China Blacking Out Tibet

CNN reports: 

Another Lhasa resident, who also withheld his name, said his electricity and telephone service had been cut off. He spoke to CNN on his cell phone.

 

China continues to impose reporting restrictions in Tibet and the neighboring province of Xinjiang. CNN sought permission to enter Tibet on Friday morning Beijing time. So far, this perrmission has not been granted. CNN reporting on Tibet was being blacked out Friday in mainland China.

 

CNN also quoted a Han Chinese tourist as saying that China has shut down trains out of Tibet.  

FISA Vote Coming in House

Last night the Republicans got to have a secret session in the House to talk about the new legislation the House will be voting on today. Yóu’d think that if the session needed to be in secret, there’d be new information coming out on warrantless wiretapping and why the big telecom companies need retroactive immunity, but you’d be wrong. McJoan of Daily Kos reports on a statement from Steny Hoyer following the session and what it all means.

Steny Hoyer did have this to say upon the session’s end:

“I did not hear any new information tonight that dissuades me from my very strong belief that the FISA bill House Democrats have produced – and which the House will vote on tomorrow – is a reasonable, thoughtful, appropriate piece of legislation that will ensure that the intelligence community has all the tools it needs to protect our nation, while also respecting the Constitutional protections that Americans rightfully feel are so important. Tomorrow, I will urge members on both sides of the aisle to vote for this legislation.”

Because there was no new information to be had. The House leadership called the Republicans’ bluff–they probably called for the damned thing thinking the Dems would reject it, and then they would have some great tool to use against them in the debate. I can just hear them now: “Not all the secret information was heard, it’s irresponsible of them to go forward with this vote.”

Well, leadership let the Republicans have their little session, even though they admitted on the House floor in the debate leading to the session that they had no new info. They were left standing there holding the bag, just creating one more obstruction. Funny way for them to behave, considering how dangerous they say it is for the nation to go one more day without resolution of the FISA issue.

Oh and that Republican-called secret session in Congress? Glenn Greenwald notes that just last month Minority Leader John Boehner was against any sort of secret debates on this legislation. 

The House is expected to vote today. I don’t know where the whip count is exactly, but expect it to be close. Democrats need to keep progressives in the caucus on board with the new plan, which includes generally good oversight provisions and leaves it up to federal courts to decide if the telecoms need immunity. The word is that the Speaker is whipping very hard and may be able to hold a number of Blue Dogs with the rest of the caucus, which would presumably mean that the legislation will pass.

Once the new House FISA legislation passes, it will be sent along for the Senate to consider. I do not have a sense on how likely it would be for the Senate to adopt it without further modification, but we will worry about that once the House passes this bill. Make no mistake, the new House legislation is a big step up on the previously passed Senate Intelligence Committee bill. The House leadership should be applauded for standing up for the Constitution and rejecting what the Senate has passed as a means of moving forward.

Naturally, if the House and Senate both pass this new legislation, President Bush will veto it. Of course, President Bush’s understanding of the Constitution and the balance of civil liberties and national security has never been a metric worthy of consideration when figuring out what the law should be in America. Hopefully the pro-Constitution Democrats will continue to ignore it as they plot a course forward.

Major Protests in Lhasa

The major news is that there have been massive protests in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, throughout the week that have been met by a violent response by Chinese security forces. I’ve been watching CNN Europe and the BBC all morning and this has been the top story.

The protests are the largest Lhasa has seen since the 1989 uprising. Reports coming out are limited because China has refused entry to Tibet to major media outlets. CNN has repeatedly mentioned that their network has asked permission from China to enter Tibet to cover the protests and they have been refused. Think on that for a second – one of the largest media outlets in the world is being repeatedly refused entry to Tibet by the Chinese government.

From reports, peaceful protests were organized by monks and nuns in Lhasa since Monday, March 10th as part of remembrance of the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising. These protests by monks and nuns were met by a crackdown by the Chinese security forces. Drepung, Sera, and Ganden monasteries – the three largest in Lhasa – have been locked down and surrounded by Chinese forces.

