As I write this, our members are rising to take action for Tashi Wangchuk on the third anniversary of his arrest.

Tashi Wangchuk is currently serving five years in prison on charges of ‘inciting separatism.’ His crime? Publicly seeking his right to Tibetan language education.

We recently learned that Tashi Wangchuk was denied a visit with his lawyer. It is a complete outrage that not only does he remain behind bars, but that the Chinese authorities are even denying his fundamental rights to legal representation. Tashi’s plans to petition the Supreme Court are a testament to his remarkable spirit and determination not to give up fighting this travesty of justice, and we commend his courage.

Will you join the fight for Tashi’s release? 
Take action now.

Tashi has not given up hope, and neither have we.

With determination,

Sonamtso
Campaigns and Communications Director

P.S. If you’re on social media, help make sure your friends and family know about Tashi Wangchuk. Share this video about his case on Facebook.

Last week, we marked Internet Freedom Day with protests outside of Google offices in 10 countries. We showed up in force to demand that Google scrap its controversial plans to develop a censored search engine in China, called Project Dragonfly. 

These actions are made possible by supporters like you.

We’re already seeing the impacts of our efforts. In December, Google was pressured into shutting down a data analysis system that inside sources say was integral to the development of Project Dragonfly. But Google CEO Sundar Pichai has not yet officially stated that Google has ceased development of this insidious project.

Freedom of expression, online and offline, is virtually non-existent in Tibet. Google’s partnership with China serves to legitimize the censorship and surveillance of Tibetans and other peoples oppressed by China. We can’t let corporations like Google support infrastructures of oppression. 

Your support has already helped us so much, but we have to keep fighting. Help us end Project Dragonfly for good by making a gift today.

With determination,

Sonamtso
Communications and Campaigns Director

27 January is the third anniversary of the detention of Tibetan political prisoner and language rights activist, Tashi Wangchuk, currently serving a five year sentence for the highly politicised charge of “incitement to separatism”.

News has emerged that Tashi Wangchuk is being denied access to his lawyer. On 15 January 2019, lawyer Lin Qilei (蔺其磊) attempted to visit Tashi at Dongchuan Prison, Xining in Qinghai, to discuss his dissatisfaction with the original judgment and appeal, and his wish to file a new petition to the Supreme Court. [1] On arrival he was told that the request must go via the Internal Investigations Department but his application there was also denied. The Head of Department, Yang Dong (杨栋), was told that permission for a visit would be needed from a “higher level” because Tashi Wangchuk was “involved” with a “sensitive crime”. Lin Qilei has been promised that he will be contacted shortly with an update.

Since his trial Tashi Wangchuk has only been allowed three family visits. Directly after Tashi’s first appeal hearing in August 2018, his family were able to meet with him but, when they attempted to bring him some clothes the following day, they were told that Tashi had already been moved to Xining. His siblings were able to visit in November 2018 but are currently waiting for permission for a further visit.

Tashi Wangchuk, a businessman aged 34, was detained on 27 January 2016. His arrest came less than two months after he featured in a New York Times article and video report [2] about his formal complaint against Chinese officials for failing to support Tibetans’ right to Tibetan language education. [3] Tashi was held for two years without trial and his lawyers had limited access to him during his pre-trial detention. In May 2018 he was sentenced to a five year prison sentence on charges of “incitement to separatism”.

“Tashi Wangchuk’s detention and sentence are entirely politically motivated, and it is a complete outrage that not only does he remain in detention despite his innocence, but that the Chinese authorities are even denying his fundamental rights to legal representation” said Dorjee Tseten, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “His plans for a petition to the Supreme Court are a testament to his remarkable spirit and determination not to give up fighting this travesty of justice, and we commend his courage.”

“Tashi made his complaint about the lack of Tibetan language teaching entirely legally and at all times acted within the Chinese constitution, He has not committed any crime. The delays throughout case demonstrate that the authorities know that they had no basis for arresting or imprisoning him. The only solution to this ongoing injustice is to grant his immediate release.” added John Jones, Campaigns Manager, Free Tibet. “We support his efforts unreservedly, and to mark the third anniversary of his detention, Tibetans, Tibet supporters and global civil society groups around the world are joining in calls for his immediate and unconditional release.”

