Madison SFT goes to San Francisco!

Most of the members of the Madison chapter of Students for a Free Tibet were in San Francisco as the official Beijing Olympic torch made its only stop in North America.

We had a great time and had time to do some interviews with local Madison media back home:

Tenzin Lobsang Kunor on the 8 O'Clock Buzz (WORT 89.9 FM)

Tenzin Wangyal on In Our Backyard (WORT 89.9 FM)

April 19: Human Rights Torch comes to Madison!

Don't miss it!

Show your support for Tibetans, Falun Gong, Sudanese and all those oppressed by the Chinese government.

Saturday, April 19, 2008
11:00am Torch Ceremony/Speeches – State Capital at State Street
12:00pm Torch Procession down State Street
(from Capital to UW Campus)
1:00pm Rally and Informational Tables – Podium at Library Mall/UW Campus

Please wear your chupa.

Olympian Casey FitzRandolph will carry the torch and State Representative Joe Parisi will speak at the capital.

The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) is an international campaign that seeks to bring an end to all human rights abuses against people in China. During the run up to the 2008 Olympics, the HRTR will sponsor events in 37 countries on five continents to publicize its founding premise:

The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist in China.

For more information on the Human Rights Torch Relay, go to http://www.humanrightstorch.org

Madison SFT Member Interviewed by Local Radio Station

March 31, 2008 was a global day of action for Tibet. In Madison, the Wisconsin Tibetan Association and Students for a Free Tibet chapter held candlelight vigils downtown on March 30 and 31.

This drew local media attention to the plight of the Tibetans. Nawa Dolker, member of Students for a Free Tibet, was interviewed by WORT 89.9 FM.

Listen to her 2 minute interview

600 Attend Protest in Chicago and Daily Vigils Held in Madison

On March 18th, over 600 Tibetans and American supporters joined together to show their solidarity with the people of Tibet in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The March began at 10:30am at Water Tower Place and went through the city to the Chinese Consulate, where the protest continued through 5 pm.

6 Buses came from Minneapolis, MN, 4 from Madison, WI as well as numerous individuals from throughout the Midwest.

Towards 3:30pm, one Tibetan man from Chicago scaled the Consulate building and waved the Tibetan flag from the roof for about 2 minutes before two Chinese guards stopped him. They began to pull him and he showed some resistance, at which point one guard kicked him in the leg. This caused a passionate outcry from the closely observing crowd.

Many more media representatives were there then in previous protests in Chicago, and good press coverage was provided in several Chicago area newspapers and television stations.
Article in Chicago Sun-Times
Article in Chicago Tribune

In Madison, Wisconsin an ongoing vigil from morning until 9pm is being held every day at the Memorial Library Building downtown. Please join us!

View Larger Map

Also, Mr. Lobsang Tenzin, President of the Wisconsin Tibetan Association was interviewed on WORT 89.9 FM on March 19, 2008 about the heated situation in Tibet and our response in Madison.
Listen to the interview here (6 minutes)

Tibetan Uprising Day around the Midwest

There are many Tibetan Uprising Day commemorations happening on March 10th, 2008 in the Midwest USA:

Chicago, IL
Minneapolis, MN
Madison, WI
Berea, KY

To get more info please contact:

Tenzin Youdon youdoniscool@gmail.com (Illinois)
Ngawang Dolker dolke001@umn.edu (Minnesota)
Tenzin Tsetan tsetan@wisc.edu (Wisconsin)
Tenzin Drukdak drukdakt@berea.edu (Kentucky)

Donate $10 to SFT before February 1 and SFT can win $50,000!

