Tibet Action Institute

Last updated

Tibet Action Institute
Formation2009
Director
Lhadon Tethong
Website tibetaction.net
Lhadon Tethong leads a workshop for the Tibet Action Institute on 22 April 2010 Lhadon Talks about Tibet Action.jpg
Lhadon Tethong leads a workshop for the Tibet Action Institute on 22 April 2010

The Tibet Action Institute is an organization that uses digital communication tools and strategic nonviolent action to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of the Tibet movement in the digital era, founded by Lhadon Tethong in 2009. [1] [2] The organization helps to identify, trace, and resist malware and other online attacks launched against Tibetan activists. [3]

Contents

History

Students for a Free Tibet Honors Beijing Olympics Activists at Victory Party in New York City on 19 February 2009 with special guest Palden Gyatso in robes, standing in center Students for a Free Tibet Honors Beijing Olympics Activists at Victory Party in New York Zi You Xi Cang -Tu Bo Xue Sheng Yun Dong Zai Niu Yue Qing Gong Yan Jia Xu Can Yu Bei Jing Ao Yun Xing Dong Ren Shi .jpg
Students for a Free Tibet Honors Beijing Olympics Activists at Victory Party in New York City on 19 February 2009 with special guest Palden Gyatso in robes, standing in center

In 2012, Lhadon Tethong, director of the Tibet Action Institute, explained self-immolations in Tibet as a response to escalating repression from the Chinese government. [4]

In 2013, Citizen Lab collaborated with the Tibet Action Institute to hold public awareness events in Dharamshala, India, for the exiled Tibetan community on cyber espionage campaigns. [5]

In 2018, Lhadon Tethong said there was a "crisis of repression unfolding across China and territories it controls." and that "it is shocking to know that Google is planning to return to China and has been building a tool that will help the Chinese authorities engage in censorship and surveillance." She further noted that, "Google should be using its incredible wealth, talent, and resources to work with us to find solutions to lift people up and help ease their suffering — not assisting the Chinese government to keep people in chains." [6]

In 2019, the group received the Democracy Award. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Tibetan Administration</span> Tibetan government-in-exile based in India

The Central Tibetan Administration is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an elective parliamentary government, composed of a judiciary branch, a legislative branch, and an executive branch, and is sometimes labelled as a government in exile for Tibet.

The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself on fire and burning to death. It is typically used for political or religious reasons, often as a form of non-violent protest or in acts of martyrdom. It has a centuries-long recognition as the most extreme form of protest possible by humankind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture</span> Autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, China

Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Aba, is an autonomous prefecture of northwestern Sichuan, bordering Gansu to the north and northeast and Qinghai to the northwest. Its seat is in Barkam, and it has an area of 83,201 km2 (32,124 sq mi). The population was 919,987 in late 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Campaign for Tibet</span> Non-profit advocacy of human rights and democracy for Tibet

The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a non-profit advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans, ensure their human rights, and protect Tibetan culture and the environment. Founded in 1988, ICT is the world's largest Tibet-related NGO, with several thousand members and strong bases of support in North America and Europe. On March 15, 2018, the ICT completed 30 years of service to the Tibetan community and received a video message from the Dalai Lama. ICT also released its new logo. An event was also held in the United States Congress on March 6, 2018 to mark the event with Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Jim McGovern, ICT Chairman Richard Gere, Representative Ngodup Tsering and ICT Board Member Tempa Tsering making remarks.

The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) is an international non-governmental organization that advocates the independence of Tibet from China. With around 30,000 members in the Tibetan diaspora, it is the largest of the pro-independence organizations of Tibetan exiles with 87 branches in 10 countries listed on the organisation's website. The current president of the Tibetan Youth Congress is Gonpo Dhundup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobsang Sangay</span> Sikyong of the Tibetan Government in Exile

Lobsang Sangay is a Tibetan-American politician in exile who was Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan Administration in India from 2011 to 2012, and Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration in India from 2012 to 2021.

