For the next five days I will be blogging about my experiences as a Queer Pin@y Tibetan independence activist who went to Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games to take part in non-violent direct action. I kept a small journal with me to jot down thoughts, ruminations and observations that came up during my time embedded there. This is the first time in a year that I will be committing this experience to written word. I hope this sheds some light on the Tibetan issue and why we continue to fight.

First some context...

In 2001 the Chinese government was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympic Games much to the chagrin of human rights activists all over the world. At first there was a profound sense of despair after the Chinese government was awarded the honor. But after five minutes passed, we realized this would be a monumental opportunity for the Tibetan people to be put in the international spotlight. For the next seven years Students for a Free Tibet along with hundreds of Tibetan organizations and Tibet support groups dove into the process of creating a global strategy to show the world that the Chinese government was using the Olympics as a political tool to legitimize their brutal occupation and colonization of Tibet.




The very moment we found out that Beijing would be hosting the Olympics in 2008, we jumped into battle mode. Thousands of Tibetans and non-Tibetan supporters were trained in media coordination, non-violent direct action (political theatre artivism protests) and grassroots organizing.








We protested and did our best to disrupt the propaganda clusterfuck known as the Olympic Torch Relay, which was being used as a massive public relations stunt by the Chinese government to divert the world's attention from what was going on in Tibet and China. Let's just say things didn't pan out the way the Beijing Olympics Committee envisioned. (SF, Athens, Canberra, Paris, Delhi, Seoul , London, Hong Kong)












Prior to the 2008 Games, Tibetans inside Tibet launched a massive countrywide uprising in over a hundred cities and towns across the Tibetan plateau. The largest protests seen inside Tibet in the past twenty years. Members of the monastic community as well as laypeople called from independence and the return their leader, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Their calls from freedom were met by their exiled siblings abroad. Three generations of Tibetans took to the streets after hearing news of the slaughter that was going on inside their country by Chinese security forces.







Fifty years of oppression came to a head and Tibetans responded by showing the Chinese government and the world that the blood of warriors still beat in their hearts. Everyday for almost six months Tibetan exiles protested outside of every major Chinese consulate in the world, getting ready for the 2008 Games.















As someone who has been involved in this movement since 1999, I felt like the paradigm was shifting. I knew this would be a historic time in the Tibetan freedom movement. I along with hundreds of Tibetans and supporters started to quietly take our places in media hubs all over the world, in action centers on every continent and we started our own individual journeys to Beijing. Some of us would get stopped at customs and turned back. Some of us would get in to do what we have been training and readying ourselves for. Before I left for Beijing, I gave my sister a package with envelopes addressed to my friends and family. In these envelopes were my last messages to them in case I didn't make it back. I know this sounds a tad melodramatic. But this was the reality. We knew what was at stake and what could possibly happen. In the best case scenario, arrest and deportation. In the worst, imprisonment, torture or death. Tibetans have faced hell and endured far greater risks. Tibetans like Ngawang Sangrol-la, Pawo Thupten Ngodup-la and so many others. We in the West have benefited so much from Tibetan culture. It is about fuckin time we give back.

Let's be clear. This wasn't about "saving" a people, this was about solidarity. This was about standing up against colonization and genocide. This was about putting my money where my mouth is. This was about making sure that one day the Tibetan youth who volunteer at SFT Headquarters can go back home to Tibet with their parents and grandparents without having looking over their shoulders. This was about seeing His Holiness the Dalai Lama back with the rest of his people. This was about me respecting my own ancestor's struggle against the colonizers. Interestingly, the more I worked alongside the Tibetan people in their struggle the more I understood what it meant to be Pilipin@. My people suffered centuries of imperialism and I will not stand by and watch another Indigneous Peoples be systematically wiped out.

I went to Beijing ready to die, because to me that's what solidarity looks like.


Fear and Loathing in Beijing: Day 1 Arrival...will be posted tomorrow.