• Log on to your Facebook account. If you don't have an account already, please open one at www.facebook.com • Once you're logged in, go to: apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/47691 • Donate $10 to the Tibetan Freedom Movement. The $50,000 award will be given away on Friday, February 1st, so please donate before then. In order to win the $50,000 award, which can fund two high-profile direct actions at the Beijing Olympics, we need more "unique" or first-time donors. Please help us find these new people. For tech support, please contact Kala Mendoza, SFT's Grassroots Coordinator and Facebook Commander. Phone: (917) 595-0140 Email: kala@studentsforafreetibet.org What is Facebook's Causes Giving Challenge? As many of you know, we have been presented a unique fundraising opportunity through Facebook. The Case Foundation has committed $250,000 to a donation challenge for non-profit organizations. The way this contest works is as follows. For every 24 hour period until February 1, 2008, from 2pm CST to 2pm CST on the following day, the non-profit organization with the most unique donors wins $1000 from Facebook. Over the 50 day period running until February 1, 2008, the organization with the most unique donors receives $50,000, second most unique donors receives $25,000, and third through fifth most unique donors receives $10,000.

Nangpa La Pass Awareness

video edited by Tashi Eugyal

International Human Rights Day Banner Hang Video

Bejing We Are Ready!

Dec 10th Human Rights Day

The importance of International Human Rights Day Listen

8-10 AM - Banner Hang "Beijing We Are Ready"

5-8 PM - Humanities Building

• SFT
• Falun Gong
• New China forum presents documentaries on human rights abuses in China followed by a candle light vigil.

5:30 PM - Gather all the Tibetans at the Memorial library

6:00 PM - All the Tibetans and their supporters will gather at Library Mall to conduct a candlelight vigil. They will walk the candle light through state street
to the downtown where the WTA will give a small speech and so do we (Students for Free Tibet). While we doing the candle walk, two people from WTA
will be sitting back by the area between library mall and book store and will show a movie. The movies include the Congressional award for his holiness and the Nangpa-la pass.

8:00 PM - We will all gather back where the movie will be playing. After getting their people can leave i suppose.

SFT have to get the permit from the state to show the movie. WTA said they informed the state about the procession during the candlelight vigil.

Radio Interview and new, exclusive I Heart Tibet t-shirts

This morning Students for a Free Tibet members T.K. and Abi were interviewed on WORT 89.9 FM. They spoke about the upcoming Talent Show and White Tee Dance Party fundraiser, Blood Over Nangpa-la, and why the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic games are important.

LISTEN

Also, we will be selling exclusive I Heart Tibet t-shirts at the fundraiser this Saturday. These were designed and made by one of our members, Tarzan, and there are precious few. So be sure to show up early to get yours.

Fundraiser Talent Show and White Tee Party

The Madison chapter of Students for a Free Tibet is having a fundraiser on Saturday November 17 to raise money for Beijing Olympics activists. The 2008 games are coming up fast, and Tibet supporters need to show their support for the cause now more than ever.

Talent Show

James Madison Memorial High School
201 South Gammon Road
Saturday, November 17, 2007
5:00 - 7:30 PM

$10 general admission
$7 for 6 - 12 year olds
Free for children under 6

The Talent Show will include performances by local Tibetan singers and dancers, Hindi dancing, and more. We will also be showing the 20 minute documentary Blood Over Nangpa-la.

White Tee Dance Party

Neighborhood House
29 South Mills Street
Saturday, November 17, 2007
9:00 PM - 2:00 AM

$10 without a white t-shirt
$8 with a white t-shirt on

This party will not only have an awesome DJ and dancing, it’s gonna look awesome. Wear a white t-shirt and the black lights we have all over the room will make you glow like a star.

Wisconsin Tibetan Radio airs next month!

After months of planning, the first episode of the Madison Tibetan radio hour will air in Madison, WI on Friday October 12, 2007 on Madison's new LPFM station, WIDE 99.1 FM.



For more information, please visit the Wisconsin Tibetan Radio website.

You can also get the Wisconsin Tibetan Radio podcast.

Lhadon and Tendor Visit Madison

The Fall 2007 semester has started and we are already working hard!