The organized, peaceful protests by monks and nuns were joined by major unrest among Shops owned by Chinese settlers have been burned. The response by Chinese police has been to use violence, including tear gas, on the protestors. There have also been reports of shootings.

The the New York Times:

Violent protests erupted Friday in a busy market area of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, as Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans clashed with Chinese security forces. Witnesses say the protesters burned shops, cars, military vehicles and at least one tourist bus.

By Friday night, Chinese authorities had placed much of the central part of the city under a curfew[…]. Military police were blocking roads in some ethnic Tibetan neighborhoods, several Lhasa residents said.

[…] The [American] embassy said it had “received firsthand reports from American citizens in the city who report gunfire and other indications of violence.”

Xinhua, the Chinese government’s official news agency, issued a two-sentence bulletin, in English, confirming that shops in Lhasa had been set on fire and that other stores had closed because of violence on the streets. But the protests were otherwise censored in the Chinese press.

In India, the 100 return marchers and 2 organizers who were arrested earlier this week have been sentenced to 14 days in jail. They received this sentence because they refused to sign a bond that said they would not protest again for the next six months, ie, untli after the Beijing Olympics.

Thirty-one Tibetan protestors who were arrested in Delhi continue to be held in Indian jail. The protestors have gone on hunger strike to draw attention to India’s complete subordination to Chinese interests and crackdown on Tibetans on behalf of the Chinese government. Organizations representing the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement issued the following statement on the protests in Lhasa:

Last night, the 100 Core Marchers and 2 organizers of the March to Tibet were sentenced to 14 days in judicial custody after appearing before the Senior Divisional Magistrate in Dehra. As the heads of the Organizing Committee of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement and March to Tibet, we condemn this decision by the Indian authorities to treat these peaceful Tibetan marchers as criminals.

The March to Tibet illustrates the aspirations of Tibetans all over the world for human rights and freedom. This past March 10th, the 49th anniversary of the 1959 national uprising, we saw the largest and most widespread protests in and outside of Tibet. Most importantly, in the past 4 days, protests have been spreading like wildfire inside Tibet, the likes of which have not been seen since 1987. The actions taken by the courageous Tibetans inside Tibet, in the face of terrible consequences, are an inspiration to us all. At this critical time, when our brothers and sisters inside Tibet are fighting for freedom, we too must persevere with our efforts, no matter what the consequences.

The March to Tibet is a purely non-violent initiative of Tibetans living in exile who long to return to our homeland. While the Tibetan people are infinitely grateful for the hospitality of the Indian people and government, the time has come to take our exile struggle home to the land of our ancestors.

In light of the critical situation inside Tibet, and considering that the March to Tibet is a nonviolent campaign modeled after the actions of India’s own Mahatma Gandhi, we call on the Indian government to immediately and unconditionally release all of the marchers being held at Yatri Niwas and allow the March to Tibet to continue un-abetted. We call on the freedom-loving people of India to request the central government to remove all obstacles to the continued journey of these 100 determined and peaceful Tibetans. And finally, we call on the international community to support the brave Tibetans inside Tibet by bringing scrutiny and pressure on the Chinese government and, at the same time, help the Tibetan marchers being held in detention by contacting the Indian government and calling for the marchers to be released and allowed to continue on their courageous journey home.

Students for a Free Tibet has put together an action alert in support of the return marchers in India. You can take action here.

Quite simply, this is a momentous time for Tibet. Tibetans inside Tibet are speaking out for independence and freedom from Chinese oppresive rule. Tibetan exiles and refugees efforts to peacefully speak out for their country are being swiftly shut down by the pliant Indian government. The whole world is watching the most visible Tibetan protests in 20 years. There can be no doubt what Tibetans inside and outside Tibet want: freedom. Those that stand in the way are clearly standing in opposition to self-determination, human rights, and religious tolerance. China is, as always, revealing itself as a totalitarian country that cannot tolerate dissent, let alone Tibetans’aspirations for the freedom they so rightly deserve.

