Visit Little Lhasa in India (October 6-11,2008)

Visit McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala - the Little Lhasa in India from (October6-11, 2008). Trekking… Meeting ex-political prisoners and activists from occupied-Tibet…Visiting Buddhist monasteries Experiencing Tibetan culture... art... way of life …… And so much more.

Click here for a guide to Little Lhasa in India:

INTERESTED???

Please e-mail a 250-word write-up to Students For A Free Tibet,India at shibayan@studentsforafreetibet.org by 17th September telling us why you would like to participate in this camp.

For more information contact -

Shibayan Raha - +919810465415 , Sangeeta Chatterjee- +919860536445

Film Screening At TISS

Students for a Free Tibet will hold the Screening of the Film "Compassion In Exile" at the Tata Institute of Social Science at 6pm.
Discussions and general questions about Tibet and the Olympics Campaign will be held after the screening.

Contact- Karma Tshering Yangzom , Sangeeta Chatterjee
Mobile- +919833591547
Email- sftbombay@gmail.com

Bowing to the Inevitable

(By Lhendup Bhutia, August 07, 2008)

The Chinese may be defying the weather gods by shooting rockets into
the air to clear up the skies; spending millions so that every
signboard and restaurant menu reads in English; and officially asking
its citizens to not pick their noses in an attempt to ensure that the
Beijing Olympics a success.

But as people from all over the world wait in excitement for the Games
to open on August 8, to feast their eyes on what China has promised to
be the most magnificent opening the Olympics has ever seen, there is
one community that is not revelling in the action - the Tibetans.

Theirs is the discordant voice, which they say, few are paying heed
to. The scenario is no different in Mumbai. "We are not against the
Olympics, but against China's right to hold such an event," says Eden
Bhutia, a Tibetan studying in St Xavier's College. "The Olympic Games
celebrate the spirit of humanity, and everyone knows of the Chinese
regime's gross human rights violations." Disillusionment, anger and
bewilderment are some of the sentiments that come across. But many are
glad that they at least got the chance to grab the attention of the
world.

"Unfortunate as the March uprising this year at Lhasa was, it was able
to show the world how everything is not all right in China," says
Sethu Das, founder of Friends of Tibet, a support group, which is
sympathetic to the plight of Tibetans all over.

"The important aspect is that such a large uprising took place within
Chinese-occupied Tibet and not elsewhere in the world and thus China's
usual accusation of people outside Tibet fermenting trouble falls
flat," he says.

However, after the intensive media coverage received during the
Olympic torch run across different nations, everything now seems to
have come to a standstill. The Games are just a few days away, but the
protests have died down. "The fault for this lack of action lies among
the Tibetans and their various organisations residing in India and
abroad," says Das. "After the lead taken by their brethren in Tibet,
they should have done more to highlight the issue."

Kesang Bhutia, a college student, looks visibly shaken when asked why
Tibetans have failed to let people know what a grave injustice has
been done to their community. After thinking silently, he asks, "What
could I and people like me have done?" As a young boy living in a
Tibetan settlement in the North-East of India, he took part in various
demonstrations, but he looks helpless as he sums up the predicament of
Tibetans all over the world. "I am expected to study and take care of
my family. I'm alone in a foreign land. What can I do?"

In Das's opinion, this sudden silence after a spate of protests is
eerie. "You never know what can happen or what is being planned by the
various groups in China," he says.

Come August 8th, as people wait with bated breath for the Games to
begin, the people of Tibet, many of whom have not been to their
homeland, will have one question on their minds: How will they keep
the promise they made decades ago of returning to their homeland?

It’s like hurling bodies against bullets’

(By Vijay Crishna, The Sunday Indian Express, August 2, 2008)

In August last year, I was in Nakchu, 500 km north of Lhasa, for the Horse Festival, which is the most important folk festival in Tibet. To my horror I discovered that the horse festival, which is about Tibetan horsemen displaying their prowess in archery, horsemanship and racing, turned out to be a run-up to the Olympic Games. So, in this huge field, the Chinese army did a march past, which was followed by folk dances, much like the Republic Day parade in India.

Suddenly, near the end of the parade, some monks from a nearby monastery were brought in carrying the Chinese flag. The crowd turned silent. Later, I was told that the local Chinese cadres of the Communist Party of China had decided to celebrate the festival in their own way and used this crude method of imposing the country’s domination by forcing the monks to carry the flag.

What I have noticed on my visits to Tibet is the deep resentment against the Chinese. You could feel it everywhere. People are scared to show it, because Chinese security personnel are all over the place. They are all in plainclothes and have infiltrated the monasteries. Most of the monasteries have a Chinese person in charge. Among the monks, there are some Chinese. That is why it was so amazing the riots took place in March.

The unrest spread rapidly, as a result of the use of mobile phones. When I was in Tibet last year, I had been amused at the way the monks were carrying two or three mobile phones. However, now I realise that these mobile phones were used as a potent tool to marshal the protests.
I am amazed at the Tibetan people. They have no weapons. Yet they continue to protest. It is like hurling bodies against bullets. As far as the Chinese are concerned, it is an internal matter of their country. Six million Chinese have been re-settled in Tibet. Very soon, there will be no Tibetan way of life.

