President Obama: You Can Help Broker a Resolution for Tibet

President Obama: You Can Help Broker a Resolution for Tibet

Dear sÖpa,

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will meet with U.S. President Obama this Thursday, February 18th, at the White House – their first meeting since President Obama took office.

President Obama reads 10 messages from the public each day and we want to make sure this week, he reads about Tibet. If we send 3,000 faxes by Thursday we will more than double the number of faxes he would normally receive (an average 1,000 per day) demonstrating that Tibet is a priority for the American public, and indeed for the world.

TAKE ACTION: Please personalize and fax a letter to President Obama now.

The historic meeting comes just days after the start of Losar, the Tibetan lunar new year, and amidst reports of fresh protests in Tibet. Sources in Ngaba, in eastern Tibet, report that on Sunday, February 14th, the first day of Losar, more than 400 Tibetan monks and laypeople sat down in the main town square and chanted prayers of mourning for the Tibetans killed in the 2008 Uprising. Chinese security forces surrounded them and cut off their communications. Read more.

As Tibetans in Ngaba and all over Tibet continue their courageous resistance to Chinese rule, now is the time for our leaders to take bold and new approaches to securing a negotiated resolution for Tibet.

Please take the following actions:

1) Personalize and fax the letter below to President Obama asking him to do everything in his power to facilitate a meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Chinese President Hu Jintao this year.

If there was ever a time to personalize your message, this is it. Especially if you are Tibetan, now is an incredible opportunity to write a heartfelt message that expresses why a resolution for Tibet is so important to you and/or for the world.

2) If you have a Facebook account, please post a comment on the White House fan page urging President Obama to help broker a just and lasting resolution for Tibet.

3) Click here to post the action alert to your Facebook wall and help spread the word.

4) Post a message for President Obama on this new campaign website developed by ITSN in conjunction with SFT: www.ihearttibet.org. These messages will also be faxed to the White House before Thursday.

Tibet will be Free!

Tendor, Kate, Schuyler, TenDolkar, Lhadon and all of us at SFT HQ

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
President Barack Obama

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: You can help broker a negotiated resolution for Tibet.

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

This message comes to you during Losar, the Tibetan New Year, with my sincere hope that your meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be a historic milestone in the peaceful struggle for human rights and freedom in Tibet.

Specifically, I urge you to offer to facilitate a meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and China's President, Hu Jintao. A face-to-face meeting will signal the beginning of real progress towards a just and lasting resolution for Tibet.

After nine frustrating rounds of talks between the Dalai Lama's envoys and China, a breakthrough is needed for progress to be made towards a negotiated resolution to China's occupation of Tibet. Your desire to pursue fresh approaches to long-standing conflicts makes you uniquely positioned to facilitate a meeting between Hu Jintao and the Dalai Lama, your fellow Nobel peace laureate and one of the most respected global leaders of all time.

If there was ever an opportunity to inspire cha nge for Tibet, this is it. Please do everything in your power to seize this opportunity.

Sincerely,

sÖpa Nyima