Programs
SFT's campaigns focus on three areas: political, economic and human rights. SFT's political campaigns are focused on generally advocating for Tibetan independence by pressuring both Chinese officials as well as SFT members' government representatives. SFT is well known for high profile protests against Chinese dignitaries when they visit foreign countries. SFT's human rights campaigns are focused on improving the situation for Tibetans in Tibet by advocating for increased freedoms and rights, and for the release of political prisoners and dissidents. But its website maintains, "When we say 'Free Tibet' we don't just mean, 'Make things better in Tibet.' We mean 'Free the nation of Tibet from Chinese occupation.'"
The stated long-term goal for SFT's economic campaign is to make Tibet "too costly for the Chinese government to maintain." One such campaign, held in conjunction with other organizations which promote regime change in China, urged consumers not to buy products "made in China". The American media commented on the extreme difficulty of such an endeavor; a commentator from the Christian Science Monitor expressed her belief that "the solutions to those concerns and others lie in turning toward China, rather than away."
Students for a Free Tibet's "Leadership Training" is focused on developing representatives for the Tibetan independence movement. Part of this is the annual "Free Tibet! Action Camp" at which dozens of young people gather for a week-long activism training session.
Read more about this topic: Students For A Free Tibet
Famous quotes containing the word programs:
“Although good early childhood programs can benefit all children, they are not a quick fix for all of society’s ills—from crime in the streets to adolescent pregnancy, from school failure to unemployment. We must emphasize that good quality early childhood programs can help change the social and educational outcomes for many children, but they are not a panacea; they cannot ameliorate the effects of all harmful social and psychological environments.”
—Barbara Bowman (20th century)
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
“Will TV kill the theater? If the programs I have seen, save for “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” the ball games and the fights, are any criterion, the theater need not wake up in a cold sweat.”
—Tallulah Bankhead (1903–1968)