SFT India launched its first Renaissance Series in India
Amplifying everything BANNED IN TIBET
Date: 13th Aug
A popular Tibetan poet from Tibet, Gade Tsering began his poem titled “My Tibetanness” in response to exile poet Tenzin Tsundue’s poem using the same title. This could be the tone of what the exile Tibetans are now coming together, adding voices to the Tibetans inside Tibet in the form a “Renaissance Series” undertaken by Students For Free Tibet, India.
SFT India launched its first ‘Renaissance Series’ at TCV day school here Friday. The renaissance series is in response to all things “banned in Tibet” and will be amplified in exile.
The theme is on the creative voices of the Tibetans who are asserting their Tibetan identity in the form of blogging, film making, painting, songs, poetry and books which are banned in Tibet.
A two hour long event of 12 acts included exiled Tibetan poets, singers and activists performing compositions of the Tibetans inside Tibet, talking about works of Tibetans who have faced arrests and imprisonment for expression of their creativity. (more…)
Tibetans, supporters call for Runggye Adak’s release
Three years after his arrest, footage of Runggye Adak’s bold protest speech at the Lithang Horse Racing Festival has been publicly released. Adak is serving an 8-year prison sentence for simply denouncing China’s policies in Tibet and calling for the return of the Dalai Lama.
TIBETANS, SUPPORTERS WORLDWIDE APPEAL FOR RELEASE OF AILING TIBETAN MONK JAILED BY CHINA
People signing petition at the Main square in Mcleod Ganj.
40,000 Signature Petition Delivered to Chinese Government in Support of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
Dharamshala - Tibetans and their supporters joined a global day of action today for the release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a highly revered religious leader and community organizer from eastern Tibet who is currently serving a life sentence in Chinese prison. In cities around the world, demonstrators delivered a 40,000 signature petition to Chinese embassies and consulates denouncing China’s unjust imprisonment of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. In Dharamshala, more than ten thousand petition signatures were sent by fax and courier to Chinese authorities in Beijing and to the Chinese embassy in New Delhi. The petition text mirrored a similar petition signed by 40,000 Tibetans in Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s home region of Lithang in Kham, eastern Tibet (Chinese: Sichuan Province ). Members of Tenzin Delek’s family attempted to deliver the petition to the Chinese government in December 2009 but were stopped en route to Beijing.
“Like all Tibetan prisoners of conscience, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche did not receive a fair trial under Chinese law. Now is the time for his case to be re-opened and a new trial to be granted in accordance with international legal standards, especially given his deteriorating health condition,” said Ngawang Woebar, President of Gu Chu Sum Movement of Tibet and a former political prisoner. “We sent 40,000 signatures from around the world to the Chinese government today to press for the release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who has served nine years of an unjust prison sentence. We are also standing in solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet who have risked their lives to appeal for Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s freedom, and call on the international community to join our appeal for this innocent Tibetan monk.” (more…)
Dhondup Wangchen was sentenced to a 6-year prison term on December 28th, 2009. His family released a statement based on the information they received from Tibet.
TAKE URGENT ACTION! Dhondup Wangchen is trying to appeal his sentence. Help keep the pressure on his case by sending a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Canadian and British mining companies are leading the effort to exploit Tibet’s natural resources and we need your help to stop these companies in their tracks.
UPDATE: Tibetans in Tibet appeal for a re-trial for Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
Tibetans in eastern Tibet have made a bold appeal to the Chinese government for a re-trial for revered Buddhist leader and teacher Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. Tenzin Delek is serving a life sentence for a crime he did not commit.
A devastating earthquake hit Kyegundo in Kham, eastern Tibet (Ch; Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province) this morning killing more than 600 people and injuring 10,000.
Take Action to help those affected and spread the word that the earthquake struck in Tibet and not in western China (as Chinese & Western media are reporting).
Read a statement issued by the leading Tibetan organizations in Dharamsala (including SFT India).
Photo: Zhang Hongshuan/Associated Press: People gathered in open areas after the quake hit.
Support Tibet Quake Victims’ Right to See Dalai Lama
Tibetans in Kyegundo have sent a letter to China’s leaders asking them to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the quake zone. The Dalai Lama has also expressed his desire to visit the area.