Tibet is an extraordinarily beautiful place. The air is very clear and you rarely see such natural beauty: the vast expanses, the mountain ranges, the lakes, and the skies.

However, the people are very poor. There is nothing more disconcerting than to suddenly come across children wearing ragged clothing, and families living in pathetic conditions. Over the last 50 years, out of a population of six million people, more than a million Tibetans have been killed. This is similar to the Holocaust, but nobody knows about it.

The Tibetans also endured a massacre similar to Jalianwala Bagh, when in 1904 Sir Francis Younghusband led an army into Tibet.

At a place called Guru, the British asked the Tibetans to lay down their muskets, but the latter resisted. The British opened fire with their Maxim machine guns. Around 700 people were shot dead in 20 minutes. The Tibetans do not have anybody to highlight their history and, sadly, there is no nothing to mark this horrific tragedy.

The question I am asked often is whether Tibetans should resort to violence. This is a complex question and there are no easy answers. The Dalai Lama, an incredible man whom I have met, has stuck to the concept of non-violence, at what must be at huge personal cost. Even when riots were taking place, he stuck to what he believes. China should now talk with him about the future of Tibet.

At this moment, the future looks bleak. However, there are game changers along the way. There are huge forces building up in China, born out of frustration at the terrible degradation of the environment and the quality of life. People are angry and might revolt. Democracy might eventually come to China. There may be a sea change in the attitude of those who rule Tibet.

(As told to Shevlin Sebastian)

Vijay Crishna has practised theatre for many years and is a keen trekker. He has made several trips to Tibet. Recently, in Kochi, he made an audio-visual presentation, Tibet Of Our Minds: A Journey’s End? organised by Friends of Tibet.

A Friend of Tibet

Expressindia » Story

Sagnik Chowdhury

Posted online: Monday , July 07, 2008 at 10:43:40
Updated: Monday , July 07, 2008 at 10:43:40

You may remember him as Sir Narayan Mukherjee — Shah Rukh Khan’s father in Devdas, or for his roles in Richard Attenbrough’s Gandhi and Sea Wolves, but Vijay Crishna is a man with several other facets.

The managing director of multiple companies including Lawkim India, a Godrej concern that manufactures motors, Crishna is a seasoned thespian, a corporate honcho and an avid mountaineer. Currently, Crishna is taking time out from other commitments to deliver lectures on the Tibetan dispute, an issue he feels very passionately about.

Checking the projector at Max Mueller Bhavan, shortly before he delivers an audio-visual presentation entitled ‘Tibet of our Minds: A Journey’s End’ at a programme organised by non-governmental organisation Friends of Tibet on the occasion of World Tibet Day, Crishna says too many Indians feel the Tibet dispute does not affect them. “To many, Tibet is just something that riles the Chinese. However, there are very serious issues which people need to know about. One such issue I am presently speaking on is the environmental angle to the issue. The timing and the intensity of the Asian monsoon system are driven by the Tibetan plateau,” he says. “I keep changing the focus of my lectures from time to time.”

Over the past year, Crishna has delivered 12 lectures and presentations on Central Asia in Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata, and about 10 more on Tibet. On March 27, in the aftermath of violent protests in Lhasa, he delivered a lecture in Dharamsala.

Lectures and presentations apart, this St Stephens graduate also has a strong passion for trekking, and has explored Tibet and its surrounding areas on several trips. In March this year, he was appointed as the Honorary Secretary of the Himalayan Club.

Since 1973, Crishna has been on numerous treks to places such as Garhwal in Uttaranchal and Nepal’s Annapurna base camp and Muktinath, to name a few.

“My school was located in the hills, and ever since I was a boy, I was fascinated with trekking and mountaineering. In 1992, I went on the government-recognised official pilgrimage route to Kailash Mansarovar, and this is where my interest in Tibet was sparked off. In 2004, I visited the Greenlakes just below base camp at Kanchenjunga. My interest in Tibet and Central Asia was fuelled by extensive reading on the matter. In 2006 and 2007, I made two visits to Tibet with my family, and covered the area spanning 500 km north and east of Lhasa,” recalls Crishna.

Amongst Crishna’s professional achievements is the establishment in 1991 of the Nairoji Godrej Centre for Plant Research in Satara, to research and propagate rare species and endangered species of medicinal plants endemic to the Western Ghats.

Asked about his acting portfolio, Crishna smiles: “My first job was in Kolkata, and there I started acting in plays, and have continued ever since. Acting gives me a lot of fun and satisfaction, and it has helped me make many friends and understand different characters.”

THE TIBETAN IN MUMBAI

The Tibetan in Mumbai
is not a foreigner.

He is a cook
at a Chinese takeaway.
They think he is Chinese
run away from Beijing.

He sells sweaters in summer
in the shade of the Parel Bridge.
They think he is some retired Bahadur.

