Last week myself (Pete), Conall and Phil attended an action climbing training in Germany run by our good friends from Robin Wood. Situated in the lovely German countryside town of Lutter, we stayed at an old gothic castle which had been bought by an anarchist group in the 1980s and rebuilt from almost ruins.

The schedule was pretty tough and the course was intensive, up at 7:30am (actually about 8:00am we're a bit lazy), out to the trees by 9am and then climbing till lunch at around 12:30/1ish then climbing again from 2:30 until about 6/7pm.

Led by Tobias, who some of you will know from Action Camps 2005/6, we we taught technical clmibing techniques that could be used for activism, much of it was developed by the activists who lived in the trees at Newbury.

After a week of hanging about in trees it is quite a pleasure not to have to wear a harness, but also sad to have to leave, having made some good friends in such a short time. Hopefully we can collaborate with Robin Wood more often in future as they are a really fun and interesting lot.

With these new skills we can now go forward and train more activists in the UK and be more active for Tibet.

You can check out Robin Wood at www.robinwood.de it is mostly in German though.

Pictures of the week soon to follow.

BBC Report.

Chinese officials say the prisoners volunteer to donate their organs.

The sale of organs taken from executed prisoners appears to be thriving in China, an undercover investigation by the BBC has found.

Organs from death row inmates are sold to foreigners who need transplants.

One hospital said it could provide a liver at a cost of £50,000 ($94,400), with the chief surgeon confirming an executed prisoner could be the donor.

China's health ministry did not deny the practice, but said it was reviewing the system and regulations.

'Present to society'

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes visited No 1 Central Hospital in Tianjin, ostensibly seeking a liver for his sick father.

Officials there told him that a matching liver could be available in three weeks.

One official said that the prisoners volunteered to give their organs as a "present to society".

It is a complete fabrication... to say that China forcibly takes organs from the people given the death penalty for the purpose of transplanting them

Qin Gang
Foreign ministry spokesman
28 March 2006

He said there was currently an organ surplus because of an increase in executions ahead of the 1 October National Day.

China executes more prisoners than any other country in the world. In 2005, at least 1,770 people were executed, although true figures were believed to be much higher, a report by human rights group Amnesty International said.

In March, China's foreign ministry admitted that organs from prisoners were used, but said that it was only in "a very few cases".

Spokesman Qin Gang said that the organs were not taken forcibly, but only with the express permission of the convict.

But whether prisoners really are free to make up their own minds on organ donation just before they are executed is not at all clear, our correspondent says.

In April 2006, top British transplant surgeons condemned the practice as unacceptable and a breach of human rights.

But the No 1 Central Hospital carried out 600 liver transplants last year, our correspondent says, and the organ transplant industry has become big business.

Click here to be directed to the BBC site with video footage of the report.

WEN YOU GO HOME, TAKE BLAIR WITH YOU!

[London] The long arm of the Chinese government was witnessed again today during the arrival in the UK of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. A large crowd of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) supporters had gathered to welcome Wen Jiabao upon his arrival at London’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge. The media and human rights activists were kept in the dark as to his movements and schedule.

“The CCP supporters had flags, drums and even a Chinese dragon! Such extravagance clearly required beforehand planning. But the London police claimed they had no knowledge of Wen’s itinerary and were not making it public. So how did the CCP supporters know when to be where?” asked Pete Speller speaking on behalf of Students for a Free Tibet UK.

Xinhua, China’s state news agency, made headlines yesterday for announcing that foreign media in China now needed to seek its approval before distributing any news and pictures within China, raising state censorship on foreign media to a higher level.

“It appears that the British government has caved in to pressure from the Chinese embassy and decided to keep the people in the dark, a tactic regularly used by Beijing and other authoritarian regimes,” said Alice Speller, National Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet UK. “China apologists have advocated free trade and open market economies as catalysts for freedom and democracy, but China itself is proving them wrong. Instead of liberal western corporations coercing china to open up and introduce more political freedoms, so far China has successfully forced western corporations and free countries to compromise their values and principles.”

Pundits have speculated that Wen Jiabao try to influence Britain’s policy on the EU arms embargo during his meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair today. Students for a free Tibet and Tibetan Youth UK will be demonstrating at Downing Street during Wen’s meetings. Since the Tiannaman Square massacre, which inspired the embargo, Tibet and China have seen little change in terms of freedom of expression.

“My country has been destroyed and everyone looks the other way. My people are suffering and everyone looks the other way. My religion and culture are being annihilated and everyone looks the other way,” said Karma Churatsang, president of Tibetan Youth UK, who is a Tibetan born and raised in exile in India. “Tony Blair must use this chance to stand firm on trade and the embargo. To stand firm for those whose voices have been ignored for too long. He should end his political career on a high and positive note by standing up for freedom and human rights, not on a shameful note for underhanded tactics and media secrecy. It is a shame to see the British government support China’s clamp down on freedom and human rights.”

SFT UK is part of the international organization Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), with Headquarters in New York and offices in Vancouver, Canada and Dharamsala, India, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, SFT campaigns for Tibetans fundamental right to political freedom.

Wen Jiabao will be arriving in the UK today and will be having dinner at an undisclosed location. He will then be at downing street tomorrow (wednesday) at 9 am. We will be meeting at 8.30 am. There will be press present. Please bring banners but no loud speakers. Watch this space for info about this evening.

