Protests against the Olympic Torch through Tibet at the Chinese Consulate in Toronto

Today was the first day of the protests against the Olympic Torch through Tibet organized by the Joint Action Committee (JAC). The protests shall continue for two more days to coincide with the torch passing not just through the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) but also the eastern parts of Tibet – where Tibetans protested in March. As Tsering Lama, SFT Canada National Director said, “While the Chinese government claims that the Torch’s route through Tibet has been shortened to one day - this is not true. The Torch will be in Tibet Autonomous Region for one day only, but it will go on to the Tibetan province of Amdo (or Qinghai province) for three days after where Tibetans protested in many places in March. Amdo is on the Tibetan plateau and part of historical Tibet, although China deemed it separate in 1955.”

On a surprisingly cool day, around 200 Tibetans and their supporters chanted slogans calling for no Torch through Tibet, press freedom and release of all political prisoners. MPP Cheri Di Nova, a long and active supporter of Tibetan Freedom Movement, addressed the crowd and supported the call against the Olympic Torch passing through Tibet. The speech was followed by two mock dramas. First, a play enacted by a local professional actor who passed on the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Chinese brothers and sisters

The second act staged by SFT Canada was a powerful and painful yet a very accurate picture if the Torch was allowed to pass through Tibet. As the protestors were chanting slogans one of the actor dressed as a Chinese army general raised his baton and yelled at the crowd to keep quiet. When the crowd did not listen to his command, the general ordered his army to fire at the crowd – mercilessly “killing” all the protestors. This die-in was followed by laying down a white cloth with bloody handprints on the streets. Standing right in front of this bloody cloth was the Torch runner with the Chinese army by his sides. There were also national and local media persons taking interviews and videos of the mock dramas.

Even though the Chinese communist government continue to deny about any killings or torture of the Tibetan protestors, evidences pouring out of Tibet and the first hand accounts tell a very different story. Disappearances, tortures, intimidation, constant surveillance, arbitrary detentions and heavy army presence are daily occurrences. If all these events are taking place despite the Chinese communist government’s denial, take a second to imagine what would happen to the Tibetans that protest against this torch relay especially after the government announced that no dissents would be tolerated. The earthquake was a natural disaster but this Torch relay is a man made disaster and the IOC should be held accountable for this. Regarding the earthquake, it was very surprising to hear that the Chinese consulate here in Toronto refused to accept our donation for the earthquake victims.

This was just released by JAC:
Tibetans continue to show their goodwill towards the Chinese people, especially the victims of the earthquake. On Tuesday, members of the Tibetan community here went to deliver donations collected at a prayer for the earthquake victims. However, after the Tibetans were questioned and made to wait for many hours, the Chinese government showed its rising insecurity around the Tibet issue by refusing the gesture of compassion and goodwill intended for the Chinese people.

I do not know what to make of this and leave it to you, the readers to think how this Chinese communist government acts even towards its own people. We can only sit here and comprehend how much Tibetans in Tibet suffer under this totalitarian regime.

As the day progressed and it started to rain, Tibetans and their supporters continued on with their protests knowing about the faith of the Tibetans in Tibet. We, in the Diaspora community, shall not remain quiet and continue with our protests. I look forward to the protests tomorrow and the day after.

Bod Gyalo!

SFT Has No Plans to Protest Paralympic Torch Event

Contrary to what a Vancouver Sun article (”Paralympic torch relay coming to Vancouver,” May 15th, 2008 ) is reporting, local members of Students for a Free Tibet have no intention to protest the Paralympic Torch relay in Vancouver, or any other Paralympic event.

Thank you,

Tsering, National director

Hong Kong: Another Example of China’s Olympic Regression

So the gloves have come off. No one’s even pretending that the Beijing Torch has anything to do with Olympic values of “respect for fundamental universal ethical principles.” Days before the Olympic Torch was due in Hong Kong, security minister Ambrose Lee said that pro-Tibet protestors would be barred from entering the city. Barred. Anyone who may potentially say or do something contrary to the Chinese government’s official line wasn’t to even step foot in Hong Kong.

Does the Olympic Charter have a special clause for totalitarian dictatorships to deny basic universal human rights like freedom of speech and movement? And did the Chinese government really think that that warning would stop us from spreading our message?

On Monday, Kate Woznow from SFT headquarters in New York, Matt Whitticase from Free Tibet Campaign in UK and I boarded flights to Hong Kong. As soon as I landed, I was pulled aside for ‘further inspection.’ Let’s just say that I knew I’d hit a kink when the customs inspector’s eyes bulged out of his sockets and he led out a deep sigh after scanning my passport.

Thus began my five and a half hour detention and intermittent questioning. They asked me why I was there, where I was staying, what sights I planned to see. But the most telling question was “Are you Buddhist?” The agent pointed at my passport and said that my name seemed Buddhist. I’m not sure it would’ve helped if my name was Muslim, but I told her I was Canadian – entitled to enter Hong Kong just like thousands of other foreigners.

They took the batteries of our cell phones and laptops so we couldn’t record anything or contact people. They took away our documents so we couldn’t leave until they let us. I met one unfortunate man from Botswana in the ‘reject’ waiting room who’d been there for a week. They didn’t keep us informed about what was happening, and refused to tell us why we were being denied entry.