The Tibetan in Mumbai
abuses in Bambaya Hindi,
with a slight Tibetan accent
and during vocabulary emergencies
he naturally runs into Tibetan.
That's when the Parsis laugh.

The Tibetan in Mumbai
likes to flip through the MID-DAY,
loves FM, but doesn't expect
a Tibetan song.

He catches the bus at a signal,
jumps into a running train,
walks into a long dark gully
and nestles in his kholi.

He gets angry
when they laugh at him
'ching-chong-ping-pong'.

The Tibetan in Mumbai
is now tired,
wants some sleep and a dream.
On the 11pm Virar Fast,
he goes to the Himalayas.
The 8.05am Fast Local
brings him back to Churchgate
into the Metro: a New Empire.

The Above is a Poem by Tenzin Tsundue,Tibetan Poet and Activist

Indian activists condemn Tibet leg of Olympic Torch Relay; call it a failure

Phayul[Saturday, June 21, 2008 15:56] By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, June 21: A group of Indian Tibet activists today condemned the parading of the Olympic torch through Tibet’s capital Lhasa, accusing China of “using the Olympic Games as a tool for legitimizing its control in Tibet”.

Indian and Tibetan protesters wrapped in Tibetan National flag stage a street play in Dharamsala, on Saturday, June 21, 2008, to protest against Olympic torch relay going through Tibetan capital, Lhasa, accusing China of doing it against the interest of Tibetan people. (Phayul)

The group joined by Tibetans, all wrapped in Tibetan National Flag, took part in a street play depicting the “current situation of fear in Tibet” and China’s policy of using the games for consolidating its grip on Tibet. They also shouted slogans demanding to China to leave Tibet and “Free Tibet Now”.

The Olympic torch, which was marred by protests in greater part of its relay around the world, was paraded through Lhasa, on Saturday; starting in front of the Norbulingka and ending below the Potala Palace, both former residences of the Tibet’s exiled leader the Dalai Lama.

The three-hour relay was paraded amid tight security with police on guard every 200 metres and hand-picked spectators along the torch relay route, according to media reports. Reports described seeing trucks full of troops and riot police in other areas.

Contrary to China's vows to allow unimpeded media access in the lead-up to the Games, only a selected group of journalists accompanied by officials was allowed into Lhasa for the relay, Reuters reported Saturday, adding “The city remains off bounds to free reporting”.

While protesting the Tibet leg of torch relay, the Indian activists also called on the Chinese government to release details of the 12 people sentenced by courts on Thursday and Friday for allegedly involved in the March unrest as reported earlier by China’s state news agency.

Tibetan Government-in-exile claim they have confirmed information that Chinese crackdown in Tibet has killed more than 200 Tibetans following widespread anti-China unrest since March 10. It also says 1000 more were injured and several more are being held under arbitrary arrest after the heavy military crackdown on Tibetan demonstrators.

China released 1,157 people who were involved in the riots in Lhasa, the official Xinhua news agency said on the eve of the relay, a move, described by AFP as, seen as an attempt to defuse tension about the event.

The move also comes amid concerns raised by Amnesty International, earlier this week, that a quarter of about 4,000 people detained by police during the riots in Tibet in March are unaccounted for. China is also routinely accused by other rights and activist groups of turning Tibet into a virtual prison.

“We are completely against the arrival of the torch in Tibet after all the violent crackdown on Tibetan people,” Tenzin Norkyi, who took part in today’s street protest here, told Phayul.

The Chinese government considerably shortened the original relay route in Tibet to just one day instead of three. The event was further cut short from eight hours to three, citing last month's massive earthquake.

Rights groups and pro-Tibet protests have condemned China’s decision to take the torch to Tibet and demanded China to cancel the torch relay through Lhasa because of the recent anti-China unrest.

Speaking to Phayul, Shibayan Raha, the coordinator of today’s protest, said “We condemn the decision of the Chinese Government to take the torch to Lhasa. Today’s torch relay in Lhasa was clearly a rehearsed event without any open support and welcome from the Tibetan people”.

“For the Chinese Government, to carry the torch to Tibet is to show to the world that Tibet is part of China and to showcase a harmonious Tibet,” the Indian activist, who is also the Outreach Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet (India), said.

“Chinese government’s plan to showcase a harmonious Tibet regardless of the deep resentment of Tibetan people against its rule will fail,” he added.

According to him, after the recent unrest in Tibet has sown more awareness about the issue among Indian masses and that there has been a growing support for the Tibetan cause from them.

He feels Indians have greater role to play for the Tibetan cause and thinks his government is not “up to the mark” even when it knows the historical truths about Tibet.

“China wants to show to the world that everything is fine in Tibet; reality we know is Tibetans are dying there and Tibet is locked down to the outside world,” Mr Raha asserts.

“We will seize every opportunity to highlight the situation in Tibet during the days leading to the Olympics in Beijing,” Chintan Raj from Mumbai, who is currently in the town on Tibet study tour under ‘Gurukul Project’ initiated by Universal Responsibility Foundation in Delhi, said.

“In the case of Tibet, we believe in only one thing - ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’, he says.