest:

AP: Empire State Building honors China, riling critics

Fox News: Empire State Building Goes Red for Communist China, Sparking Protest

New York Times:  A Red and Yellow Glow for Celebration, and for Protest

Read SFT’s statement and watch footage of Tibet activists confronting China’s Consular General Peng Keyu. View more photos on flickr.

Violent crackdown on Uyghurs expected in East Turkestan

As in Tibet, Chinese governments vows massive military crackdown on Uyhurs in East Turkestan:

China’s leaders vow to punish Xinjiang rioters (AFP)

“The planners of the incident, the organisers, key members and the serious violent criminals must be severely punished,” President Hu Jintao and the other eight members of the ruling Communist Party’s elite Politburo said.

Chinese leaders Vow Xinjiang Action (BBC)

China’s top leadership has vowed to administer “severe punishment” to those involved in the deadly rioting in Xinjiang

Beijing professor held for Urumqi blog (AFP)

“The crackdown is not limited to Xinjiang,” the media rights group said in a statement. “The authorities have arrested an independent writer who was just posting reports on his blog.”

Martial law in Xinjiang

Al Jazeera update: Urumchi flooded with troops – there is no indication things will return to normal anytime soon.

China: Exercise Restraint in Xinjiang

Human Rights Watch is calling on the Chinese government to allow an immediate investigation into the unfolding events in East Turkestan – drawing parallels to the massive clampdown following the Tibet Uprising in March 2008. Read the full report.

“It is unclear what happened in Urumqi, but what is clear is that the government needs to allow an independent investigation if its version of events is to have any credibility in Xinjiang or internationally,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “China still hasn’t allowed an independent investigation into last year’s violence in Tibet, which has left a huge cloud over the government and its version of events there. It should not make the same mistake this time in Xinjiang.”

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

When the Party’s over…the joke will be on them

It’s unbelievable the lengths to which the Chinese government will go to cover up the June 4th, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre: It has denied it ever happened; erased it from China’s history books; imprisoned and exiled survivors; threatened anyone who dares to openly mourn, demand justice, or even talk about what really happened in Tiananmen Square in the lead-up to and on that fateful day. They have forced an entire generation to ‘forget,’ and they have effectively kept the next generation from ever hearing of their parents’ struggles, hopes, and horrific losses.

Twenty years later, as the above video demonstrates, the Chinese government has not changed. However, the Party leadership has learned that when a government opens fire on its own people, it attracts intense international scrutiny – exactly 100% more negative attention than they want. In turn, they have adapted and developed new, more subtle tactics, like the umbrella assault, to distract the world’s attention from the Chinese government’s brutally repressive policies.

Your instinct when watching this video is to laugh; even one of the Chinese undercover thugs reveals a smile. But behind the humor and the lightness of the umbrella assault is a smart, strategic, and very scary government that regularly detains, tortures, and disappears Tibetans, Chinese, and anyone who threatens its control by advocating for change.

But, this video also demonstrates the Party’s ultimate weakness. By not acknowledging or taking responsibility for its heinous crimes in 1989 in Tiananmen Square, or today, the Chinese leadership is driving a wedge between the Party and the people. The people remember the brutality, the death, and the pain. If you are never able to mourn openly, to grieve and to share the truth of your experience, how can you ever fully move on? The Chinese government’s strategy of balancing an open economy, while simultaneously keeping the door to historical honesty and political freedom slammed shut, is unsustainable.

If one thing is certain, it’s that change will come to China. The scales will inevitably tip in favor of political openness, and when the Party falls, it will fall hard. In the end, the joke will be on them.

Tibetans, Supporters March on Eve of Tiananmen Massacre Anniversary

Photos of yesterday’s Solidarity March in NYC. We took to the streets in support of the survivors of Tiananmen Square, their families and all those in China who continue to courageously advocate for their basic rights and freedom. Check out SFT HQ’s Flickr site to view more photos.

This is what democracy looks like

Members of Students for a Free Tibet meet with the top staffer for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who recently replaced Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate, to ask for her support on a number of congressional bills, resolutions and efforts in support of Tibet.

Senator Gillibrand was on the floor of the Senate that day speaking so she could not meet with them directly, but she is a strong supporter of the Tibetan people:

At Dartmouth, she learned to speak and write Chinese before spending a semester in China, and wrote a senior project titled “The History of Tibetan Resistance to the Chinese Occupation of Tibet 1950-1988.” As part of her studies, she and her mother visited the Dalai Lama’s house while traveling in India.

more on Senator Gillibrand from the NY Times