NEW WAYS TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR TIBET

With the recent publication of shocking and brutal video evidence of Chinese torture, the world is once more paying attention to the situation in Tibet. Furthering the fresh attention, 28-year-old Tibetan monk Tashi Sangpo made the news when jumping into the Machu River, shortly after being accused by the Chinese of secreting a Tibetan national flag and suspect documents.

A single day later, farmers in the Karze region of Tibet went on strike. The result being the Chinese government issued warnings that those families who strike risk being arrested and having their land impounded. The forced suicide of Tashi Sangpo also sparked new activity in Gyala, where the police station was attacked. This has led to circa 95 monks surrendering or being arrested.

(information source: http://www.tibet.net/)

With the rising attention to Tibet, comes a new way that supporters can peacefully demonstrate their support for Tibetan harmony. The following link will take you to a recent development issued from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in which he calls for 'Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, human rights leaders and concerned individuals' to express their concern and pledge their support to the Dalai Lama in his quest for a peaceful solution.
http://www.thecommunity.com/publish/home/Archbishop-Desmond-Tutu-Statement.php

A second opportunity to show that you care about the Tibetan situation is available at http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=1905

FIVE SIMPLE WAYS THAT EVERYDAY PEOPLE CAN HELP TIBET

1. Join groups and online communities to show your support.
If the member numbers continue to increase and remain solid, our world's governments will not be able to continue to pay only minimal attention to the situation. The more people who support Tibet, the more the governments will have to do so to continue to receive support at election time from the populace. Large group membership numbers show that everyday people support Tibet. Some groups are officially run and have more ideas, petitions, and power, whereas others may have more information on the Tibetan culture, religion, or discussion boards where like-minded people can share new assistance ideas.

2. Reduce China's economical hold over the world.
More and more products seem to be 'Made in China' as time passes. The growing economy of the Chinese nation makes it harder for world governments to stand up in defense of Tibet, being at risk of falling out with a 'great economical power'. If everyday people stop buying Chinese products, we can not only turn the economy around to lessen China's hold over the world, but also prevent excess money being used to purchase torture and murder weapons for use on the Tibetan population. Refusing to buy Chinese is a simple way that everyday people can show their support for Tibet. If China does not get as much income, it will be forced to spend its income on its own population rather than harming other cultures.

3. Support countries that have supported Tibet.
Many nations around the globe have offered support to Tibetans in exile. India and Bhutan have large Tibetan refugee populations, and other countries such as Switzerland have shown support as well. Buying products from these countries not only enables them to be repaid for their generosity to the Tibetan refugees, but additionally puts the economic favor into the hands of kinder people. Supporting these countries with your purchases allows them to grow and diminishes Chinese domination of the world market. It is like saying 'thank you' to them for helping Tibet and saying 'no thank you' to China for its continuing damage.

4. Wear a symbol of your support.
Spreading the word verbally is not the only way to increase awareness of the continuance of the Tibetan troubles. Several lines of T-shirt have been developed depicting 'Free Tibet' and these can show your support in an easy and everyday way. Many people only see the news printed in their newspaper or heard on their TV or radio - and soon forget the problems that remain when they are not headlines. Wearing a pro-Tibetan T-shirt will remind other people about Tibet as you walk through your daily life. Tibetan jewelry is another option. Wearing a prominent necklace for example, will bring people to admire the craftsmanship of Tibet as well as putting Tibet in focus.

5. Sign petitions.
Keeping up to date on relevant petitions is another way that everyday people can assist. Share the link to these petitions with your family and friends, as well as informing any Tibetan groups that you may belong to. The more signatures on each petition, the more impact it will have.

Tibet riots orchestrated?

Here is a post from the Canada Tibet Committee. The title alone struck my interest so I thought I'd post the article in it's entirety and let you come up with your own opinions. I'll do some research and follow up with another post if there is anything more to this.

 

"London, UK -- Britain's GCHQ, the government communications agency
that electronically monitors half the world from space, has confirmed
the claim by the Dalai Lama that agents of the Chinese People's
Liberation Army, the PLA, posing as monks, triggered the riots that
have left hundreds of Tibetans dead or injured.

GCHQ analysts believe the decision was deliberately calculated by the
Beijing leadership to provide an excuse to stamp out the simmering
unrest in the region, which is already attracting unwelcome world
attention in the run-up to the Olympic Games this summer.

For weeks there has been growing resentment in Lhasa, Tibet's
capital, against minor actions taken by the Chinese authorities.

Increasingly, monks have led acts of civil disobedience, demanding
the right to perform traditional incense burning rituals. With their
demands go cries for the return of the Dalai Lama, the 14th to hold
the high spiritual office.

Committed to teaching the tenets of his moral authority - peace and
compassion - the Dalai Lama was 14 when the PLA invaded Tibet in 1950
and he was forced to flee to India from where he has run a relentless
campaign against the harshness of Chinese rule.

But critics have objected to his attraction to film stars. Newspaper
magnate Rupert Murdoch has called him: "A very political monk in Gucci shoes."

Discovering that his supporters inside Tibet and China would become
even more active in the months approaching the Olympic Games this
summer, British intelligence officers in Beijing learned the ruling
regime would seek an excuse to move and crush the present unrest.

That fear was publicly expressed by the Dalai Lama. GCHQ's
satellites, geo-positioned in space, were tasked to closely monitor
the situation.

