‘Beijing 6′ Brian gives Shout Out to SFT on PBS Idea Lab

Brian Conley, creator of the well-known videoblog, Alive in Baghdad, and one of the ‘Beijing 6‘ citizen journalist detained this summer in Beijing for capturing images and videos of pro-Tibet actions during the Olympics, was interviewed for PBS Idea Lab about his incredibly important new project Alive in Tehran.

During his interview, Brian gave the following shout out to SFT and our efforts to break through China’s Great Firewall. Read and listen to the fill interview.

Ryan: So while you weren’t on the ground in Gaza, you had connections who were, and were able to get information out, too.

Brian: Exactly, and then we used Twitter to pull in questions from people and enable people to sort of interact with our guy on the ground there. So then when Iran started happening it seemed like a natural fit to try and use the same tools for the folks there, to enable them to basically communicate out. The primary thing that we’re trying, that we’re pushing right now, is basically a phone number that people can call, get to a voicemail box and record whatever they would like to say, and right now I have a public voice mailbox available via an Alive in Tehran Facebook [group].

Also, people can message me via twitter.com/baghdadbrian and then for people who are more private or who have family, they just want to share one voicemail box…we can set up a specific number for any individual. Beyond that, we’re looking at other tools. I’ve learned a little bit about how Students for a Free Tibet have gotten video out of Tibet. So there’s one tool I’m sort of sharing with people privately. Then there on Alive in Tehran we have a list of tools Iranians can use to communicate securely. So basically, right now it’s a lot of organizing and working it.

SFT Canada’s Tsering Confronts HDI/Continental Minerals’ Executives

Footage from HDI/Continental Minerals Shareholders’ meeting in Vancouver, Canada on June 24th. Tibetans and their supporters protested at the meeting to intenisfy pressure on the company to Stop Mining Tibet.

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.

SFT Germany Remembers Tiananmen Massacre

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.

China’s Re-election to the UN Human Rights Council

On Tuesday, May 12th, China was re-elected to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in what can only be described as a step backward for human rights and a major blow to the integrity of the UN Human Rights Council.

In spite of China’s brutal human rights record and ongoing crackdown in Tibet, there was sadly little doubt that they would be re-elected to the Council. However, opposition to China’s membership did not go unnoticed.

Tibetan NGOs in Geneva joined forces with human rights organizations to challenge China’s re-election. Tibetans and their supporters also made sure our opposition to China’s membership was heard loud and clear outside of the UN General Assembly building here in New York City.

The Chinese government – likely feeling vulnerable about the upcoming 20th Tiananmen Square anniversary and its ongoing crackdown in Tibet –  went out of its way to submit a 5-page propaganda paper to the UN General Assembly in an attempt to convince them that human rights have improved in China.

The very notion of China as a human rights defender is a complete farce. And as former president for the Czech Republic and Nobel Peace laureate, Vaclav Havel, suggests: China’s candidacy (and the candidacy of other human rights offending governments) for the Human Rights Council casts a dark shadow over the very purpose of the Council.

There are those who argue that engaging China on the Council will make a difference for human rights . In reality, China’s membership will only serve to embolden the Chinese government to use its position to deflect criticism of its human rights abuses and to silence any discussion about its ongoing military crackdown in Tibet.

The day after China’s re-election to the Council, Human Rights Watch released a video highlighting the Chinese government’s ongoing victimization and harassment of Tiananmen Square survivors, their families, and anyone who dares challenge the government’s version of history. Watch the video.

The message in Human Rights Watch’s video is clear and one that the Human Rights Council should heed: Unless the international community is willing to exert real pressure on the Chinese government, it will continue to violently oppress and disregard human rights in Tibet, China and other Chinese-occupied territories –  violating everything the UN Human Rights Council is intended to protect.

South Africa: Let the Dalai Lama In!

Tibetans and their supporters are speaking out against the South African government’s recent decision to bow to Chinese pressure and ban the Dalai Lama from attending a peace conference.

Sign the Avaaz petition to President Motlanthe now.

The move has caused a major outcry in South Africa over China’s encroaching influence in the country and, following the highly publicized withdrawal of Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former South African president F.W. de Klerk, the conference was suspended.

But South Africa’s President Motlanthe continues to defend the decision. South African Tibet supporters are working to pressure the African National Congress (ANC) government to reverse its decision.

Please support their efforts by calling on the ANC - the party that successfully fought against South Africa’s apartheid regime - to stand true to its principles and proud history by supporting the Tibetan people’s struggle for human rights and freedom.

Send a letter to the South African embassy or consulate nearest you and add your voice to the global outcry against this injustice. Download a sample letter and find contact details for South African consulates and embassies. Sout

Smurf Emancipation Day - SFT UK’s response to China’s propaganda

SFT UK’s response to China’s new propaganda holiday:

The smurfs also held a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in London on Saturday.

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

New Photos from Tibet: March and Protest by Monks on Losar

RFA  just posted photos of an amazing protest march and candle light vigil by monks on the first day of Losar: Mangra County, Tsolho Prefecture:  http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/tibet-march-02262009163337.html

About one hundred monks from Lutsang Monastery marched approximately 1 km to the Mangra County Govt. Building, where the made several demands.

Lutsang Monastery is located in Mangra Country, a few hours from Rebong. Monks from this same monastery also took part in a protest last year on March 10, 2008:

Lutsang Monastery (Mangra County, Tsolho ” Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture “): A protest has been reported from the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo in Mangra County, Tsolho (Ch: Hainan) ‘Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’ (”TAP”) Qinghai Province. About 137 monks from Lutsang Monastery in Mangra County, Tsolho “TAP” and 215 laypersons from the area were barred by the Mangra County People’s Armed Police (PAP) forces when they converged outside the County Assembly Hall where a government sponsored show was going on. Sensing a protest by the Tibetans, the show was forced to discontinue. Later monks and laypeople started shouting slogans “Long live Dalai Lama” and “The Dalai Lama should return to Tibet”. At the moment there is no report of Tibetans having been arrested from the area, although, the concerned authorities are known to be investigating those involved in the protest.