The weekend before school started, Labor Day weekend, we attended the Mangtso Duchen, or Tibetan Democracy Day picnic. It was a beautiful late summer day with lots of momos and conversation.

Then on Sunday, September 2nd, over 100 local Tibetans gathered to hear Lhadon Tethong and Tenzin Dorjee of Students for a Free Tibet speak about their experiences fighting for Tibetan freedom within China and Tibet.

Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Gil Halsted was there to interview Lhadon and Tendor, and filed this report:

Tibetan Exile Rally
By Gil Halsted
Monday, September 3, 2007

(MADISON) Tibetan activists organizing protests surrounding the 2008 Beijing Olympics were in Madison on Sunday. More than 100 members of Madison's large Tibetan exile community turned out to support the efforts of Tenzin Dorjee and Canadian-born Lhadon Tethong. The two spoke about their plans to use the Olympics to shine a light on what they call China's illegitimate control of their country.

Thirty-one-year old Lhadon Tethong was just deported from China for running a pro-Tibetan blog. At one point, she says thirty Chinese security police were trailing her around Beijing. She says Tibetan exiles like those in Madison can help promote Tibetan independence during next summer's Olympic Games by holding peaceful protests at the Chinese embassy in Chicago. She says the effort will be to make sure that the moment that China is trying to convince the world that Tibet belongs to them, Tibetans and those that can use their voice living in freedom and say 'no, we actually speak for Tibetans inside Tibet, and what's happening inside has to change.'

Brown University graduate Tenzin Dorjee was arrested this spring for displaying a pro-Tibetan banner at the Mount Everest base camp on the route China plans to use for the Olympic Torch run. He hopes next summer's games will be a focus for international protest in support of
Tibetan independence, to show the world and the Chinese government that unless China is out of Tibet, China can never really enjoy the glory and social standing acceptance that he says they so much desire.

China annexed Tibet in 1950 leading to a mass exodus of many Tibetans to India and other parts of the world. Tibetans plan their own Olympics in India and have asked the International Olympic Committee to allow for a Tibetan exile team to send athletes to the Beijing games.

This article was also posted on Phayul with some more pictures of Lhadon and Tendor.

Summary of Spring 2007 semester

University of Wisconsin-Madison Students for a Free Tibet had our most ambitious and successful semester in recent memory. At the beginning of the semester we made a laundry list of goals. To our own surprise, we were able to reach the majority of these goals (China hasn't left Tibet, so our work is not done yet :)


Buddhist monks from Soquel, Cal. watch a street artist on State Street in Madison, WI.
On the Front Page of The Daily Cardinal on May 4, 2007.


Our Press This Semester:

February 15, 2007
Wisconsin State Journal
The Dalai Lama Will Speak At Kohl Center In May
by Heather LaRoi

February 15, 2007
The Badger Herald
Dalai Lama to visit city
by Peter Sielski

March 12, 2007
The Badger Herald
Madison rallies for ‘Free Tibet’
by Peter Sielski

April 24, 2007
The Capital Times
Mixing Integrity, Sustainability
by Mary Bergin

April 26, 2007
Wisconsin State Journal
Tibetan Flag Sparks Controversy
by Patricia Simms

April 26, 2007
The Capital Times
Plan To Raise Tibet's Flag Here Raises China's Ire
by Pat Schneider

April 27, 2007
The Capital Times
Tibetan Flag Will Fly Despite Flap
by Pat Schneider

April 27, 2007
Wisconsin State Journal
Tibetan Flag Will Fly In Madison
by Patricia Simms and Brittany Schoepp

April 27, 2007
The Badger Herald
Concern arises over flag display
by Courtney Johnson

April 28, 2007
The Capital Times
Flying Tibet Flag Just Neighborly
Editorial

April 29, 2007
Wisconsin State Journal
We Need To Resist Chinese On Tibet
by John Nichols

April 30, 2007
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison Shouldn't Fly Tibetan Flag
by William Wineke

