Author: Tenzin Shakya

Tibetan + American journalist @ Nightline, ABC News. @tenzinshakya (Twitter) /tenzinshakya (LinkedIn)

A second look @ the homeless around the corner!

On By Tenzin ShakyaIn 1, Serendipity, Thoughts for the soul3 Comments

Standing by her shopping cart, tired, dirty and winded, the homeless woman with a stack of newspapers walks slowly to almost everyone in the passing only to find them walking away from her with strange looks mixed with some shy awkward smiles.

She has her dirty blonde hair tied up with a thick black sweater and torn jeans in the middle of Shattuck, Downtown Berkeley- that also on a sunny Sunday morning when almost everyone is in smiles trying to enjoy the day.

“Please take a paper and spare some change”… “I have not had anything to eat today,” said the poor homeless lady trading newspapers for dimes at a busy corner.

Curious to know her story, I stood next to her and traded a quarter for a paper.  The newspaper was titled Street Spirits. According to their website, its a “publication of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) that reports extensively on homelessness, poverty, economic inequality, welfare issues, human rights issues and the struggle for social justice. For the past 10 years, Street Spirit has been dedicated to empowering poor and homeless people and giving a voice to the voiceless, at a time when the voices of the poor are virtually locked out of the mainstream media.”

Her name was Joann Knott, 46 years of age and a single mother of a 16-year-old boy. The two were living in a nice house back in Detroit, Michigan just five years ago before becoming homeless in Berkeley.

Ms. Knott was employed as a “Professional Petitions Consultant” with a firm that works to organize and operate petition drives for organizations wishing to gain support on bills introduced in the area.

Ms. Knott arrived in California four years ago in pursuit of a job as a Professional Petitions Consultant here, and hoping to start her own business.

“Berkeley and the Bay Area in general is highly active in the process of creating petitions for voters in demand of various changes in the law,” she said.

“I thought I could easily land a good job in the local market.”

However, despite her numerous attempts to secure a job here, she failed and instead ended up spending all her money and became homeless.

Though Ms.Knott is homeless, she is still in pursuit of a job in Berkeley and interns at the local chapter of Peace Action West to advocate for nuclear ban and peace.

“I’ve protested against nuclear weapons since the early 60’s and it was my fortunate luck to able to intern and get paid at Peace Action West” she said.

Peace Action West is an organization dedicated to building a citizen’s movement of sustained political power for fundamental changes in United States foreign policy. They are also one of the largest grassroots peace and justice lobby in the country.

According to an article in the American Journal of Public Health, over 7% of persons living in the United States, which equals 2149045.85, have been homeless (defined as sleeping in shelters, the street, abandoned buildings, cars, or bus and train stations) at some point in their lives.

Testing those statistics, I walked across to the café shop to a man sitting outside with a cup of coffee, and his New York Time puzzle on the table. After a few minutes of explaining my project to him, he agreed to talk to me.

“Homelessness in Berkeley is at rise because this city is so liberal and keen to paying for the homeless,” said the 36-year-old Wells Fargo Banker Marcus Reading.

“Why should we support a bunch of people that just sit around downtown begging for money, when the rest of us are working our butts off” he said.

Ms.Knott has her son enrolled at the Berkeley High School where there is funding available for families without homes.

“The diverse range of people here is what makes the city of Berkeley attractive and the people are just too nice” she said. “They never let you go hungry”.

Cross Roads at Intersectionality with Gender Identity – A Tibetan feminist perspective

On By Tenzin ShakyaIn 1, Serendipity, Thoughts for the soul4 Comments

Our multicultural society at large is so diverse that we struggle to define or identify people in categories. We are all taught not to judge others, and treat others the way we would like to be treated. However, in practicality it’s often the case that due to the lack of information about others, we depend on stereotypes of their communities and practice racial profiling. In most cases we look directly at the physical features of a human being to try an guess their identity. We approach them in the manner that fits the definition of our very own standards – the unconscious bias. One common struggle of inequalities appears when we judge others by their gender. Intersectionality has been accepted by many feminists as being a key to understanding the gender divide that exists in our society.[1] Race, nation, gender has been amongst many other factors that assist in categorizing people into objects of commodities accessible for judging and positioning. The fact is even women don’t believe that all women want the same equal rights because everyone has their own priorities that follow their social surroundings and their beliefs and values in their individual personal lives.

