Beijing Wide Open

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything but that doesn’t mean nothing’s been happening, in fact, it’s because so much HAS been happening. We just released this video in honour of International Human Rights Day and published the new site www.BeijingWeAreReady.com. This is our response to the Chinese government’s painful theme song for […]

“…whatever happens, what I see is a future of complete uncertainty in China and in such a situation Tibetans must never - it would be absolutely irresponsibly foolish to - give up the struggle for Tibetan independence. It is out of such conditions that Tibet has been independent.” - Jamyang Norbu

This is the third […]

I was happy to read the news that Taiwan stood up to China and refused to accept the proposed torch relay route.
“In rejecting the torch route, Taiwan officials said the Taiwan-Hong Kong contiguity made the island appear to be a part of China, despite their separate status. It said that it would only participate […]

“… we don’t fight for freedom on the premise that we are bound to win. We fight because there is an injustice. Winning and losing is secondary.” - Jamyang Norbu

Here is the second part of my interview with acclaimed Tibetan writer and activist Jamyang Norbu. It opens with Jamyang responding to the […]

Zhou Yongkang, the Minister of Public Security is quoted in the China Daily saying that “although the general security situation for the Beijing Olympics remains stable, we still face the challenges of terrorism, separatism and extremism.”
OK, so there are definitely a lot of people angry with the Chinese government. And some of them could […]

I tried something new today. Inspired by my interview with Amber Mac on WebNation, I interviewed Jamyang Norbu via skype. It worked ok besides the occasional feedback (sorry!) and this is the first of three parts.

Jamyang Norbu is an acclaimed Tibetan writer, thinker and activist. His novel, The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, […]

*NOTE: The CNN report was taken off YouTube within a couple of hours of my post but you can still watch it here:
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/asia_pacific/the+price+of+demolition+in+qingdao+/645647
I just found this CNN report about forced evictions in China on a Tibetan friend’s Facebook page. The story is from Qingdao, southeast of Beijing, where homes are being demolished by developers […]

While reading articles about a new campaign intended to improve the behavior of Chinese police in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics, I stumbled across this article on a Chinese news website: Police Stations to Be Set up in Beijing’s Universities. Although the stated purpose of the police stations is to improve campus […]

One thing that was so clear at the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics was that nobody could ignore the pollution. It’s just that bad. Human rights abuses and corruption are hard for tourists to see and so easy for most - like the IOC - to pretend not to notice. But there is […]

When I was in Beijing I kept thinking about a friend back home in New York – Lhundup la. While standing in Tiananmen Square, I thought of him standing there too, as a young Tibetan man, in all his dignity and strength. I even used his name as one of my secret passwords while […]