Tashi Wangchuk was tortured during the first weeks of his detention, being held for lengthy periods in a ‘tiger chair’, subjected to sustained and arduous interrogation, and suffering repeated beatings by Chinese guards. Furthermore the Chinese authorities threatened to harm his family during this period. [4]

Two years after he was initially detained Tashi Wangchuk was tried in a closed door trial to which his family, foreign diplomats and the media were barred. [5][6] Despite explicitly stating that he was not calling for Tibetan independence, Tashi Wangchuk was charged with the highly politically motivated ‘offence’ of “incitement to separatism”, a charge that “criminalize(s) the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression and his defense of cultural rights”, according to UN experts. [7]

Since being detained, numerous governments [8] have expressed concern about his detention and treatment by Chinese authorities. Most recently, in November 2018, the United States and the United Kingdom raised strong objections to Tashi’s detention during China’s United Nations Universal Periodic Review [9] and urged publicly for his immediate release. [10]

At least eight independent United Nations human rights experts have also, on multiple occasions, raised questions with the Chinese government about the legal grounds for Tashi Wangchuk’s detention and his treatment. [11] The experts have asked China to provide information as to why the charge of “incitement to separatism” links to his work to press for linguistic rights, and what measures are being taken by the Chinese government to ensure “the free exercise of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom to take part in cultural life” in Tibet.

We are in no doubt that Tashi Wangchuk has been criminalised by China for shedding light on the State’s failure to protect the basic human right to education and specifically Tibetan language education.

We urge governments to step up their calls to China for Tashi Wangchuk’s immediate and unconditional release.

Signed by all members of the Political Prisoners Campaign Working Group, convened by International Tibet Network [12]. These are:

Canada Tibet Committee
Free Tibet
Lungta
Swedish Tibet Committee
Students for a Free Tibet
Tibet Initiative Deutschland
TibetMx
Tibet Society
Tibetan Women’s Association
Rangzen Natal (Brazil)

To mark Internet Freedom Day, Tibetans, Tibet supporters and corporate campaigners gathered outside multiple Google offices in 10 countries, across 5 continents, to call on the Google to scrap its controversial plans to develop a censored search engine in China, Project Dragonfly.

Photos of the protests are available in our Dropbox.

The actions are part of a wider campaign by a coalition of Tibet groups (1), human rights organisations and ethical consumer groups (2). Together the groups urge Google executives to officially close Project Dragonfly, which, if it goes ahead, would see the tech company create a search engine that complies with the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s tight internet censorship laws and would facilitate state surveillance in China by linking users’ search history with their telephone numbers.

“The activities around the world today have clearly demonstrated the opposition to Project Dragonfly from Tibet and, Uyghurs, human rights defenders and even many of Google’s own staff. The people who turned out today know as well as anyone how the Chinese government under Xi Jinping has heightened the repression, the state intrusion and the surveillance, on the streets and online,” said John Jones, Free Tibet. He continued, “They know that this is not the time for Google to be working with this regime and effectively helping it carry out its human rights abuses. Google’s executives should heed their words and announce that the project has been scrapped.”

Activists carried placards that read: “Stop Google Censorship”,  and listed the search terms that would be blacklisted by the new search engine, including ‘Dalai Lama’, ‘democracy’, ‘human rights’, ‘peaceful protest’ and ‘Free Tibet’.

“We strongly urge Google to immediately drop Project Dragonfly and urge that they uphold their ethical principles,” said Dorjee Tseten, Students for a Free Tibet. He added, “Google cannot and must not make the profit from the Chinese government’s brutal human right abuses and support China’s infrastructure of oppression. Freedom of expression, online and offline, is virtually non-existent in Tibet and this action of Google will further lead into arresting or imprisoning people simply for expressing their views online which make the company complicit in human rights violations.”

During actions organisers handed out leaflets to Google employees and discussed with them the dangers of the Dragonfly search engine; many of whom were supportive and confirmed that Project Dragonfly was still a matter of concern to Google employees. “It’s quite a big topic. It’s a big topic inside as well,” said a Google employee who wanted to remain anonymous. Another added “It’s a good cause. Keep going.”

A third letter to Google management was also delivered in a number of cities, including in London where the UK’s Communications Manager came out to meet with the protesters and accept a letter from the group.

