Can You Hear Me Now?

By Tenzin Dickyi, Harvard University

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

These days, there is always someone around with a camera and a Facebook or YouTube account. Even the Tibetan diaspora, descending from a people famously technologically wary, seems to be firmly launched online. His Holiness has a webcast and www.dalailama.com. The administration and non-profit organizations have their variously updated websites. You and me, ordinary folks, have Facebook or Hi5. Facebook is basically the technical equivalent of the Lhasa teahouse, the Dharamsala bus stand or Jackson Heights’ Shereen Mahal: it is an information bazaar that runs on something like a barter system. You tell me your favorite movies and I’ll tell you mine.

The genius of Facebook and other networking tools online is that you don’t just spread news; you make it. Caitlin is ice-fishing in subzero temperature, Rich is helping Students for a Free Tibet make history at Beijing 2008, Steve voted Romney in California, Noryang is writing a paper etc. As the line between producers and consumers blur (and the line between gossip and news effectively washes out), everything we do can be news. The trick is to market it effectively. Already there is a plethora of Tibetan groups online. There is a Boycott the Beijing Olympics group, a Kala Will Free Tibet group. A North American University Students’ Conference group that seemed to come up literally hours after the Tibetan students’ conference convened. A touching Ngatsoe TCV-Our Pride group, and a 2 Much Tenzin…Lol group that actually has 90 members at last count. And my particular favorite: the I Hate Stupid Groups that Say “Don’t Free Tibet” group.

The internet has already changed the way we plan and organize protests and demonstrations. Now you can organize a protest or a party, send invitations online and gauge interest and attendance level before the day of the event dawns. Communication is instantaneous and accessible to everyone (well, everyone with internet access).

When the Chinese steadily moved their troops into Kham and Amdo, strategically placing tens of thousands of armed soldiers in Jyekundo, Lithang, Chatreng and Golok, then occupying Chamdo; the rest of the world knew nothing about it. The Tibetans themselves were hard pressed for information. Gonpo Tashi Andrugtsang, leading the Tibetan Resistance Movement based in Lhoka into battle against the Chinese, deployed his soldiers based on intelligence two weeks old brought to him by couriers on horses from Lhasa.

If a people protest and no one is around to see it, did a protest happen? When everyone has a microphone, this question – whatever its philosophical validity – is no longer necessary.

I mentioned before that internet has changed the way we plan protests. I might mention, it has also changed the way foundations award grant money to non-profit organization. Case Foundation has announced a Giving Challenge. The foundation is awarding $50,000 through Facebook to whichever organization garners most public support in the form of online donations. Students for a Free Tibet has entered this challenge and plan to use the money during the Beijing Olympics this summer, when every camera and mike will be turned on China, to protest China’s illegal occupation of Tibet. To help SFT win this most critical award, please go to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/47691.

Navigating your way online has now become an essential skill for an activist. The last time I went to Wikipedia, I checked the entry for Tibet. It reads, “In the Tibetan sovereignty debate, the government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Tibet in Exile disagree over when Tibet became a part of China, and whether this incorporation into China is legitimate according to international law.” The truth of history isn’t fully accepted or confirmed yet but, as we tune the volume louder, our story is slowly being heard.