Please also post a message of condolence to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-exile – the rightful representatives of the Tibetan people. Read some of the heartfelt messages.
This Sunday, April 25th, Gendun Choekyi Nyima, Tibet’s second most important spiritual leader will turn 21 years old and spend another birthday as a prisoner of the Chinese government.
TAKE ACTION: Join the Global Call for the Panchen Lama’s Release
In 1995, after being recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, Chinese authorities kidnapped the boy and his family. He has not been seen nor heard from since. Read more about how you can help push for his release.
SFT India organized a talk by Tsewang Dhondup at Tibetan Children’s Village school. Tsewang participated in the 2008 uprising in Tibet and was shot twice trying to save an injured monk shot by armed Chinese police in the protest in Dango, Kardze of eastern Tibet.
Tsewang’s motive for his escape was to give testimony to the world about what happened during the peaceful uprising and the critical situation in Tibet. He also holds a very strong will to talk to the younger Tibetan generation in exile about the hardships faced by Tibetans inside Tibet.
The talk at Tibetan Children’s Village school is the beginning of a series of talk that SFT India is organizing for Tsewang Dhondup.
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Take Action: Chinese Police Open Fire On Tibetans Over Cement Factory Protest
On May 15th, Chinese police opened fire on Tibetans protesting pollution caused by a local cement factory; 15 injured.
Join people worldwide in condemning this violent attack and call on the Chinese authorities to shut down the factory until the concerns of the local Tibetans have been addressed .
‘Little Lhasa’ program bring young people to Dharamshala, the Tibetan exile capital to educate and provide them a space to gain first had experience of Tibet, introducing them to Tibet’s current political situation, its unique socio-cultural heritage and history.
15 students and professionals from different parts of India and United States participated this year in a week-long summer program targeted for non-Tibetan nationals organized by SFT-India.
Discussion with Tenzin Tsundue after screening 'The Sun Behind the Cloud'.
Lhamo Tso, Dhondup Wangchen's wife talking to the participant after screening 'Leaving Fear Behind'.
Participant with the Deputy Speaker of Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Mrs. Gyari Dolma.
Tenzin Norbu la, EDD of DIIR giving a presentation on Tibet's Melting Glaciers and Resource Extraction.
Discussion with Choeying, SFT India's National Director about Youth Activism in Tibet Movement.
At the Voice of Tibet, Radio studio with Karma Yeshi la (MP), Editor in Chief At the Voice of Tibet, Radio studio with Karma Yeshi la (MP), Editor in Chief
SFT India launched its first Renaissance Series in India
Amplifying everything BANNED IN TIBET
Date: 13th Aug
A popular Tibetan poet from Tibet, Gade Tsering began his poem titled “My Tibetanness” in response to exile poet Tenzin Tsundue’s poem using the same title. This could be the tone of what the exile Tibetans are now coming together, adding voices to the Tibetans inside Tibet in the form a “Renaissance Series” undertaken by Students For Free Tibet, India.
SFT India launched its first ‘Renaissance Series’ at TCV day school here Friday. The renaissance series is in response to all things “banned in Tibet” and will be amplified in exile.
The theme is on the creative voices of the Tibetans who are asserting their Tibetan identity in the form of blogging, film making, painting, songs, poetry and books which are banned in Tibet.
A two hour long event of 12 acts included exiled Tibetan poets, singers and activists performing compositions of the Tibetans inside Tibet, talking about works of Tibetans who have faced arrests and imprisonment for expression of their creativity. Read the rest of this entry »
Activists stage a street play showing Panchen Lama in Chinese custody in Dharamsala, India, Saturday, April 25, 2009
Kolkata, Apr 27 (ANI): Tibetan exiles took out a candlelight vigil here last evening protesting against the alleged atrocities by Chinese authorities in their homeland.
The march was organised by the Students of Free Tibet in memory of the victims of Lhasa riots last year and in support of the missing 11th Panchen Lama, Gendhun Chockyi Nyima.