May 1, 2007
Wisconsin State Journal
Flag For Tibet, Not For Soldiers
Opinion by Charles R. Clarke, Boscobel

May 2, 2007
The Badger Herald
Tibetan flag flap should blow over
by Jack Garigliano

May 2, 2007
The Badger Herald
Tibetan student speaks on campus
by Peter Sielski

May 2, 2007
The Daily Cardinal
Tibetan speaks to students before Dalai Lama’s arrival
by Marly Schuman

May 3, 2007
The Badger Herald
Dalai Lama begins city tour
by Courtney Johnson

May 3, 2007
The Daily Cardinal
Mayor, state Reps. Black and Parisi meet with Dalai Lama

May 3, 2007
The Daily Cardinal
Dalai Lama to address sold out UW crowd
by Lara Sokolowski


Returning members:

• Hilary (Midwest Regional Coordinator)


• Tom (Chapter Coordinator)


• Annie


• Abi


• Asius

What We Did This Semester:

January 4 - 10, 2007: Tom, Asius, and Abi attend 9th International Free Tibet! Action Camp in San Diego.

January 18 and 20, 2007: Hilary, Tom, and Abi draft goals for Spring 2007 semester.

January 29, 2007: Info Table at Student Organization Fair in Memorial Union.

January 31, 2007: Kickoff. We had 4 interested students attend, including 2 new members:

• Allison


• Tina

February 4, 2007: Tibetan Movie Night at Hilary's house. We watched Windhorse.

February 9, 2007: Creation of UW SFT blog!

February 14, 2007: Valentine's Day Inventory Party at Abi's house and tour of our Union South office.

February 24, 2007: Tom, Asius, Hilary, and Abi attend the Wisconsin Tibetan Association's Losar Party.

March 2, 2007: Hilary and Abi go to Madison Avenue club to reach out to young Tibetans, especially promoting March 10th demonstrations.

March 5, 2007: Weronika, Hilary, Annie, Tom, and Abi have an info table at the International Women's Day Film Screening in the Memorial Union.

March 7, 2007: Allison, Annie, Asius, Hilary, Abi, and Tom meet to get ready for March 10th demonstration and end up making a commercial. Watch the commercial.

March 10, 2007:

• Asius and Weronika attend Madison demonstration.
  
• Tina, Hilary, Abi, and Tom attend the Chicago demonstration. See pictures.

March 12, 2007: Tom speaks at Amnesty International (Madison chapter) meeting

March 21, 2007:

• Wisconsin Tibetan Association's Vice President, Jampa Khedup-la, speaks at our weekly meeting.


• Tenzin attends our meeting and joins our chapter.

April 12 and 14, 2007: Info Table at Wisconsin Film Festival's screening of Tibet: A Country in Exile.

April 14, 2007: Dechen Tashi-la has SFT members over for Lunch.

April 17, 2007:

• Abi holds Taco Bar lunch fundraiser at her work.
  
• Tom, Hilary, and Abi attend the Madison Common Council meeting where the Tibet Flag resolution is voted on. Hilary spoke in support of the resolution, along with local Tibetans and Tibet supporters. The resolution passed unanimously.

April 18, 2007: Hilary holds Taco Bar lunch fundraiser at her work.

April 20, 2007: Tenzin, Tom, Allison, Asius, and Annie hold pizza fundraiser in front of Social Sciences building on UW campus.

April 21, 2007: Hilary speaks in front of the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago about the Panchen Lama and Beijing 2008 Olympics.

April 22, 2007: Tom, Tom's brother Nick, Asius, Abi, and Hilary receive a teaching from Geshe Sopa-la at Deer Park Buddhist Center.

April 25, 2007: Allison, Asius, Tom, Annie, Hilary, and Abi hang banners reading: "WHERE'S TIBET'S PANCHEN LAMA?" and "NO OLYMPICS BEIJING 2008" from a bridge on campus during rush hour.

