Sunday, November 29, 2009

Agradecimento

O Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete agradece aos Blasted Mechanism pela possibilidade de realização de uma campanha de angariação de fundos, ontem no Coliseu dos Recreios, assim como por um concerto memorável!

Agradecemos da mesma forma a todos os que auxiliaram e contribuiram!

Friday, November 27, 2009


Blasted Mechanism - Apoiantes do
Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete
amanhã no Coliseu dos Recreios pelas 21h30


http://www.youtube.com/user/BlastedMechanismTV

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Líder Parlamentar do Bloco de Esquerda pronuncia-se acerca de Dhondup Wangchen

O deputado José Manuel Pureza questionou o Governo, no dia 17 de Novembro, em requerimento dirigido ao Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, sobre que iniciativas tenciona levar a cabo para a defesa dos direitos humanos fundamentais postos em causa pelo Governo Chinês no processo contra Dhondup Wangchen e no seu julgamento, bem como que acções planeia realizar a fim de exigir a libertação deste realizador Tibetano. O líder do Grupo Parlamentar do Bloco de Esquerda pretende ainda que o Governo esclareça que esforços pode encetar para que observadores internacionais possam estar presentes no julgamento de Dhondup Wangchen e para que este tenha acesso a aconselhamento legal.
Lembramos que o Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete, quando do início da Campanha por Dhondup Wangchen a 10 de Novembro, contactou todos os líderes dos Grupos Parlamentares. Do contacto realizado, saúdamos desde já a iniciativa e apoio do senhor deputado José Manuel Pureza.
Obrigada!
Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Presidente Obama apela a que a China recomeçe as conversações com os representantes de S.S. Dalai Lama

Para ler o artigo, p.f. aceda a:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6919699.ece#comment-have-your-say

Founder of Tibetan cultural website sentenced to 15 years

Kunchok Tsephel, an official in a Chinese government environmental department and founder of the influential Tibetan literary website, Chodme (‘Butter-Lamp’, www.tibetcm.com), has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of disclosing state secrets, according to reports from Tibet received by Tibetan exiles.
Some of the charges are believed to relate to content on his website, which aims to protect Tibetan culture, and passing on information about last year’s protests in Tibet.The news emerged as US President Obama made a pointed reference during his visit to China about the importance of free flow of information and uncensored internet access.
Speaking to students in Shanghai today as part of a week-long visit to Asia, President Obama said: “I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable.”
Thirty-nine year old Kunchok Tsephel was detained in the early hours of the morning on February 26. His house was ransacked and his computer, camera and mobile phone seized. His family had no idea where he was until last week, according to the same sources. They were summoned to court on November 12 to hear the verdict of 15 years imprisonment after a closed-door trial at the Intermediate People’s Court of Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province.
Kunchok Tsephel, who was born into a nomadic family in 1970 in Machu (Chinese: Maqu) county, Gannan, the eastern Tibetan area of Amdo, is fluent in Tibetan, English and Chinese. He studied English and Chinese languages at Beijing Nationality University and from 1997-99, continued to study English at North Western Nationality University in Lanzhou. In 2004, he was recruited as a Tibetan and English language teacher at the Tibetan Nationality Middle School in Machu. He founded his website on Tibetan arts and literature in 2005, together with a young Tibetan poet Kyabchen Dedrol.
The website, which was shut down by the authorities several times over the past few years, was self-funded with a mission of promoting Tibetan arts and literature.According to his friends, Kunchok Tsephel is in poor health after nine months of detention and interrogation and there are fears for his welfare.
Until his detention, he provided the main source of income for his family; his wife, who is also a government worker, is currently caring for their sick daughter.Kunchok Tsephel had undergone an earlier period of detention in 1995 linked to suspicion of involvement in political activities. He was tortured and interrogated but protested his innocence and was released without charge after two months.
One of Kunchok Tsephel’s close friends, who is now in exile, said today: “His family has endured nine months of agonizing waiting after Kunchok disappeared in February. Now they are even more distraught by this long sentence. Because the charges related to state secrets, they do not even know why Kunchok has been sentenced to 15 years, and he has been denied access to a lawyer.”
The Chinese government does not need to define what constitutes a ‘state secret.’ ‘State secrets’ laws and regulations are implemented through Communist Party controlled-government bodies that work together with state security, and through criminal laws, to create an opaque system that controls the classification of—and criminalizes the disclosure or possession of—state secrets.
The human rights monitoring organisation Human Rights in China states: “Tight control over this system by the government bureaucracy, headed by the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets, gives the Chinese Communist Party leadership the power to classify any information it desires as a state secret and thereby keep or - even if it is already public - remove it from circulation. This information includes the state secrets laws and regulations themselves, and without public dissemination of these laws, it is exceptionally difficult for individuals to know for sure when they are violated.
Instead of the ‘harmonious society’ being called for by Chinese leaders, what remains is a controlled society where critical voices pay a heavy price.” (‘State Secrets: China's Legal Labyrinth,’ a report by Human Rights in China, June 12, 2007, http://hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5fid=41505&item%5fid=41500).
Since protests broke out across Tibet in March 2008, the Chinese government has stepped up efforts to silence Tibetans from speaking about the unrest, and have strengthened attempts to cover up the torture, disappearances and killings that have been part of the crackdown. New campaigns directed against Tibetan culture and religion have been initiated, and now almost any expression of Tibetan identity not directly sanctioned by the state can be branded as ‘reactionary’ or ‘splittist’ and penalized with a long prison sentence, or worse. Tibetan intellectuals, writers and bloggers who have expressed views about the situation have been at increasing risk and a number have ‘disappeared’ or sentenced to prison terms (http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/fears-missing-tibetan-writer-continued-crackdown-writers-and-artists).