“The reason behind this candlelight vigil is that we are remembering all those people who lost their lives in Lhasa riots last year and yesterday was Gendhun Chockyi Nyima’s birthday. He has been kidnapped by the Chinese and till now we don’t know about his whereabouts. So, we are demanding his release and simultaneously we want our country to be free,” said Kheysang Choden Bhutia, spokesperson of the Students of Free Tibet. Read the rest of this entry »
TIBETANS AND SUPPORTERS DEMAND HUNTER DICKINSON TO PULL OUT MINING OPERATION IN TIBET
Dharamshala – Tibetans and supporters staged a die-in protest at the main Mcleod Square, Dharamshala this evening to protest mining in Tibet by Hunter Dickinson’s subsidiary Continental Minerals. The action is a part of the global campaign demanding Continental Minerals to immediately cease all mining operations at Shethongmon [Ch: Xietongmen] in central Tibet.
“We are here to call for the immediate withdrawal of HDI/Continental Minerals from Chinese-occupied Tibet.” said Tenzin Choedon, Program Director of Students for a free Tibet – India (SFT-India), “Under Chinese occupation, Tibetans are denied the internationally recognized right to determine the use of their own land and resources.”
The developments in the few years have raised huge concerns amongst Tibetans and Tibet support groups throughout the world. With a lot of junior mining companies engaging in mining operations in Tibet, it poses threat to the highly fragile ecosystem of Tibet, destroying vast regions of grazing land for animals, and polluting water sources.
Tibet has the source of 10 of its major rivers, including the Yarlung Tsangpo/ Brahmaputra, the Sutlej and the Indus. Most of the mining sites falls along these major rivers and its tributaries. Chemicals from the mining sites are released in these rivers, poisoning the water and has already shown its effect on the livestocks in Tibet. Read the rest of this entry »
[Dharamshala] – Tibetans and supporters joined a day long campaign organized by five major Tibetan NGOs for the release of Dhondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker charged with “inciting separatism,” and whose trial could take place any day now in Siling in Eastern Tibet [Chinese: Xining, Qinghai province].
Photo: Lobsang Wangyal
Dhondup Wangchen was detained in March 2008 by Chinese authorities for making the film ‘Leaving Fear Behind’ which documents Tibetans’ views about the Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama, and Chinese government’s policies in Tibet. His Beijing based lawyer hired by his family has been barred from representing him and he is in very poor health after being beaten and tortured in prison.
“My husband is not a criminal. He was arrested for making a film, interviewing Tibetans about the 2008 Olympics, the Dalai Lama and their lives under Chinese rule. None of our family has been allowed to speak to him since his arrest” said Lhamo Tso, Dhondup Wangchen’s wife, who resides in Dharamshala. “My husband is an innocent man but the Chinese government is trying to silence him for exercising his right to freedom of Expression. I urge the international community to take action for my husband’s release.” Read the rest of this entry »
Mustafa Naley’s Tibetan friend once told him, “I can’t go back to my country. If I go, I will be killed. We are fighting to get our country back and I am confident that we will get it back once.”
Naley, a Somalian national and a graphic design student in the city, who until then, had no knowledge of the history of Tibet and its present crisis, did a research on the Tibetan struggle and decided to join Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), an organisation of students which works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence.
SFT, formed world wide in 1994, is soon going to have the formal launch of its Pune chapter as more and more non-Tibetan students like Naley, are coming forward to support the cause of Tibet. Read the rest of this entry »
On November 1st, after 10 years at SFT HQ, Lhadon Tethong will be stepping down as Executive Director. She is very pleased to announce that SFT’s current Deputy Director, Tenzin Dorjee (Tendor), will be stepping into this important position.
Dharamshala: Dhondup Wangchen, the Tibetan filmmaker who was arrested by the Chinese government for documenting the current situation in Tibet and Tibetan people’s aspiration for return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, has been sentenced to six years in prison, according to information received by the Central Tibetan Administration.
The sentence was pronounced was on 28 December 2009, according to the report. But it is not known where the filmmaker was tried.