April 27, 28, and 30, 2007: Info and Merchandise Table at the Orpheum Theatre during their screening of Vajra Sky Over Tibet.

April 29, 2007: Annie, Tom, Hilary, Asius, Abi, and Jampa Khedup-la hold a service focused on Tibet and Buddhism at Prairie Universal Unitarian church.

May 1, 2007: Tenzin Dickyi gives her presentation "Land of the Melting Snows" on the UW campus.

May 6, 2007: End of the Year Tapas Party at Hilary's house.


During the summer many of us will be traveling and resting after a semester well done. But we can still be reached by email: sft.uwmadison (at) gmail.com

Also, you can join our events email list to receive an email notification of our public events.

Panchen Lama's 18th Birthday Banner Hang

HENRY A. KOSHOLLEK/THE CAPITAL TIMES

Members of Students for a Free Tibet hang a banner Wednesday on a bridge over University Avenue connecting two buildings on the UW-Madison campus. Their banner calls for the release of the Panchen Lama of Tibet, an important spiritual and political leader detained by the Chinese government in 1995.

Plan to raise Tibet's flag here raises China's ire
Pat Schneider

The Capital Times

Published: April 26, 2007

It would mean a lot to Madison area Tibetans to see their flag fly over the City-County Building during a visit by the Dalai Lama next week, said Sherab Lhatsang.

"In Tibet, if you possess a Tibetan flag or honor the Dalai Lama, you can be locked up," Lhatsang said Wednesday.

Lhatsang is a leader in the local Tibetan community, estimated at more than 500 residents of Dane County. Many came to the United States through a resettlement program that followed the 1950 invasion of Tibet by China. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people.

The government of China, through its consul in Chicago, has objected to the city of Madison's plans to raise the flag over City Hall next week.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Consul Zhiyuan Ji described himself as "astonished" that the Madison city government would take official action to welcome the Dalai Lama.

He is "not merely a religious figure, but a political exile who has long been engaged in activities of separating Tibet from China," Ji wrote.

Mayoral spokesman George Twigg said Wednesday that the city would go ahead with its welcome for the Dalai Lama.

"We have no plans to ask for any changes to any aspect of his visit," Twigg said.
The mayor, he said, declined to meet with the Chinese consul.

A resolution passed on a voice vote by the City Council on April 18 calls for a welcome for the Dalai Lama and "appropriate placements" of the Tibetan flag in his honor.

The suggestion is that the flag fly over the City-County Building, but since the building's operating rules allow only the U.S. flag to be flown, an exception would be required.

The City-County Liaison Committee will meet at 7:30 tonight in Room 201 of the City-County Building to consider an exception to permit the Tibetan flag to be flown.

Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said his organization has taken no official position on the issue, but that fundamental separation of church and state must be preserved.

"Our government is a secular government. Since the Dalai Lama is a religious leader, we cannot use our government buildings or money to endorse him," Barker said.

Clearly, the Dalai Lama is a political leader as well as a religious leader. But so are many others, Barker said. "What about Pat Robertson? Would we fly a flag at the City-County Building to honor him? He's a political leader too."

"There should be a separation from religions you like as well as religions you don't like," he said.
"We would hope that the Dalai Lama himself would ask the flag not to be flown. He should be sensitive to the social conflict that arises when you mix religion and government," Barker said.

Lhatsang, who has been a leader in the Wisconsin Tibetan Association, said about 100 supporters, Tibetans and members of Students for a Free Tibet were on hand when the resolution honoring the Dalai Lama was approved.

"People were really moved when the resolution was approved," he recalled.

This is the second time in just weeks that the Chinese government has reacted to largely symbolic government measures in Wisconsin.

Last month, two representatives of the Chinese consulate visited state Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, to express their displeasure of his sponsorship of a resolution commemorating a 1959 Tibetan uprising against China.

