Dear friends!

You recently signed our letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu regarding the Dalai Lama. Did n’t you?

The Archbishop wishes to thank you. Please see his personal message below.

“Keep it up. You are the people who make freedom happen.”
“It warms my heart to see so many of my fellow Nobel Laureates, stars, leaders, and people from around the world put their signature on paper, so to speak, to stand behind our friend the Dalai Lama.

“We have just seen a shameful example of South African leaders becoming timid in the face of Chinese “might” and their own economic interests, and refusing this incredible, peaceful being entry to our county –for a peace conference!

“It’s an embarrassment that this could happen in a country that has known how dark life can be when your human rights are being smashed. And we, of all people, know what it means when someone in another part of the world stands up for your rights and freedom.
(more…)

7 August 2008 9:00 p.m. (Local time)
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CANDLE FOR TIBET

GREATEST LIGHT PROTEST ON EARTH
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Light a Candle for Tibet at Your Home, With Friends or in Public.
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H.H. the Dalai Lama Offers His Blessing to Candle for Tibet

Your gift today will help Amnesty International free those wrongly detained for acts of peaceful self-expression and intensify our campaign to pressure Chinese authorities for progress on human rights.
Hold China accountable for its abysmal record on human rights.
Amnesty activists in San Francisco last week protest China’s human rights abuses.
Despite a dramatic last-minute diversion of the Olympic torch route in San Francisco last week, the spectacle of thousands of human rights protesters jamming city streets was truly an awesome sight! Hearing and seeing such impassioned support for the long-suffering people of Tibet and Darfur showed the power of peaceful protest - and strengthened my belief in the possibility of change.
Stand up for human rights in China by making a gift to Amnesty International today.
When China bid for the Olympics in 2001, it promised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that as host, Beijing would enhance “all social conditions, including education, health and human rights” and “give the media complete freedom” to report news in China in the lead-up to the Games.
But with less than four months to go, Amnesty has concluded in a new report that the current wave of repression by Chinese authorities is occurring not in spite of the Olympics, but because of the Olympics.
Beijing has hit back at Amnesty International with the charge that we’ve “politicized” the Olympics. To this we say, human rights are not political - arresting human rights activists and charging them with ’subversion’ is.
Prominent and peaceful human rights activists are being rounded up and jailed. Tibetan protesters are met with intimidation, arbitrary detentions and in some cases lethal force. Web sites are being blocked. TV broadcasts are being censored and foreign journalists are denied access to Tibet altogether - as part of a massive pre-Olympics ‘clean up.’ We cannot let this insult to basic human dignity go unchallenged!

Your gift today will help Amnesty International to free those wrongly detained for acts of peaceful self-expression and intensify our campaign to push for progress on human rights in China in the critical months leading up to the Summer Olympics. In the coming weeks, our campaign will meet with corporate sponsor Coca-Cola and the U.S. Olympic Committee, and organize a global week of action on China and the Olympics.

You and I must hold China accountable for its abysmal record and make sure the Chinese authorities understand that there are consequences for a lack of progress on human rights - before the Games begin. Failure to speak out now is to miss a unique opportunity to push for progress on human rights in China.

Thank you for your continued commitment to defending human rights in China and around the world.

Sincerely,
Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

P.S. To read more about China’s human rights record in the lead-up to the Olympics, check out Amnesty’s new report, The Olympics countdown: Crackdown on activists threatens Olympics legacy

Read the full, unedited transcript of NBC’s Ann Curry’s interview with the Dalai lama.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24073087/from/ET/

 

Dear Friends of Tibet House U.S. ,

As you have probably heard on the news, on March 10, the Tibetan people hit the streets with public protests that have lead to widespread violence against both monks and laypeople inside Tibet . The military has been sent in, and the situation is escalating. This recent turn of events has made headlines the world around and presents an incredible opportunity to encourage the Chinese government to change its approach to the Tibetan issue, especially given the forthcoming Olympics Games.

Although Tibet House U.S is not a political organization, and as such does not officially engage in political activism, given this unique opportunity we would like our members to know that H.H. the Dalai Lama continues to call for dialogue and human rights in Tibet, and that there are several politically-oriented organizations taking action right now to encourage the Chinese government to seek dialogue instead of increased violence. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to visit the websites of a few organizations: Students for a Free Tibet and The International Campaign for Tibet   and at www.avaaz.org to check out the good work they are doing in this regard. The avaaz.org link directs you to a petition has been circulating widely online.   

In hopes of a just and peaceful resolution to this crisis.
Very truly yours,

The Tibet House U.S. Staff