Students for a Free Tibet: The Youthful Struggle for Tibetan Liberation

Protestors hang banners as they scale the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge in 2008.

Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

by: Chonyi Lama

Throughout history, student activism has played a pivotal role in shaping social and political change. College campuses and community clubs in particular, have acted as sites of congregation and networking for like-minded young people to voice their opinions on issues of significance. Take Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) - a chapter-based network of activists, young and old, around the world advocating for human rights in China-occupied-Tibet. Founded in 1994 by a group of students and supporters in New York City, Students for a Free Tibet works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. Through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action, SFT campaigns for Tibetans’ fundamental right to political freedom. Moreover, it underscores the cruciality of student-led activism in shaping global social and political movements.

Renowned for its pristine lakes, staggering mountains, and rich natural resources, Tibet lies at the center of Asia, with an area of 2.5 million square kilometers. Also notable with respect to Tibet, is the Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom from the Chinese state. Following China’s Communist revolution in 1948, Tibet, a sovereign nation, was invaded by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1950. Overwhelmed, Tibet was forced to give up its independence. After a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama – Tibet’s political and spiritual leader at the time – fled into exile in India followed by tens of thousands of Tibetans. Since 1959, China’s government has exercised total political control over Tibet, using all the tools of repression to deter and punish Tibetan resistance. The Chinese government nevertheless rejects any labels of "invasion" or "annexation" and maintains that Tibet has always been a part of China.

The control and repression of the Tibetan people manifests itself in every aspect of life in Tibet. Under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nobody is free. However, Tibetans have fewer civil and political rights than most. From the mass police surveillance to the torture that takes place in Tibet’s hidden detention centres, every day the Chinese government subjects Tibetans to suffocating control and violent repression. Dissent, protest, or even wishing the Dalai Lama a happy birthday and having a Tibetan flag, will turn you into a criminal. Tibetans have to constantly censor themselves to avoid imprisonment. A 2022 report by Human Rights Watch revealed that authorities in Tibetan areas continue to severely restrict freedoms of religion, expression, movement, and assembly. Following a 2020 announcement tightening controls on online communications that “undermine national unity,” there was a surge of reported detentions of Tibetans for alleged online offenses, especially for those who communicated with people outside of China regardless of the content of their communications.

The report also noted the escalating coercive assimilationist policies though the government's “bilingual education” policy, a practice intended to gradually replace Tibetan with Chinese as the medium of instruction in primary schools throughout the region. Since the 1960s, Chinese has been the language of instruction in nearly all middle and high schools in Tibet, but new educational practices introduced by the government are now leading more primary schools and even kindergartens to use Chinese as the teaching language for Tibetan students. Authorities’ have also heightened surveillance and intimidation at all levels, from online platforms to neighborhoods to schools, and have rendered protests virtually impossible in Tibetan areas. Political prisoners continue to be held captive and murdered, though accurate numbers are unknown due to the extreme control of information dissmeniation in Tibet.

Since the PRC’s occupation of Tibet, more than 150,000 refugees have fled into exile to different parts of the world. However, despite over 60 years of Chinese occupation, the Tibetan diaspora refuses to be conquered and subjugated by the CCP. The emergence of Students for a Free Tibet is one example of Tibetan resistance. The recognition of young people as powerful actors of change is central in its organizational structure. The significance of youth activism is especially paramount in the Free Tibet movement considering the education, knowledge, and skills possessed by young Tibetans. Young people thus, are at the forefront of resistance and advocacy against Chinese oppression. Tibetan youth, the vast majority of whom may never step foot in their native homeland, refuse to be passive actors in the struggle for freedom. They recognize their birthright as Tibetans to have their language, culture, and freedoms beyond the CCP’s control. Evidently, SFT is not only a source of Tibetan defiance, but also a facet of hope for Tibetans globally.

Today, the Tibetan freedom cause is one of the many ongoing human rights issues in China, alongside the genocide of Uyghur Muslims, the crackdown of democracy in Hong Kong, and the arrests, dissapearances, and killings of those who defy the CCP’s authority. While China’s growing influence in the world has been at the epicenter of recent political discussions, a growing number of these discussions are focused on China’s economic prospects rather than its human rights track record. For democratic countries that pride themselves as champions of human rights, China’s political, economic, social, and cultural prominence globally, poses the difficult challenge of opposing the communiststate. Consequently, democratic countries and institutions such as the United Nations (UN), have done little to address human rights abuses in the PRC - a move that has been widely criticized by human rights groups such as SFT. If we wish to safeguard and preserve human rights and freedoms for generations to come, state actors and intergovernmental organizations alike, must be willing to listen and address the demands of young people.