
No Torch in Tibet! Stop the Crackdown! Media Access to Tibet Now!
On June 18th, Tibetans and supporters worldwide will participate in a day of action to protest the torch in Tibet, speak out against China’s ongoing crackdown, and demand immediate press access to Tibet. Join us.
Materials and Resources:
Download a poster for the June 18th Day of Action
View a sample media advisory for the June 18th Day of Action Get an image to post to your Facebook/Myspace/Hi-5 profile (right/control-click to save)
View confirmed locations and coordinators for the Day of Action
For more than a year, Tibetans and supporters have vigorously demanded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) do the right thing and cancel the torch relay through Tibet. But the IOC has stubbornly refused to heed our calls and hasn’t even pressed Beijing on the basic commitment it made to press freedom in its bid for the Olympic Games.
Even though we can’t stop China from provocatively parading the torch through Tibet under clampdown it’s critical that we SPEAK OUT when the torch arrives in Lhasa and display our solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet.
The torch is scheduled to arrive in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on June 18th or 19th. Chinese authorities have already escalated repression and tightened restriction of movement in and around Lhasa in order to prevent protests during the torch relay.
For the Global Day of Action:
We are encouraging protests and actions with a strong visual component to highlight what is happening in Tibet right now and what could happen when the torch goes there. Tibet activists are planning powerful political theater: Olympic torch runner over bloody bodies, die-ins, mock-beatings, people dressed as monks and nuns in chains, Chinese troops and police, and symbols such as the Olympic torch as torture device, Olympic rings as handcuffs, prison bars… click here for some helpful tips for staging your own political theater.
In New York in front of the Chinese Consulate, a group of New York-area Tibetan high school and college students are planning to ritualistically shave their heads in solidarity with Tibetan monks and nuns who have borne the brunt of China’s brutal crackdown in Tibet. Click here for a video of young Tibetans shaving their heads last month as part of a powerful solidarity ritual protest.
The torch will also stop in the following Tibetan areas:
- June 11th: Shangri-la (formerly named ZhÅngdià n, a town in Dechen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture recently re-invented by Chinese authorities as a Tibetan tourist ‘paradise’)
- June 18th or 19th: Lhasa, Tibetan Autonomous Region
- June 20th-22nd (approx dates): Gormo and Kokonor (Ch: Golmud and Qinghai Hu – Tibetan regions in what China calls its Qinghai province) and the border town of Xining (only 2 hours drive from the town of Rebkong where on April 17th, over 100 monks were detained and beaten by Chinese authorities)
When the torch arrives in Lhasa, we want to make sure that we speak out strongly and in a compelling and powerful way. As Chinese authorities have pledged to be merciless to Tibetans in Tibet who dare to speak out during the torch relay, we must raise our voices even higher.
Day of Action Locations & Coordinators:
More locations, details, and Day of Action Coordinators will be listed soon but here some coordinators that are already confirmed. Get in touch with these people if you would like to participate in an event near you:
International:
Canada – Tsering: tsering@studentsforafreetibet.org
United Kingdom – Pema: pema@sftuk.org
India – Shibayan: shibayan@studentsforafreetibet.org
Jess: jessica@studentsforafreetibet.org
USA: New York – Kala: kala@studentsforafreetibet.org
San Francisco – Thupten: thupten@studentsforafreetibet.org
Boston – Jordhen: jorden00@hotmail.com
Washington DC – Rich: dalias@aerial.fx
Seattle – Karma or Tenzin Kalden: info@SeattleTYC.org
Los Angeles – Namgyal: namgyalkyulo@yahoo.com
Obtained from Students For A Free Tibet
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