Stanford Friends of Tibet

Stanford Friends of Tibet (SFoT)

Founded in 1992, SFoT has experienced sporadic levels of student involvement. Perhaps the reason for this is that students simply have been unable to relate to the idea of Tibet. Popular Western culture tends to lend its sentimental, and sometimes highly passionate, support for Tibet and the idea of a "Free Tibet." It is rather unclear though, what a "Free Tibet" actually means. When protesters chant, "Free Tibet, Free Tibet," are they calling for freedom from human rights abuses? Are they calling for freedom of speech and press? Are they calling for freedom of expression of Tibetan cultural identity? Are they calling for complete independence from China? Or, like the Dalai Lama, are they calling for an autonomous Tibet? Most of the time, it seems, the distinction is vague or nonexistent. Ideally, a free and independent Tibet sounds wonderful (to some), but many critics of the situation will tell you that a religiously and culturally autonomous Tibet is the realistic goal (but even this will be difficult to achieve). This group supports the Dalai Lama's goal for an autonomous Tibet and will do its best to respect his methods.

Over the past few years, SFoT has been in a lull, but, due to recent events, the idea of Tibet has gained enough momentum to finally get picked up off of the backburner. SFoT has recently hosted the Tibetan Freedom Torch relayers for a stop in White Plaza as they traveled from San Francisco to the Chinese embassy in Los Angeles. SFoT has held two movie screenings and plans to continue them each week (the purpose of the documentaries is to elicit questions, thoughts, and discussion). The main focus of this group will be intellectual dialogue and campus education regarding the Tibet issue. SFoT plans to organize panel discussions, invite scholars and cultural performers, and coordinate with other active campus groups.

A peaceful and conclusive dialogue between "pro-China" and "pro-Tibet" students on campus will be the ultimate goal for this quarter, Spring Quarter 07-08. SFoT will do its best to make students realize that is both possible and pertinent to be both pro-China and pro-Tibet and to understand what that means.