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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Will the Next Nation Please Stand Up

Read Lhadon and Choeying’s analysis of the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh and call to other countries to stand up to China’s bullying.

By Lhadon Tethong and Tenzin Choeying

An analysis: Indian government brushes off China’s opposition to Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh

Tibetans across India and around the world this week applauded the Indian government’s decision to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh in the face of Chinese opposition. But contrary to what people may believe, we did so not just because Tibetan interests are at stake, but because we know the security of India itself rests on standing up to the Chinese government.

Make no mistake, Beijing is playing a long-term game in pushing its claims to Arunachal and other areas along the border with India. Less known is that China’s geographical ambitions extend beyond the sub-continent. Extraordinarily, their claims on a part of South Korea are based on almost mythological past events. Chinese historians have been commissioned to write articles and books on the area, which at some point in the future will undoubtedly be used by Chinese leaders as evidence to back their claims.

Tibet stands as a contemporary case in point. Over the past 60 years Beijing has effectively rewritten the history of Tibet and its relations with China and the world. And in a rush to secure their economic interests the world has acquiesced. Only last year the British government quietly sold out to China by formally recognizing their sovereignty over Tibet—a move achieved by describing Britain’s former recognition of China’s “suzerainty” of Tibet under the 1914 Simla Convention as an “outdated concept.”

But simply rewriting history neither reflects the reality nor does it do enough to legitimize the occupation of Tibet. The 2008 protests in Tibet awakened the Chinese leadership to the fragility of their hold over the region. This, alongside the leverage of their perceived economic advantage in the global financial crisis, put Beijing on an even more determined mission to weaken once and for all global support for the Tibet issue. Only last month they achieved a clear victory when President Obama declined to meet the Dalai Lama on his visit to the United States—the first time since 1991 that an incumbent U.S. President has failed to meet him even informally. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd soon followed, saying he also would not meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to Australia next month.

Tibetans have long looked on in horror as the international community has bent over backwards to appease the Chinese government. This shortsighted and naïve policy to promote their economic interests is only emboldening and sanctioning Beijing’s bullying, as well as its geo-strategic ambitions. This is the debate the world should focus on. China’s aggressive response to the Dalai Lama’s trip to Arunachal—indeed, to his trips anywhere in the world—is above all a reflection of its imperialist and expansionist nature.

Now is the time for India to recognize that a free Tibet is its best insurance against Chinese aggression. If Tibet remains a part of China, Beijing will continue to strengthen its Himalayan military advantage over India and control the increasingly valuable water resources that much of Asia depends upon. Tibetans know China perhaps better than any other people. In our long history as neighbors we have been both the conquerors and, as most know us now, the conquered. But most relevant to India and the world today are the terrible lessons we have learned through our first hand experience over 50 years of occupation—of what lies underneath the veil Beijing draws over its true ambitions.

In standing up to China, India has charted a course that the rest of the world should follow. Meaningful engagement with China should not depend upon compromising on integrity or national interests. As long as China wants to play a leadership role on the global stage it needs to be a responsible actor. For this, the world needs to hold China to account, and Tibet is a critical place to start.

Tenzin Choeying is the National Director for Students for a Free Tibet India and Lhadon Tethong is the Director of Tibet Action Institute.

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.”

China tries…(and fails) at new openness with foreign media

BEIJING (AP) — When riots broke out in the restive west this week, China took a different tack with foreign journalists: Instead of being barred, reporters were invited on an official tour of Xinjiang’s capital.

The approach, a stark reversal from last year’s handling of Tibetan unrest, suggests Chinese authorities have learned that providing access to information means they can get their own message out, experts said.

Read full article

Message of solidarity with the Uygurs of East Turkestan

International Tibet Support Network
8 July 2009:

The 168 member organisations of the International Tibet Support Network (note 1) express their deep concern over the tragic events that are unfolding in East Turkestan (Ch: Xinjiang) .  We call on the government of China to release those who have been detained for peaceful protest, restore internet and mobile telephone communication to Urumqi, permit unfettered access to journalists, cease its propaganda campaign that is contributing to the violence, and allow the United Nations to conduct an independent investigation. ITSN members send a message of solidarity to Rebiya Kadeer and to members of the World Uyghur Congress at this tragic time.