Hilary Edwards, Midwest coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet, said the Chinese government has of late demonstrated greater interest in such measures, as it tries to burnish its image before hosting the 2008 World Olympics by diverting attention from its relationship with Tibet.

"China is working hard at having a more presentable image to show the rest of the world," Edwards said.

"There's a lot of support for the Tibetan community in Wisconsin," she said.

Ji's letter, where he points to Wisconsin's growth of trade with China and advises careful reconsideration of the wisdom of welcoming the Dalai Lama, is nothing short of a threat, she said.

"I don't see how it could be interpreted as anything else," she said.

E-mail: pschneider@madison.com

Speaker Tenzin Dickyi's Midwest Tour Dates Confirmed

April 29, 2007

3:00 PM

Tibetan Alliance of Chicago

950 West Carmen Street

Chicago, Illinois

May 1, 2007

6:00 PM
1121 Humanities
455 North Park Street
Madison, Wisconsin

CHINA’S OLYMPIC TORCH OUT OF TIBET

ACTIVISTS CALL ON OLYMPIC COMMITTEE TO REFUSE PROPOSED TORCH ROUTE

Contact:
Lhadon Tethong (917) 418-4181 (New York)
Kate Woznow (778) 322-3071 (Vancouver)

April 18, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York – Students for a Free Tibet calls on the International Olympic Committee to reject China's plan to run the Olympic torch over Mount Everest and through Tibet. The IOC is currently meeting in Beijing and will make a final decision on China’s proposed torch route – including plans to take it through Tibet and Taiwan – by April 26th.

“Allowing China to run the Olympic torch through Tibet would mean the IOC’s mark of approval for China's military occupation of our nation,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “Nothing in the mission of the Olympic Games includes providing validation for the most abhorrent and shameful policies of the host nation.”

“The IOC has nine days to make the right decision and keep the Olympic torch out of what the Associated Press recently called a ‘politically charged territory’,” Tethong continued. “It has no business helping the Chinese government strengthen its claim over Tibet. The IOC has a moral
obligation to stop the Olympic Games from becoming a means for China to legitimize its authoritarian rule over Tibet and other occupied territories.”

“This shouldn’t be a hard decision for the IOC members to make,” said Kate Woznow, Director of Students for a Free Tibet in Canada. “The international community expects the IOC to show they have a backbone and will not allow the Chinese government to use the Olympic Games to whitewash the terrible reality of China’s repressive rule in Tibet.”

“Olympics organizers are quoted as saying ‘the torch symbolizes peace and friendship,’” Woznow added. “Sending the torch through Tibet would undermine this message and shows a complete disregard for the suffering of the Tibetan people.”

The thirty-ninth Olympic Games are scheduled to be held in Beijing in
August 2008. China has proposed bringing the Olympic torch to the summit of Mount Everest next year on its way to Beijing. The Beijing Games have already been the subject of major protests by the Tibetan exile community and have been called “the Genocide Olympics” by Darfur activists. Tibet has been occupied by China since 1949.

Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) is a network of students and young people campaigning for Tibetan independence. With 650 chapters in more than thirty countries worldwide, SFT is working to shine the Olympic spotlight on China’s occupation of Tibet. SFT is based in New York, with offices in Vancouver, London, and Dharamsala, India.
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/

--
Beijing 2008: One World, One Dream: Free Tibet.
Lhadon Tethong
Executive Director
Students for a Free Tibet
602 East 14th Street, 2 Floor, New York, NY 10009 USA
Tel: (212) 358-0071 / Fax: (212) 358-1771

Speaker Tenzin Dickyi on UW campus May 1st 6 PM

Voice of America featured on WORT 89.9 FM Madison, WI

Aired April 12, 2007 just before 7:00 PM during the WORT 89.9 FM local news show "In Our Backyard"

Features an interview with a Tibetan-American Madison resident, Jampa Khedup-la

Listen