SFT Canada Action – Vancouver, Sept 16th

Hi everyone,

Tonight’s action was a resounding success, Kate and the rest of SFT Vancouver made a fantastic effort this past week and managed to pull together a great demo and action. We had about a hundred supporters in addition to many Falun Gong and Tiawanese who noisily greeted Hu Jintao. About half way through the demonstration Kate scaled a 50 foot flagpole and hung two banners before staging a mock hanging. It lasted for over an hour and in the end they just let us walk away without any charges or even a warning. It really was a night of victories.

I have attached a few of the first photos from the action (that is Kate hanging under that shroud). Also, visit http://www.940news.com/nouvelles.php?cat=23&id=91702 for the first bit of coverage (the mock hanging is not reported on but our fabulous media spokesperson Pema Lhalungpa managed to get a great quote in there!)

Talk to you all soon,
Jeff Langlois

Hu Jintao Visit to Canada: Update from Toronto

Saturday was an incredible day of action by Tibetans and Tibet supporters in Toronto. Hundreds of people with Tibetan flags, placards, and banners attended the rally jointly organized by the Canada Tibet Committee, Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontraio, Chushi Gangdruk of Canada and Students for a Free Tibet Canada. Chris Schwartz, an SFT member was arrested for locking down inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and disrupting the gala dinner organized in honour of Hu Jintao’s visit. Read below for an account of the day’s events.

By 10:00am, Tibetans and supporters had assembled alongside members of the Falun Gong and Taiwanese organizations to fill the entire block in front of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Around 11am, Hu Jintao arrived at the hotel adjacent to the Convention Centre. We chanted Free Tibet slogans, making sure that we were louder than the pro-China supporters who had been bused in to the counter the protests. At about 2:30pm, in direct view of the Tibetan flags, Hu Jintao’s entourage left the hotel for Niagara Falls and after four hours of yelling we were able to take a much needed break and prepare for the evening demonstrations.

The crowd reconvened at around 5:00pm with renewed energy. By 6:00pm, guests were beginning to arrive for the gala dinner organized by the Canada China Business Council. We repeatedly called on the Canadian business community to stop financing China’s occupation of Tibet, specifically targeting gala dinner sponsors Bombardier and Nortel for their involvement in the China- Tibet railway.

At 7:00pm, SFT members Chris Schwartz and Leah Henderson entered the Convention Centre. Dressed in a suit and tie, Chris entered the lobby area on the 1^st floor of the convention centre, where the gala dinner was being held. In less than five seconds he had locked down to a bench next to the table where event organizers were checking tickets. Yelling at the top of his lungs, Chris addressed the stunned businessmen and women who believed they had successfully avoided the demonstrations. “I am here today in solidarity with the 6 million Tibetans inside Tibet who continued to live without basic human and civil rights. “Until Tibet is free”, he

continued, “Trade with China must be conditional on significant human rights improvements in Tibet.” Security personnel reacted by trying to block Chris who continued to shout “Free Tibet”. About five minutes later eight police officers arrived on the scene, cut Chris free and dragged him to the nearest exit. Once outside, he was met with cheers of support by the demonstrators. Chris was arrested but later released.

Welcome to SFT Canada’s new blog site!

Students for a Free Tibet Canada is a student and youth based organization that works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence.

This is our official mission statement, but how we transform this into concrete action relys a lot on YOU! – individual SFT members. Our members have pulled off some amazing actions for Tibet and our role as an organized body (yesterday we received our official incorporation documents from the Canada government – whoopeee!) is to provide the tools to train, educate, and inspire more of these actions. At the root of it, our organization is also about having fun – because what’s the point in being involved in something if it’s not fun. The above photo shows SFT Canada members and board members, SFT staff and friends doing just that at this year’s SFT Canada conference held in May in Vancouver.

One suggestion at the conference was to use the wonderful world of internet technology to better communicate with each other across this vast country – hence the birth of the SFT Canada blog! Also check out our new (and still in it’s early stage) SFT Canada website!