Tibet riot video…

Things are getting hectic in Tibet (not that they haven’t been for a long time). I just received this email from the Beastie Boys about the escalating situation:

17 March 2008

hey all,

hope you don’t mind me hitting you on the b-boys blast line, but things are really getting intense in tibet now. it’s coming to a head. i just hope that all of the suffering that the tibetan protesters are enduring leads to some positive change, hence this letter. we can push our governments to lean on the chinese government to stop the cultural genocide.

attached below is a news bulletin that i got this morning. if you are a US citizen please take the time to write to your local congress representative and ask them to get to work. if you are a citizen of another country, you can ask your government reps…

it would be sad if what is happening in tibet now had no constructive result.

thanks,
adam

Urgent Action: Tell your Congressional Representative to Support Tibet

In horrific late breaking news, Radio Free Asia is now reporting that up to 80 or more Tibetans have been killed in today’s violent clashes with Chinese military. Chinese authorities responded with brute force today to ongoing protests in Lhasa and across Tibet. Supported by tanks, thousands of armed troops have sealed off the three major monasteries where nonviolent protests were initiated on Monday. Chinese police have fired live ammunition into crowds of unarmed Tibetans and unconfirmed reports from eye-witnesses in Lhasa say that 26 Tibetans were gunned down outside Drapchi prison. While the international public and media have been appropriately horrified by China’s clampdown, the U.S. has made only very weak statements. White House Spokesman Tony Fratto said, “We believe Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture. They need to respect multi-ethnicity in their society. We regret the tensions between ethnic groups and Beijing.”

Please contact your Congressional Representatives now and urge them to support Tibet by calling on the U.S Government to strongly condemn China’s actions.

FIND OUT WHO YOUR LOCAL MEMBER OF CONGRESS IS

TAKE ACTION
NY Times piece

After speaking out in support of Tibet Independence in Shanghai, Bjork has ruffled the feathers of the Chinese government.

“We will further tighten controls on foreign artists performing in China in order to prevent similar cases from happening in the future,” the Ministry of Culture said in a statement on its website.

“We shall never tolerate any attempt to separate Tibet from China and will no longer welcome any artists who deliberately do this.”

Here’s a crappy Youtube video of the incident: