TAKE ACTION: 4 Tibetans Shot Dead by Chinese Police over Mining Protest

On August 17th, Chinese police opened fire on a group of Tibetans protesting the expansion of a Chinese-owned gold mining operation in Palyul County, Kardze Prefecture in eastern Tibet (Ch: Baiyu County, Ganzi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province). Voice of Tibet Radio (in Tibetan) and Radio Free Asia (in English) have reported that four Tibetans were shot dead and thirty more were injured in this violent attack on unarmed protesters.

The group had been picketing the county government office to stop the mine expansion, which is destroying farmland and harming the local environment. Chinese police reportedly used ‘incapacitating gas’ to try and disburse the Tibetans, but when the group resisted, police opened fire. Join people worldwide in condemning the killing of innocent Tibetans.

TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to the Party Secretary of Sichuan Province, Liu Qibao, and to the Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Prefecture Government.
(We will also fax your letter to their offices.)

Tibetans detained near Shigatse for protesting gold mining operations (May 2010

The fatal shootings in Palyul County mark an escalation in the Chinese government’s response to the growing opposition by Tibetans towards Chinese and other foreign mining companies operating on their land. Please take action now to shine a global spotlight on the Chinese government’s actions. International pressure does make a difference and will help to protect Tibetans inside Tibet who continue to risk everything to stop China’s rampant environmental degradation and to preserve their beautiful and fragile homeland.

Please call the Chinese authorities to condemn the shootings and to call for the immediate release of those detained in Palyul County.

In Sichuan:
+86-28-84356776 – Foreign Affairs Department
+86-28-86747716 – Justice Department
+86-28-86604437 – General Government Office
(Please note: China is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.)

In Your Country:
Call the Chinese consulate or Chinese embassy nearest you.

To join the campaign to Stop Mining Tibet, please visit: http://www.StopMiningTibet.org

Thank you for all that you do for Tibet,

Tendor, Kate, Stefanie, TenDolkar, Mary-Kate and all of us here at SFT HQ

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Massive Mudslide Claims Lives in Amdo Drugchu -Updated

During the early morning hours on Sunday August 8th, a massive mudslide struck Drugchu County in eastern Tibet (Ch: Zhuoqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous prefecture, Gansu province).

Media reports from Friday August 13th, put the death toll of Sunday’s tragic landslide at 1100 with at least 600 people still missing.

Heavy rain last week reportedly caused a temporary dam on the Drugchu river (Ch: Bailong river) to burst creating a 2-mile long lake that overflowed sending waves of water, mud, and rocks onto  the town adding to this natural and man-made disaster. The scope of the devastation in Drugchu County can be seen in a video by the BBC here and photos here.

Woeser, the Tibetan writer and blogger based in Beijing has been monitoring tweets from the region which are available in English language here. @melissakchan corespondent for Aljazeera is currently in Drugchu tweeting updates.

Drugchu County is located just 30 miles from Labrang Monastery, a site of intense protest during the 2008 Tibetan uprising.

All of us at SFT send our heartfelt condolences to families who have lost loved ones in Drugchu.

TAKE ACTION: Chinese Police Open Fire On Tibetans Over Cement Factory Protest

On Saturday, May 15th, Chinese police opened fire on a group of Tibetans outside a cement factory in Madang Township, Labrang County, Amdo in eastern Tibet (Ch: Xiahe, Gansu province). At least 15 people were injured from gun wounds or beatings by the police. Tibetans in the area have been campaigning to stop the pollution caused by the factory, which, sources say, spews out so much dust that it is “difficult to open one’s eyes.”

TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to the Chinese authorities condemning this violent attack: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/madang

Call on the Chinese government to close the factory until the demands of the local Tibetans have been met. (We will also fax your letter to the county and provincial government offices).

Please also call the Xiahe County People’s Government Office to register your concern over this violent attack by Chinese police: +86 941 712 1818 (Please note: China is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time).

