Photos from Art of Resistance: 3-Day Training for Tibet in Boston

From March 25th – March 27th, SFT’s “The Art of Resistance: 3-Day Activist Training for Tibet” is being held at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Participants from across the North-East are learning skills to become the next generation of leaders in the struggle for Tibet’s freedom.

More photos and updates to come…

Free Tibet! Action Camp XI in Photos

Over 50 participants from 5 countries attended SFT’s 11th Free Tibet! Action Camp in the Catskills Mountains of New York. Participants received training in media advocacy, strategic campaigning, digital activism, political lobbying, climbing, banner hanging, grassroots organizing, public speaking and much more.

This unforgettable week long experience trained participants to become effective leaders and organizers in the struggle for Tibetan freedom. The incredible experiences felt by participants, volunteers, trainers, and staff are shown in the photos below.

Thank you Jane, Wangchuk, Chungpo, Ugen, Cy, Choenyi, and Kunsang for the photos.

Fore more information about FTAC XI click here

If you can not view the above slideshow, click here

Now Accepting: Free Tibet! Action Camp XI Applications

We’re excited to announce the return of Free Tibet! Action Camp (the last FT!AC in the USA was back in 2007 in San Diego).

Space is limited! APPLY TODAY: www.studentsforafreetibet.org/application

The wait is finally over! We are now accepting applications for Free Tibet! Action Camp XI which will be held at the beautiful Menla Retreat Center in upstate New York this June 23-29. Get ready to pitch your tent, meet amazing students and activists from around the world, be inspired, learn cutting-edge tech activism skills, and become a non-violent campaign guru – all in a week.

WHERE: Menla Mountain Retreat & Conference Center, Phoenicia, NY [3hrs drive north of New York City]
WHEN: Wednesday, June 23 – Tuesday, June 29, 2010
WHO: Students and youth activists/organizers. You must be 18 years of age or older to apply. If you are younger than 18 but very active with SFT or another Tibet organization, you may be eligible for a special application.
Registration Fee of $125 to help cover food, accommodation, shuttles, and training costs. If you can not afford the fee, please contact: camp@studentsforafreetibet.org.

DEADLINES:
Application deadline: May 19, 2010
Travel details confirmation: May 26, 2010
Please note: SFT has a limited number of camp travel scholarships for qualified participants. Please email camp@studentsforafreetibet.org to apply for a scholarship.

Free Tibet! Action Camp provides basic and advanced training on nonviolent resistance, grassroots organizing and strategic campaigning to current and future leaders of the Tibet movement to advance the goal of human rights and freedom for Tibet.

For more information on camp and workshops, visit www.studentsforafreetibet.org/camp
Questions? Try Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Action Camp at www.studentsforafreetibet.org/campFAQ

Still got questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact SFT USA Grassroots Director Tenzin Dolkar at tdolkar@studentsforafreetibet.org or call 212.358.0071

Action Camp Reports

Tenzing Chemey has been with us at Free Tibet! Action Camp in San Diego, California. He’s a phenomenal photographer and has been posting diary entries on his experiences at Camp. Check out his site 10zing.us for info on what we’ve been up to the last few days.

Action Camp Tech Workshop

Here’s some great media created at Action Camp!

And here’s a great video!

Click To Play

Great article on Free Tibet! Action Camp VIII

Simon Denyer of Reuters has written a fantastic article about SFT’s Free Tibet! Action Camp VIII that just concluded in Dharamsala, India. The article extensively quotes Lhadon Tethong, SFT’s executive director and Han Shan, SFT’s former development director.

This is a training exercise for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but these students will not be competing. Instead they aim to run a vociferous campaign against Chinese rule in Tibet and reinvigorate their campaign for independence.

“With the Olympics coming up, we will have a platform,” said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet.

“The eyes of the world will be fixed for a moment on our enemy, our oppressor,” said Tethong, born in Canada and whose father fled Tibet in the early 1950s as Chinese troops took control.

“This is an opportunity we can’t miss,” she said.

It’s a great article – I recommend you read the whole piece.

PS — So far Denyer’s article has been picked up by the Washington Post, The Guardian, and Sports Illustrated (???) to name a few notable outlets.

Arrived in Dharamsala

The majority of SFT’s trainer and staff crew for Free Tibet! Action Camp VIII arrived in Dharamsala, India Friday night. For those of us coming from North America, it was a long, tiring trek that would require an abacus or a slide ruler to tally exactly how long we’d traveled and what time it was where we started our travels from. Our arrival in Dharamsala was greeted by the crew from SFT India and we quickly retreated to the famed McLlo restaurant for a late dinner.

Relaxing with friends at McLlo after too many hours of travel.

