On Wednesday night, a lone Tibetan, with two supporters at his side, flew the Tibetan flag near the Bird’s Nest stadium as the men’s 200 metre dash finals were ending. Norbu, a Tibetan from Germany, raised the flag while two American men, John and Jeremy, raised their fists in the air and bowed their heads in an act of defiance modeled after John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s protest at the Olympics in 1968 in Mexico City after the same event. Nearby, Briton Mandie McKeown observed and tried to document the simple action with her camera.

It was all over in a matter of seconds. Norbu, John and Jeremy were tackled to the ground by plain clothes police. The police descended on Mandie almost immediately, taking her camera and her phone. This is one of only two photos we have to document this powerful action: the Associated Press photographers on the scene were detained and roughed up and their memory cards were confiscated. Read more »

My thoughts on the latest action and ongoing detentions in Beijing as well as the latest news from Tibet and China.

There are some incredible people in detention in Beijing right now. It’s been 50 hrs since they were taken into custody and we still have no word on them. James Powderly has to be one of the most righteous and visionary people I’ve ever met. He is an artist and an activist and was detained sometime around 3am on Tuesday morning for planning a beautiful laser light show in Beijing to speak out in solidarity with the Tibetan people and for the cause of freedom of expression in China.

At some point around the same time, 5 citizen journalists and activists were taken by the Chinese authorities. Brian Conley, creator of the well-known videoblog “Alive in Baghdad,” was detained with Jeffrey Rae, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, and Tom Grant. And what was their crime? They were in China doing one of the most honourable things you can do: documenting the fight for freedom and justice in the face of incredible oppression. Read more »

Chinese forces killed two more Tibetans in eastern Tibet. A nun named Sonam Yungzom is reported to have been shot while shouting slogans in Kardze town on August 10th. One source says she yelled out: “There are no human rights in China, there is brutal oppression in Tibet, still the Olympics go on in China.” She was hit by 5 to 6 bullets and then her body was thrown in a vehicle and taken away. An unidentified man is reported to have been shot and killed a few days earlier in the same town after he brought a photo of the Dalai Lama and protested. Read more »

Here is a piece from the New Statesman by the Tibetan writer and poet Woeser. Woeser lives in Beijing and is fearless. She is even suing the Chinese government. This piece pretty much says it all.

Banning Tibet

Published 31 July 2008

A great cry, a noise that can be produced only by those who live in the grasslands, sounded from the Tibetan lands in March 2008, shocking the world. The Chinese media called it “the wolf howling”.

When the Olympic torch passed through Lhasa, Tibetans were not allowed to leave their homes unless they had special passes. My friends in Lhasa wondered: “If Chinese citizens can watch the torch when it passes through other cities, why can’t we? Are we not citizens of this country?” Read more »

Question: Did SFT think about applying for permits to protest in the Chinese government’s specially designated “protest zones” in and near Beijing during the Olympics?

Here’s my second Olympics blog for FT08.tv where I discuss the Tibet protests in Beijing and around the world and why they matter. I also respond to those few observers who like to suggest that our protests are “missing the point.”

This afternoon eight SFTers, including Pema Yoko a national coordinator of SFT UK, conducted a dramatic multi-part nonviolent direct action at the entrance to the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park. A group of protesters locked down at the entrance of the park by chaining bicycles together and holding a banner that said “Tibetans are dying for freedom.” Two others went to a foot bridge and held a banner reading “Free Tibet.”

Chinese security came out in force and there’s been a fair amount of coverage of them swarming over our activists and taking down the banners. I have to say, I got a big kick out of the sight of a Chinese police raising a Tibetan flag on TV.

What was less enjoyable was watching footage of Chinese security forces forcibly detain a British journalist covering the protest. After being detained, ITV News journalist John Ray was asked about his views about Tibet:

Police swung him on to a couch and pinned him down by sitting on his arms. When they relaxed, he tried to get away but was tripped up. He was then bundled into a police van and asked him what his views on Tibet were.

No matter how many times the IOC and BOCOG promised that the Chinese authorities would grant Olympic journalists freedom and access, you always knew that something like this was possible and the intensity of the Chinese police aggression belies every single word uttered by Jacques Rogge in the years leading up to the Games.

The Chinese government has not been changed one iota by the Olympics. Yet everywhere you look, you can see how the Beijing government has brought their style of brutal occupation and militaristic policing to the Olympics. Watching the Chinese police beat and harass activists and journalists today with the whole world as their guests in Beijing makes me truly fearful for what they will do and are now doing in Tibet, behind closed doors and with no foreign journalists there to watch.

I did this video blog a few days ago for FT08.tv but with all the action happening I haven’t had a second to post it here until now. Please check out Han’s message about the launch of FT08.tv below.

From Han-shan:

Friends–
I’m pleased to introduce Students for a Free Tibet’s new channel broadcasting throughout the worldwide uprising for Tibetan freedom during the Beijing Olympics: Free Tibet 2008 Television, or FT08.TV.

With all the Olympic actions for Tibet taking place and particularly the incredible success of the ‘opening’ banner action outside Beijing’s ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium on Aug. 6th and subsequent media storm here in the UK, it took some time to get FT08.TV ready for prime time. Read more »

Tiananmen “Tibet Die-in” Protest 080908 from Students for a Free Tibet on Vimeo.

Please watch this video. Five free Tibet activists staged a dramatic die-in today in Tiananmen Square, in the shadow of Chairman Mao’s famous portrait. Tiananmen Square was, of course, made infamous in 1989 when the Chinese government unleashed a massacre against pro-democracy demonstrators. I’m proud that these five protesters brought a message of Tibetan freedom to this important place in Chinese history. Just as China wants to use the Olympics to make the world forget June 4, 1989, it too wants the world to forget about its ongoing crackdown in Tibet. Today’s protest will help ensure that Tibet’s voice is not silenced.

The five protesters were Chris Schwartz, 24, of Montreal, Canada; Diane Gatterdam, 55, Evan Silverman, 31, and Joan Roney, 39, all from New York; and David Demes, 21, of Germany.

I hope these activists’ protest will inspire others around the world to speak out against China’s occupation of Tibet. I hope the action team is safe and doing well. Your actions prove yet again that we will not be silenced.