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Call to Action to President Obama on Tibet!


Take Action to urge U.S. President Obama to make real progress towards a just and lasting resolution for the Tibetan people during his first presidential visit to China in Nov 15th- 18th.

Copy paste this link:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/Obama_Tibet/

URGENTE - ENVIO DE CARTA AO PRESIDENTE OBAMA

A visita do Presidente Obama à China é uma ocasião vital para aumentarmos substancialmente a pressão de forma a que Dhondup Wangchen seja libertado por parte das autoridades Chinesas.

Por favor enviem a carta em baixo através do link mencionado, e de forma a que o Presidente Obama aborde o caso de Dhondup Wangchen com os líderes Chineses.
(A tradução da mesma para português também se encontra disponível).

Link de contacto:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

LETTER FROM TIBET SUPPORT GROUP PORTUGAL TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear Mr. President:

I write to you as a supporter of the Tibet Support Group in Portugal to urge you to make Tibet a substantive and results-oriented part of the agenda during your trip to China in November. Furthermore, in light of the news just confirmed by the British government of the execution of two Tibetans in Lhasa, following trials that failed to meet even minimal international judicial standards, we urge you condemn these executions and to press for a moratorium on capital punishment in Tibet pending effective rule of law reform.

In your approach to foreign policy, you have stressed that deeds, not simply words, are needed to solve problems. And, in her visit to China in February, Secretary of State Clinton expressed her fatigue with rote exchanges of position with Chinese officials, voicing a desire for new and creative approaches. We look to you to generate and implement such approaches.

When you meet President Hu, we strongly urge you to move beyond pro forma statements of support for Tibet in order to help make real progress toward a fair and lasting resolution for the Tibetan people.

I further urge that the deliverables from the China visit include concrete progress on the following critical issues:

• The opening of a U.S. consulate in Lhasa, Tibet;
• The release of Dhondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker who is being tried in secret for exercising his basic right to freedom of expression by interviewing Tibetans in Tibet;
• The elimination of discriminatory travel restrictions, both on visits to and within Tibet by foreign tourists, journalists, and diplomats, and on Tibetans seeking to travel within the PRC and abroad (including difficulties in obtaining passports);
• The long-standing request for access by U.S. officials to Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama;
• The provision of humane treatment and verifiable due process for all Tibetans in detention.

You are undoubtedly aware that the absence of a meeting with the Dalai Lama in October, thus forgoing two decades of Presidential tradition, was widely seen as a concession to the Chinese government, which has occupied Tibet for over 50 years and continues a fierce campaign to denounce the Dalai Lama. It is, therefore, essential for you to clarify your decision to meet His Holiness only after you return from China and to explain your Administration’s new strategy on Tibet.

Furthermore, I trust that when you meet with the Dalai Lama after your return from China this visit will take place in the Oval Office, a location appropriate for a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The American people have consistently demonstrated their overwhelming support for Tibet, and you are uniquely positioned to translate this support into concrete action that could change the course of history for six million Tibetans and signal to the world that nonviolence can triumph over violence and oppression.

I look forward to hearing about the progress you make during your visit to China in November.