As with the protests that erupted in Tibet in 2008, China is following the same approach it used to “manage” the situation there including:
- tightly controlling foreign media (some of whom are in Urumqi on a government-organised tour).
- shutting down internet and mobile telephone access to prevent information getting out of the region and control what its own citizens are told about events.
- conducting night-time raids which have led to the arrests of many hundreds of people.
- flooding news broadcasts with images and statements that present protestors solely as violent rioters, thereby inciting ethnic conflict (see note 2).
- without proof, blaming the expression of legitimate grievances on “hostile foreign forces” (in East Turkestan’s case, Rebiya Kadeer and the World Uyghur Congress; in Tibet’s case, the Dalai Lama and his followers).

Sixteen months after a wave of overwhelmingly peaceful protests began to sweep across the Tibetan plateau, Tibet remains under virtual martial law, with more than 1,000 people still unaccounted for, who were detained during the period of unrest. More than 200 Tibetans have been killed during the protests and hundreds more arrested and sentenced, including four men and one woman sentenced to death (three with a 2 year reprieve) for taking part in the unrest in Lhasa on 14 March 2008. The executions of Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak could take place any day.

Despite China’s occupation of Tibet and East Turkestan for over half a century, Tibetans and Uygurs have never accepted Chinese rule and continue to advocate for basic freedom and human rights. By denying Tibetans and Uyghurs control over their own lives, the Chinese government’s policies in Tibet and East Turkestan are destroying stability, not creating it.

Members of the International Tibet Support Network fear that, as in Tibet, the Chinese authorities will escalate their crackdown in East Turkestan with lengthy prison sentences, disappearances and beatings. As with Tibet, we call on the international community to press the government of China to work sincerely for a peaceful resolution to the 60-year long occupation of East Turkestan. We echo Rebiya Kadeer’s urgent call for peace, justice and the end of all violence and appeal to the Chinese government to end its brutal suppression of Uyghurs throughout East Turkestan.

Note 1:    The International Tibet Support Network is a global coalition of 168 Tibet related non-governmental organisations, which works to maximize the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement. ITSN Member organisations hold varied positions on Tibet’s future political status, but all regard Tibet as an occupied country and are dedicated to ending human rights violations in Tibet, and to working actively to restore the Tibetan people’s right under international law to determine their own political, economic, social, religious, and cultural status.

Note 2:    A report published by the Gongmeng Institute in Beijing recently pointed out how the Chinese government’s virulent propaganda campaign over the Tibetan protests on 14 March 2008 stoked divisions between Chinese and Tibetans. The report said: “The ensuing over-propagandizing of “violence” was used to make the 3.14 incident ever larger, which created certain oppositional ethnic sentiments… Such propaganda actions are in the long run detrimental to ethnic unity. The fascination that Han citizens have expressed toward Tibetan culture changed to fear and hatred of the Tibetan masses.” See http://tibetnetwork.org/chinesevoice

ITSN’s member organisations are listed below:

North America:

Association Cognizance Tibet, North Carolina
Bay Area Friends of Tibet
Boston Tibet Network
Canada Tibet Committee
China Tibet Initiative
Colorado Friends of Tibet
Committee of 100 for Tibet
Dhokam Chushi Gangdruk
International Campaign for Tibet
International Tibet Independence Movement
Los Angeles Friends of Tibet
Monadnock Friends of Tibet
Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association
Rangzen Alliance
San Diego Friends of Tibet
Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet
Seattle Friends of Tibet
Sierra Friends of Tibet
Students for a Free Tibet
Students for a Free Tibet – Canada
The Tibetan Alliance of Chicago
The World Tibet Day Foundation
Tibet Committee of Fairbanks
Tibet Justice Center
Tibetan Association of Ithaca
Tibetan Association of Santa Fe
Tibetan Association of South California
Tibetan Cultural Association – Quebec
TIBETmichigan
Toronto Tibet Youth Congress
U.S. Tibet Committee
Western Colorado Friends of Tibet

Central & South America:

Amigos del Tibet – Guatemala
Amigos del Tibet, El Salvador
Asociacion Cultural Peruano Tibetana
Asociacion Cultural Tibetano – Costaricense
Casa Tibet Mexico
Grupo De Apoyo a Tibet Chile
Grupo Pro-Cultura Tibetana, Chile
IPPSEA
Le Club Francais
Pensando En Tibet – Mexico
Tibet Group-Panama
Tíbet Patria Libre, Uruguay

Asia:

