Tibet
I got an email from a good friend of mine about Tibet. With the Olympics happening, Tibetans are risking everything to stand up against China and hope to get the attention of the world. Forward this if you can.
In short: go subscribe to this blog: http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org
This is happening now, and in the coming weeks, and you can be involved by simply blogging about it. Go subscribe to http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org
Here's his email:
"I am writing to you today not to ask for money or donations. I simply want
you to know what is happening in Tibet, from my perspective, and to share what I
tell you with others. What Tibet needs right now is just our attention. To those
of you who supported our Facebook fundraising efforts, thank you. Know that your
money is going to good work.
This video on CNN tells the complete story of
the last 50 years in Tibet and what will come in the next year:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/03/13/vause.china.tibet.troubles.cnn?iref=videosearch
(As
some of you may know, the protests from the story that occurred on Everest and
the Great Wall used some pretty amazing live satellite technology that I am
proud to have played a role in making them happen)
Tibetans across the "Tibet Autonomous Region" (TAR) inside of China are taking to the streets, risking everything they have. They do this knowing, expecting the world to be watching and to care. They are unarmed and (mostly) non-violent, isolated on the Tibetan Plateau, surrounded by countless Chinese police, military battalions and tanks.
When you protest in Tibet, it is not a small act. If you are a monk, you are arrested, often beaten or tortured, sometimes executed or imprisoned for life, and most always defrocked and forced into a life outside of the monastery.
Other lay Tibetans have lived their entire lives with memories of previous uprisings and the resulting crackdowns. No one has very much, and everyone lives under a veil of fear, balancing their need to survive and help their children succeed in modern China with their desire for the Dalai Lama to return and for true freedom. It is a heartbreaking situation.
Lhasa's internet is off and mobile phone service is generally restricted. There are no foreign press allowed openly to report, just a taste of China's standard reaction in these situations. Still, we are starting to see pictures and video here and there, a few of which are posted here: http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org/2008/03/14/incredible-images-of-lhasa-unrest/
I have been to the three main monasteries where the uprising began - Drepung, Sera and Ganden. I spent half the day with one monk at Drepung, eating food cooked in his small room, who was the brother of a former Tibetan nun and political prisoner who I am friends with in New York. My translation of "computer programmer" into Tibetan was "man who makes machines do things" which made him laugh as he endlessly filled by cup of butter tea. I took a day trip to Ganden and walked the long holy walk ("kora") around the monastery, stopping for lunch along the way with another one of my Tibetan foster families. I took two trips to Sera, one with the "Five Tibet Guys", a crew of young kids and amateur tour guides, and the other by myself, walking the long road from Jokhang square all the way up the hill, a road that today is filled with tear gas, burning cars and blockades.
Below is a photo I took in 2004 outside of Sera monastery of a young Tibetan monk. At this moment, that very spot is surrounded by armed police and military troops, and the monks inside are hungry, hurt and wondering if their actions will matter. For their sake, please, talk about this, tell people what is happening, share the video link above and the blog link below.
Students for a Free Tibet, the organization I am on the board of and have
volunteered with for over seven years, is staying on top of all the news and
doing our own coverage on our blog here: http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org
This
is just the beginning. There are 146 days until the Beijing Olympic Games, and
we are going to make each one count.
Thank you for you time."