Google and Tibet

Posted Thu, 02/05/2009 - 14:05 by ITSN Executive ...

You will have noticed that our website is using Google Maps to show all our member organisations around the world. Since we have some concerns about Google (indeed, all the major internet search engines) we thought about it long and hard, but the benefits - to you, to able to easily locate a Tibet Group, and to us, to be able to show the size and geographical spread of our member organisations - seemed to justify the decision. We would, however, like to make it clear that we do not approve of Google's complicity with the Chinese Government to censor its search engine to internet users in China and Tibet, nor are we happy that Tibet does not appear on its maps and Google Earth.

We have raised our concerns with Google previously, and they are aware that these issues tarnish their "do no evil" reputation. Co Founder Sergey Brin said as far back as 2006 that, by censoring its search engine in China, the company had adopted "a set of rules that we weren’t comfortable with", adding "...perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense." (The Times, 7 June 2006.)

If you would like to add your voice to ours, please write to Sergey Brin, Google Co-Founder & President, Technology at the address below, with the following message:

"As a company that pledges to 'do no evil', we urge you to follow up on your statement in Washington in June 2006 and adopt a "principled approach" towards your operations in China. Please label the Tibetan Plateau on Google Earth and Google Maps; allow 'Tibet' (rather than Xizang) as a search term for Google Earth/Google Maps, and uncensor sites on Google China that are critical of China's human rights record and its occupation of Tibet. As a prestigious company, you should re-assert your values, and we believe that other companies would follow your leadership to the benefit of Tibetans and Chinese people alike."

Google
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: +1 650-253-0000
Fax: +1 650-253-0001

Put Tibet Back on the Map

By purchasing a "tile"on this online map of Tibet, you can help remove the wash of red colour - symbolising China's occupation - and reveal the vibrant and colourful map hidden beneath.

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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.