As His Holiness exited with his entourage, he stopped to speak with a few of us. I held out a khata (traditional greeting scarf) and as I greeted him, he held my hands and said, “Don’t give up; you all must continue your work. Never lose hope, because change is definitely coming.”

He went on to say that in light of the increasing pace of change in China, it is important to work with the Chinese people – writers, intellectuals, artists, the opinion-makers of society.

The previous day, I had spoken at a conference bringing together Chinese dissidents, Tibetan activists, Mongolians, Uyghurs, and Taiwanese to discuss opportunities and develop strategies for advancing our respective struggles for freedom, democracy, and human rights.

I explained to His Holiness that our global network was engaging in strategic Chinese outreach by connecting with key democracy advocates, writers, artists, students, lawyers and intellectuals. He assured me our efforts will make a difference and that change is imminent.

In that moment, I felt the immensity of the work ahead of us, but also had the distinct feeling that victory was inevitable.

With your help we can bring about freedom in Tibet. Please donate today to support SFT’s work.

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As we build new and strategic alliances, we must continue to challenge China’s abuses in Tibet at every turn. I was reminded of this minutes after His Holiness left, when I joined Lobsang, the official videographer for the award ceremony.

Lobsang is from Ngaba, the county in Amdo, Tibet that is under attack by Chinese security forces. His 15-year-old cousin, Norbu, was shot dead by China’s armed police on March 16th, 2008 for taking part in a peaceful protest for Tibetan freedom.

Three years after the day Norbu was shot, Phuntsok Jarutsang, a 20-year-old monk, lit himself on fire in an act of protest against China’s repression, and troops have since laid siege on Kirti monastery.

Right now, U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, are meeting with Chinese officials in Washington, DC. Urge the U.S. Administration to raise Tibet and human rights during this week’s U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue.

Together, we can ensure that one day soon, people like Lobsang – and all Tibetans – are united with their families and homeland.

Please support SFT today: http://sft.convio.net/site/Donation2?df_id=1345&1345.donation=form1

Thank you for all you do for Tibet,

Tenzin Dorjee (Tendor)
Executive Director

As Beijing intensifies its sweeping crackdown on dissent, Chinese troops in Tibet are on the verge of “disappearing” hundreds of monks.

Tibetan monks in Dharamsala, India have received an urgent call for help from Ngaba County (Chinese: Aba County). They are reporting that Chinese troops attempted to storm Kirti monastery this morning. According to reliable sources, residents fear Chinese authorities are planning to forcibly remove all monks between the ages 18 and 40.

Local Tibetans, being alerted to the troops’ arrival, rushed to block the monastery entrance. The armed police and soldiers tried to break through the crowd by beating the Tibetans and setting police dogs on them. In spite of the violent attacks, the Tibetans stood their ground and the troops failed to enter the monastery’s inner gates. As of now, the standoff continues.

TAKE ACTION: Sign the petition to demand Chinese troops immediately stop the siege at Kirti Monastery.

Tibetans fear Chinese authorities are planning to transfer the monks from the monastery into local prisons where they will be subjected to China’s repressive political “reeducation”.

Tension in Ngaba has been high since the self-immolation of Phuntsok Jarutsang (pictured right), a 20-year monk from Kirti Monastery, on March 16, 2011. Chinese forces have been stationed around Kirti Monastery for weeks and more than a dozen monks have been arbitrarily arrested.

According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy as of yesterday, troops had completely sealed off the monastery. The monks’ dwindling food supplies are prompting fears of starvation in the monastery. The lives of many Tibetans are at stake.

Take Action: Let the Chinese authorities know the world is watching

1. Sign the petition and demand an end to the siege.
2. Organize a solidarity rally at the Chinese consulate nearest you or at a public landmark in your community. Find details of protests here. Send information about your protest to grassroots@studentsforafreetibet.org so we can alert others.
3. Spread the word. Forward this email to friends & family. Update your Facebook and Twitter status to “I stand with Tibetans in Ngaba”.

For more ways to take action, visit: http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/ngaba

Let’s work together to end the siege at Kirti monastery, and to protect the monks and local Tibetans who are defending the monastery.

For more information, read the reports & articles below:

Chinese armed police cordon Ngaba Kirti Monastery, 2500 monks face food shortage (TCHRD)
http://www.tchrd.org/press/2011/pr20110411.html

Security step-up in Kirti monastery likely to starve monks (Phayul News):
http://is.gd/iaQ7tN

Ngaba Kirti Monastery Under Lockdown (Voice of America):
http://www.voanews.com/tibetan-english/news/Ngaba-Kirti-Monastery-under-Lockdown-119696874.html

More information about the incident on March 16th self-immolation:
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=2306

Tibetan Monks Sealed in Sichuan Monastery Request Permission to Pray for Chinese Quake Victims

Tsering, a monk living in exile in Dharamsala, India, received a static-filled call from Tibet at 10:30 at night on May 15th. On the other end was a monk from Kirti Monastery in Sichuan, the province where China’s devastating earthquake took tens of thousands of lives.

The monk told Tsering that the monastic community of Kirti had requested that the Chinese authorities to allow them to perform prayers for the Chinese people who had suffered in the disaster.

Since March 6th, Kirti monastery has been surrounded by large numbers of Chinese security forces. The local Tibetan community has not been allowed access after large public demonstrations — in which thousands of the monks participated — resulting in mass arrests. For a few days, Kirti became a temporary morgue for fifteen Tibetans who eye witnesses claim were shot and killed by Chinese police while protesting non-violently. Scores of other protesters were reported to have been killed in the ensuing crackdown.

