Students have staged protests in D.C. every day since the Chinese response to the uprising in Tibet turned violent, according to Rich Felker, mid-Atlantic coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet.
The protesters wanted to express their support for the Tibetan freedom movement to both China and the world community, he said.
Between 55 and 60 people attended protests in front of the Chinese Embassy, the White House and other embassies March 14. Between 130 and 150 people participated in the protests March 16. Passing pedestrians and motorists waved and honked their horns to show support for the cause, according to Felker.
"There has been immense support from the general public, but from the [U.S.] government, the support has been shamefully small," he said.
Ann Liu, a junior in the School of Communication, said she is conflicted about the situation in Tibet.
"First, I'm 100 percent Chinese and am very proud to be from the country," she said in an e-mail. "However, I definitely don't agree with all the things that the Chinese government does. ... As a human being, I don't agree with violence in any way, and the Chinese government does tend to oppress viewpoints that it doesn't agree with."
Some of the protesters' actions are clearly aimed at garnering media attention, Liu said.
"There's obviously no clear solution to the problem, but the first step people could do on both sides is to negotiate with words instead of violence," she said.
In a protest in D.C. Friday, people brought photos of Tibetans who had been killed in Amdo, the Tibetan name for the region known as Northern Sichuan province to the Chinese. The violence across Tibet has resulted in 130 deaths. Most of the violence, which began in the middle of this month, occurred in Amdo and Ngawa, according to Felker.
"For someone who's been involved in the freedom struggle for a long time, what is happening in Tibet right now is not surprising at all," he said.
Despite recent clashes, most of the protests in Tibet are not violent, Felker said.
"After 50 years of colonization and occupation, it's understandable that people have this huge built-up frustration and desire to change the reality there," he said.
Recent protests are connected to the upcoming Olympics in Beijing and increased international attention on China, according to Felker.
"This may very possibly be Tibet's only moment, and if this moment's not taken, it could mean the end of Tibet," said Felker.
The goal of the protests is to increase the cost to China to continue what it is doing financially and politically, he said.
"[We want to] show international governments what a big deal it is, and it's not going to go away between now and the Olympics just because China cuts out media access to Tibet," Felker said.
In addition to protests at the embassy, members of Students for a Free Tibet plan to protest the passage of the Olympic torch through San Francisco, he said. Felker said the French foreign minister recommended boycotting the opening ceremony to the Olympic Games. Felker thought this would send a strong message to China.
"[A boycott] greatly shames China without having any negative impact on athletes," Felker said.
The opening ceremony is likely to be a propaganda show for China, he said. A boycott would show that the world rejects China's propaganda.
The next major protest in D.C. against China's actions will occur Monday, he said.
Felker said student activism has played a very large role in past freedom struggles.
"People who are young - holding on to strong ideals - that is a very powerful resource that Tibet has that we need to utilize and celebrate as part of the spirit that will bring this freedom movement to fruition," Felker said.
Losang Rabgey, a National Geographic explorer and co-founder of Machik, spoke yesterday about community building and education projects in Tibet, according to Charlie Kilby, president of AU's Chinese Language Club.
Machik is a nongovernmental organization that works to strengthen local communities on the Tibetan plateau, according to the organization's Web site.
The event focused on giving Tibetans the tools they need to be a strong community in China. There are greater issues in China than the separatist movement, Kilby said.
"The issues in China should be focused more on improving people's lives and freedoms than one ... minority's separatist causes," he said.