What we fail to realize is that many people are so inter racially linked now that only the dominant traits appear in their physical features and we cannot define them properly or even fully define ourselves. All that knowledge however does not come forward in our consciousness when we use just our eyes to define others. Perhaps it is meant to be that people shouldn’t be approached differently based on their physical appearances – which often times leads us to manipulate their identity in small categories.

“Since critics first alleged that feminism claimed to speak universally for all women, feminist researchers have been acutely aware of the limitations of gender as a single analytical category. In fact, feminists are perhaps alone in the academy in the extent to which they have embraced intersectionality—the relationships among multiple dimensions and mo- dualities of social relations and subject formations—as itself a central category of analysis. One could even say that intersectionality is the most important theoretical contribution that women’s studies, in conjunction with related fields, have made so far.”[2]

The United States Census Bureau estimated that just in California alone 6,798,406 people are currently mixed with two or more races.[3] Surely it would be very difficult to define all these people based on just their physical traits and it would take ages to find definitions that they would all comply to.

Understanding intersectionality is a necessity in understanding our own identities. We believe that our identity is meant to express ourselves. Thus, when others decide to do it for us, we feel a discomfort of forced or coerced silence. A simple factor of acknowledgement would be that an individual’s social identities profoundly influence one’s belief based on their experience of gender.  It’s important to look into their surroundings, and acknowledge their individual wishes to define themselves on their own terms without being coerced into categories of subjects. The mere factor that there exists so many forms of identities within each individual should be a major underlying factor in the feminist movement’s attempt to unify all women rights into positions of consideration for change – In compliance and agreement to the right priorities that women deserve ofcourse.

When Melanie M. Hughes, a PHD candidate at Ohio State University did a study on “Complications at the Intersection: Overcoming the Challenges of Cross-National Research on Minority Women’s Legislative Representation”, she stated that “Differences such as race, ethnicity, religion, and language not only impact women’s identities and interest, but form intersecting social hierarchies that shape women’s access to power.”[4]

In Ella Shohat’s article “Dislocated Identities”[5], she shares her personal experience of having to choose between two of her identities in order to serve the purpose of the war that had taken place. Shohat describes the syncretic identity that formed within her as an Arab Jew in the United States.  Shohat’s priorities to her womanism might not be the same as Mimi Nguyen; a Vietnamese American carrying a load of history with her physical appearance in the United States. Ngugen talks much about how “everything changes when she travels”[6] because of the perception of her identity defined by the “othering” factor.

Though Ella Shohat and Mimi Nyugen both share similar feminist ideals in wanting equal rights for women their priorities are separate than mine.  China occupied my country, Tibet in 1959 – forcing my grandparents to escape into exile. Though I have this opportunity to excel in education and various other professional fields in this free country, I have also lost a lot of my traditions, my culture and my history back home and often feel dissembled within my own small community of Tibetans. Though I am an advocate for equal rights, I will not use all the rights handed to me for I want the choices in life which work to identify my authentic individuality.

In the end, it is our determination to have various choices in our life that portray our personal accountability and responsibility for our actions without the feeling that YET AGAIN we have become victims of oppression. Instead we must take on the role of survivors who will work for progress of choice for women and men all over the world while promising that we will not make the choices for them. Instead, we owe it as a universal responsibility to all mankind to advocate for others rights! The right to make their own choices in their personal inhabitant that fits their personal surrounding identity – as with ourselves.