Dhondup Wangchen, aged 35, was arrested with his monk assistant named Jigme Gyatso on 26 March 2008 for making the film “Leaving Fear Behind” in Tibet, which documents the lives of Tibetans under China’s rule, views about His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Beijing Olympics. Read the rest of this entry »
Contact: Tenzin Choeying, Dharamsala, India +91 981 636 8335
Tenzin Choedon, Dharamsala, India +91 981 647 9812
Tibetans observe Losar by raising the Tibetan National Flag
14 February 2010, Dharamshala: On the auspicious first day of Losar 2137, Students For a Free Tibet (SFT) will launch a new campaign ‘Raise Our Flag’ by distributing 500 Tibetan national flags. Tibetans and supporters will be urged to raise the flags to mark the beginning of the year of the Iron Tiger; a time for change, hope, renewal and an action to express a renewed commitment and solidarity towards the Tibetan movement.
“The National Flag is a symbol of freedom and resistance. Hundreds of national flags were defiantly flown throughout Tibet in the 2008 uprising to amplify the people’s call for freedom. The flag unifies all the Tibetans in our desire to help bring change on the ground inside Tibet.” Tenzin Choeying, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet, India, said.
‘Raise Our Flag’ campaign is supported by a number of local Tibetan businessmen including Chodak from Middleway Tours and Travels. Chodak explained, “As a Tibetan, I find it very inspiring hoisting our national flag on the very first day of Losar. It’s my responsibility to contribute to our cause through such campaigns.”
The modern Tibetan national flag was adopted in 1916. Its first appearance before the world was in National Geographic Magazine’s “Flags of the World” issue of 1934. Read the rest of this entry »
March 10 holds a special significance in the hearts of all Tibetans as on this day, 51 years ago, Tibet experienced one of the bloodiest massacre in the history of our struggle. Thousands of innocents and nonviolent protesters were killed by the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in Lhasa. The day also signifies Tibetan people’s resistance against Chinese occupation of Tibet when thousands of Tibetans gathered infront of the Potala palace to guard the Dalai Lama and defy the foreign occupation.
“It is our responsibility as Tibetans growing in the free world to share the plight of our brothers and sisters in Tibet to the global community.” said Tenzin Tselha, Coordinator of Students for a free Tibet - Pune chapter. “Organizing this meeting of international students enable us to educate our peers from different parts of the world to understand Tibetan struggle better.” Read the rest of this entry »
Statement: Exile Tibetans mourn the earthquake victims in Kyegudo
April 14th, 2010
Dharamshala: Tibetans gathered at the main Buddhist Temple here in Dharamshala to pray and show solidarity to the victims of the earthquake that hit Kyegudo (Chinese: Yushu) in Tibet’s Kham Province.
“Not only are we grieving the death of hundreds of Tibetans who fell victim to this natural disaster, we are also concerned about the wellbeing of the thousands injured by the earthquake in Kyegudo early this morning.” said Tsewang Rigzin, President of Tibetan Youth Congress. “We demand immediate medical aid and rescue work for all those injured.”
The latest Chinese official death toll is 400, whereas Tibetans on the ground have been reporting more than 3000 deaths and 10,000 injured on telephonic conversations with families and friends in exile.
Tibetans in Yushu fear that the nearby dam situated in Pathang in Kyegudo could burst any time which might result to a huge loss of lives. Independent researchers have found out about existence of 14 dams - constructed or under construction - in the area.
“The Chinese government has aggressively exploited Tibet’s natural resources not even sparing areas such as Kyegudo which is considered to be an active seismic region.” said Ngawang Woebar, a former political prisoner and President of Gu-Chu-Sum, who is also a native of Kyegudo. “We demand the Chinese government to put halt to all these projects that threatens human lives in the region.”
Our heartfelt condolence to the family and friends of those who died in this earthquake.
Yushu is situated 800 kms south-west of Siling, Amdo (Chin: Xining, Qinghai) and is a home to around 250,000 people, mostly Tibetan. The region is also exploited for its huge deposits of mineral resources such as gold, coal, copper, lead and tin mines.
Join the Global Uprising for Tibet on March 10th, 2010 to commemorate 51 years of Tibetan resistance to Chinese occupation.
A devastating earthquake hit Kyegundo in Kham, eastern Tibet (Ch; Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province) this morning killing more than 600 people and injuring 10,000.
