A hundred years have passed since the writing of China’s first constitution. 2008 also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the thirtieth anniversary of the appearance of the Democracy Wall in Beijing, and the tenth of China’s signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre of pro-democracy student protesters. The Chinese people, who have endured human rights disasters and uncountable struggles across these same years, now include many who see clearly that freedom, equality, and human rights are universal values of humankind and that democracy and constitutional government are the fundamental framework for protecting these values.

By departing from these values, the Chinese government’s approach to “modernization” has proven disastrous. It has stripped people of their rights, destroyed their dignity, and corrupted normal human intercourse. So we ask: Where is China headed in the twenty-first century? Will it continue with “modernization” under authoritarian rule, or will it embrace universal human values, join the mainstream of civilized nations, and build a democratic system? There can be no avoiding these questions.

今年是中国立宪百年，《世界人权宣言》公布60周年，“民主墙”诞生30周年，中国政府签署《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》10周年。在经历了长期的人权灾难和艰难曲折的抗争历程之后，觉醒的中国公民日渐清楚地认识到，自由、平等、人权是人类共同的普世价值；民主、共和、宪政是现代政治的基本制度架构。抽离了这些普世价值和基本政制架构的“现代化”，是剥夺人的权利、腐蚀人性、摧毁人的尊严的灾难过程。21世纪的中国将走向何方，是继续这种威权统治下的“现代化”，还是认同普世价值、融入主流文明、建立民主政体？这是一个不容回避的抉择。

China’s Charter 08 (english)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/chinas-charter-08/

零 八 宪 章
http://www.2008xianzhang.info/chinese.htm

SFT has entered the Facebook Causes Challenge. Your $10 donation can help us win $50,000 prize money. With the prize money, we will monitor the situation in Tibet, train young Tibetans to become effective nonviolent activists, work for the release of political prisoners, and pressure governments around the world to hold the Chinese government accountable for its actions in Tibet.

3 EASY STEPS:

1. Go to the Tibetan Freedom Movement's Cause: http://causes.com/sft.

2. Select donate (if you don't have a Facebook account, choose the "Donate Without Facebook" option).

3. Donate $10 and invite all your friends and family to do the same (you can only donate once per 24hr period - 3pm EST to 3pm EST the next day).

If you can donate more than $10, please give $10 on different days so that each of your donations counts towards SFT's total number - bringing us one step closer to winning $50K. You can only donate once per 24hr cycle.

www.causes.com/sft
www.studentsforafreetibet.org

from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmXxNtkyBrQ

Dhondup Wangchen, the Tibetan filmmaker who made the ground-breaking documentary, "Leaving Fear Behind", has been charged with "inciting separatism" and is awaiting trial in Siling in eastern Tibet (Chinese: Xining, Qinghai Province). Chinese authorities have barred his lawyers from representing him, casting serious doubt over the fairness of the trial process.

Dhondup Wangchen has been detained since March 2008 and has suffered torture and ill-treatement at the hands of the Chinese authorities. He is being targeted for simply exercising his right to freedom of expression, and the charges against him are part of the Chinese government's widespread campaign to punish and silence Tibetan voices of dissent.

Help spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.

You can also write and call China's Minister of Justice:
Minister: Wu Aiying
Sifabu, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyangqu
Beijingshi 100020
People's Republic of China
Tel: (86) 10 652 067 06
Fax: (86) 10 652 923 45

In solidarity,

Tendor, Lhadon, Kate, Heather, and Chand

from http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/dhondupwangchen?qp_source=an1

Watch the film here: http://www.leavingfearbehind.com/

Green Dam is a new Chinese state censorship program mandated to be provided with all PC's sold in China after July 1, 2009. The program "complements" the existing internet censorship system, and extends it to many third party applications, such as Skype and text editors which are monitored for the use of forbidden phrases such as "falun gong". This new software may create an opportunity for the Chinese Government to appropriate these computers and use them to create the worlds largest botnet army."

A Chinese blogger posted a photo on Twitter of what appears to be a Sony document titled "Sony Disclaimer Notice Concerning the Green Dam Youth Escort Software" that came included with a Sony Vaio laptop discussing the Green Dam software. Another blogger, Rebecca MacKinnon, based at the University of Hong Kong, translated the document on her RCoversation blog.

In the document, Sony appears to disclaim any responsibility for damage the Green Dam software may cause.

The Green Dam Youth Escort software mandate is said to be aimed at curbing the accessibility of pornography, violence and other content to children, the Chinese government has said. But reports indicate citizens have expressed concern over the potential for further censorship. Since news of the Green Dam Youth Escort requirement leaked several weeks ago, the Internet filtering software plan has been ensnared in controversy. Critics both inside and outside the country have said the software could also be used to censor politically sensitive Web sites such as those dealing with Tibet or the banned Falun Gong group.

Along with Sony, Taiwanese computer maker Acer has said it will comply with the Green Dam software rules, which indicate that PCs must ship with the software included, but that users have the option of whether to turn it on or off.

Critics outside China, including the U.S. government and U.S.-based computer manufacturers, have been getting involved in the debate. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that a group of international business associations had issued a letter to the Chinese premier asking that the Green Dam mandate be lifted. The letter follows a complaint issued by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

from http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=25034
and http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/23/exploit-code-for-chi.html
and http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/11/1912240/Is-China-Creating-the-Worlds-Largest-Botnet-Army

Also read this for details on the Green Dam software http://www.cse.umich.edu/~jhalderm/pub/gd/

Tibetans and supporters staged a die-in protest at the main Square at Mcloed Ganj, market town of upper Dharamsala, the headquarters of the exile Tibetan government to protest against mining in Tibet by Canadian company Hunter Dickinson. The protest is a part of a global campaign against Hunter Dickinson's subsidiary Continental Minerals, which holds its shareholders' meeting today, to immediately cease all mining operations at Shethongmon [Ch: Xietongmen] in central Tibet.

With more and more mining companies operating in Tibet, activists say there is a great danger to the fragile ecosystem of Tibet.

“Almost 47% of the world's population depend on the water sourced from the Tibetan plateau and 3 of our major rivers come from Tibet. If the mining in Tibet continues, we will have to suffer the consequences as well.” said, Kirti Kapoor, a student from Delhi University and a member of SFT-India.
from http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=24999

Also watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo7EYqt6z0M