______________________________________________________________________________

1)      McCall, L. “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” SIGNS -CHICAGO-. 30. 3 (2005): 1771-1800. (Online); http://www.rochester.edu/college/psc/news/intersectionality_readings/mccall.pdf

2)       U.S Census Bureau, “M0207. Percent of the Total Population Who Are Two or More Races”. U.S Census Bureau. 11/29/2009

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ThematicMapFramesetServlet?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-tm_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_M00633&-ds_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_&-_MapEvent=displayBy&-_dBy=040#?126,262

3)      Grewal, Inderpal, and Caren Kaplan.  Gender in a Transnational World.”Dislocated Identities”; Ella Shohat, pg 440; Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2006.

4)      Hughes, Melanie M. Politics at the Intersection A Cross-National Analysis of Minority Women’s Legislative Representation. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, 2008. (online); http://sociology.osu.edu/people/mmh/APSA_paper.pdf

5)      Grewal, Inderpal, and Caren Kaplan.  Gender in a Transnational World.”Viet Nam: Journal/Journey”; Mimi Nguyen; pg 435, Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2006.

“The Tibetans in Tibet are waiting and they will remember!”

On By Tenzin ShakyaIn 1, China, international news, Serendipity, Thoughts for the soul, tibet, Tibet News1 Comment

Tibetans all over the world are feeling the after math of the earth quake right now.

A Newsweek article titled “A Sympathetic Hearing” written by Isacc Stone Fish in Newsweek today reported the following statement “This week’s earthquake—and footage of the devastation—is allowing the average Chinese to see both the poverty and humanity of a region they’re used to seeing only in political terms. “It’s very hard to see real Tibetans” through the media, says Yang. “On TV, they’re dancing all the time, shaking hands with leaders, celebrating, or shown as troublemakers. This is an opportunity to realize that Tibetans live and suffer like we do.” In addition, the sensitivity about minority issues—especially Tibetan ones—in China has choked off civic opportunities for Tibetan-Chinese connections. The earthquake is bringing “unprecedented” Chinese-Tibetan grassroots understanding, “and this could be a very good thing,” says Yang.”

Below is a comment posted by SopheapAng on NewsWeek’s article :

I really wonder how this writer Issac Smelly Fish who was employed to bad-mouth China for a living and those despicable so-called exiled Tibetans would use such a natural disaster to bad-mouth China. One thing I want to ask these disgusting and despicable people is this: Where is your help?

The Tibetans in exile needs to answer this question. We need to tackle it head- on and communicate to the rest of the world and SHOW them that we are helping. The Tibetan associations around the world should fund-raise money, donate money, and support the Tibetans in Tibet. Most of the Tibetans in exile have already donated money, but have failed to reach the masses to announce that Tibet is at our top priority and we are helping our people.

Here is comment by TenzinZ on the same article:

I hope China will help rebuild this region and give the Tibetans greater opportunity and freedom, maybe it’ll be a start for us Tibetans and Chinese to gain a better mutual understanding. Also, I hope international community will donate as they have so generously done in Haiti -because the Tibetan people need your help so desperately. Please consider giving to Tibetan charities as the funds will go directly to those affected by the earthquake as opposed to other infrastructure development or get lost somewhere! I know we Tibetans have a resilient spirit, may we continue to believe in hope.

It is wonderful to see that the Chinese government are aiding the Tibetans during this devastating tragedy.

The Wall Street Journal reported “China’s leaders took a high-profile, hands-on approach to dealing with the disaster that struck one of the country’s most troubled ethnic-minority areas… and quoted Wian Jia Bao saying “We will make all-out efforts to build a new Yushu,” Mr. Wen, a member of China’s majority Han ethnic group, promised residents Friday, according to state media. “Whether you are Tibetan or Han, we are all from one family and we need to take care of each other.. Your suffering is our suffering,” Mr. Wen told townspeople in Jiegu, where most residents are Tibetan.

One would hope that Mr Wen’s words are genuine and heart felt to the current situation of Tibetans in Jyekundho, Tibet.