Eventually, four people escorted me to the Cathay Pacific gate. There they gave me my passport, ticket and cell phone batteries just before I walked into the plane and headed home.

Four and a half months before the Olympics begin, the Chinese government reacted with overwhelming violent force against Tibetans across Tibet, detained some 5,715 political prisoners, gunned down hundreds of defenseless Tibetans, shuttled hundreds of monks away to unknown locations, starved entire monasteries, and began mandatory ‘education campaigns’ on Tibetans.

Now they are arrogant enough to protest when the rest of the world shows solidarity for the Tibetan people?

Hong Kong is/was the last bastion of freedom in China. Chinese dissidents work openly in Hong Kong for democracy and human rights because when China took control of the island, they had guaranteed political freedoms and the right to protest in Hong Kong.

The Chinese regime has done nothing if not regress since being awarded the Olympics. Our experience in Hong Kong is a sad example of this and I am especially sorry for all the Chinese brothers and sisters who depend on the freedoms there for their own country’s sake.

See our live web press conference from Toronto, New York and London.

Bod Gyalo,

Tsering

Thoughts on San Francisco

Back in Toronto now after what was a 24 hours a day week in San Francisco. Looking back at the day of the disastrous Torch run, I have come to the conclusion that protests against the Chinese government’s actions in Tibet, Burma, Sudan, East Turkestan, Taiwan, and China itself has now truly become a popular, global movement of the people. Standing on Embarcadero street, listening to speeches at Ferry Park, doing interviews beside the tacky and overzealous Chinese propaganda show (with Chinese impersonating Tibetans)…I not only saw thousands of my fellow countrymen and women, but thousands and thousands of ordinary citizens who had come with home-made signs and props supporting our cause.

Credo - a telephone company - had produced hundreds of placards that read “Another________ who supports a free Tibet,” Taiwanese Americans had a banner that read “Taiwanese-Americans support a free Tibet,” business men in their crisp suits walked around with their own placards and Tibetan flags, hundreds of families had showed up and were wearing Tibetan stickers on their clothes, I even saw a man with a fake fire extinguisher that said “monk dust.” It was overwhelming; it was more support than I ever dreamed we would get in San Francisco.

There were some tense moments, some shouting matches, but all in all, the Tibetan people showed incredible dignity and restraint. Many of us in fact saw Chinese people verbally attacking ‘injis’ or non-Tibetans who were supporting Tibet. One particular argument I remember involved a black man and a group of Chinese people. He was holding a Free Tibet placard and just walking around. A Chinese girl engaged him and started yelling at him. “Why are you here? Go home. Go back to work. Everything they say is lies. Lies lies lies.” He was adamant that it was his right to stand on the street and express his views just as it was hers. But the girl and her group weren’t ready to learn about democracy even though they were enjoying all of its benefits while living in the US. Unfortunate. And telling.

In the end the Torch route was rerouted so far off track that they had to cancel the closing ceremonies. They attempted to do one at the Golden Gate bridge but seeing that protesters weren’t too far away, they jetted to the airport for a make-shift ceremony with just the runners and the officials. It was a far cry from the party the Chinese government hoped to see. I am so proud of the message we sent from San Francisco, and North America as a whole. This is how the world should’ve treated Hitler’s Torch relay. I’m glad we were ready this time.

Oh and Ali and the rest of the Golden Gate activists were released the night before. They were such troopers. They did media all morning and all day at the protests. With people like them, and countless others who worked quietly and behind the scenes for days and days AND are ready to do so much more, the Chinese government is sweating through their bedsheets. Rightfully so.

Canadian activists hang banners in Paris and on the Golden Gate Bridge

What can I say about a day like today? This was another landmark achievement for our movement and the Olympics campaign. We started the day at the crack of dawn, driving towards the Golden Bridge while watching a live stream video of the banner hang in Paris uploaded by our colleagues. We were thrilled to see the video of Mel Raoul (a Canadian who also did the banner hang on the Great Wall of China in August) and Phil (a British SFTer) unfurl a French banner which read “Pas de Flamme au Tibet” or “No Torch through Tibet.”

A few hours later, a team of seven SFT members/ Tibet activists unfurled two of the largest banners I have ever seen on the Golden Gate Bridge against a cloudless blue sky. It was stunning sight. Two days before the Chinese Olympic Torch arrives in San Francisco, we had put our message on the most recognizable landmark in San Francisco. And our message was clear - we reject the Torch; we reject it here and we reject it going into Tibet.

Then came the media interviews, one after another, non-stop. Shortly after (they were a little slow on getting there) we were sized up by a fair number of Chinese ‘observers.’ But it didn’t matter anymore - we had won already - a small victory but another piece of a global message to China that until they resolve the issue of Tibet, they will have to hear us Tibetans and our supporters protest loudly at every opportunity.

Ali Taub (another Canadian, 22 year old, from Vancouver) was detained with three other support members shortly after the climbers left the ground. The three climbers were then detained after coming down voluntarily. As of right now, all of them are incarcerated and have been charged a number of different charges, and we’ve got a legal team monitoring the situation.

This was an amazing day and it’s almost over, but our work with Beijing’s disastrous Torch Relay in San Francisco certainly isn’t - in fact it’s just beginning.

Beijing, we are ready.