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JUNE 2008 HEADLINES
The Olympic torch relay came to Lhasa for an abbreviated one day tour
on June 21. Only a selected group of journalists accompanied by officials was allowed, and by all accounts the city remains
off bounds to free reporting:
Guardian UK
although it just reopened to tourists:
Google article
Amnesty International issued a report which says that more than 1,000 Tibetans
remain in police custody following the unrest in March. The next day Xinhua news agency announced that a total of 1,157
people who were detained for their involvement in riots were released.. another 12 people were punished and 116 are
still in custody awaiting trial.
One thousand protesters unaccounted for in Tibet lock-down
Olympic torch relay in Tibet amid tight security
Huang Qi, a leading cyber-dissident was kidnapped with two other activists
on June 10 in Chengdu.
Tibetan leaders in Nepal arrested from their homes
Three leaders from the Tibetan community in Kathmandu were taken into
police custody and told they will have to spend 90 days in prison. The three leaders, Kelsang Chung, Director of the United
Nations-funded Tibetan Refugee Reception Center, and Ngawang Sangmo and Tashi Dolma, president and vice president of the regional
Tibetan Women's Association, are being held in two different prisons in Kathmandu. Action alert :This report can be found
online at
ICT calls for urgent international action against new Nepal government arrests of Tibetans
In Nepal authorities detained at least 650 Tibetan exiles protesting against
China's policies
Hundreds of Tibetan exiles arrested in Nepal
And In the northern tip of Nepal adjoining Tibet, a famine looms after
China closed its border in a further bid to crush protests ahead of the August Olympics.
Famine in Nepal after China closes Tibet border
On the Indo tibet border– over 40 protesters on Shipkila
pass attempting to restart the March to Tibet were arrested by Indian police. Several have embarked on hunger strikes
as of press time.
Arrested Tibetan marchers on hunger strike for second day
On a more hopeful note, The Dalai Lama said that talks with China's government
may resume as soon as next month
Dalai Lama says Tibet talks with China may restart
MAY 2008 HEADLINES
We at the Tibet Connection would like to express our deep concern and
sympathy for all those affected by the earthquake in China.
These
organzations that are accepting donations for the victims.
american red cross
just giving
mercy corps
Rebecca Novick’s Huffington Post article with the full statement
by the monks of Tibet’s Kirti monastery. Also on our website, the talk by Human Rights Watch China Researcher.
Huffington Post article
Earthquake news:
Time
CCTV
A Tibetan youth who was arrested in the aftermath of Lhasa unrest in March
is interviewed by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.
TCHRD
The Dalai Lama in Great Britain
Times online
Press Trust News
Guardian
Phayul
BBC News
See also BBC's profile of the Dalai Lama
Olympic/Torch updates
Xinhua
Clarion-Ledger
News.com
Three Tibetan monks testified in Spanish court this week as part of a case
rought against China by the Madrid-based Committee to Support Tibet. It acacuses seven senior Chinese officials, including
former President Jiang Zemin, of ordering torture and massacres in Tibet.
Phayul
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Orgeyen Trinley Dorjeh, arrives in America.
Karmapa in America
Chinese factory produces Tibetan flags
Pico Iyer
Random house
Library Foundation
APRIL 2008 HEADLINES
China has announced it will meet with HHDL but as of yet no dates are set. Skeptics say the talks are
more about appearances prior to the olympics and may not yield substantial change. Officially, the government in exile is
expressing cautious optimism.
READ MORE...
In the US lawmakers are urging the government to take a stand and offer an action plan on Tibet.
In Tibet this week, the first group of Chinese tourists
arrived since the protests that broke into violence beginning March 19. Reports continue to leak out of strict 'Patriotic
Re-education' campaigns, further crackdowns, and even cases of people being disappeared.
READ MORE...
Anti China/Anti Western sentiments come to a boil with worldwide protests and demonstrations
including several inside China
against a chain of French stores. Meanwhile questions about which heads of state should attend Olympics and the role that
corporate sponsors should play continues to dominate the news.
READ MORE...
The Olympic torch is met by peaceful protesters as it makes its way around the world. It is
scheduled to arrive at Mt Everest in early May.
READ MORE...
After a brief stop in New Delhi, a new group of Tibetans joined the the March to Tibet to continue
the journey begun on March 10th in Dharamsala.
READ MORE...
MARCH 2008 HEADLINES
For information about March 31 Global Day of Action
For information about all upcoming protests and actions
Just as we are going to press, tibet.net is reporting
Military and People's Armed Police (PAP) have blocked off water, electricity, food and health facilities in many monasteries
(including Sera, Drepung and Gaden) that have had active involvement in the recent demonstrations in Tibet. and a new set
of protests are reported in and around Lhasa.