Best wishes,

……………………………….
(nome)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

CARTA DO GRUPO DE APOIO AO TIBETE DE PORTUGAL PARA O PRESIDENTE OBAMA:

Caro Senhor Presidente:

Escrevo-lhe como apoiante do Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete - Portugal para lhe pedir que inclua o Tibete como parte e resultados da sua agenda política durante a viagem que realizará à China, em Novembro. Além disso, tendo em conta as notícias confirmadas pelo governo Britânico da execução de dois Tibetanos, em Lhasa, na sequência de julgamentos que não cumpriram sequer o mínimo das normas internacionais de justiça, nós pedimos que o Presidente Obama condene estas execuções e que pressione o adiamento da pena capital no Tibete.

Na sua abordagem sobre política externa, sublinhou que actos, não apenas palavras, são necessários para resolver problemas. E, na sua visita à China, em Fevereiro, a Secretária de Estado Hillary Clinton expressou a sua fadiga em relação às mudanças de posição das autoridades Chinesas, expressando o desejo de novas e criativas abordagens. Esperamos que o Senhor Presidente possa gerar e implementar estas abordagens.

Quando se encontrar com Presidente Hu, recomendo-lhe para ir além das declarações pro-forma de apoio ao Tibete, a fim de se alcançar um progresso real que leve a uma decisão justa e duradoura para o povo Tibetano.

Gostaria ainda que dos resultados da sua visita à China possam estar progressos concretos sobre as seguintes questões críticas:

• A abertura de um consulado dos Estados Unidos, em Lhasa, no Tibete;
• A libertação de Dhondup Wangchen, um cineasta tibetano que está a ser julgado em segredo por exercer o seu direito fundamental à liberdade de expressão ao entrevistar Tibetanos no Tibete;
• A eliminação das restrições discriminatórias de viajar para o Tibete e de visitar o território localmente para turistas estrangeiros, jornalistas, diplomatas e tibetanos que procuram viagens na China e no estrangeiro (incluindo dificuldades na obtenção de passaportes);
• O pedido de acesso das autoridades Norte-Americanas a Gedun Choekyi Nyima, o 11.º Panchen Lama;
• A oferta de tratamento humanitário e a devida verificação dos processos de todos os Tibetanos detidos.

Decerto saberá que a ausência de um encontro com o Dalai Lama em Outubro, cortando com duas décadas de tradição Presidencial, foi visto como uma concessão ao Governo chinês, que ocupou o Tibete há mais de 50 anos e que continua uma feroz campanha de acusação ao Dalai Lama. É, portanto, essencial que o Presidente Obama, após oregresso da China, clarifique a sua decisão quanto a um encontro com Sua Santidade e que explique qual será a nova estratégia da sua Administração para o Tibete.

Além disso, espero, quando se encontrar com o Dalai Lama, que esta visita possa ter lugar no Salão Oval, um local apropriado para receber um colega também laureado com o Prémio Nobel da Paz.

O povo Americano tem constantemente demonstrado um forte apoio ao Tibete e o Senhor Presidente está numa posição única para traduzir este apoio em acções concretas que poderão mudar o curso da história de seis milhões de Tibetanos e assinalar ao mundo que a não-violência pode triunfar sobre a violência e a opressão.

Estou ansioso/a por tomar conhecimento dos progressos que o Presidente Obama fará durante a sua visita à China, em Novembro.

Atenciosamente,

-----------------------
(nome)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

China Is Trying a Tibetan Filmmaker for Subversion




CHONGQING, China — A self-taught filmmaker who spent five months interviewing Tibetans about their hopes and frustrations living under Chinese rule is facing charges of state subversion after the footage was smuggled abroad and distributed on the Internet and at film festivals around the world.


The filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen, who has been detained since March 2008, just weeks after deadly rioting broke out in Tibet, managed to sneak a letter out of jail last month saying that his trial had begun.


“There is no good news I can share with you,” he wrote in the letter, which was provided by a cousin in Switzerland. “It is unclear what the sentence will be.”


As President Obama prepares for his first trip to China next month, rights advocates are clamoring for his attention in hopes that he will raise the plight of individuals like Mr. Wangchen or broach such thorny topics as free speech, democracy and greater religious freedom.
With hundreds of lawyers, dissidents and journalists serving time in Chinese prisons, human rights organizations are busy lobbying the White House, members of Congress and the news media.