On Saturday we took our first look at the location for SFT’s first Action Camp in India. The SFT India crew had already spent a couple days preparing the grounds for the camp – clearing out the camp site, building needed facilities, and generally setting the table for what promises to be a landmark event in the movement for Tibetan independence. Activists and organizers from India, North America, and Europe are coming together in the center of the Tibetan exile community to provide training specifically crafted to shape turn young activists into the leaders who will be the future of the movement. SFT was founded around the belief that student activism is an unstoppable force for global change and justice – this Action Camp aims to add fuel to the fire of passionate Tibetan and Indian youth activism for Tibet.

The view from our campsite is fantastic!

We had an early taste of the potential this camp has to truly influence the next generation of organizers for Tibet on Saturday night. Lhadon and Tendor gave a talk to about 300 fifteen to eighteen year-old students at the famed Tibetan Children’s Village school (TCV). The students listened with unbroken attention as Tendor and Lhadon spoke about activism and how youth leadership is critical for the future of Tibet. The talk went for about fifty minutes and there was to be ten minutes for questions at the end – but that simply wasn’t enough. The TCV students asked serious, thoughtful questions – one after another – for an hour straight. Once the questioning officially wrapped up, students continued to come and talk to Lhadon, Tendor, and the rest of the staff and trainers in attendance for another forty-five minutes! When we finally left we were sure that the TCVers would go back to their rooms around campus and numerous discussions about the role they can play in the fight for Tibet would break out. Little did they know that we would spent the rest of the night marveling at how engaged the TCV students were at the talk, how sharp their questions were, and how excited we all were knowing that many of them would likely join us full-time in the struggle for Tibetan freedom once their schooling was done.

Tendor speaking to TCV students.

Today’s Sunday and we’re about to move all of our staff and trainers from McLeod Ganj down to the camp site. Students arrive in two days and we still have a lot of work to do. We’ll be posting updates as frequently as possible, so please stay tuned!

In solidarity,
Matt

Action Camp Concludes…

For your reading pleasure, here’s the press release that SFT sent out at the end of FT!AC VIII.

FREE TIBET! ACTION CAMP IN EUROPE CONCLUDES

[SFT] June 27, 2006

DUSSELDORF – Students for a Free Tibet seventh annual Free Tibet! Action Camp VII came to a climactic ending on yesterday evening, with participants enacting complex and dramatic direct action scenarios to practice all they had learned throughout the week. After a closing circle at which new graduates of the training promised to fight harder as the Beijing Olympics approaches, everyone packed up their tents and backpacks at the serene Pauenhof Retreat Center near Dusseldorf, Germany and exchanged farewells and promises, before leaving for their respective homes.

“Every time I attend an SFT training, I feel as if my batteries are recharged and I can go back to London to continue the work for Tibet with a fresh reserve of energy, inspiration and commitment,” said Ben Martin of SFT UK. He was one of the 40 participants who attended this action camp, representing Tibet support groups and student groups from 12 different countries in Europe, America and India. This was SFT’s second action camp in Europe and seventh annual action camp.

“I’m truly glad I came,” said Ngawang Dhargyal. “The workshops I attended and the climbing training I received gave me many brilliant insights into effective organizing and activism. I will surely use these tactics when I return to my own community.” This was Dhargyal’s first time at Action Camp; he was one among several Tibetan participants.

Free Tibet! Action Camp VII featured special evening guest presenters such as writer-activist Tenzin Tsundue from India, former political prisoners Gyaltsen Dolkar and Namdrol Lhamo now residing in Belgium, and singer-songwriter Techung from the United States.

“I feel stronger now that I know that there are many other people like myself working in different corners of the world, fighting for Tibetan freedom through simple yet powerful tactics of activism,” said Tenzin Tsundue, whose moving presentation Poetry and Politics was an emotional highlight for many participants who were meeting this youth leader for the first time.

On the last day of the Action Camp, a group of participants from the “Advanced Training Track” – young SFT leaders who have attended previous camps and are learning to be activism trainers themselves – organized a surprise presentation at lunchtime where they asked participants the question, “Where will you be in 2008?” The 2008 Beijing Olympics was one of the running themes of this Action Camp, discussed in workshops and around bonfires. Participants put their names on a blank world map, indicating where they will help in the organizing of local demonstrations, rallies at the Chinese consulates during the Olympics. More than a few participants put their names next to a dot on the map marked “Beijing.”

“With the Beijing Olympics only two years away and so many young Tibetans and supporters preparing for the event, activist training and planning like this camp needs to happen more often in more places,â€? said Matt Browner-Hamlin, Operations Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “At SFT, we’re busy building the resources and plan to make it happen.”

Free Tibet! Action Camps have created a network of young leaders and a new youth movement for Tibet that is providing strategic vision and leadership to the Tibetan freedom struggle. The first Free Tibet! Action Camp was held in Florida in January, 2000. It was co-sponsored by The Ruckus Society and the Milarepa Fund. Since then, SFT has trained over 400 students and young Tibetans through these annual Action Camps. Many Action Camp alumni have grown into positions of leadership in the Tibet movement, and many others now work within their communities to bring awareness and activism to larger audiences.