The doughnut-shaped complex, near Cheltenham racecourse, is set in
the pleasant Cotswolds in the west of England. Seven thousand
employees include the best electronic experts and analysts in the
world. Between them they speak more than 150 languages. At their
disposal are 10,000 computers, many of which have been specially
built for their work.

The images they downloaded from the satellites provided confirmation
the Chinese used agent provocateurs to start riots, which gave the
PLA the excuse to move on Lhasa to kill and wound over the past week."

*buddhistchannel.tv

(This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views
expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by
APakistanNews.Com.) 

 Listen to the podcast here: http://podcasts.odiogo.com/a-pakistan-news/podcasts-xml.php 

Sources: http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/4412
             http://www.apakistannews.com/tibet-riots-orchestrated-86324

Tibet documentary wins best Human Rights film award

By Phurbu Thinley
Phayul

                               Ngawang Choephel was arrested in August 1995 by Chinese authorities for videotaping  Tibetan children and elders singing and dancing their traditional songs



Dharamsala, October 13: A 30-minute documentary film on a harrowing tale of political persecution in Tibet has won award for the best Human Rights Film at a film festival in Taos, New Mexico, US.

The film Missing in Tibet, grabbed the ‘Best Human Rights Film’ award at the Eighth Annual Taos Mountain Film Festival that ended Sunday.

This film is about Nwawang Choephel, a Tibetan-born exile, who, on December 26, 1996, was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Chinese authorities.

While living in the States, Ngawang was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study and record the ethnomusicology of his Tibetan homeland at prestigious Middlebury College in Vermont. His research took him to Tibet to document and preserve traditional music and dance.

In the midst of this research the Chinese authorities arrested him. His only ‘crime’ being he videotaped Tibetan children and elders singing and dancing their traditional songs. He was released in February 2002, after six years in prison.

Interweaving his life story with actual footage shot before his incarceration the film, narrated by Goldie Hawn and Peter Coyote recounts a harrowing tale of political persecution.

Created in 1996 by Robin Garthwait, Missing in Tibet won the Jury Award, Telluride Mountain Film Festival, 1997 and Best Short Subject Cultural Awareness, International Humanitarian Awards, 1998.

The film has been aired on PBS stations in Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver, San Jose, Buffalo, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Columbia, SC, and also broadcasted nationally in Australia and Hungary.

Taos Mountain Film Festival, as the name suggests, is a film festival for mountaineers, mountain lovers and mountain characters. The Spine at TMFF is Tibet. About a quarter of the festival's 40 films are related to the struggle of Tibet's people and/or their spiritual leader.

COMPASSION IN EXILE, LEAVING FEAR BEHIND, DALAI LAMA: A PORTRAIT IN THE FIRST, LEAVING FEAR BEHIND, PATH TO MOUNT KAILASH, WHY ARE WE SILENT?, THE FATE OF THE LHAPAS and TIBET, CRY OF THE SNOW LION are horde of other Tibet films featured at this year’s Taos Mountain Film Festival held from October 9 to 12.

 Source: http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/4300

Tibet activists set ablaze "China's Ravan"

By Phurbu Thinley Phayul.com




 Dharamsala, October 9 

Tibetan activists paraded a demonized
effigy, bearing photos of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Zhang
Qingli, the current Chinese Communist Party Secretary to Tibet,
before setting it on fire here today.

They called the effigy "China's Ravan" and their act a symbolic
celebration of the concluding day of Dussehra.

Dussehra is celebrated by Hindus as victory of "Good over evil" in
which a Hindu mythological demon King Ravana is put on fire to mark
end of evil's reign.

Members of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), India, today labeled Hu
Jintao, who imposed Martial Law in Lhasa on March 8, 1989 following
series of demonstrations by Tibetans during his tenure as the Chinese
Communist Party Secretary to Tibet, as "China's Ravan".

During the reign of the Martial decree, which lasted for 13 months,
Tibetan demonstrators were brutally suppressed resulting in deaths.
Aftermath the brutal suppression, several detainees were subjected to
prolonged sadistic and horrifying treatments as later reported by the
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

The activist also placed photos of Zhang Qingli,who was in the
spotlight during the 2008 Tibetan unrest for his heavy handedness in
dealing with the demonstrators.

Known for his tough policies in ethnic regions, Zhang is seen as a
man responsible for China's hardening stance in dealing with Tibetan
people in recent times. He accelerated campaigns against Tibetan
culture and religion, brought in more settlers and stepped up the
commercial exploitation of Tibet's huge reserves of raw materials.

This sharp-tongued communist party secretary is despised by Tibetans
for his scathing and defamatory verbal attacks on the revered Tibetan
leader, the Dalai Lama. He is the man who called the Dalai Lama "a
wolf in monk's clothes, a devil with a human face".

The effigy, bearing photos of the two Chinese Communist leaders, was
paraded through McLeod Ganj before it was set on fire near the town's
main square.

The activists believe burning the demonized effigy 'China's Ravan' on
final Dussehra festival signifies bringing to an end a symbol of evil.

On Thursday, Hindus celebrated the final day of Dussehra by setting
statue of Ravan on fire signifying the triumph of good over evil.

McLeod Ganj, a suburb also referred to as the Upper Dharamsala, is
the seat of the Dalai Lama led Tibetan Government-in-Exile. 


Source: 
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=22954&article=Tibet+activists+set+ablaze+%E2%80%9CChina%E2%80%99s+Ravan%E2%80%9D&t=1&c=1 

Photo: Tenzin Dasel/Phayul