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Tibetan Rights Campaign

Tibet is in grave danger. In 1949 Tibet was invaded by the People's Republic of China, a blatant violation of international law. Since then, over 1.2 million Tibetans have died from military action, torture, forced labor, starvation, and genocidal practices, including infanticide.

The Chinese government is attempting to forcibly replace Tibetan Buddhism with communism. All but 11 of Tibet's 6,200 monasteries have been demolished, leaving just a handful for propaganda and tourism. Tibetan children are sent to China to be indoctrinated, and the Chinese language is now more commonly taught in Tibetan schools than Tibetan. Irreplaceable works of art and literature have been destroyed, sold or stolen.

Tibet needs your help. Join the Tibetan Rights Campaign.

Learn more about Tibet
The Tibetan Rights Campaign
Some ways you can help Tibet
Tibet and the United Nations
U.S. Trade with China
Kidnapping of the Panchen Lama
Urgent Action Appeals
Why Doesn't This Frame Have a Picture in It?

Join TRC Volunteer Gift Shop Events Tibet News

Learn more about Tibet

If you want to learn more about the brutal Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, we suggest a quick trip to the mother of all Tibet web sites:

About the TRC:

There are hundreds of Tibet Support Groups (TSG's) throughout the world. We work together, yet are all independent non-governmental organizations. The Tibetan Rights Campaign was established in late 1989, following a successful series of demonstrations during an ill-conceived "U.S.-China Trade Fair" in Seattle, Washington, U.S. We are activists. Most recently, in support of the China Boycott to Support Tibet, TRC members helped persuade the Puget Consumers Coop -- a chain of seven grocery stores in the Puget Sound region -- to stop selling anything made in China to support the cause of Tibetan freedom.

Click here to find out more about the China Boycott.

The TRC is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, U.S., with an active branch in Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Contact us by e-mail, fax, regular mail or phone.

trcseattle@igc.apc.org

Regular mail to:
Tibetan Rights Campaign
P.O. Box 31966
Seattle WA 98103

Office Location:
4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. in Seattle's Wallingford District.
Phone: (206) 547-1015
Fax: (206) 547-3758

Some ways you can help Tibet

Don't buy anything made in China. And "Friends Don't Let Friends Buy Things Made in China" either. Spread the word! If you belong to a coop, contact us about getting coop members to vote on this issue.
Help us persuade Recreational Equipment Incorporated (REI) to stop selling products made in China. REI has two manufacturing plants in China, where environmental protection is a joke that REI's members would not find amusing, not to mention China's awful human rights record and brutal occupation of Tibet. Yet REI imports millions of dollars of Chinese goods annually.
Join a Tibet Support Group. We have members all over the world, so if there's not a TSG near you that fits your need to be active, membership is $30 per year for U.S. residents, which gets you a subscription to Tibet Monitor , a monthly compendium of breaking news concerning Tibet.

Tibet and the United Nations

In spite of China's membership on the Security Council, the TRC has conducted extensive work in attempting to force the Tibet issue onto the UN stage. This includes organization of the Tibetan women's delegation that went to the UN Conference on Women near Beijing and participation in the Habitat II NGO Conference. China has been publicly embarrassed by these activities, as the following news items suggest:
China opposes TRC participation
Despite such successes, China has enlisted the support of developing nations and fellow human rights violators to avoid action by the UN Human Rights Commission. Citizens from all points on the globe should exert pressure on their own government to do the right thing.

U.S. Trade with China

U.S. Posts Record Trade Deficit with China

The U.S. International Trade Commission reported on July 25, 1996 that U.S. purchases of shoes, toys, machinery and other goods from China in 1995 resulted in a record trade deficit with China of $33.8 billion. The deficit had been $29.4 billion in 1994. According to the commission, the United States bought $45.4 billion of goods from China in 1995, while selling China $11.6 billion.

Hitler, Stalin and Mao each founded regimes that killed tens of millions of innocent people. Now U.S. trade with China is all that is keeping the people of China proper from overthrowing the last massive brutal dictatorship of the 20th Century. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs have been lost to China, where slave and child labor, using political and religious prisoners alike, prop up a totally corrupt system that would be literally bankrupt without the connivance and support of overseas business interests, who reap massive profits from cheap Chinese imports.

The TRC supports free trade with free people. Help us counter the Good World Citizens who pretend that halting trade with China means isolating China. The free world's successful stance in regards to the Soviet Union and South Africa have proven that trade is a potent tool for bringing about freedom and ending tyranny. Like their Good German counterparts of the 1930s, today's Good World Citizens ignore what is happening to Tibet and pretend that free trade can lead to freedom. The opposite has taken place many times, but free trade has proven it can coexist very nicely with oppression.
If you live in the United States, get involved in the MFN (most favored nation) trade status issue. Contact the TRC or your local Tibet Support Group for details.
If you live elsewhere, work on your government. Contact the nearest TSG to take action.

Kidnapping of the Panchen Lama

The world's youngest political prisoner is just nine years old. The second highest Tibetan lama, whose reincarnation was selected by the Dalai Lama and traditional Tibetan authorities, is now under arrest with his family. China -- as part of its attempt to completely subjugate the Tibetan people, religion and culture -- has appointed another young child, whom they will train very closely to suit their objectives. For more on this important issue, which strikes to the heart of Tibet's future, please visit Tibet.org. (Tibet Online Resource Gathering).

Urgent Action Appeals

Appeal for Ngawang Choephel

Ngawang Choephel, a 29 year-old Tibetan exile, has now been sentenced to 18 years in prison. He had traveled to Tibet in July 1995 to make a film documentary about traditional Tibetan performing arts. China arrested him for allegedly spying on behalf of U.S. interests. This Vermont college student has been imprisoned and is undergoing torture, Amnesty International reports in this request for lettering-writing.

Go to Amnesty International appeal for Ngawang Choephel

Why Doesn't This Frame Have a Picture in it?

Tibetans have been forbidden to display pictures of the Dalai Lama

Tibetans have great reverence for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, their spiritual leader. The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile, tirelessly works for Tibetan freedom and self-determination. The Dalai Lama wants to negotiate with China regarding Tibetan autonomy, but Beijing considers him an enemy of China and refuses to talk with him. The Chinese government has forbidden people in Tibet from displaying pictures of the Dalai Lama.

Many Tibetans have removed their photographs of the Dalai Lama from their homes, but keep the empty frames up. Perhaps you'd like to put an empty frame up in your home or office. When people ask why, you can tell them what's happening in Tibet.

Join TRC Volunteer Gift Shop Events Tibet News

Tibetan Rights Campaign

Learn more about Tibet The Tibetan Rights Campaign Some ways you can help Tibet Tibet and the United Nations U.S. Trade with China Kidnapping of the Panchen Lama Urgent Action Appeals Why Doesn't This Frame Have a Picture in It?

Join TRC Volunteer Gift Shop Events Tibet News

Learn more about Tibet

About the TRC:

Some ways you can help Tibet

Tibet and the United Nations

U.S. Trade with China

U.S. Posts Record Trade Deficit with China

Kidnapping of the Panchen Lama

Urgent Action Appeals

Appeal for Ngawang Choephel

Why Doesn't This Frame Have a Picture in it?

Thank you! You are visitor

Learn more about Tibet
The Tibetan Rights Campaign
Some ways you can help Tibet
Tibet and the United Nations
U.S. Trade with China
Kidnapping of the Panchen Lama
Urgent Action Appeals
Why Doesn't This Frame Have a Picture in It?