Read the International Campaign for Tibet’s report (in English): http://is.gd/cgDoj
Read the Tibet Times report (in Tibetan): http://is.gd/cgDmP

This incident is part of a growing crackdown by Chinese authorities against Tibetans advocating for environmental protection. Just last week, Radio Free Asia reported that five Tibetans were injured when police moved in to stop protests against mine operations in Markham, another part of eastern Tibet. Learn more: http://is.gd/cgDlm

Help ensure the Chinese government hears from people worldwide. Global pressure does make a difference and helps protect Tibetans inside Tibet who are risking everything to preserve their fragile homeland: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/madang

Thank you for all that you do for Tibet,

Tendor, Kate, TenDolkar, Schuyler, Mary Kate, Annie and the rest of the SFT HQ crew

MORE WAYS TO TAKE ACTION:

1) Call the Xiahe County People’s Government Office and register your concern over this violent attack against Tibetans: +86 941 712 1818 (please note: China is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time). You can also call the Gansu Provincial Government at: +86 931 460 9000

2) Print & fax a letter to the Gansu Provincial Government. Contact information can be found here.

Sample letter to the Chinese authorities:

Dear Secretary Lu Hao,

I am outraged to hear that Chinese police opened fire on unarmed Tibetans in Madang Township, Labrang County in Amdo, eastern Tibet (Ch: Xiahe, Gansu province) who were protesting pollution caused by the Amdo Cement Factory. I understand that 15 people were injured by the attack.

Tibetans in Madang have petitioned the Chinese government to stop the company from polluting the local environment, the preservation of which is crucial to their livelihood. The factory is also damaging religious sites in the area.

Instead of addressing these legitimate concerns, Chinese authorities sent armed police into the area who then opened fire on the Tibetans.

I join people worldwide in condemning this violent assault against peaceful protesters. This is a blatant violation of Chinese law and shows the extent to which Chinese authorities will go to silence Tibetans who dare protest the degradation of Tibet’s environment caused by Chinese or other foreign owned companies.

I call on you to immediately shut down the Amdo Cement Factory until the company agrees to address the concerns of the Tibetans in Madang Township and to order an investigation into the shooting incident. I further call on you to ensure those injured receive medical treatment and that no Tibetan is detained or harassed as a result of this incident. I will continue to monitor this situation closely and urge my elected representatives to do the same.

Sincerely,

More photos from quake-stricken Kyegundo

Dramatic photos from the 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Kyegundo, Tibet.

On Tuesday, April 21  it was reported the quake death toll had risen to 2,064, with more than 12,000 injured and 175 missing. Immediate help is however needed to take care of the estimated 100,000 Tibetans who are now homeless. Please support the victims of the earthquake: http://bit.ly/arp5DW

Dramatic Photos & Video of devistation in Kyegundo

Video of Kyegundo shortly after the quake struck.

Tibetan Monks aid rescue work in Kyegundo. Video from a mobile phone.

Monks cremate the victims as the death toll rises in Kyegundo

View more photos from from Kyegundo [warning some images may be graphic]:

• http://www.9911.com/yeshitenzin
  
• http://img.ly/images/wentommy

• https://sites.google.com/site/jyekundoearthquakephotos/
  
• http://zuosa.com/老羊咩?tab=9

• http://blog.163.com/qhhlzx_007/blog/static/443803201031513017215/

• http://jalbum.net/browse/user/album/565691

• http://picasaweb.google.com.au/aenpokyabgon/AllKyegu2010EarthquakePhotos

Devastating earthquake hits eastern Tibet – Please Help

Early this morning local time, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake followed by a number of powerful aftershocks struck in Kyegundo སྐྱེ་རྒུ་མདོ།  (spoken as Jyekundo) in Kham, eastern Tibet (Ch: Jieguduo or Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province). At least 600 people are reported dead and more than 10,000 injured by Chinese & Western media, but Tibetans with contacts in the area have heard the death toll may be as high as 4,000. We will continue to post updates on SFT’s facebook page and twitter feed.

All of us at SFT send our heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost loved ones in the earthquake. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Kyegundo and the surrounding area.

How you can help:

1) Donate to organizations working in the region and help support emergency relief efforts:

Tibetan Village Project:  http://www.tibetanvillageproject.org/ (Note: you can also donate via Causes at:
http://www.causes.com/causes/472609)

Tibetan Relief Fund: http://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/

Machik: http://www.machik.org/index.ph

Tibet Foundation: http://www.tibet-foundation.org/news/urgent_emergency_appeal_-_kyekudo_yushu_earthquake/

Thrangu Rinpoche Trust: http://www.thranguemergency.org/

2) Help spread the word that this awful tragedy occurred in Tibet not in Western China as the media is reporting:

• Change your Facebook status and tweet: Quake in Tibet. Please help. Donate here: http://www.causes.com/causes/472609(Please RT)

• Read and share a moving blog post about the earthquake with reactions from Tibetans in Tibet on High Peaks Pure Earth
  
• Read and share the statement issued by the five leading Tibetans exile organizations in Dharamsala (including SFT India).
  