In fact, if one accessed the statement correctly, the message behind the “one unity mantra” carries precisely the same universal message that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been stating for over 51 years. We are all the same, and our suffering is your, suffering. In fact His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s statement  at the TIBETAN-CHINESE CONFERENCE IN GENEVA ON AUGUST 6, 2009 read the following statement “I request your help in carrying a message to the Chinese people that we Tibetans harbor no hatred against our Chinese brothers and sisters, and that we Tibetans are neither anti-Chinese nor anti-China. I seek your help and cooperation in preventing the issue of Tibet being turned into an issue of racial prejudice and antagonism between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.”

When such natural disasters hit the poorest countries of the world, one thing is for certain; people react!

We can raise funds, individually, or with our community or even with our co-workers or even online. We can raise funds, we have seen it done before and we know it is possible.  Here are some ways in which Tibetans in exile can help the Tibetans in Tibet and let the know that we are thinking of them!

Write an email to your local businesses, foundations, friends, family members and co-workers. ASK FOR DONATION! It might be $5 from your neighbor and $5 from your friend, but if one person from the community gets even $100 and contribute to an association or a network of Tibetans, they will know.

Twitter, Facebook, youtube, etc- all social networks which carry thousands of friends, strangers, supporters and PEOPLE- make an URGENT call and ALERT THEM!

It is my personal belief that a community donating together will make a bigger effect on the Tibetans inside Tibet. Announce it on your association’s website, blog that you are doing a fundraising drive for the recent quake that hit Tibet. Once we have the money, we need to advertise, YES i said advertise- Let the whole world know, we are in support!

We cannot stop these natural disasters from occurring it seems, but it is definite that we can do something to help in the aftermath of such events to assist the vicitims and help them survive.

Kennedy once said “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”.. . Perhaps it is my own fear….  I fear that the Tibetans in Tibet will remember if we don’t come through for them now. One thing is for sure, we need to reach them and let them know, we are helping, we are definitely helping and trying our best.

I was informed today that four NGO’s based in the US – working in Tibet have networked together and formed a FUND for the Tibet Relief Fund which is provided by the SSG.

Update from Program Director of SSG: Snowland Services Group (SSG) is the best known Tibetan NGO in the earthquake area and is likely to lead many local NGO efforts there.  It is difficult to assess the situation: around 80% of building houses have collapsed, the water dam has been damaged, people are afraid that it might collapse and flood the city. Most people moved to the house festival ground this evening where some tents have been installed. SSG is trying to organize emergency services: water, food, medicine, tents, clothes and beddings. Our cashier who was seven month pregnant has died. It is hard to assess the number of persons who died. SSG believes it is much more probably above 3000. One important issue is that people have stopped rescue after a couple of hours, due to lack of hope and equipment. I still need time to asses to situation as today we have mainly been trying to find survivors….people fear that another earthquake might occur this evening. The needs are huge… The situation , here is critical.”

You can donate to feed, shelter and supply food and medical aide to the victims of this earth quake by donating to the following organizations. 100% of the donation goes directly to the Tibetans in Tibet.

Please visit the following sites to donate!

  • Yushu Earthquake Response

  • Tibet Village Project

  • Tibet Relief Fund

  • Machik

  • Tibet Foundation

    • If you cannot donate, then please send this letter to all your friends, co-workers and family members.

    Also Visit Students for Free Tibet’s blog to find other ways to make a difference during this devastating time!

    MORE WAYS YOU CAN HELP – Students for a Free Tibet


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    GODDESSES, WHORES, WIVES, AND SLAVES

    On By Tenzin ShakyaIn 1, Serendipity, Thoughts for the soul2 Comments

    In Sarah Pomeroy’s book titled “Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves”, copyright; 1975, she aims in writing a social history of women through the centuries in Greek and Roman worlds over the period of fifteen hundred years. Compared to the classical and medieval periods, relatively little has been written about women in late antiquity (the 3rd through 6th centuries). The sources for the period pose several problems for understanding the lives of women: they are dominated by law codes, medical texts and patriotic writings by the dominant males of that society which tend to be prescriptive rather than descriptive. I write these words, as a brief short analysis, reflecting on the roles women played at that time and their participation in the cultural, political, and economic life in comparison to the women of Greece and Rome.

