Students for a Free Tibet posted this news on their blog today on freetibet2008.org -
Beijing – Five pro-Tibet activists unfurled a banner spelling out “Free Tibet” in English and Chinese in bright blue LED “throwie” lights in Beijing’s Olympic Park tonight. The five were detained by security personnel after displaying the banner for about 20 seconds at 11:48 pm August 19th. Their whereabouts are currently unknown. Read the press release.
Brief video clip of the banner unfurled:
NTSC format MPEG-4 video: watch or download
PAL format MPEG-4 video: watch or download
Photos of the banner available for download as a Flickr photoset
The detained activists are Americans Amy Johnson, 33, Sam Corbin, 24, Liza Smith, 31, Jacob Blumenfeld, 26, and Lauren Valle, 21. (bios of activists are below)
“The Chinese government is desperate to turn the world’s attention away from its abuses in Tibet as the Olympics take place, but the creativity and determination of Tibetans and their supporters has once again ensured that Tibetan voices are heard and seen in Beijing despite the massive security clampdown,” said Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “The Chinese leadership must realize that the only way it can make the issue of Tibet disappear is to acknowledge the demands of the Tibetan people and work with them to bring an end to China’s occupation of Tibet.”
Digital Dharma Films presents this short video “Time to Know the Truth” calling China into account and calling upon rational people everywhere to stand up for our brothers and sisters in Tibet.
March 10th 2008 marked the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising. In the largest Pan-Tibetan protests in history, tens of thousands of Tibetans rose up against China’s illegal invasion and occupation of their country. Despite China’s best attempts to destroy the Tibetan spirit, Tibetan resistance has continued for nearly half a century inside Tibet and in exile communities worldwide. With all eyes focused on the Olympics in China, Tibetans and supporters worldwide are protesting the Chinese government’s use of the Olympics as a political tool to legitimize its illegal occupation of Tibet.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
1) Please forward this video to as many people as possible to raise awareness about the issue. Post it to you blogs and use it as a video response on YouTube and other video websites.
copy this URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U1zXO-O_ng
2) Donate to Digital Dharma Films. We are producing full-length documentary film about Tibet, Non-Violence, and Activism. In addition to seeking grants, private donations will make up over half of our budget. Your donation will help us to produce and distribute this upcoming, inspiring film so important in these tumultuous times we face.
3) Write to the United Nations Office of Human Rights demanding a third party mandate to become involved in Tibet and investigate the Human Rights abuses. email: InfoDesk@ohchr.org
5) Take Action! Visit Students for a Free Tibet’s Olympic Games Campaign site where you can learn more about Tibet and get involved in direct action and strategic non-violence.
Please watch and forward our new Video! Our goal is to get 50,000 views in 48 hours on YouTube so that our film will become listed on the “Daily Most Watched” page -thereby allowing us the possibility to reach millions of viewers! Please watch our new video “Time to Know the Truth” and forward to your friends!
The Brain Labor Report is live every morning M thru F for 1/2 hour at 7:00 a.m. through the awesome community services of KSKQ, lpfm radio in Southern Oregon. They can be listened to each morning on the internet, via streaming radio is.
The Olympic torch has come and gone from North America, but the plight of the people of Tibet continues. To help further the peaceful cause of Tibetans and Tibet, we ask that you consider taking the following actions in support of the people of Tibet:
1. Write to Speaker of the House the Honorable Nancy Pelosi and thank her for her unwavering support of the people of Tibet and for human rights in Tibet and China. Write to President Bush and to your representatives and senators in Congress and insist that the U.S. Government:
– Demand that China halt its crackdown, withdraw military and security forces, release those detained and allow peaceful protest. China must also halt house-to-house searches; and authorities must refrain from any further arrests and intimidation of Tibetan protesters.
– Support the Dalai Lama’s and international calls for a team of investigators to go to Tibet as soon as possible.
– Demand that China fulfill its prior promise to allow foreign journalists unrestricted reporting throughout the country from January through September 2008, including permitting journalists to return to all Tibetan areas (TAR and Tibetan areas of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan) immediately.
– Agree that members of the government, including President Bush, shall not attend the Olympic Games, and in particular refuse to appear at the Opening Ceremonies.
2. Demand that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) withdraw all Tibetan areas (TAR and Tibetan areas of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan) from the planned Olympic torch relay route, including the planned torch ascent of Mount Everest. You can go to http://actionnetwork.org in order to send this message to the IOC President. You can also find the contact information for your National Olympic Committee at http://www.olympic.org The U.S. Olympic Committee information is at http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/noc/noc_uk.asp?noc_initials=USA
digitaldharmafilms.org interviewed Karsh Kale with Wasfia Nazreen in April 2008 at the Phoenix Hotel in SF.
Karsh Kale has played alongside and worked with some of the world’s top artists, including Sting, Zakir Hussain, Baaba Maal, Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, and Ustad Sultan Khan.
Born of Indian parents, and brought up in the U.S., Kale has long played Indian classical music on the tabla. Currently, he leads one of New York’s coolest ensembles, and his monthly spins at Paisley and Joe’s Pub are some of the hottest tickets on the New York scene.
Here he speaks about non-violence and the importance of Gandhi’s Satyagraha in relationship to Tibet.
In April 2008 we had the great pleasure of interviewing Mary Gendler of A.N.E.C (Active Non-violent Education Center) while in McLeod Ganj, India.
At the invitation of the Dalai Lama, Mary and her husband Rabbi Everett Gendler (one of the contemporary grandfathers of Jewish nonviolence) have led eleven workshops on nonviolence with the Tibetan community in India over the past 13 years.
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