Petition for Tibet

[Sara S]

Subject: petition for Tibetans


Let's support our friends in Tibet.

--- "Ricken Patel - Avaaz.org" <[email protected]>
wrote: Avaaz.org - The World in Action


Dear friends,

Tibetans have exploded onto the streets in
frustration--calling on China to respect human rights
and enter dialogue with the Dalai Lama now: Sign the
Petition!

After decades of repression under Chinese rule, the
Tibetan people's frustrations have burst onto the
streets in protests and riots. With the spotlight of
the upcoming Olympic Games now on China, Tibetans
are crying out to the world for change.


The Chinese government has said that the protesters
who have not yet surrendered "will be punished". Its
leaders are right now considering a crucial choice
between escalating brutality or dialogue that could
determine the future of Tibet, and China.

We can affect this historic choice--China does care
about its international reputation. China's
President Hu Jintao needs to hear that the 'Made in China'
brand and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing can succeed
only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an
avalanche of global people power to get his
attention--and we need it in the next 48 hours.

The Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner and spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama has called for restraint and
dialogue: he needs the world's people to support
him.

Click below now to sign the petition--and tell
absolutely everyone you can right away--our goal is
1 million voices united for Tibet:

https://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/6.php

China's economy is totally dependent on "Made in
China" exports that we all buy, and the government
is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a
celebration of a new China, respected as a leading
world power. China is also a very diverse country
with a brutal past and has reason to be concerned about
its stability -- some of Tibet's rioters killed innocent
people. But President Hu must recognize that the
greatest danger to Chinese stability and development
comes from hardliners who advocate escalating
repression, not from Tibetans who seek dialogue and
reform.

We will deliver our petition directly to Chinese
officials in London, New York, and Beijing, but it
must be a massive number before we deliver the
petition. Please forward this email to your address
book with a note explaining to your friends why this
is important, or use our tell-a-friend tool to email
your address book--it will come up after you sign
the petition.

The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for
decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we must help
them be heard.

With hope and respect,

Ricken, Iain, Graziela, Paul, Galit, Pascal, Milena,
Ben and the whole Avaaz team

PS - It has been suggested that the Chinese
government may block the Avaaz website as a result of this
email, and thousands of Avaaz members in China will no
longer be able to participate in our community. A poll of
Avaaz members over the weekend showed that over 80%
of us believed it was still important to act on Tibet
despite this terrible potential loss to our community,
if we thought we could make a difference. If we are
blocked, Avaaz will help maintain the campaign for
internet freedom for all Chinese people, so that our
members in China can one day rejoin our community.

Here are some links with more information on the
Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:

BBC News: UN Calls for Restraint in Tibet

Human Rights Watch: China Restrain from Violently
Attacking Protesters

Associated Press: Tibet Unrest Sparks Global
Reaction

New York Times: China Takes Steps to Thwart
Reporting
on Tibet Protests
--------------------------------------------



ABOUT AVAAZ

[nurturetruth]

Sara..

thank you ever sooo kindly for posting this Petition on WACCO!

I just received an email from a friend who sent the same thing to me.

I usually don't sign petitions online, but this is one I feel was a MUST !

Hope you are doing well Ms. Sara... :heart:




Subject: petition for Tibetans


Let's support our friends in Tibet.

--- "Ricken Patel - Avaaz.org" <[email protected]>
wrote: Avaaz.org - The World in Action


Dear friends,

Tibetans have exploded onto the streets in
frustration--calling on China to respect human rights
and enter dialogue with the Dalai Lama now: Sign the
Petition!

After decades of repression under Chinese rule, the
Tibetan people's frustrations have burst onto the
streets in protests and riots. With the spotlight of
the upcoming Olympic Games now on China, Tibetans
are crying out to the world for change.


The Chinese government has said that the protesters
who have not yet surrendered "will be punished". Its
leaders are right now considering a crucial choice
between escalating brutality or dialogue that could
determine the future of Tibet, and China.

We can affect this historic choice--China does care
about its international reputation. China's
President Hu Jintao needs to hear that the 'Made in China'
brand and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing can succeed
only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an
avalanche of global people power to get his
attention--and we need it in the next 48 hours.

The Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner and spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama has called for restraint and
dialogue: he needs the world's people to support
him.

Click below now to sign the petition--and tell
absolutely everyone you can right away--our goal is
1 million voices united for Tibet:

https://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/6.php

China's economy is totally dependent on "Made in
China" exports that we all buy, and the government
is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a
celebration of a new China, respected as a leading
world power. China is also a very diverse country
with a brutal past and has reason to be concerned about
its stability -- some of Tibet's rioters killed innocent
people. But President Hu must recognize that the
greatest danger to Chinese stability and development
comes from hardliners who advocate escalating
repression, not from Tibetans who seek dialogue and
reform.

We will deliver our petition directly to Chinese
officials in London, New York, and Beijing, but it
must be a massive number before we deliver the
petition. Please forward this email to your address
book with a note explaining to your friends why this
is important, or use our tell-a-friend tool to email
your address book--it will come up after you sign
the petition.

The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for
decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we must help
them be heard.

With hope and respect,

Ricken, Iain, Graziela, Paul, Galit, Pascal, Milena,
Ben and the whole Avaaz team

PS - It has been suggested that the Chinese
government may block the Avaaz website as a result of this
email, and thousands of Avaaz members in China will no
longer be able to participate in our community. A poll of
Avaaz members over the weekend showed that over 80%
of us believed it was still important to act on Tibet
despite this terrible potential loss to our community,
if we thought we could make a difference. If we are
blocked, Avaaz will help maintain the campaign for
internet freedom for all Chinese people, so that our
members in China can one day rejoin our community.

Here are some links with more information on the
Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:

BBC News: UN Calls for Restraint in Tibet

Human Rights Watch: China Restrain from Violently
Attacking Protesters

Associated Press: Tibet Unrest Sparks Global
Reaction

New York Times: China Takes Steps to Thwart
Reporting
on Tibet Protests
--------------------------------------------



ABOUT AVAAZ

</[email protected]>

[handy]

Slightly different POV.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese441.html


Coffee sippers who think it might be a good idea to free Tibet from China are about 58 years too late. China is not going to free Tibet, and Western encouragement of Tibetan resistance will only get people killed needlessly.

Tibet was part of China for centuries. In 1913, when China seemed to be falling apart, the British Empire encouraged Tibet to declare its independence. It did, and that lasted until 1950, when, at the end of the Chinese civil war, China invaded and reclaimed the area. By then, the impotent British Empire was in no position to help anyone even if it had been so inclined. America chose to do nothing.

If you are not willing to make your way to the Tibetan plateau and face Chinese guns and prisons, then you certainly should not sit around some coffee shop and urge Tibetans to do so. Tibet is a strategic area of China, and the Chinese government is not going to give it up or grant it independence or even autonomy. To paraphrase a famous outlaw, it is enough that we know that China will do what it has to do.

As for us, we should do nothing. Tibet is part of China, and what happens there is an internal affair of China. The rest of the world has no right to interfere, and other than bloviating for a while, I seriously doubt that it will. Unfortunately, in this age of global communications even bloviating can cause bad things to happen to people.

Boycotting the Olympics is a foolish idea by a tiny minority of fanatics. The Olympics have nothing to do with Tibet, just as they had nothing to do with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Boycotting the games would be a cruel blow to athletes who have been sweating and training for four years. It would accomplish nothing. It would further politicize the games, which should be encouraged to return to their amateur status.

China was awarded the Summer Games in a fair international competition and has spent a lot of money getting ready for them. Any attempt to spoil the games will do a great disservice to the athletes, the Chinese government and the Chinese people. It will do nothing positive and will only harden attitudes and end up making the world even more dangerous than it already is.

Americans in particular should keep in mind that we are currently engaged in mismanaging two occupations of two countries that we illegally invaded. Neither enterprise is going well. Neither is our economy. In short, we have enough on our own plate without trying to steal a bite off of China's plate. We should make sure that Afghanistan and Iran are the last wheezes of the sick American Empire and shut it down and return to our republic.

I don't know why some Americans seem to have trouble realizing that the days of the European empires are over. Part of the problem is that we have way too many vocational intellectuals and way too few real intellects. A vocational intellectual is someone who makes a living writing or talking. Such people tend to live inside their heads. Delusions of grandeur and fantasies about the real world are constant occupational hazards for such people.