• Write to the editor of your local newspaper to educate him/her that the earthquake struck Chinese occupied Tibet, which is at a minimum disputed territory. Kyegundo is in the Tibetan province of Kham, annexed into China’s present day Qinghai Province..

From High Peaks Pure Earth: Chinese media refers to the affected area as the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu (玉树) in Qinghai province, Western media has been calling it Western or South Western China inhabited by “ethnic Tibetans” or part of the “Tibetan plateau”.

Although spelled Kyegundo, when spoken it sounds more like Jyekundo. This Google map shows the position of Kyegundo in relation both to Lhasa and also to the provincial capitals of Qinghai and Gansu, Xining and Lanzhou, to the north east.  Here is the link to the map on the website of Tibetan and Himalayan Library, an excellent resource site.

Fears over potential dam burst:

The BBC has  reported that a massive dam at the headwaters of three rivers in the area has been damaged and that people have fled for higher ground in fear that the dam might burst.  A crack in the dam wall has prompted Chinese officials to drain the reservoir.  The Chinese government has plans to build several more dams in this earthquake prone area.  View a map posted on the Tibetan Plateau blog: http://tibetanplateau.blogspot.com/2010/02/dams-on-upper-reaches-of-yangtze-mekong.html

Also, according to an NPR report 85% of the buildings in the town have collapsed and the Red Cross is reporting that 70% of schools have been destroyed. The area is home to Tibetan nomads and farmers who traditionally live on the grasslands of the plateau.  A Newsweek blog post from April 14th documents the Chinese government’s massive push to forcibly settle Tibetan nomads into concrete housing projects like the kind we see lining the streets of Kyegundo. China plans to settle all of the nomads in Qinghai Province within 5 years.

The media is reporting that relief efforts by the Chinese army are underway, but we’re also hearing that many people in the surrounding areas are without food and water. A Tibetan was able to send word out that:  people as far away as Denma (5-6 hrs drive from jyeku) sleeping outside right now. People don’t have food and troops are apparently only going in by road, so it could take 2-3 days for relief to get here.

Please check back for updates and more ways that you can help the people of Kyegundo.

Read more:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama sends his condolences to the earthquake victims: http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/520-his-holiness-offers-his-condolences-to-the-victims-of-the-earthquake-in-kyigudo

Statement by U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1629

Free Tibet (UK based Tibet Support Group): http://www.freetibet.org/newsmedia/earthquake-eastern-tibet

International Campaign for Tibet (Washington, D.C. based Tibet Support Group): http://savetibet.org/

World News Blog (The sensitivity behind the latest Chinese earthquake): http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/2010/04/14/the-sensitivity-behind-the-latest-chinese-earthquake/

BBC (China earthquake kills hundreds in Qinghai): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8619593.stm

NPR (Earthquake In China Kills 400; Thousands Injured): http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125930694

Free Tibet (UK based Tibet Support Group): http://www.freetibet.org/newsmedia/earthquake-eastern-tibet

New York Times (Strong Quake Kills Hundreds in Western China): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/world/asia/15quake.html

SFT Represents in Copenhagen!

SFTers from across Europe traveled to Copenhagen to joins ITSN, TWA, TJC, GuChuSum and other Tibet organizations – under the banner of  Tibet Third Pole – calling for climate justice in Tibet and justice for Tibetan nomads.

SFTers lead the chants for Climate Justice in Tibet:

SFT UK’s Pema Dolma introduces the team:

SFT France also joined the march with a beautiful banner!

View more photos from the Global March for Climate Justice

SFT reports from the People’s Climate Forum at COP15

On December 13th, Tibetans and their supporters joined people from around the world advocating for climate justice at the People’s Climate Forum in Copenhagen. Many speakers addressed the urgent need for the world’s oppressed people to have a voice with which to press for climate change solutions.