For more information on China's arms trade click here

[London] Students for a Free Tibet has learnt that Wen Jiabao is coming to the UK but all we know is that he arrives today. The British government seems to have adopted a Chinese style method of information control. Last night a press release was issued to selected journalists who are being forced to keep his arrival secret. While Wen Jiabao is in the UK it is likely that he is going to pressure the British government to lift the EU arms embargo. This is an extremely important issue for the British public. China's human rights record is not improving and freedom seems to be moving further and further away from the Tibetan people.

Just recently Xinhua, the official Chinese media agency, released a press statement stating that all foreign media must have its news and pictures checked before publishing within China. (see the BBC report on this here) China seems to be moving further and further away from freedom and democracy. Is Britain, a country which claims to stand firm on "justice and opportunity for all" ( Blair, 26/5/2006) going to kowtow to Chinese demands? The answer appears to be 'Yes'.

IMMIDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Alice Speller: 07786 982 222
Karma Chura-Tsang: 07725501995

[LONDON] Tibetans and Tibet supporters will call on Britain not to trade with China until Tibet is free as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits the UK this week. Students for a Free Tibet and Tibetan Youth UK will be demonstrating throughout his visit including outside Downing Street on Wednesday as Wen Jiabao meets the Prime Minister Tony Blair.

It is likely that Wen Jiabao will try to put pressure on the British government to support a lifting of the European Arms Embargo on China. During the recent EU-China summit held in Helsinki he made several public attempts to push the Finnish government into supporting a lifting of the ban.

Speaking on behalf of Tibetan Youth UK Karma Chura-Tsang said, “The British government must not miss this opportunity to push Wen Jiabao on Tibet. Findings of the recent Foreign Affairs Select Committee East Asia Report demonstrate that China is doing little to deal with the ongoing human rights and environmental abuses. With such current evidence in the hands of MPs it would be embarrassing for the government not to demand change in Tibet but to kowtow to Chinese trade demands.”

Alice Speller, National coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet UK added “Students and young people must demand change from our government on Tibet. Tibet has been ignored or pushed to the sidelines for too long. It is time we took a stand in support of a non-violent movement. Blair must not support the removal of the EU arms embargo and must realize that increased trade with China comes at a cost, Tibetan freedom.”
SFT UK is part of the international organization Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), with Headquarters in New York and offices in Vancouver, Canada and Dharamsala, India, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, SFT campaigns for Tibetans fundamental right to political freedom.

For Further details: www.sftuk.org

###

David Smith and Jo Revill
Sunday September 10, 2006
The Observer

The founder of Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia written by its users, has defied the Chinese government by refusing to bow to censorship of politically sensitive entries.
Jimmy Wales, one of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine, challenged other internet companies, including Google, to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing.

Wikipedia, a hugely popular reference tool in the West, has been banned from China since last October. Whereas Google, Microsoft and Yahoo went into the country accepting some restrictions on their online content, Wales believes it must be all or nothing for Wikipedia.

His stand comes as Irrepressible.info, a joint campaign by The Observer and Amnesty International for free speech on the web, continues with the support of more than 37,000 people around the world. The campaign calls on governments to stop persecuting political bloggers and on IT companies to stop complying with these repressive regimes.
'We're really unclear why we would be [banned],' Wales told The Observer. 'We have internal rules about neutrality and deleting personal attacks and things like this. We're far from being a haven for dissidents or a protest site. So our view is that the block is in error and should be removed, but we shall see.'

Wales said censorship was ' antithetical to the philosophy of Wikipedia. We occupy a position in the culture that I wish Google would take up, which is that we stand for the freedom for information, and for us to compromise I think would send very much the wrong signal: that there's no one left on the planet who's willing to say "You know what? We're not going to give up."'

Wikipedia's entry on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 includes the government's official claim that 200-300 died and the Chinese student associations and Chinese Red Cross's estimate of 2,000-3,000 deaths.

Wales said: 'I think it's an interesting question whether they're prepared to understand the difference between advocating one set of figures or another versus simply reporting on what the controversy is. I can understand that they would be upset - although of course I still don't think they have any moral right to ban anything - if we were pushing one set of figures in contrast to their objections, but if we are reporting both, to me that's exactly what an encyclopaedia should do and they should be comfortable with that.'

Wales will meet senior Chinese officials in an attempt to persuade them to allow the website's 1.3 million articles to appear there uncensored.

'One of the points that I'm trying to push is that if there's a small town in China that has a wonderful local tradition, that won't make its way into Wikipedia because the people of China are not allowed to share their knowledge with the world. I think that's an ironic side-effect and something the people in the censorship department need to have a much bigger awareness of: you're not just preventing information about Falun Gong or whatever you're upset about getting into China, you're preventing the Chinese people speaking to the world.'

The Irrepressible.info website will allow visitors next week to access and distribute censored content.

The campaign

Since Amnesty International launched Irrepressible.info with The Observer on 28 May 2006:

· More than 37,000 people around the world have signed the pledge calling on all governments and companies to ensure the internet is a force for political freedom, not repression. They include Coldplay's Chris Martin, dotcom entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, Bob Geldof and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

· The House of Commons foreign affairs select committee has condemned Google, Microsoft and Yahoo's co-operation with the Chinese government as 'morally unacceptable'.

· Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has said that the company compromised its principles by accepting Chinese censorship. He said it was 'a set of rules that we weren't comfortable with.'

· Members of the US Congress have championed the Global Online Freedom Act in a bid to stop major internet companies co-operating with regimes that restrict free expression, including Belarus, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Tunisia and Vietnam.

Go to Irrepressible.info to join