By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, January 20: The Students for a Free Tibet has launched a campaign asking Tibetans and Tibet supporters to take up the challenge of raising the Tibetan flag, which the student group calls “one of the most recognizable symbols of Tibet’s independent past and Tibetan national identity”, in the run up to the 102nd anniversary of the proclamation of Tibetan Independence by the 13th Dalai Lama.
Titled “Tibet Flag Challenge”, the campaign enters into its first week today and already people have posted a good number of images on social networking sites, giving the organizers a much needed boost to make the campaign go viral on the virtual space.
The campaign is being taken by Internet users in the Tibetan virtual community in similar lines as the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, a very successful campaign for the promotion of awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Pictures of people posing with the flag, mostly in unique ways, continue appearing on the Facebook.
“The Tibetan flag is a recognizable symbol of Tibet’s independent past, our national identity and struggle for freedom,” said Pema Yoko, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet, headquartered in New York. “As China tries to re-write Tibet’s history, youth from across the world take on this campaign to challenge China’s lies and propaganda on Tibetan history and to strengthen the case of Tibet on the global stage.”
The Flag challenge encourages people to keep the chain running by nominating their friends to do the same.
“We felt it’s imperative to have a Tibetan flag raised at various institutions so that people could at least be aware about the sufferings inside Tibet,” said Lodoe Gyatso from New York City, one of the first challengers taking part in the campaign.
Tenzin Choedon, a student at Delhi University, said that Tibet had never been a part of China and that Tibetan national flag is one symbolic proof. “However, the flag is banned in Tibet under Chinese rule and its possession can lead to arrest. Today, the flag is an enduring symbol of the Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom and independence.”
Jyotsna Sarah George, Campaigns Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India, believes that the best part about this challenge is its ability to empower people. “By featuring the Tibetan national flag in the most creative way possible, by taking the challenge to the next level of crazy, fun, and daring, you are simultaneously highlighting the crisis in Tibet. The irony couldn’t be starker; Tibetans inside Tibet have been jailed and tortured for raising the Tibetan flag. In exile, the flag is a symbol of freedom and resistance,” said George.
Students for a Free Tibet began observing February 13 every year to mark the proclamation of the Tibetan Independence by the 13th Dalai Lama.