No country in the world has to do what we tell it to do. Certainly that's the case with the big powers like China, Russia, Japan and India. As you can see every day in your morning paper, even a little country like Iraq can cause us more trouble than it's worth. It's a crime against humanity that our sons and daughters are dying in the desert dust while fat politicians cavort about in Washington. Don't encourage Tibetans to die in some futile fantasy about independence. They are not independent. They are part of China, and part of China they will stay.

March 29, 2008

[Sara S]

Although much of what you say rings true, the petition in question here is not urging Tibetans to revolt, but is voicing our objections to the Chinese government.

And if I substitute "American colonists" for "Tibetans" and "The British" for "The Chinese" in your post, we wouldn't have our country had we followed your advice.

Sara S.


Slightly different POV.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese441.html


Coffee sippers who think it might be a good idea to free Tibet from China are about 58 years too late. China is not going to free Tibet, and Western encouragement of Tibetan resistance will only get people killed needlessly.

Tibet was part of China for centuries. In 1913, when China seemed to be falling apart, the British Empire encouraged Tibet to declare its independence. It did, and that lasted until 1950, when, at the end of the Chinese civil war, China invaded and reclaimed the area. By then, the impotent British Empire was in no position to help anyone even if it had been so inclined. America chose to do nothing.

If you are not willing to make your way to the Tibetan plateau and face Chinese guns and prisons, then you certainly should not sit around some coffee shop and urge Tibetans to do so. Tibet is a strategic area of China, and the Chinese government is not going to give it up or grant it independence or even autonomy. To paraphrase a famous outlaw, it is enough that we know that China will do what it has to do.

As for us, we should do nothing. Tibet is part of China, and what happens there is an internal affair of China. The rest of the world has no right to interfere, and other than bloviating for a while, I seriously doubt that it will. Unfortunately, in this age of global communications even bloviating can cause bad things to happen to people.

Boycotting the Olympics is a foolish idea by a tiny minority of fanatics. The Olympics have nothing to do with Tibet, just as they had nothing to do with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Boycotting the games would be a cruel blow to athletes who have been sweating and training for four years. It would accomplish nothing. It would further politicize the games, which should be encouraged to return to their amateur status.

China was awarded the Summer Games in a fair international competition and has spent a lot of money getting ready for them. Any attempt to spoil the games will do a great disservice to the athletes, the Chinese government and the Chinese people. It will do nothing positive and will only harden attitudes and end up making the world even more dangerous than it already is.

Americans in particular should keep in mind that we are currently engaged in mismanaging two occupations of two countries that we illegally invaded. Neither enterprise is going well. Neither is our economy. In short, we have enough on our own plate without trying to steal a bite off of China's plate. We should make sure that Afghanistan and Iran are the last wheezes of the sick American Empire and shut it down and return to our republic.

I don't know why some Americans seem to have trouble realizing that the days of the European empires are over. Part of the problem is that we have way too many vocational intellectuals and way too few real intellects. A vocational intellectual is someone who makes a living writing or talking. Such people tend to live inside their heads. Delusions of grandeur and fantasies about the real world are constant occupational hazards for such people.

No country in the world has to do what we tell it to do. Certainly that's the case with the big powers like China, Russia, Japan and India. As you can see every day in your morning paper, even a little country like Iraq can cause us more trouble than it's worth. It's a crime against humanity that our sons and daughters are dying in the desert dust while fat politicians cavort about in Washington. Don't encourage Tibetans to die in some futile fantasy about independence. They are not independent. They are part of China, and part of China they will stay.

March 29, 2008

["Mad" Miles]

Handy,

Your claim that Tibet was a part of the Chinese Empire is highly subject to debate. The extent to which Tibet was part of China is similar to Chinese claims that Taiwan/Formosa, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Korea, Japan and large parts of Central Asia were part of their Empire. The Chinese Imperial Court considered anywhere that they had communication with, and anyone who paid them tribute, to be their vassals and therefore part of Chinese territory.

