Posted on 03/20/2008 12:29:29 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
DHARaMSALA, India–There's a constant buzz in the two-room office of Students for a Free Tibet as throngs of young Tibetans in exile march on the streets.
There's a sudden burst of excitement as Lhadon Tethong of Victoria, B.C., gets off her phone and announces: "There's been an emergency press conference and His Holiness has said he's open to change. He will reassess his stance if that is what the Tibetans want."
Squeals all round and high-fives. Laptops are set aside and everyone gets on their phone to spread the news.
It's eight days since protests inside the Tibet Autonomous Region and its neighbouring prefectures in China helped launch a veritable resistance movement.
Inside the group's tiny office, the excitement is palpable as the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan community, hosts the Tuesday news conference.
In reality, the Dalai Lama did not say he was willing to reassess his traditional position on accepting autonomy within China. Instead, he reaffirmed his commitment to non-violence and promised to stick to his middle-path policy of being autonomous in China.
He'd gone one step further and offered his resignation if violence continued. But at the group's Indian office here the misunderstanding stirred temporary hope for those who have made fighting for a free Tibet a life mission.
When the uprising began in Tibet, 31-year-old Tethong – who was visiting family in India and has travelled across Canada and elsewhere to raise awareness about the Tibet issue – volunteered to assist the Indian chapter of the organization she heads in New York.
That means helping the media centre sift for truth in piles of misinformation. As the uprising in Tibet has gathered steam, so has government censorship in China.
For the 100,000 Tibetans who live in India, and who have struggled to keep in touch with relatives since March 10, passing on information detailing the government's crackdown on family and friends isn't easy as communication lines have been intercepted or broken.
On March 10, Indian police arrested the group's leader in India, Tenzin Choeying, 30, along with more than 100 other marchers.
In his absence, the local team is buttressed by young activists from around the world.
Jessica Spanton, 25, from Montreal, is one of them. She started raising awareness for Tibet while still in high school in Edmonton.
"People in Alberta are basically pretty conservative and don't really care about social justice issues so it was like banging your head against the wall," said Spanton, recalling her time trying to raise awareness about issues back home.
Still, after attending non-violence training and after years of working with the student group, she's remained committed.
Tethong, too, has memories of campaigning difficulties.
"As a family, we would go every year on March 10 (the anniversary of the national uprising) and demonstrate outside the Chinese embassy in Vancouver," she recalled.
"We used to chant for Free Tibet and people would come up and ask us what a Tibet was, and what we were giving away for free."
Last August, Tethong spent six days in China blogging about how the Chinese government was painting an untrue, rosy picture of the situation in Tibet in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games.
Tethong says she was followed for most of her time there. At the end of six days, the Chinese government deported her.
Her blog – Beijing WideOpen.com – had caused a bit of a stir, and she continues to work on it from India recounting her observations.
As visitors to India, Tethong and Spanton aren't participating in the daily marches around town or the candlelight vigils where young Tibetans cautiously remind India to be wary of China.
"Remember 1962!" they shout, referring to the Indo-Chinese war. "Remember how China duped you!"
Many of those who protest are angry because they are cut off from family in Tibet, and they have reservoirs filled with personal stories or hand-me down tales of Chinese brutality or the gradual erosion of Tibetan culture.
As well as giving support to the Tibetan community, Tethong has been receiving some strange emails, like this one from "Liu":
"I am a Chinese living in Lhasa who is astonished by the authority's atrocious crackdown on the Tibetans.
"The current situation is worsening. And though it is still dangerous to send out this letter I believe it is necessary to reveal the truth to the outside world and to you who are fighting for your deserved rights.
"Attached please find some first-hand materials I have collected."
The attachment was a virulent virus intended to destroy files on Tethong's computer.
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/
"As far as His Holiness's stand on autonomy is concerned, I disagree with it," said Mr. Rigzin, a 37-year-old former bank clerk. "I don't see people out on the streets protesting for a 'Middle Way.'"
Mr. Rigzin's outlook differs starkly from that of the Dalai Lama: He makes no promises about the forms resistance might take. "If they continue their brutal repression," he says of the Chinese leaders, "we can't guarantee our struggle will be nonviolent forever."
http://www.tibetanyouthcongress.org/support.html
The protests over Tibet have turned to riots with stores being looted and burned, fire trucks being burned, hospitals being trashed. Video showed banks being broken into. Several blocks throughout the city have been burned to ruin.
Several people have ended up in hospitals with cracked heads and other injuries.
Video of the riots in Tibet.
http://www.cctv.com/video/ChinaToday/2008/03/ChinaToday_300_20080320_3.shtml
Story on riots at link below.
http://www.cctv.com/english/20080320/106872.shtml
Video of the riots in Tibet.
http://www.cctv.com/video/ChinaToday/2008/03/ChinaToday_300_20080320_3.shtml
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