I’ll try to update again on this tomorrow, but Tibet Will Be Free is the best place for news coming in from Tibet and India.

India Arrests Tibetan Return Marchers

Kate at Tibet Will Be Free reports:

On orders from the Central Government, at around 6:30am, Indian police blocked the March to Tibet and forcibly removed all Marchers from the road at Dehra bridge, 50 kilometers from Dharamshala. The police first detained Tenzin Tsundue, carrying him away as he shouted “Bhoe Gyalo, Victory to Tibet.” The 100 Tibetan marchers then sat down on the road, linking arms and chanting Tibetan Buddhist prayers and “Free Tibet”. Indian police broke up the crowd, carrying each marcher away and loading them into 5 police buses. The marchers are now being held at Jawalaji police station and Tsundue is being kept separate from the rest of the group. To read more, go to: www.tibetanuprising.org

CNN has been playing this on repeat here in Europe, with  new updates and deep analysis of Sino-Tibetan issues and history.

The BBC and Reuters have good articles on the Indian government’s Chinese-ordered crack down on peaceful Tibetan marchers.

Middle Class Score Card

The Drum Major Institute has put out their annual score card on how Congress rates on middle class issues. You can go see how your state’s congressional delegation stacks up and what issues are included in their metric.

One thing that is particularly impressive is that this year, the vote on the Civil Justice part of the score card, the vote on Dodd’s amendment to strip retroactive immunity from the SSCI bill is included as an issue senators are judged. Why? Because the middle class supports the rule of law.

Light Posting

I’m going on vacation today and will be posting at a much lower rate for the next two weeks. I’ll try to post once a day, though I’m not making any promises. I’m hoping nothing happens with FISA this week, because I’d like to enjoy by first real vacation in more than two years and my first vacation where I had to get on a plane in more than three years.

New House FISA Legislation

Tim Stark at CQ has new information about what House Democrats are doing on FISA. The short version is that they’re circumventing the intra-congressional negotiations for compromise legislation and taking another shot at a bill in the House. That was not entirely clear in this morning’s NY Times piece by Eric Lichtblau.

House Democrats plan to take up surveillance legislation this week that would reject White House insistence on retroactive legal immunity for telecommunications companies that have cooperated with the government in warrantless wiretapping.

The draft legislation also would establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the president’s warrantless surveillance initiative, according to a House Democratic official.

House Democratic leaders, under election year pressure from the right to give in to the White House and from the left to stand firm, hope to pass the draft bill before they leave for the two-week spring recess.

The latest proposal would sidestep stalled House-Senate negotiations over an overhaul (HR 3773) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, PL 95-511). But most aspects of the new legislation were developed without Senate consultation, so it is unlikely to break the logjam.

…

Although the legislation would not confer immunity on telecommunications carriers, it would address one argument for it. Because the administration has invoked the state secrets privilege in the lawsuits against the companies, the companies maintain they are unable to adequately plead their case without the ability to introduce evidence that the administration wants shielded from court disclosure.

The House official said the new legislation would “allow courts with lawsuits pending to establish procedures to hear secret evidence.”

So this does look more likely to happen this week, before the recess (but that would make it difficult for the Senate to address it before their recess). The Senate previously rejected Feinstein’s “good faith” amendment, which is similar to the House proposal. Feinstein’s amendment was 19 votes short of passage. The new House legislation does not strike me as substantially more likely to pass. Stark notes that the House bill would include permission of blanket warrants:

The House bill would require a warrant for the surveillance of foreign targets who may be communicating with people in the United States, but would permit surveillance of a large number of such targets at once.