Tibetan Canadians are Canadian citizens of Tibetan ancestry. Although Tibetan Canadians comprise a small portion of Asian Canadians, Canada holds one of the largest concentrations of Tibetans outside of Asia. Tibetans began immigrating to Canada as early as the early 1970s.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is a Tibetan non-governmental nonprofit human rights organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tibet Post</span> Online publication focused on Tibet

The Tibet Post is an online publication founded by a group of Tibetan journalists with the primary goal of promoting democracy through freedom of expression within Tibetan communities who are both within and outside of Tibet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vietnamese democracy movement</span>

The term "Vietnamese democracy movement" comprises any of various isolated efforts to seek democratic reforms in Vietnam. There is not a major movement in Vietnam to reform the current political system. Opposition to governance has been characterised by sporadic calls for reform by minor groups and rare, small protests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirti Gompa</span> Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Ngawa, Sichuan, China

Kirti Gompa, is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery founded in 1472 and located in Ngawa, Sichuan province, in China, but traditionally part of Amdo region. Numerous other associated Kirti monasteries and nunneries are located nearby. As of March 2011, the Kirti Gompa was said to house 2,500 monks. Between 2008 and 2011, mass arrests and patriotic re-education programs by Chinese authorities have targeted the monks, reducing the population substantially to 600 monks. The wave of Tibetan self-immolations began at Kirti Gompa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protests and uprisings in Tibet since 1950</span>

Protests and uprisings in Tibet against the government of the People's Republic of China have occurred since 1950, and include the 1959 uprising, the 2008 uprising, and the subsequent self-immolation protests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tenzin Tethong</span>

Tethong Tenzin Namgyal is a Tibetan politician and a former Prime Minister of Central Tibetan Administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-immolation protests by Tibetans in China</span>

As of May 2022, 160 monks, nuns, and ordinary people have self-immolated in Tibet since 27 February 2009, when Tapey, a young monk from Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in the marketplace in Ngawa City, Ngawa County, Sichuan. According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), "Chinese police have beaten, shot, isolated, and disappeared self-immolators who survived."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chen Quanguo</span> Chinese politician

Chen Quanguo is a Chinese retired politician who was the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region from 2011 to 2016 and of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2021, making him the only person to serve as the Party Secretary for both autonomous regions. Between 2017 and 2022, he was a member of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and was also Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps concurrently with his position as Xinjiang Party Secretary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tibet Justice Center</span>

Tibet Justice Center, is an American legal association founded in 1989 that advocates human rights and self-determination for the Tibetan people.

<i>Tibet on Fire</i> 2016 book by Tsering Woeser

Tibet on Fire: Self-Immolations Against Chinese Rule is a book written by Tsering Woeser, published by Verso Books in 2016. The book is a contemporary look at a major social and human rights problem caused by the forced integration of Tibetan and Chinese societies, and due to empirically repressive policies of the Chinese (PRC) government.

Chinese censorship abroad refers to extraterritorial censorship by the government of the People's Republic of China, i.e. censorship that is conducted beyond China's own borders. The censorship can be applied to both Chinese expatriates and foreign groups. Sensitive topics that have been censored include the political status of Taiwan, human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang internment camps, the Uyghur genocide, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, the PRC government's COVID-19 pandemic response, the persecution of Falun Gong, and more general issues related to human rights and democracy in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lhadon Tethong</span> Tibetan-Canadian political activist

Lhadon Tethong is a Tibetan-Canadian political activist, co-founder and director of Tibet Action Institute, and former executive director of Students for a Free Tibet.

References

  1. 1 2 "DEFENDERS OF HUMAN AND RELIGIOUS RIGHTS IN CHINA TO RECEIVE 2019 DEMOCRACY AWARD ON 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF TIANANMEN MASSACRE". National Endowment for Democracy. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  2. "2019 DEMOCRACY AWARD RECIPIENT: TIBET ACTION INSTITUTE". NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  3. Sumandro Chattapadhyay (19 August 2015). "Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia – Open Review". Centre for Internet and Society (India) . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  4. Simon Denyer (30 October 2012). "China powerless to prevent rising tide of Tibetan self-immolations". The Washington Post . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  5. "Tibet Action Institute: Safe Travels Online Tech Meet". 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014 via Internet Archive.
  6. Ryan Gallagher (11 December 2018). "RIGHTS GROUPS TURN UP PRESSURE ON GOOGLE OVER CHINA CENSORSHIP AHEAD OF CONGRESSIONAL HEARING". The Intercept . Retrieved 6 May 2020.