Two weeks later, after photographs of those killed in the protests were leaked to the outside world, the People’s Armed Police and Public Security Bureau officials stormed the monastery and searched the rooms. During the raid, they defaced pictures of the Dalai Lama — an unimaginable offense to Tibetan monks. (Photo courtesy of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy.)

It was in this atmosphere that the monks of Kirti made their quiet request to do prayers for the Chinese quake victims. Since March, the monks of Kirti have not been allowed to conduct their usual Buddhist rituals, but on May 15th, they received special permission to make an exception. The monks began the day with a prayer offering ceremony and collected cash donations from among their members. They also wrote letters of condolences to the bereaved families.

The monks of Kirti monastery, located in Ngapa county in Amdo, also conveyed the following message to the Chinese people:

As monks of a Buddhist Monastery, we unwaveringly follow the nonviolent path shown by Buddha and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We practice the Buddhist teachings of loving compassion to all sentient beings. We are all one human family. Therefore the monks of Kirti monastery offer their prayers to the Chinese victims of this disaster.

We want our Chinese brothers and sisters to know that we Tibetans are not against them as the Government has tried to claim through the state run television after the March 14 unrest in Lhasa. This has been creating a rift and hostility between Tibetans and Chinese. The monks from Kirti monastery confidently represent the Tibetans by clarifying that the Tibetans are against the unjust policies of the People’s Republic of China and not against the Chinese people themselves.

We wish to express to the Chinese people that we have never harbored any anger towards them. Our only wish is to find a solution to the Tibet issue. Tibetans and Chinese have a deep history of cultural relationships, and it’s a fact that Tibetans and Chinese have to live side by side. Therefore, we urge the Chinese people to join us to try to find a solution that will allow us to remain friends rather than enemies.

That solution may presently seem out of reach, but its sentiments like these that could bring it closer.

The ‘International Burmese Monks Association’ called on the Chinese authorities yesterday to stop using violence against Tibetan monks and people who are staging protests in Tibet. [...]

The statement of Burmese monks said they are concerned about the security of their fellow Tibetan monks, their freedom of expression and freedom of religion in Tibet.

The Thai based Burmese monks association Vice-Chairman Ashin Pyinyar Tharmi said, “The persecution unleashed by the Chinese authorities insults Buddhism. We demand that the Chinese government stop it. They beat up Tibetan abbots and monks, and imprisoned them. We cannot accept these things for any reason. [...]“.

Ashin Pyinyar Tharami said that raiding and sealing monasteries by the Chinese authorities in Tibet are identical to the activities by the Burmese junta in Burma.

This reminds us of an article by a Tibetan writer, “A Lesson From Our Burmese Brothers and Sisters,” which came out during the pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma last September.  It predicted many of the parallels we are seeing right now between the Tibetan and Burmese demonstrations.

The Burmese and Tibetan peoples are both suffering under brutal, repressive regimes; in both cases, the road of oppression leads directly to the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing.

(Protests in Burma, top, and Tibet, bottom)

Original post here

This despite intense warnings and intimidation from Chinese authorities, who are revealing themselves to be increasingly powerless to stop concerted actions by the Tibetan people.

The Tibetan people see that the Chinese emperor has no clothes. China’s apparatus of terror and control in Tibet relies on people being intimidated and afraid. When enough people refuse to be intimidated and afraid, the whole system of control can unravel.

More photos can be seen here.

Radio Free Asia reports:

Chinese authorities in Tibet have detained three monks and are questioning more than a dozen others after the monks tried to put up prayer flags celebrating the award of a U.S. congressional gold medal to the Dalai Lama, local sources say.

Chinese officials are also threatening those Tibetans with government jobs or pensions, which in Lhasa is the majority of middle-class professionals:

officials also warned current and retired Tibetan staff against any religious activities until Oct. 30, the sources said, including burning incense or putting up prayer flags.

“If they do, current employees would face disciplinary actions including termination of their services. If any retired Tibetan staff engage in these activities, their retirement benefits will be forfeited,” one source said.

In a sign of how afraid Chinese officials are, they also temporarily closed Pangsa Monastery in Lhasa. This was after thousands of Tibetans started flocking there as a result of a comment by the Dalai Lama on the sacred nature of the monastery’s main reliquary statue. Chinese officials are clearly worried about large gatherings of Tibetans, and are also desperate to fight the Dalai Lama’s influence in Tibet (clearly a losing battle, sorry China).

All these developments amount to a strong statement of Tibetans’ loyalty to the Dalai Lama, and a reminder that the Chinese government may have the guns, but it does not have Tibetans’ hearts.

According to a new report by Human Rights Watch, seven Tibetan high school students are being “detained on suspicion of writing pro-Tibetan independence slogans on buildings… One of the detainees, aged 14, is reported to have been badly beaten during or after the arrest and was bleeding profusely when last seen by relatives.”

HRW continues:

police detained some 40 students on or around September 7. The students were alleged to have written slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and a free Tibet the previous day on the walls of the village police station and on other walls in the village…

[...] The students’ arrests are the latest example of an increasingly harsh response from Chinese authorities to the slightest hints of dissent over issues as diverse as cultural and religious policies, forced resettlement of Tibetan herders, environmental degradation, replacement of Tibetan cadres with ethnic Chinese ones, and increased migration of ethnic Chinese settlers to traditionally Tibetan regions. Several incidents in recent months have involved clashes between Tibetan residents and police forces.

Is China so insecure in its rule over Tibet that it feels threatened by children’s graffiti? Apparently so.

And for good reason. Even Tibetan children who have never seen the Dalai Lama, and who only know life under Chinese rule, are speaking out for Tibet’s independence and the Dalai Lama’s return. These sentiments are so widespread, including in the younger generations, that China has no hope of stamping them out. Unfortunately, these children have to suffer while China continues to fight a hopeless battle.