Break through China’s latest wave of propaganda
16 Mar 2008 6:00 EDT

Dear friends,

China is attacking fiercely with a new wave of propaganda on Tibet. The killings and official state coverage of the uprising in Lhasa were launched to coincide with the beginning of Tibet’s Revolution, in the hopes that the Chinese can portray Tibetans, and especially the Dalai Lama, as violent and destructive. In the heat of rushing to cover the breaking story from Tibet, much of the news media has covered WHAT has happened - Chinese cars, shops, and hotels on fire - but not the CONTEXT of China’s genocidal colonization of Tibet by population transfer and economic domination. Worse yet, irresponsible media including CNN has issued short news clips with almost zero context and sensational headlines that might as well have been written by the Chinese.

In standing in solidarity beside everything Tibetans in Lhasa feel they must do to retake their homeland, it’s critical that we counteract China’s new wave of propaganda. Not only is it important that the world know the truth for its own sake, but also for the sake of our heroes in Tibet. If the world knows the truth that Tibetans are only exercising their right to defend themselves in war (a war started almost 60 years ago) and expel a hostile invader, China will not be able to use the so-called “violence” Tibetans are carrying out as an excuse to commit genocide.

PLEASE! Call your local media and tell them the relevance of YOUR view to this major world news - whether you’re Tibetan yourself, recently visited Tibet, or just involved in the movement. Here are some talking points:

1. Whatever Tibetans do in Lhasa, it’s in response to vast and longstanding crimes committed against them by China, including arbitrary arrest and torture, genocide, colonial subjugation, and population transfer that made Tibetans a minority in the capital city of Lhasa.
2. Acts of destroying the mechanism of colonial oppression in Tibet, which China has characterized as violence, come as a last resort as China intensifies repression and show the intensity of people’s desperation for political freedom.
3. China cannot be trusted to speak for what’s happening in Tibet. Every time protests have taken place in the past, China’s official accounts of what happened proved to be laughably false. Only Tibetans can decide Tibet’s future.

With all the stories in the world news, local news outlets including TV news are eagar for local perspectives on what’s happening. But it’s up to you guys to CALL them and tell them your story!

I’m on my way out the door, headed back to the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC. PLEASE, even if you have no media experience, take this opportunity to speak the truth and shield Lhasa’s heroes before they all become Lhasa’s martyrs.

In solidarity,

Rich