60th Anniversary of the 'Peaceful Liberation of Tibet'

Posted Mon, 06/27/2011 - 12:42 by Mandie McKeown

1. Global Fax Action: [PDF] | [Facebook Note] | [Google Doc]

2. Global Text Action [PDF] | [Facebook Note] | [Google Doc]

3. Placards: Numerous placard templates are available to download and include slogans such as, 'Stop the Crackdown in Ngaba' and 'China: End the Occupation in Tibet NOW!'. The placards can be downloaded as PDFs and printed in Tibetans, English and Chinese [Note: we advise groups use placards with Tibetan and Chinese slogans as well as your own language].

If you would like placards in your own langauge please send us translated text to campaigns@tibetnetwork.org

[Full Zip file]

[English]

Tibetan- [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

[Chinese]

4. How to Arrange a Flash Mob (PDF)

5. Sample PRESS RELEASE (Updated 11 July 2011)

Download in WORD: [English] ORIGINAL VERSION [French] [Spanish]

[ADD] Date:

For further information:
[ADD YOUR NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS]
[Edit] Mandie McKeown (English, UK) + 44 7748 158 618
[Edit] Tenzin Jigme (English/Tibetan, USA) + 1 703 424 0015

China seals Tibet off from world for propaganda drive around sensitive anniversary

Campaigners hold Global Day of Action to censure crackdown across TIbet

Tibet campaigners from over 180 organisations in more than 50 countries worldwide today slammed China’s latest propaganda drive in Tibet, to mark the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the 17 Point Agreement of 1951 - what China calls the 60th anniversary the “peaceful liberation” of Tibet (Note 1).

China has sealed off the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) to foreign tourists for a month for events which have included the 90th Anniversary of the founding of China's Communist Party. Reports suggest that senior Chinese leaders and perhaps some foreign guests will travel to Lhasa in mid July for events to mark the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the 17 Point Agreement. The period is also likely to include military exercises which will only serve to heighten existing tensions.

"China has had 60 years to win Tibetan hearts and minds, and has utterly failed." said Tenzin Jigme of the International Tibet Network a global coalition of Tibet-related campaign organisations OR YOUR SPOKESPERSON (2). "The propaganda concerning China's supposed 'achievements' in Tibet has barely changed over the years, yet Tibetans have repeatedly rejected Chinese rule in huge numbers, with widespread protests across the plateau in the period since 2008. Tibetan resistance is continuing to this day, with the districts of Ngaba and Kardze in eastern Tibet currently seeing extraordinary and persistent incidents of protest, and even a protest in Lhasa itself."

In [LOCATION], Campaigners [DESCRIPTION OF YOUR EVENT] as part of a Global Day of Action for Tibet. Other events took place in Paris, Munich, Delhi, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington DC.

Protests continue to flare inside Tibet

China’s propaganda drive is fuelling Tibetan protests which have continued since earlier this year. Ngaba town and Kirti Monastery in eastern Tibet (Ch: Sichuan) have been in crisis since mid March when a 20 year-old Tibetan monk named Phuntsok burned himself to death. Since Phuntsok's death, the area has seen further protests, and the authorities have engaged in a major crackdown on the monks of Kirti Monastery. According to local sources, on 22 April over 300 monks were forcibly removed by paramilitaries in an incident that left two elderly Tibetans standing guard at the monastery gates dead from beatings (3).

In neighbouring Kardze since 6 June, many monks and nuns have staged individual or small group protests, calling for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and freedom for Tibet. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy says that protests have escalated throughout mid June with sometimes two or three incidents a day, and that more than 60 people have been detained (4). There is a significant security presence in Ngaba and Kardze and foreigners in both areas have been asked to leave. In Kardze thousands of Tibetans defied the crackdown to celebrate the Dalai Lama's 76th birthday on 6 July (4a).

A rare protest also took place in Lhasa on 22 June (4a). Despite the intense build up of military in the city and the knowledge that imprisonment is certain on detention, two monks, both from Kardze, shouted slogans including, "We want freedom and human rights in Tibet". One monk, 19 year old Tashi Tsewang, was detained immediately; the whereabouts of the other is unknown (5).

"While China invites foreign journalists to view exhibitions about Tibet in Beijing, it will not permit the media to see the Tibet Autonomous Region or other restive parts of Tibet for themselves. China's bold assertions that the Tibetan people are happy after over 60 years of occupation ring hollow, and with good reason given the courage and tenacity of those Tibetans continuing to protest " said the International Tibet Network's Mandie McKeown. "While we deplore the closure of Tibetan areas to independent observers, we call on any foreigners invited to participate these anniversary events to stay away since their presence would represent a sickening endorsement of China’s appalling human rights record in Tibet."

Notes to Editor:

1. The '17 Point Agreement' followed China's invasion of Tibet in 1949/50. Signed on 23 May 1951 by the Chinese government and by the Tibetan government under duress, the 'agreement' collapsed under growing opposition to Chinese rule among Tibetans and the escape of the Dalai Lama in 1959. For a report on 60 Years of China's Failed Policies in Tibet see www.17pointsofdisagreement.org.

2. The International Tibet Network is a global coalition of Tibet related non-governmental organizations, which works to maximize the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement. Network Member organizations hold varied positions on Tibet’s future political status, but all regard Tibet as an occupied country and are dedicated to ending human rights violations in Tibet, and to working actively to restore the Tibetan people’s right under international law to determine their own political, economic, social, religious, and cultural status.

3. For a statement from the worldwide Tibet movement on the situation in Ngaba, see http://www.tibetnetwork.org/campaigns-ngabastatement.

4. Radio Free Asia 23 June 2011 - http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/kardze-06232011123830.html

4a. See Phayul http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=29728&article=Kardze+erupts+i... and ICT http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/powerful-images-d...

5. See International Campaign for Tibet http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/dozens-tibetans-i....

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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.

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