Instead of Buying a Latte, You Can Help Free Tibet

Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet at 12:08 PM on January 29, 2008.

You've seen the bumper-stickers, you've seen the flags, but will Tibet ever be "free"? The answer, is yes -- with your help.

Students for a Free Tibet, in solidarity with the Tibetan people, have been fighting for their freedom and independence. But as you know, fighting for human rights in Tibet is not an easy thing. Sometimes it seems hard to make a measurable difference.

These next four days are not one of those times.

In these next four days, you can make a big difference and help Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) win $50,000 through the Facebook causes giving challenge!

The popular social-networking site Facebook (it's the new MySpace!) has mounted a giving challenge for causes on Facebook. Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) is poised to win the grand prize of $50,000!! The competition ends at 3 pm EST on Friday, Feb. 1st.

This $50,000 is critical to help SFT turn the spotlight on Tibet during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In the past year, SFT has unfurled a banner on Mt. Everest as a Chinese team was doing a practice summit with the Olympic torch (unbelievable, but true), had their Executive Director deported from China for blogging in Beijing about the illegal occupation of Tibet, and hung a 450 square foot banner on the Great Wall of China on the eve of the One Year Countdown to the Olympics. The Olympics are in Beijing this summer and this is an unprecedented opportunity to turn the spotlight on Tibet and the Chinese government's brutal occupation.

The giving challenge is simple: The cause that gets the most number of people to donate $10 wins the $50 grand. Feel like you don't have $10? Think about it as three lattes, two pints of beer, a movie ticket. And it can turn into $50,000 for global actions for Tibet just by giving!

There is a fierce urgency of now. SFT has already raised almost $40,000 through the generous online giving of over 1,000 Tibet supporters. With just 72 hours left, Students for a free Tibet needs our help, NOW. They are in a close-tie for first place, but if we don't help them now, they will lose. Please immediately visit the site now and donate $10.

All you have to do is click here. It will give you the link to set up an account on Facebook if you don't have one and the link to donate once you are logged into your account. SFT's cause on Facebook is called the Tibetan Freedom Movement.

These next 72 hours will have a major impact on what actions SFT will be able to accomplish between now and the August 2008 Beijing Olympics. Make a difference by turning $10 into $50,000 to support human rights and freedom in Tibet. (And tell your friends!)

Tagged as: facebook, tibet, free tibet, students for a free tibet

Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.