    The author starts her book with the history of the goddesses and their origins in Classical Mythology. She then continues by mentioning one of the greatest human influencers of that time; Homer. Through Homer’s epics, came the first perceptions of what role women were to play in society. Pomeroy refers to the story of Pandora and how it plays a huge role in the attitude towards women’s role in society reflecting back to the Bronze ages. She then carries a discussion over the roles of powerful goddesses such as Athena, Aphrodite, Hera, and states the influences these goddesses had over the modern women of that time being confused on form their roles as a woman.

    “That fact that modern women are frustrated by being forced to choose between being an Athena- an intellectual. Asexual career woman- or an Aphrodite- a frivolous sex object- or a respectable wife- mother like Hera shows that Greek goddesses continue to be archetypes of female existence. If the characteristics of the major goddesses were combines, a whole being with unlimited potential for development- a female equivalent of Zeus or Apollo- would emerge.”

    Pomeroy provides a good discussion of marriage patterns alluded in the epic cycles, based on the marriages of such royal women as Helen, Clytemnestra and Penelope. In a patrilocal pattern, the suitor would bring back the bride to his own house and she would be the material emblem of alliance between the households of her father and her new husband. In a matrilocal pattern, the wandering warrior would settle in the country of his bride. A great warrior like Achilles might find many chieftains offering their daughters in marriage in hope of obtaining a powerful alliances.

    The next few chapters focus on describing the women of Athens and, later, of Rome. She points out that there is more material, literary, epigraphic and archeological information in this time to discuss the Athenian women. This is particularly valuable not only for the information conveyed, but perhaps even more for the method used. At all times, in her discussion, she carefully maintains the distinctions of class and economic status. At the same time she speaks on the strong female characters of tragedy. Pomeroy states that the mythology about women is created by men and, in a culture dominated by men; it may have little to do with women themselves. The women of Athens and Rome are the focus; the wives and the prostitutes. The Wife Archetype portrayed social respectability, a role that centered on the affairs of domesticity and childrearing. More importantly it was the prostitutes, whores or courtesans who received special status of being the most notorious and sophisticated. The famous courtesan, Aspasia, was vilified by later writers for influencing the Greek General Pericles of Peloponnesian War fame in the 5th century B.C.E.

    In comparison to Greek Women, Roman women could be considered more liberated and emancipated. On of the main differences are named by Cornelius Nepos. He says Greek women mainly stay in the house, while Roman women accompany their husbands to dinner parties. Aside from social differences, there were also the economic advantages held by Roman women. They could own property beyond their dowry and inherit from their kin. This was a factor in the kind of marriage contracted, at least in the upper classes. Marriage severed the bride from her father’s control and placed her under her new husband’s, making her a member of her husband’s family and thus eligible to inherit from him. Reviews allowed the women of Rome more freedom, since she was nominally under her father’s control but removed from his direct surveillance. Also, both were allowed to keep their property (the upper class women of wealth) and it remained in her family. The various legal intricacies of marriage, divorce and inheritance were further complicated by the penchant of the upper classes at Rome to use marriages as an adhesive for making alliances in the political arena. The most interesting section in her book is the discussion on the freedwomen and working women of Rome. Most occupations available to women were of domestic service; they were prostitutes, maids, launderers, and cooks. There were also many accounts mentioned of market women from the East importing and exporting luxury goods and selling them. These women would be considered entrepreneurs in these modern times.

    In the book’s last chapters, Pomeroy points out the connections between the different cults and myths of that time and how it impacts women of the Classical and Hellenistic period. The cults of Ceres and Isis are among the major cults mentioned. It is particularly interesting to note, that Isis, who became one of the most popular deities in the Greek and Roman world, was praised for making “the power of women equal to that of men.”

