What can you do

How can you support Tibet?

Join Edinburgh University Tibet society:
We are a student movement who stands in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their non-violent resistance against systematic cultural, social and religious repression. Come and join the resistance.
Meetings: Thursdays 7.30pm @ Room 1, Chaplaincy, Bistro Square.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EdinburghUniversityTibetSociety 
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/EdUniTibetSoc
Email Address: tibetsoc@gmail.com
EUSA website: http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/societies/society/Tibetsociety/

Even as an individual, Here are five simple actions you could do right now to show solidarity with Tibetan movement:

• Contact your democratic representatives and ask them to stand up for the human rights and the right to self-determination of the Tibetan people. If you live in the UK, you can contact your MP, MEPs, MSPs, or members of the Northern Ireland, or Welsh assemblies using www.writetothem.com.
• Contact the Chinese embassy or consulate in your country and call for freedom for Tibet - let them know that you have heard about the persecution that the Tibetan people are facing, and urge them to bring about real change now. See the contact details for the Chinese consulate in Edinburgh here: http://edinburgh.china-consulate.org/eng/
• Support with your wallet! Display a Free Tibet badge on your bag, get yourself a 'take back the yak' t-shirt and more to show your solidarity with Tibetan people. Merchandise can be found either online at: http://www.sftuk.org/sft-online-store/ or by contacting our society directly: tibetsoc@gmail.com
• Send a message of support to a Tibetan political prisoner. Political prisoners are often isolated in prison for many many years. Writing to them in prison can let them know that they are not alone or forgotten.and can often make a difference to their treatment. Find contact details here:  http://freetibetanheroes.org/take-action/
• Amplify the voice of the Tibetan movement through social networks! Each of us can support this cause just by raising awareness of the situation that Tibetans are facing to our friends and family. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and blog sites also play an extensive role today in broadcasting social realities. Please feel free to share any of the information listed on this site!   

Tibetan resistance today: Our inspiration.

The following documentation has been taken from Students for a Free Tibet UK, original article can be found here: www.sftuk.org

Religious persecution, consistent violations of human rights, and the wholesale destruction of religious and historic buildings by the occupying authorities have not succeeded in destroying the spirit of the Tibetan people to resist the destruction of their national identity. 1.2 million Tibetans have lost their lives, (over one-sixth of the population) as a result of the Chinese occupation. But the new generation of Tibetans seems just as determined to regain the country’s independence as the older generation was.

Some would say more so. In 2008, Tibetans across Tibet took advantage of the media spotlight placed on China in the build-up to the Beijing Olympic games to protest in numbers not seen since 1959. This was the second Tibetan uprising in twenty years, but was more widespread than the protests of 1988-1989. In over 100 seperate incidents stretching across all three Tibetan areas, tens of thousands took to the streets to call for freedom and an end to Chinese rule. The protests, lasting throughout spring, were met with brutal crackdowns, massacres and large scale arrests by the Chinese authorities, whose attempts to portray Tibetan protesters as rioters based on a handful of incidents of vandalism fell on deaf ears. The Tibetan issue was known across the world again.

Since 2008, Tibetans have been finding new and inventive ways to oppose the Chinese state. The younger generation of Tibetans have been awoken by the 2008 protests, and are expressing their Tibetan identity more than ever before. Student protests have really taken off, as tens of thousands of young Tibetans oppose Chinese state rules which force them to learn in Chinese, and use these protests to highlight the call for Tibetan independence. It’s not just students; nomads, writers, artists, bussinessmen, netizens and environmentalists have also been at the forefront of Tibetan resistance in the 21st centuary. This is a change from the largely monk-led movement which often characterises people’s perceptions of the Tibetan cause.

Monks and nuns have, of course, continued to take a stand in large numbers, and incidents such as the crackdown in Ngaba in 2011 have made headlines, while the Lhakar civil disobedience movement has been showing how inventive Tibetan resistance can be. Cases like those of film maker Dhondup Wangchen and environmentalist Karma Samdrup have opened up the resistance movement to new audiences and expanded it throughout Tibet. Mass protests have also broken out in other Chinese-occupied territories, with the Uyghurs in East Turkestan and Mongols in Inner Mongolia providing more resistance to Chinese rule. On top of that, protests in China itself have increased in the 21st centuary, with some 180,000 seperate protests in 2010 alone, and Chinese freedom advocates are finding new heroes in the likes of Ai Weiwei and Liu Xiabao.