Bharrat Tibbat Sahyog Manch, India
Circle of Friends (Philippines)
Core Group for Tibetan Cause, India
Foundation for Universal Responsibility of H. H. the Dalai Lama
Friedrich-Naumann Foundation
Friends of Tibet and Tibetans
Gannasamannay
Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet
Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet
India Tibet Friendship Society
Mahatma Gandhi Tibet Freedom Movement
National Campaign for Tibetan Support, India
National Democratic Party of Tibet
Raise Tibetan Flag Campaign
Roof of the World Foundation, Indonesia
SFT-India
Taiwan Friends of Tibet
Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation
The Youth Liberation Front of Tibet, Mongolia and Turkestan
Tibet Lives, India
Tibet Solidarity Forum, Bangladesh
Tibet Support Group Kiku, Japan
Tibet Support Network Japan
Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre
Tibetan Women’s Association (Central)
Tibetan Youth Congress

Australasia:

Australia Tibet Council
Friends of Tibet New Zealand
Students for a Free Tibet New Zealand
Tibetan Community of Australia (Victoria)
Tibet Action Group of Western Australia

Africa & the Middle East:

Friends of Tibet – Isamailia (Egypt)
Israeli Friends of the Tibetan People
South African Friends of Tibet
Tibet Support Group Kenya

Western Europe:

Aide aux Refugies Tibetains
Amici del Tibet-Friends of Tibet Italy
Association Dorje
Association Drôme Ardèche-Tibet
Association of Tibetans in Germany
Association Rangzen
Association Rencontres Tibetaines – C.S.P.T. Midi-Pyrenees
Associazione Italia-Tibet
Austrian Committee for Tibet
Briancon05 Urgence Tibet
Caisse d’Aide aux Prisonniers Tibetains
Casa del Tibet – Spain
Comite de Apoyo al Tibet (Madrid)
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain – Bretagne
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain (Les Lilas)
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain (Switzerland)
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain de l’Herault
Eco-Tibet France
EcoTibet Ireland
France-Tibet
Free Tibet Campaign
Games of Beijing, Switzerland
Gesellschaft Schweizerrich-Tibetische Freundschaft
Groupe Non-Violent Louis Lecoin, France
Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete, Portugal
International Campaign for Tibet Deutschland
International Campaign for Tibet Europe
International Society of Human Rights, Munich Chapter
ISCOS-CISL
Jamtse Thundel Association
La Porte du Tibet, Geneva
Les Amis du Tibet – Belgium
Les Amis du Tibet Luxembourg
Lions Des Neiges
Lions Des Neiges Mont Blance, France
Maison des Himalayas
Maison du Tibet – Tibet Info
Nos Amis de l’Himalaya
Objectif Tibet
Passeport Tibetain
Reseau International des Femmes pour le Tibet
Save Tibet, Austria
Society for Threatened Peoples International
Solidarite Tibet
Students for a Free Tibet – France
Students for a Free Tibet – UK
Tibet 59 / 62
Tibet Democratie
Tibet Initiative Deutschland
Tibet Liberte Solidarite
Tibet Libertes, France
Tibet Society, U.K.
Tibet Support Group – Ireland
Tibet Support Group – Netherlands
Tibet Unterstutzung Liechtenstein
Tibetan Community Austria
Tibetan Community in Britain
Tibetan Community in Ireland
Tibetan Youth Association in Europe
Tibetan Youth UK
Tibetisches Zentrum Hamburg
TSG Free Tibet And You
Tsowa-Maintenir la Vie, France
Urgence Tibet
Vercors Tibet Resistances
Vrienden Van Tibet

Northern Europe:

Association of Free Tibet
Friends of Tibet in Finland
Swedish Tibet Committee
The Norwegian Tibet Committee
Tibet Support Committee Denmark -
Tibetan Community in Denmark
Tibetan Community Sweden

Central & Eastern Europe:

Foundation Dharmaling (Slovenia)
Friends of Tibet Society St. Petersburg, Russia
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights – Tibet Desk
Lithuanian Tibet Culture Foundation
Polish Movement for a Free Tibet
Society for Croatia-Tibet Friendship
Students for a Free Tibet, Poland
The Foundation for Civil Society, Russia
Tibet cesky (Tibet in Czech)
Tibet Support Association – Hungary
Tibet Support Group – Krasnodar Region, Russia
Tibet Support Group – Romania
Tibet Support Group – Sochi Region, Russia
Tibetan Programme – The Other Space Foundation
Union Latvija Tibetai (Latvia for Tibet )
Zida Cels, Latvia

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.