Twenty-six Nobel laureates, including Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, have issued a statement condemning China’s violent response to protests in Tibet.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled all the way to Dharamsala, India to meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Dharamsala is the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. It’s a real statement about Speaker Pelosi’s commitment to promoting peace and freedom in Tibet at a time when China is shown itself as a brutal and violent government willing to use limitless force against Tibetans. Thank you, Speaker Pelosi, for leading on this and being an example of how free people can exercise their power to stand on principles to promote human rights anywhere in the world.

My friend Josh Schrei has been one of the most committed, effective activists for Tibet in the US as the Tibetan independence ovement grew in the States over the last 20 years. He has a piece on Guerrilla News Network about the current situation in Tibet, evaluating what it should mean that some Tibetans may be resorting to violence against the Chinese occupation. Josh puts forward a serious discussion of the tension between the Dalai Lama’s long efforts through non-violence and the recent attention some acts of Tibetans finally turning to violence have commanded from the global community. It’s definitely worth a read.

Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, has a great post up dissecting the false notion that the protests in Tibet are violent when Tibetans throw stones and break windows. Lhadon writes:

as Nelson Mandela said, “the occupier bears prime responsibility for enduring conflict.” The true source of these riots and the violence, perceived or real, is the Chinese government’s illegal occupation of Tibet – and we must never lost sight of this basic context. Even if Tibetans wield guns and launch a violent attack tomorrow, the Chinese government is to blame because Tibetans are only responding to the Chinese government’s oppression. Beijing is lucky that the Tibetans are only throwing stones right now.

Let’s get real: how much violence can a few hundred unarmed monks and lay Tibetans really commit against a few hundred tanks and several thousand armed police and riot troops? China keeps all the guns, and uses them too – and yet they want to cry about Tibetans breaking their windows?

The whole post is worth a read, as Lhadon lays out clearly the force that Tibetans are up against and what we must remember about the circumstances in Tibet as we continue to get news about Tibetans efforts to attain freedom in their own land.