Dharamsala, October 10 – Last night marked the opening of the 8th Free Tibet! Action Camp, a week-long intensive leadership training program presented by Students for a Free Tibet (SFT). Happening for the first time in India, this camp will provide over fifty student-participants with an in-depth education in campaign strategy, grassroots organizing, media outreach, and nonviolent direct action techniques.
The fifty participants are approximately half young men and women, with 30 Tibetans from Tibet, Nepal and India, another fifteen Indians from across the country, as well as 5 from Germany, Israel and the U.S. In addition, there will be a number of former political prisoners in attendance, and seven local NGOs represented.
SFT leaders and experienced human rights and environmental activists from North America, Europe and India will lead the workshops and provide hands-on training. In addition to workshops on strategy and organizing, students will learn direct action protest tactics such as sit-in and blockades, and rope climbing for hanging banners.
A typical day sees participants rising at dawn, attending interactive workshops throughout the day, and attending special presentations each evening. At night, a campfire plays host to sing-a-longs and lively political discussions.
In addition to being the first gathering of this kind held in India, this camp inaugurates SFT’s training program focusing on the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics. Workshops and discussions will be geared towards producing high-profile nonviolent actions preceding and during the Beijing Games to shine a spotlight on China’s occupation of Tibet.
The last two Action Camps, in 2005 and June of this year, took place in Düsseldorf, Germany and trained scores of Tibet supporters from ten countries across Europe. The first Free Tibet! Action Camp was held in the U.S. in January 2000. Since then, nearly 500 young people have attended the camps.
The majority of SFT’s core international leadership are graduates of this unique activism training.
