About Us

Posted Tue, 12/09/2008 - 11:37 by superuser

The International Tibet Support Network is a global coalition of Tibet-related non-governmental organisations. Its purpose is to maximise the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement. The Network works to increase the capacity of individual member organisations, develops coordinated strategic campaigns, and encourages increased cooperation among organisations, thereby strengthening the Tibet movement as a whole.

Network members are committed to non-violence as a fundamental principle of the Tibetan struggle. They regard Tibet as an occupied country and recognise the Tibetan Government in Exile as the sole legitimate government of the Tibetan people. Beyond these principles, the International Tibet Support Network respects the variety of views and opinions of its member organisations, for example concerning Tibet's future political status, and believes that diversity strengthens our movement.

We currently have 170 member organisations. The Network's day to day functioning is managed by a small Secretariat, whose work is overseen by an elected Steering Committee. Steering Committee members represent all six continents where there are Tibet Groups.

Campaigns

The current priority for the Tibet movement is a campaign to pressure China to lift its undedeclared martial law in Tibet. Security has been heightened because of the sensitive 50th Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising which began on 10 March 1959. Tibetans continue to resist China, both with overt protests (click here for a summary) and more subtly, for example by refusing to celebrate the Tibetan New Year (February 2009).

Candle-light vigil, Warsaw, Poland.

China has had Tibet in an iron grip since the Uprisings in early 2008; these led to unprecedented levels of globally coordinated activity in support of the Tibetan people. Between May 2007 and August 2008, the Tibet movement ran campaigns focused on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The International Tibet Support Network develops coordinated campaign strategies in a variety of ways, including forming Campaign Working Groups made up of representatives of member organisations, appointing specially chosen Task Forces or working through Campaign Coordinators.

Coordination

The International Tibet Support Network believes that the global Tibet campaign movement is most effective when its members work together in a coordinated way. To this end, the Network's Secretariat arranges regular Regional Meetings for its member organisations in order for groups to skill-share and engage in detailed strategic planning.

We also have two Regional Coordinators, in South Asia and Latin America, who are reponsible for building the regional network and assisting in finding appropriate regional strategies for implementing global campaigns. They provide support and advice, especially to newly formed groups.

Delegates, Steering Committee Members and Secretariat staff meet in Dharamsala, India, for the Asia Regional Meeting, 2008.

photo: David Huang, SFT India.

Capacity Building

The International Tibet Support Network aims to increase the capacity of the movement by helping its member organisations build their resources and increase the skill-base of their campaigners. The Capacity Building programme includes regular training — often in conjunction with Regional Meetings — and a small grant scheme for members to undertake capacity building projects.

Status of International Tibet Support Network

The International Tibet Support Network is incorporated in the United States of America, where it holds non-profit 501(c)(3) status. Individual members of the Steering Committee form the Board of the Network and meet annually to fulfil their responsibilities.

Funding

In 2010 the International Tibet Support Network has received grant funding from the Isdell Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy, the Gere Foundation and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, as well as donations from individuals. An important part of the Network's funding comes from the annual membership fee paid by member organisations. A copy of the Network's annual return to the United States Inland Revenue Service can be viewed by clicking here.

In this section

Find a Tibet Group

Want to get involved? Find a Tibet organisation near you, using our worldwide interactive map.

Find a Group

Facts about Tibet

Tibet lies at the centre of Asia, with an area of 2.5 million square kilometres (approximately 1 million square miles).

Despite over 50 years of Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan people refuse to be conquered and subjugated by China.

The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and biggest plateau in the world, so Tibet is referred to as “the roof of the world”.

For Tibetans, the term Tibet means the 3 provinces of U'Tsang, Kham and Amdo, the area traditionally known as Tibet before China's invasion.

The English word Tibet is derived from the Arabic word Tubbat. This word is in turn derived via Persian from the Turkic word Tobad, meaning ‘the heights’.

Tibet was occupied by China in 1949, and the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959.

Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have died as a direct result of Chinese occupation since 1949.

There are six million Tibetans in Tibet and roughly 150,000 Tibetans in exile in India and other countries.

Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama to be the temporal as well as spiritual leader of Tibet.

Thousands of Tibetans cross the mighty Himalaya on foot every year into exile, risking death, injuries and arrest.

Most Tibetans are Buddhist, but there are Muslims, Christians and practitioners of Bon, the indigenous religion of Tibet.

In 1948 Tibetan government representatives traveled to the US, UK and France on Tibetan government issued passports.

The exiled Tibetan people elected their first Prime Minister in 2000

In 2008, Tibetans took part in more than 130 separate peaceful protests against the Chinese government across the Tibetan Plateau.

Displaying a photograph of the Dalai Lama in Tibet can result in arrest.

In 1995 the Chinese government abducted the 6 year old Panchen Lama, one of Tibet's most important spiritual leaders. He is still missing.

The longest epic poem in the world is the story of a legendary Tibetan king, Gesar of Ling.

The Tibetan Plateau is the Earth's "Third Pole," providing life-sustaining waters for and regulating weather across south and east Asia.

March 10 is Tibetan National Uprising day. It marks the massive uprising in Tibet in 1959 that led to the escape of the Dalai Lama into exile.

Yak is a Tibetan term for the male of the species. Its female counterpart is called Dri.

Tibetans are denied many of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to self- determination, freedom of speech and religion.

Untll 1949 Tibet had its own government that managed its own domestic and foreign affairs; Tibet had its own national flag and its own currency.

According to Amnesty International more than 1,000 Tibetans were unaccounted for after the protests of 2008.

In the Tibetan Lunar Calendar, the year 2009 corresponds to the year 2136, the Year of the Earth Ox.

Prior to the uprisings of 2008, the last major protests by Tibetans against China's occupation of Tibet took place in 1989, when martial law was declared.