“We have written two letters to Sundar Pichai, and Google management, but have yet to have any response despite the seriousness of our concerns,” said Mandie McKeown, International Tibet Network. “They can’t continue to ignore the fact that by launching Dragonfly in China, Google will be supporting China’s repressive regime and compromising the company’s commitment to human rights protection”

“Our conversations with Google employees in London today reinforced just how many of its staff members vehemently oppose Project Dragonfly. The growing voice of opposition within Google itself and the tens of thousands of global citizens standing up to the company’s censorship efforts simply cannot be ignored,” said Gloria Montgomery, Director at Tibet Society. She added, “There is a growing voice of opposition within Google itself as well as tens of thousands of global citizens standing up to the company’s censorship efforts simply cannot be ignored.”

There has been significant opposition to Project Dragonfly from within Google. Thousands of staff members have circulated letters expressing their concerns, leaked information to the press and in some cases resigned in protest.

“It’s just not good enough for Google to dismiss its collusion with repressive regimes as a ‘limited internal effort’ — as today’s global protests make clear. Google continues to collect and profit from the data of its millions of users,” commented Sondhya Gupta, Senior Campaigner at SumOfUs. She continued, “today those users are joining together with Google employees, shareholders and those communities most impacted by the company’s belief that technology is neutral, to hold it to account. Project dragonfly would normalise tech giants’ complicity in human rights abuses: Google must cancel it immediately.”

The wider campaign has seen over 54,000 people signing a petition addressed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, calling on him to halt Project Dragonfly and commit the company to a free and open Internet (3).

The University of Massachusetts Boston has officially severed its ties with Confucius Institutes!

This victory is a testament to the power of grassroots. Just over one year ago, Boston community members, students, faculty, and activists started organizing against the CI at UMass Boston. They wrote letters to elected leaders, signed petitions against the partnership, protested at the board of trustees meeting, met with the university administration, flyered in the freezing cold – and WON!

It is because of the collective efforts of the Boston community and the support from our members around the world that we are able to celebrate this victory today.

At SFT, we are committed to uplifting these local organizing efforts. With your help, we can win more victories like the one in Boston. Make a gift today to support the continued success of this campaign.

In the US alone more than 10 Confucius Institutes were shut down in the last year, but we still have a long way to go. With more than 100 Chinese government backed CIs operating in schools across the US (even public schools!) and more than 500 globally, we need all the help we can get to keep CCP propaganda out of school curriculums. Donate to the campaign today.

With determination,

Dorjee Tseten
Executive Director

THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON has severed its ties with the Confucius Institute, an on-campus academic center funded by the Chinese government that has stirred controversy on campus and among some Massachusetts politicians.

Katherine Newman, the interim chancellor at UMass Boston, declined to give a specific reason for the decision to part ways with the institute after 12 years on campus. She said concerns have been raised across the country about Confucius Institutes, and the decision was made to instead pursue negotiations with Renmin University in Beijing on ways to promote the study of Chinese language, culture, and history on campus.

“We felt this would be a better arrangement.  It’s a more efficacious way of achieving our goals,” she said.

The Chinese government says it promotes the Confucius Institutes throughout the US as tools for cultural exchange. The institute at UMass offered non-credit classes in Chinese language and culture, programs for UMass students to study in China, professional development programs for Chinese language teachers, and Chinese proficiency testing. UMass Boston paid the director’s $100,000 salary and provided office space, while China provided $250,000 and paid the salaries of four or five teachers.Last year, a group of UMass students, professors, and alumni wrote to then interim chancellor Barry Mills raising concerns that the Confucius Institute attempted to influence academic discourse. “As a result of their presence on campus, whether through direct intervention or preemptive self-censorship, important political and human rights are being silenced,” the group wrote.

Others have expressed concern that the Confucius institutes are used by the Chinese government as outposts for espionage.  The FBI has said that it monitors the activities of the institutes.

US Rep. Seth Moulton has also raised concerns publicly about the institutes and in a private discussion with Newman. On his Facebook page, Moulton said the intent of the Confucius Institutes is to “distort academic discourse on China, threaten and silence defenders of human rights, and create a climate intolerant of dissent or open discussion.”

Twelve other academic institutions, including the University of Chicago, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Rhode Island, and Texas A&M, have severed ties with Confucius Institutes. Tufts University in Medford has said it will soon decide on whether to renew the school’s agreement with its Confucius Institute.