The People's Republic of China, under Mao Tse Tung / Zedong invaded Tibet and occupied it in 1950. Prior to that time, even before British influence, Tibet was ruled by Tibetans and seen by Tibetans as sovereign.

That no other country in the world recognizes Tibet's sovereignty is tragic, but does not negate that Tibet is a separate region, culture, language and people, from China.

Although major Han colonialism has taken place since 1950, to secure China's control and domination of Tibet. Did it miss your attention that many of the Tibetan Independence protests of the last several weeks took place to the East of Tibet, in the regions of Southwestern China that culturally identify with Tibet and the Tibetan people?

Notice that many of the regions I mention above are not part of China, nor does anyone in those countries, or anyone else, think they are or should be.

With the significant exception of Taiwan, a country I lived in as a young child, and again for six months in 1997. That has a separate, interesting and little understood history of its own.

I have no doubt that the Chinese government will continue to assert its sovereign right to Taiwan, and will continue to occupy and colonize Tibet with impunity. That doesn't make them right, it just makes them stubborn and intransigent, characteristics that they have in common with other large and powerful nations.

"Mad" Miles

:burngrnbounce:

[Sara S]

Another POV: Mark Morford's column of March 21 ("China: Please Implode")to be found at sfgate.com. I don't know how to put a link in here, but at sfgate click on columnists, then on "archives" under MM's name.

Sara


Slightly different POV.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese441.html


Coffee sippers who think it might be a good idea to free Tibet from China are about 58 years too late. China is not going to free Tibet, and Western encouragement of Tibetan resistance will only get people killed needlessly.

Tibet was part of China for centuries. In 1913, when China seemed to be falling apart, the British Empire encouraged Tibet to declare its independence. It did, and that lasted until 1950, when, at the end of the Chinese civil war, China invaded and reclaimed the area. By then, the impotent British Empire was in no position to help anyone even if it had been so inclined. America chose to do nothing.

If you are not willing to make your way to the Tibetan plateau and face Chinese guns and prisons, then you certainly should not sit around some coffee shop and urge Tibetans to do so. Tibet is a strategic area of China, and the Chinese government is not going to give it up or grant it independence or even autonomy. To paraphrase a famous outlaw, it is enough that we know that China will do what it has to do.

As for us, we should do nothing. Tibet is part of China, and what happens there is an internal affair of China. The rest of the world has no right to interfere, and other than bloviating for a while, I seriously doubt that it will. Unfortunately, in this age of global communications even bloviating can cause bad things to happen to people.

Boycotting the Olympics is a foolish idea by a tiny minority of fanatics. The Olympics have nothing to do with Tibet, just as they had nothing to do with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Boycotting the games would be a cruel blow to athletes who have been sweating and training for four years. It would accomplish nothing. It would further politicize the games, which should be encouraged to return to their amateur status.

China was awarded the Summer Games in a fair international competition and has spent a lot of money getting ready for them. Any attempt to spoil the games will do a great disservice to the athletes, the Chinese government and the Chinese people. It will do nothing positive and will only harden attitudes and end up making the world even more dangerous than it already is.

Americans in particular should keep in mind that we are currently engaged in mismanaging two occupations of two countries that we illegally invaded. Neither enterprise is going well. Neither is our economy. In short, we have enough on our own plate without trying to steal a bite off of China's plate. We should make sure that Afghanistan and Iran are the last wheezes of the sick American Empire and shut it down and return to our republic.

I don't know why some Americans seem to have trouble realizing that the days of the European empires are over. Part of the problem is that we have way too many vocational intellectuals and way too few real intellects. A vocational intellectual is someone who makes a living writing or talking. Such people tend to live inside their heads. Delusions of grandeur and fantasies about the real world are constant occupational hazards for such people.

No country in the world has to do what we tell it to do. Certainly that's the case with the big powers like China, Russia, Japan and India. As you can see every day in your morning paper, even a little country like Iraq can cause us more trouble than it's worth. It's a crime against humanity that our sons and daughters are dying in the desert dust while fat politicians cavort about in Washington. Don't encourage Tibetans to die in some futile fantasy about independence. They are not independent. They are part of China, and part of China they will stay.

March 29, 2008

[handy]

Although much of what you say rings true, the petition in question here is not urging Tibetans to revolt, but is voicing our objections to the Chinese government. Sara S.

