Free Tibet (disambiguation)

Free Tibet may refer to:

Free Tibet

Free Tibet is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in 1987 and based in London, England. Free Tibet, according to their mission statement, advocates for “a free Tibet in which Tibetans are able to determine their own future and the human rights of all are respected.”

The organisation is a member of the International Tibet Network (ITN), a worldwide group of affiliated organisations campaigning for human rights and self-determination in Tibet.

According to their website Free Tibet campaigns for an end to China's occupation of Tibet and for international recognition of Tibetans' right to freedom. They mobilise active support for the Tibetan cause, champion human rights and challenge those whose actions sustain the occupation.

Current Activity

Political Prisoners

As a result of China’s censorship, many political dissenters are arrested and imprisoned for promoting or expressing religious, social, economic, and political principles the Communist Party of China (CPC) disapproves of. Free Tibet seeks the release of political prisoners through lobbying political leaders, circulating petitions, and organising Urgent Action Campaigns. This approach has been successful in securing the early release of prominent political prisoners such as Phuntso Nyidon, reducing Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's sentence from a death sentence to life in prison and was possibly influential in ensuring Runggye Adak's relatively low-length sentence in 2007. Free Tibet maintains a list of anumber of current prisoners, released prisoners, and those that have received death sentences.

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Arts and philosophy

Computing

Mathematics

Tibet

Coordinates: 31°12′N 88°48′E / 31.2°N 88.8°E / 31.2; 88.8

Tibet (ⁱ/tᵻˈbɛt/; Wylie: Bod , pronounced [pʰø̀ʔ]; Chinese: 西藏; pinyin: Xīzàng) is a region on the Tibetan Plateau in Eastern Asia. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Qiang and Lhoba peoples and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese and Hui people. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 4,900 metres (16,000 ft). The highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, earth's highest mountain rising 8,848 m (29,029 ft) above sea level.

The Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century, but with the fall of the empire the region soon divided into a variety of territories. The bulk of western and central Tibet (Ü-Tsang) was often at least nominally unified under a series of Tibetan governments in Lhasa, Shigatse, or nearby locations; these governments were at various times under Mongol and Chinese overlordship. The eastern regions of Kham and Amdo often maintained a more decentralized indigenous political structure, being divided among a number of small principalities and tribal groups, while also often falling more directly under Chinese rule after the Battle of Chamdo; most of this area was eventually incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai. The current borders of Tibet were generally established in the 18th century.

Tribe

A tribe is viewed, historically or developmentally, as a social group existing before the development of, or outside, states. A tribe is a distinct people, dependent on their land for their livelihood, who are largely self-sufficient, and not integrated into the national society. It is perhaps the term most readily understood and used by the general public. Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, the world's only organisation dedicated to indigenous rights, has defined tribal people as "those which have followed ways of life for many generations that are largely self-sufficient, and are clearly different from the mainstream and dominant society". This definition, however, would not apply in countries in the Middle East such as Iraq, where the entire population is a member of one tribe or another and therefore tribalism itself is dominant and mainstream.

There are an estimated one hundred and fifty million tribal individuals worldwide, constituting around forty percent of indigenous individuals. However, although nearly all tribal people are also indigenous, there are some who are not indigenous to the areas where they live now.