In some ways, the pressure has only intensified since Mr. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, raising expectations for him to carry the torch of human rights.



Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said Mr. Obama had an obligation to press Mr. Wangchen’s case and the cause of Tibetan autonomy in general, given his decision not to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this month.
That move, which some viewed as a concession to China, angered critics already displeased with what they say was Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s failure to press human rights during a visit to China in February.
“Beijing is emboldened by such moves,” Ms. Tethong said. “They see a weakness in the U.S. government, and they’re going to exploit it. This idea that you’ll gain more through some backroom secret strategy does not work.”


Until now, the case of Mr. Wangchen, 35, has received little attention abroad. Uneducated and plainspoken, he was an itinerant businessman until October 2007, when he bought a small video camera and began traveling the Tibetan plateau interviewing monks, yak herders and students about their lives.


Tsetring Gyaljong, a cousin who helped him make the documentary, said that Mr. Wangchen’s political awareness was sharpened nearly a decade ago, when he witnessed a demonstration in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, that was quickly broken up by public security officers.


“He saw how it was dissolved in two or three minutes and how everyone was taken away,” said Mr. Gyaljong, speaking from Switzerland, where he has lived in exile since escaping from Tibet. “There were no pictures, no testimonies, and he felt like the world should know that Tibetans, despite the Chinese portrayals, are not a happy people.”


Out of 40 hours of footage and 108 interviews came “Leaving Fear Behind,” a 25-minute documentary that is an unadorned indictment of the Chinese government. Although given the choice to conceal their identities, most of his subjects spoke uncloaked and freely expressed their disdain for the Han Chinese migrants who are flooding the region and their love for the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile since 1959.


In his own comments at the start of the film, Mr. Wangchen said the approach of the 2008 Olympics had compelled him to record the feelings of Tibetans, many of whom were less than enthusiastic about the decision to hold the Games in Beijing.
“We have no independence or freedom, so Tibetans have no reason to celebrate,” said one young woman standing by a road. “The Chinese have independence and freedom, so this is something they can celebrate.”


On March 10, 2008, Mr. Wangchen traveled to Xi’an in central China to hand over the tapes to Dechen Pemba, a British citizen who ferried them out of the country. That same day, a protest in Lhasa turned into a rampage that left at least 18 people dead, most of them Han Chinese.
On March 26, Mr. Wangchen and Golog Jigme, a Buddhist monk who helped him make the film, were arrested. Mr. Jigme was subsequently released. “It really is a remarkable coincidence,” Ms. Pemba said.


Mr. Wangchen’s family hired a lawyer, but the authorities barred him from court last July, leaving Mr. Wangchen with a public defender.
Before he was forced to drop the case, the lawyer, Li Dunyong, said Mr. Wangchen had told him that he was tortured and that he had contracted hepatitis B while in custody. Since then, he has been held incommunicado. Officials at the Xining Intermediate Court in Qinghai Province, where Mr. Wangchen is being held, would not comment on his case.
Mr. Wangchen seemed acutely aware that his project could get him in trouble. Just before he began filming, he sent his wife and their four children to India, where they live along with his elderly parents.


In an interview from Dharamsala, where she works as a baker, Mr. Wangchen’s wife, Lhamo Tso, said she feared she might not see him again for many, many years.
“As a wife, I’m very sad to be without the person I love so much,” she said. “But if I can separate out that sadness, I feel proud because he made a courageous decision to give a voice to people who don’t have one.”
In

Monday, November 9, 2009

CAMPANHA POR DHONDUP WANGCHEN



"A few days ago I had a terrible nightmare and I struggled with the thought that something terrible has happened at home. I am worried about my aged father and mother. I am very much worried. Would it be possible to inform me about their situation? Please be frank with me. With regard to my situation there is no need to worry. I will face my fate. While I am aware that a release will be very difficult and I may remain here for a longer period there is a feeling that I have failed to be a more caring son for my parents. My trial has started. There is no good news I can share with you. It is unclear what the sentence will be."