I didn't say it; I just pointed to Charley Reese's essay.


And if I substitute "American colonists" for "Tibetans" and "The British" for "The Chinese" in your post, we wouldn't have our country had we followed your advice. Sara S.

????? What a silly, thoughtless statement! I submit that in our legitimate beef with British forces, we would be equally resentful of Chinese meddling. Charley's point is precisely that OUR "objections" (from a position of distant comfort) WILL result in more dead Tibetans.

[handy]

Handy,

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Your claim that Tibet was a part of the Chinese Empire is highly subject to debate.

Not my claim; debate it with Charley Reese. My personal opinion is that given our meddling and butchery in the middle east, and our support of the butchery and occupation that is Israel, we really have NO credibility when we point at the human rights violations of others.

[santarosie]

Canada Free Press[Friday, March 21, 2008 10:20] Brit spies confirm Dalai Lama's report of staged violence

By Gordon Thomas

London, March 20 - Britain's GCHQ, the government communications agency that electronically monitors half the world from space, has confirmed the claim by the Dalai Lama that agents of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the PLA, posing as monks, triggered the riots that have left hundreds of Tibetans dead or injured.

GCHQ analysts believe the decision was deliberately calculated by the Beijing leadership to provide an excuse to stamp out the simmering unrest in the region, which is already attracting unwelcome world attention in the run-up to the Olympic Games this summer.

For weeks there has been growing resentment in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, against minor actions taken by the Chinese authorities.

Increasingly, monks have led acts of civil disobedience, demanding the right to perform traditional incense burning rituals. With their demands go cries for the return of the Dalai Lama, the 14th to hold the high spiritual office.

Committed to teaching the tenets of his moral authority---peace and compassion---the Dalai Lama was 14 when the PLA invaded Tibet in 1950 and he was forced to flee to India from where he has run a relentless campaign against the harshness of Chinese rule.

But critics have objected to his attraction to film stars. Newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch has called him: "A very political monk in Gucci shoes."

Discovering that his supporters inside Tibet and China would become even more active in the months approaching the Olympic Games this summer, British intelligence officers in Beijing learned the ruling regime would seek an excuse to move and crush the present unrest.

That fear was publicly expressed by the Dalai Lama. GCHQ's satellites, geo-positioned in space, were tasked to closely monitor the situation.

The doughnut-shaped complex, near Cheltenham racecourse, is set in the pleasant Cotswolds in the west of England. Seven thousand employees include the best electronic experts and analysts in the world. Between them they speak more than 150 languages. At their disposal are 10,000 computers, many of which have been specially built for their work.

The images they downloaded from the satellites provided confirmation the Chinese used agent provocateurs to start riots, which gave the PLA the excuse to move on Lhasa to kill and wound over the past week.

What the Beijing regime had not expected was how the riots would spread, not only across Tibet, but also to Sichuan, Quighai and Gansu provinces, turning a large area of western China into a battle zone.

The Dalai Lama has called it "cultural genocide" and has offered to resign as head of the protests against Chinese rule in order to bring peace. The current unrest began on March 10, marking the anniversary of the 1959 Uprising against Chinese rule.

However, his followers are not listening to his "message of compassion." Many of them are young, unemployed and dispossessed and reject his philosophy of non-violence, believing the only hope for change is the radical action they are now carrying out.

For Beijing, the urgent need to find a solution to the uprising is one of growing embarrassment. In two weeks time, the national celebrations for the Olympic Games start with the traditional torch relay. The torch bearers are scheduled to pass through Tibet. But the torch could find itself being carried by runners past burning buildings and temples.

A sign of this urgency is that the Chinese prime minister has now said he is prepared to hold talks with the Dalai Lama. Just before this announcement,Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared he would meet the Dalai Lama, who is to visit London next month. This is the first time either leader has proposed to meet the Dalai Lama.



Tenzin Wangmo DUNCHU (Ms.)
Coordinator

BUREAU DU TIBET (EU Coordnation Office)
Avenue des Arts 24
1000 Brussels
Tel. +32 2 280 49 22
Fax. +32 2 280 29 44
[email protected]
www.bluetibet.be, www.tibet.net