    Despite the extreme social restraints on women in classical antiquity, it is interesting that they had a number of powerful female goddesses of the type that were never available to women of different dominant religions of that time, such is the case with Christianity. Demeter was able to retrieve her daughter Persephone, Artemis could send a fatal arrow, and Athena had the ability to resist marriage and motherhood, and to provide advice to respected Greek heroes. Aphrodite, Hera, Hestia, and Hekate were also powerful goddesses, intensely honored and greatly admired by women and men alike. Such women exist today and perhaps even more so in history, however were never accounted for, as much of history has been paved by the patriarchy system serving the “protectors” of our human species, the warriors, the lords, priests, nobles, all adhering to the housing of fathers and sons.

    I will rise – No one identity “Intersectionality”

    On By Tenzin ShakyaIn 1, Serendipity, Thoughts for the soul4 Comments

    Interdependency being the goal OR
    Perception defining the reality

    Not a tomboy, not quite the girl next door, not your hot chick and definitely not a simple quiet girl

    Not my make up, not my hair, not so much even to claim a natural beauty

    This or that got to pick a side
    Wall street or main street, or just a street in fact

    hour-glass, ticking bomb… quick profit- hurry now it’s up for grabs!

    Politics or development or rather, rebel for both or against

    Tibetan or American or perhaps even a bit Indian and Nepali or maybe even African American- No- perhaps Japanese or Filipina from Hawaii?

    Raw, beautiful, pretty, cute, no-no I know “exotic” ooooooh different

    From the land of the snowy utopia?

    Oh idealist, democratic, socialist, no no activist?

    This or that maybe even both or maybe Neither but certainly something?

    DECONSTRUCT-

    colonialism, nationalism, feminism, individualism, liberalism, ismmmmmmmms humanism?

    Post me in your dictionary

    Again and again bring on the terms

    Pick a name, categorize me, place me in an order, label me with a tag line, prioritize me with your needs and then Define my character according to your “intelligence”

    QUICK-

    I too will be your study, all with history, so dot me up and place me in the line

    Benefit from my existence to uplift your position

    Wisdom or ignorance – OR OR OR this or that stay on one side- force a choice

    Share your data: Statistics can satisfy your need

    Quantify my worth and sell my identity

    Binary divisions do not solve anything it does not work for me, I will not choose a side, I do not have one identity, importance of my rights cannot me measured and my experiences of inferiority will not be the same as yours-

    Succeed only in Satisfying your thirst to feel you have served some knowledge

    Your purpose for me

    No validation will be concluded on my side. You may do as you wish with my story but I have felt it always in others’ terms

    POINTLESS!

    I KNOW!!!! How about an example?

    Still I rise

    You may write me down in history
    With your bitter, twisted lies,
    You may trod me in the very dirt
    But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

    Does my sassiness upset you?
    Why are you beset with gloom?
    ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
    Pumping in my living room.

    Just like moons and like suns,
    With the certainty of tides,
    Just like hopes springing high,
    Still I’ll rise.

    Did you want to see me broken?
    Bowed head and lowered eyes?
    Shoulders falling down like tear drops.
    Weakened by my soulful cries.

    Does my haughtiness offend you?
    Don’t you take it awful hard
    ‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
    Diggin’ in my own back yard.

    You may shoot me with your words,
    You may cut me with your eyes,
    You may kill me with your hatefulness,
    But still, like air, I’ll rise.

    Does my sexiness upset you?
    Does it come as a surprise
    That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
    At the meeting of my thighs?

    Out of the huts of history’s shame
    I rise
    Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
    I rise
    I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
    Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
    Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
    I rise
    Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
    I rise
    Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
    I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
    I rise
    I rise
    I rise.