Between blanket warrants and punting the retroactive immunity decision to the federal courts, I find it highly unlikely that the liberal faction of the Senate – people like Dodd and Feingold – would support the House bill. Frankly, while it may be marginally more acceptable to moderates, it doesn’t look quite as good on civil liberties as the RESTORE Act or the Senate Judiciary Committee version of the bill. Of course, because it’s a better solution than the SSCI bill the Senate passed, we know Rockefeller and the Republicans will look to strip the good civil liberties provisions and add immunity back in.

We know the House and the Senate are far apart. We know Rockefeller is a huge road block. The process is progressing, but I don’t see a solution in sight, certainly not one that includes no immunity and strong civil liberties provisions.

Update:

I’ve just received clarification from a source on the Hill. The House provision on having courts handle the pending cases is not actually one of “good faith” like Feinstein’s amendment. The federal court would just evaluate whether what the companies did was legal under the law at that time. If the standard is legality and not the intentionality of the companies, then this is a much more attractive provision.

SFT Blog Named 21st Most Powerful in the World

According to The Observer, Tibet Will Be Free, the official blog of Students for a Free Tibet, is the 21st most powerful blog in the world. The Observer is the Sunday sister paper to The Guardian. The determination is part of a ranking of the 50 most powerful blogs in the world. Here’s what The Observer says:

#21: Taking the protest online, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) is a global, grassroots network of students campaigning to free Tibet, which has been occupied by China since 1950. Students in Tibet face arrest for posting on the site, but many escape to blog about their experiences in exile. With a history of direct action, the group is now uniting worldwide members through the web, blogging to spread word of news and protests, and using sites like Facebook to raise funds. The organisation, which was founded in 1994 in New York, spans more than 35 countries and gets up to 100,000 hits a month. In 2006, SFT used a satellite link at Mount Everest base camp to stream live footage on to YouTube of a demonstration against Chinese Olympic athletes practising carrying the torch there. Later this year the web will be a critical tool in organising and reporting protests during the games. ‘SFT plans to stage protests in Beijing during the games and post blogs as events unfold,’ says Iain Thom, the SFT UK national co-ordinator. ‘But for security reasons we can’t reveal details of how or where yet.’ Similarly, a massive protest in London on 10 March will be the subject of intense cyber comment. In response, the site has fallen victim to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. Investigations have traced the sources back to China, leading to speculation that the Chinese authorities are trying to sabotage the site to stop online critics.

Wow, this is an incredible recognition of how effectively Students for a Free Tibet has melded non-violent direct action, new media promotion strategies, and innovative uses of technology to push for Tibetan independence. I was an author at Tibet Will Be Free while I worked for SFT (from 2005-2007), though to be honest many of the most impressive tech developments cited by The Observer have happened since I left SFT. Looking at what was done yesterday for M10 Live, it’s very exciting to thing about what other cool tech and social networking developments will take place at Tibet Will Be Free in coming months.

Hat tip to Buckaroo Bonzai at TWBF.

World’s Top Marathoner Backs Out Of Olympics Over Pollution

The New York Times reports on how Beijing’s pollution cost a top event one of the top athletes in the world.

Pollution in Beijing will deprive the Summer Olympics of an international star in one of the Games’ marquee events.

Haile Gebrselassie, the world-record holder in the marathon and perhaps distance running’s biggest name, said Monday that he would not compete in the marathon at the Olympics in August because of concerns about the effects of the city’s pollution, heat and humidity. He said he still hoped to run in Beijing in the 10,000 meters.

“The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42 kilometers in my current condition,” he said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

When China was granted the Olympics by the I.O.C., they committed to stopping pollution and maintaining a certain number of blue sky days in the lead-up to the Games. As you can tell from that picture, taken last July, Beijing still has major air problems. And remember, that picture is eight months old and now a top marathoner is withdrawing, suggesting that the air quality is still unquestionably bad in Beijing. You would think that losing an athlete of Gebrselassie’s profile would cause the I.O.C. to respond. Athletes don’t think they’re safe to compete in Beijing. The I.O.C. should do something about it immediately – move the Games to a part of the world that can and should accommodate them.