Nomes e contactos dos grupos parlamentares

Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Socialista
http://www.parlamento.pt/Paginas/CorreioGPPS.aspx


Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Social Democrata
http://www.parlamento.pt/Paginas/CorreioGPPSD.aspx


Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Popular
http://www.parlamento.pt/Paginas/CorreioGPPP.aspx


Grupo Parlamentar do Partido do Bloco de Esquerda
http://www.parlamento.pt/Paginas/CorreioGPBE.aspx


Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Comunista Português
http://www.parlamento.pt/Paginas/Contactos.aspx


Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes
http://www.parlamento.pt/Paginas/CorreioGPPEV.aspx

Carta aos líderes Parlamentares


Exmo Sr. Presidente do Grupo Parlamentar do Partido ... (inserir nome do partido político)

Dirigo-me a si como meu representante no parlamento e com o intuito de solicitar que aborde o governo Português para que este pressione a China a libertar Dhondup Wangchen, realizador Tibetano, detido em 2008 por ter exercido o seu direito à liberdade de expressão.

Dhondup Wangchen [Chinês: Dunzhu Wangqin] foi detido no Tibete a 26 de Março 2008 devido a ter filmado entrevistas a Tibetanos, questionando-os acerca das suas opiniões sobre os Jogos Olímpicos, o Dalai Lama e as políticas governamentais Chinesas no Tibete. (As entrevistas conseguiram ser passadas para fora do Tibete, traduzido-se no filme documentário "Leaving Fear Behind", que fornece um olhar raro sobre a realidade dos Tibetanos que vivem sob a ocupação Chinesa. O filme já foi exibido em mais de 30 países e também pode ser visionado em http://www.leavingfearbehind.com).

De acordo com informação fornecida por fontes oficiais, Dhondup Wangchen foi formalmente detido em Julho 2008 sob suspeitas de ter "incitado ao separatismo" e espionagem. Foi acusado em Junho 2009. É provável que o julgamento de Dhondup Wangchen já tenha começado. Recentemente a sua família recebeu uma carta, enviada por Dhondup Wangchen na prisão e onde se lia:

"Alguns dias atrás eu tive um pesadelo terrível e lutei com o pensamento de que algo horrível havia acontecido em casa. Preocupo-me com os meus pais, já em idade avançada. Estou muito preocupado. Seria possível informarem-me acerca da sua situação? Por favor digam-me a verdade. Relativamente à minha situação, não têm que se preocupar. Eu enfrentarei o meu destino. Sinto-me consciente de que a minha libertação será algo muito difícil e eu poderei permanecer aqui durante um período mais longo, sinto que falhei por não ter sido um filho tão atento para com os meus pais. O meu julgamento já começou. Não são boas as notícias que tenho para partilhar convosco. A minha sentença é uma incógnita."

Para além disso, recentemente a China forneceu a um governo estrangeiro a informação de que o caso estava "agora sob procedimentos judiciais." Se condenado, Dhondup Wangchen poderá enfrentar uma longa sentença.

A China negou apelos iniciais para que observadores pudessem estar presentes quando do julgamento de Dhondup Wangchen. Tal gera graves preocupações quanto à eventualidade do julgamento de Dhondup Wangchen decorrer em segredo. Para além disso, Dhondup Wangchen viu negado o acesso ao advogado para si escolhido pela sua família, Li Dunyong, da firma de advogados de Pequim Gongxin.

Foram levantadas preocupações relativas ao facto de que Dhondup Wanghcen possa não ser sujeito a um julgamento justo e aberto, após as notícias referentes à execução de até quatro Tibetanos em Lhasa, a 20 de Outubro 2009. Estes Tibetanos estiveram envolvidos nas manifestações que varreram o Tibete, na Primavera passada. Crê-se que as suas execuções são politicamente motivadas e que os condenados não foram sujeitos a um processo judicial justo.

Com a aproximação da visita do Presidente dos EUA Barak Obama à China (15-18 Novembro), creio que é a altura crucial para todos os governos pressionarem a China a libertar Dhondup Wangchen e todos os prisioneiros políticos, e solicitar aos líderes Chineses que instiguem processos judicais que permitirão julgamentos justos e abertos.

Eu apelo a que solicite ao governo Português para que pressione os seus parceiros Chineses a:

1. solicitar informação completa relativamente ao caso de Dhondup Wangchen, incluindo as acusações que ele enfrenta e de que forma se encontra o seu julgmento.

2. peça permissão para enviar observadores ao julgamento, de forma a assegurar que Dhondup Wangchen tem um julgamento aberto, garantido pela constituição da China, e que ele possa receber aconselhamento legal, da sua própria escolha.

3. que imediatamente libertem Dhondup Wangchen, uma vez que o seu único "crime" foi o de exercer o direito à liberdade de expressão, tal como garantido pela Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos.

Com os meus melhores cumprimentos,
....................................................
[inserir o seu nome]