    Maya Angelou

    TO BE HOPEFUL IN BAD TIMES

    On By Tenzin ShakyaIn Serendipity, Thoughts for the soul1 Comment

    “TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
    What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
    And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

    – Howard Zinn

    Both sides of the story

    On By Tenzin ShakyaIn 12 Comments

    SINO-TIBETAN RELATIONS: PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE –

    THE POTOMAC CONFERENCE, October 5-6, 1992
    PHUNTSOK TASHI TAKLHA

    After signing the Agreement, a letter signed by Kalon Ngapo was handed over to Premier Chou En-lai. In the letter, Kalon Ngapo requested that other Tibetan areas incorporated into other Chinese provinces be returned to Tibet and put them under the Lhasa Tibetan Administration….Ngapo, the head of the Tibetan delegati…on, did not affix his official seal of the Kashag (Tibetan Cabinet) on the “agreement” paper, although he had brought it with him. The Chinese side, therefore, forged duplicate Tibetan seals in Peking. They made five identical seals for each of the Tibetan delegation members with their names on them. These seals were then stamped on what became to be known as the “Seventeen-Point Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet.”…the head of the Chinese delegation, Li Wui Han, reacted by threatening the Tibetan delegation whether they wanted a peaceful or a violent “liberation” of Tibet. He said, “If you want a peaceful `liberation,’ then you must agree to our proposal. But if you want a violent `liberation,’ then all Peking had to do was to send a telegram to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stationed in occupied areas of Tibet. We have no problem.” Read more...


    Ngabo Ngawang Jigme (1910 – 2009)

    When the Lhasa uprising occurred in 1959, Ngabo initially tried to mediate between the Tibetan government and the Chinese, but in the end he continued to support the PRC: after retaking Lhasa, it was his voice that the PLA played over their loudspeakers urging the people to lay down their arms to avoid the destruction of the city. Although he might never have been powerful enough to formulate policy himself, Ngabo was never purged and continued to hold official positions, including two terms as chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the 1960s and the 1980s. Read more….

    Ngapo and the Cultural Revolution

    Another day we were called to the main headquarters of the TAR to manage the crowd. Thousands of people were shouting: “Down with Ngapo Jigme, let him be killed”. When we went there, we saw Ngapo in his military uniform; he was lead by some Chinese soldiers. He was brought on the stage and before making his confession, he took out the five stars out of his uniform and put them into his pocket and said: “For years and years my family had been exploiting the Tibetan people, and we will not able to get rid of this [sin] forever.” He just said that and he was quickly taken away by the PLA soldiers. Read more…


    Interview with Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme

    His third son, Ngapo Jigme, defected 13 years ago and now lives in Washington where he worked for the Free Tibet Campaign and now heads the Tibet section of Radio Free Asia. “In fact the Chinese government has never trusted him. My father has been a figurehead. He never really had any power,” Ngapo Jigme said and he adds that despite their differences, his father has tried his best for Tibet. “When things go wrong, people always look for a scapegoat but it is more complicated than that,” the son said. Read more….


    Kasur Ngapo Ngawang Jigme and his Autobiography

    It seems Kasur Ngapo has been working on his autobiography although its status is not clear now. Such an autobiography would be useful in enabling us to understand his views. More importantly, it would have an impact on how history will see Kasur Ngapo. It could be that the reason for not hearing about his autobiography is… because it is being screened by the Chinese Government. If this is so, I would feel that it is not only morally just for an individual to be responsible for his autobiography but this is essential for the credibility of the book once it is published. If the authorities were to interfere in an individual’s autobiography it will not be beneficial to the authorities themselves in the long run.  Read More…

    Ngapo Ngawang Jigme – a profile

    “It is because of the special situation in Tibet that in 1951 the Seventeen Point Agreement on the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, between the central people… See More’s government and the local Tibetan government, came about. Such an agreement has never existed between the central government and any other minority regions. We have to consider the special situation in Tibetan history while drafting policies for Tibet in order to realize its long-term stability. We must give Tibet more autonomous power than other minority regions. In my view, at present, Tibetan Autonomous Region has relatively less power of autonomy compared with other autonomous regions, let alone compared with provinces. Therefore Tibet must have some special treatment and have more autonomy like those special economic zones. We must employ special policies to resolve the special characteristics which have pertained throughout history.” Furthermore, in 1991, Kasur Ngapo asked the Chinese government to abide by the 17-Point Agreement, specifically the commitment “not to change the existing political system in Tibet.” Read more…

    PRESS PAGES FOR NON-PROFIT WEBSITES

    On By Tenzin ShakyaIn 1Leave a comment

    What is the purpose of an online press page?