Tibet Flash
The torch will make its only North American stop in San Francisco
on April 8 and 9th. A series of events are planned and a huge turnout of human rights activists is expected. Tibet supporters
target US city
English Aljazeera
As for the Beijing Olympics torch, Human rights activists
created another stir at the lighting in Greece all but eclipsing the ceremony.
Pro-Tibet protesters strike as the Olympic flame is lit
Tibetans in exile will host
the "Tibetan Olympics 2008" May 15-25 in Dharmsala — Their version of the Olympic torch relay is already traveling
around the world
Exiled Tibetans to host their own 'Olympics' in northern India
China unhappy at Pelosi-Dalai Lama meeting
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi met the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, on March 21 appearing beside him at a press conference
Perhaps Chinese writer WANG LIXIONG put it best
when he said:
The fundamental cause of these recurrent events is a painful
dilemma that lives inside the minds of Tibetan monks. When the Chinese government demands that they denounce their spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama, monks are forced to choose between obeying, which violates their deepest spiritual convictions, and
resisting, which can lead to loss of government registry and physical expulsion from monasteries
In response to the unrest, he and 28 other leading Chinese intellectuals released a petition in China on March
22, entitled 'Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation'. It is a significant indication that Chinese
voices are being raised in China in response to the way Beijing has handled the protests that began on March 10. Full text
International Campaign for Tibet
Int'l media delegation departs for Tibet after unrest
official website of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
March 10 marks the anniversary of the first tibetan
uprising that occured 49 years ago. Several peaceful events, including a planned March of Tibetans from INdia into Tibet,
were completely overshadowed by a series of protests in Lhasa that quickly spread throughout the Tibetan AutonomousRegion,
Sichuan and Gansu Provinces leaving hundreds injured and hundreds more arrested. According to China's Xinhua
news agency, only 19 deaths occured on that day. The Tibetan Government in exhile puts the number closer to 100. We'll
have links to both their websites so you can see for yourself how the accounts and tallies vary.
Questions, answers about casualties, damages of recent riots
Lhasa March 10th. I spoke with one of the only Western witnesses
there, Steve Dubois, a social worker from Belgium who was travelling with several companions ,. He is reportedly the first
eyewitness to post video on YouTube where one can clearly see protesters and police clashing in Barkor
Square
first eyewitness video on youtube
We begin in Shanghai where exactly a
week before the protests, the singer Bjork suprised the crowd at her concert by ending her song "Declare Independence"
by chanting Tibet, Tibet.
Bjork - Declare Independence for Tibet - Shanghai
JANUARY 2008 HEADLINES
At a joint press conference on January 4, leaders
of five Tibetan freedom organizations called on exiled Tibetans to embark on a major protest march to Tibet ahead of the 2008
Games.
Tibetan Uprising
TIBETANS LAUNCH HISTORIC MOVEMENT AHEAD OF BEIJING OLYMPICS by Tibetan People's Uprising Movement
Exiled Tibetans plan anti-Olympic march back home
Tibetan exiles plan to march from India into Tibet to protest Beijing Olympics
Phayul.com reports that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights believes that the case of Tibet will be getting more attention
DIRECTLY DUE to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Louise Arbour spoke on December 10, World Human Rights day.
Phayul
Phayul dot com also reports that the Chinese government says has it released the world's first Tibetan language office Software
The Associated Press featured a look at how US lawmakers are hoping to use the attention generated by the Bejing summer Olympic
games to highlight their complaints about China's government.
The Associated Press
According to Xinhuanet.com, three major historical renovations in Lhasa will be completed in 2008. 46 million dollars have
been allocated by the central Chinese government to repair the Potola Palace, NorbuLingka palace and the Sagya Monastery.
The repairs were originally set to be completed in 2007.
Xinhua
Xinhua news agency reports that the first ozone observatory in the Tibet Autonomous Region has started operations.
Sir Edmund Hillary died at the age of 88. The bee keeper from New Zealand and his Sherpa colleague Tenzing Norgay were the
first men to ever stand on the top of Mt Everest in 1953. Hillary established the Himalyan Trust in 1960 and devoted much
of his to life raising money to build schools, hospitals and roads in villages in the Himalayan mountains.TV New Zealand dot
com reports that for many in the region he was quote "a second Dalai Lama for us."
A Humanitarian, at 30,000 Feet Remembering Sir Edmund Hillary
SportingNews.com reports that the longest torch relay in Olympic history will officially go through Tienanmen Square on the
final leg of a world tour that still includes passage over the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest.
Sporting News
On new year's day a float celebrating the Beijing Olympics was part of the world famous Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena California
despite the best efforts of a unique coalition of activists including Falun Gong supporters, Tibet Support
Groups and Reporters without Borders.
Los Angeles Times
Protesters will try to steal spotlight from Rose Parade By SOLVEJ SCHOU AP Writer
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