I like to think I keep reasonably in touch with what's going on but I never heard that this was happening or I would have come along myself. Maybe improve pre-publicity next time?

but I could find anything on the Web, so...

Checking the Free Tibet Campaign website (www.freetibet.org) from time to time is the best way to stay up to date ;-)

The free tibet movement is a CIA backed movement to try and destabilise China, its economic and military rival. Hence it is popular with hollywood stars like Steven Seagal, pop stars like the Beastie boys etc. If Tibet was really oppressed, then presumably there would be a bit more resistance in tibet itself.... Furthermore, tibetan Buddhism is a reactionary religious ideology, and is no more progressive than the catholic church, it just has been given a 'hip' makeover. Free Tibet is a fake.

In response to the comments made by 'maozi', I'd like to say that if you had any experience whatsoever of the grassroots Tibet Support Groups (TSGs) operating in this country you'd realise how ridiculous your words sound.

To begin with there is no singular entity that one could define as a movement in-itself which could be funded by the CIA. There are many organisations across the world that co-operate but are independent of one another, with respective emphases and aims for their work. Some focus on Tibetan culture and supporting Tibetans in exile for instance, others such as Free Tibet Campaign and Students for a Free Tibet are overtly political. Naturally all supporters of Tibetans wish for a free independent Tibet governed by Tibetans. Having given my time and effort for a major TSG for over two years and liaised with various others I can say with absolute certainty that us campaigners have no backing whatsoever from the CIA or any other such governmental agency. We all rely exclusively on funding from members and donors in order to exist and carry on our work.

The CIA operated within Tibet in the 1950s in a limited capacity and the US Government's interest in Tibetan resistance has long since waned if it ever existed as a genuine objective in the first place. The USA, just like the West in general, is desperate to do business with China and strengthen diplomatic and economic ties - anyone with even a cursory interest in politics and current affairs knows this - which is one reason why it is so difficult to get the issue of Tibet into the realms of the media and political debate.

As for resistance within Tibet, well even the Chinese themselves estimated that 87,000 Tibetans were killed as a result of the 1959 Tibetan National Uprising - the very reason we marched on March 10th - external reports claim 430,000 Tibetan deaths as a result of the Uprising itself and the following 15 years of guerilla warfare. The International Commission of Jurists concluded in reports in 1959 and 1960 that there was a prima facie case of genocide committed by the Chinese upon the Tibetan people.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture reported the widespread use of torture against Tibetan political prisoners as recently as 2005. Most Tibetan political prisoners are monks and nuns, typically imprisoned for trying to distribute leaflets or postering. I have personally met former political prisoners who were tortured in prisons such as the notorious Drapchi prison in Tibet. Every year thousands of Tibetans take great risks to try to escape the oppression in their homeland and flee into exile where they might freely express their culture and religion. I met two young men who crossed the Himalayas as young boys, both were tortured and beaten in prison by Chinese guards. The youngest had an electric cattle prod thrust in his mouth and shocked until he passed out again and again. He suffered from snow blindness as he made his way over the Himalyan pass with his brother.

Possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama, speaking openly of independence or shouting "Free Tibet" is enough to be struck with a lengthy prison sentence. Tibet is effectively a police state, with ubiquitous informants and a strong Public Security Bureau (PSB) presence particularly in Lhasa. There IS resistance just as there has always been, but the Chinese authorities are quick to stamp out dissent, and every traveller to Tibet I've spoken to has remarked on the palpable sense of oppression and the military and police presence.

Tibet is a nation in shackles with no genuine freedom of religion. Tibetan Buddhism is not a 'reactionary ideology', for goodness sake it predates even Marx (let alone Mao) by over 1000 years! The practices and traditions of Tibetan buddhism date back many centuries and continue to endure regardless of any immaterial interest shown by Western celebrities.

I do hope any readers of maozi's remarks see them for the standard disparaging rhetoric that emanates from blind loyalty to the Chinese regime out of a misplaced patriotism. Organisations such as Free Tibet Campaign and Students for a Free Tibet were formed by people who recognised the struggle of the Tibetan people and are independent charities and NGOs funded by other supporters of the Tibetan cause (i.e. members of the public). The Tibetan people have suffered greatly at the hands of the Chinese and continue to suffer. The Chinese occupation is illegal and there is no accepted legal basis for China's claim of sovereignty. Tibetans in exile all over the world shout "Free Tibet!" because their brothers and sisters do not have such freedom of expression without grave consequences.