    The purpose of a Press Page is to be the source of information centered on the needs of journalists and reporters who are looking to cover issues or people that your organization covers.

    An online press-room offers journalists 24-hour access to information about your organization in which you control the presentation of your message.

    Each section of your organization’s website should have a link that navigates viewers to the press page.

    The main essentials?  Organization is a must!

    Check out Peace Action West‘s Basic Press Page

    1. Contact Information

    This is one of the main essentials because the easier is to for them to contact you or someone from your organization, the better it is for you to pitch your organization’s message and build further relationships with media outreach. Journalists write stories, it sounds best when it’s the message is communicated vocally with a personal touch.

    • Designate a primary PR contact or a Media spokesperson with a Name, Phone number and an Email address.
    • A 24-hour media contact is preferred but if that’s not within your reach then provide advanced warnings of delay in getting back to people such as “someone will get in touch with you within 24hours” though info@organization.org is acceptable, it is preferred to use the designated person’s name in the email so that it doesn’t become generic.

    2. Search Archives

    Journalists tend to be on very heavy deadlines and work off office hours so it is best when for them when they can search archives and everything they need in one place anytime during the day without having to do heavy research and make late phone calls.

    • Make the search functions by keywords to make navigation easy with clear production of contents.
    • Organized (weekly, daily or monthly)
    • Keep your archives available for journalists to view easily. They like to investigate and find information quickly The easier to access, the better!

    3. News releases

    It is not only important to have news releases but it should be mandatory for this specific section to be updated daily, weekly, or monthly depending on your campaigns and issues.

    • Place them in order of prominence and date
    • Provide a summary of the issue covered in the release then provide the content
    • If the particular event or issue got picked up by the Media, provide a link to the coverage
    • Make the News releases section in a simple way that allows easy navigation to other parts of the website.

    4. News Coverage- List by the most recent

    • Try not to bore them with the whole article, you show the coverage on your organization, high light it but it’s not a good idea to have a long story.
    • The point of this section is to show that your organization is news worthy and prove it. Think about the resume you would carry to a job interview.
    • Succinct headlines and prominent release dates
    • Provide links to the news outlets that covered the issue

    5. Downloadable Press kits

    Have your information ready for print. It saves on paper and provides the press with all the important information you would like to present to them on their own time.

    • Background, Fact Sheets, and FAQS
    • Sample Press Releases relating to issues covered by the organization
    • About us information and Contact information

    Other Additions to the Website

    1. High and low resolution photographs

    -You want to have a back up just incase the reporters on duty do not have a photographer with them and they are on deadline. It’s always best to be prepared.

    • -Especially if an event happened recently and you want press coverage on the event.
    • – This is also a great way to advertise the logo that represents your organization

    2. Outside networks such as blogs, social networks and etc.

    • -This provides the press with external information about your organization that can be useful in researching views of the public. Having a open forum for the public to leave comments gives reporters a general feel for others in the community perceive your organization and what kind of an impact your organization carries on the community.

    3. Executive biographies – Personalize and SELL to build credibility-

    • – Who runs the place, what are their credentials and what positions do they carry?

    4. Events calendar and audio/video files

    • -This allows them to get feedback and updates from locals who attend your events
    • -Also a great way to prepare them for the next event

    5. Financial information (Also helps with donations)

    • Providing details to how your organization runs
    • Who funds your organization and whom are you affiliated with.
    • This is a perfect opportunity to nationalize or localize your organization to grassroots alike.

    © Tenzin W. Shakya

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