In this BBtv vlog episode, Xeni speaks with Tibetan human rights worker Lhakpa Kyizom about reported abuses against so-called "wired monks" in Tibet, by PRC military and police. Using cellphones, these monks photographed people who had been killed or injured during nonviolent, pro-Tibetan sovereignty protests that took place in March. The monks then disseminated these images to supporters outside Tibet, using connected computers and mobile devices.

After the images spread worldwide, and their origin became known to authorities in the tightly-controlled, tense, post-protest environment in Tibet, Kyizom says, military forces invaded the monastery, confiscated all communications tools, and detained nearly 600 monks in political retaliation.

Kyizom works as a radio producer for Tibet Connection, and is a trainer with the Active Nonviolence Education Center in the Northern Indian town of Dharamshala, also home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile.

A partial transcript of Kyizom's account after the jump, and links to reports on further protests, mass detentions, and new pressure on Tibetans to denounce the Dalai Lama as the crackdown intensifies.

Update: Nathan Freitas says, "The unfortunate aftermath of the incidents your video covered...."

Two monks commit suicide in Amdo Ngaba
According to confirm information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), two monks committed suicide in Amdo Ngaba (Ch: Aba) as a direct result of relentless oppression by the Chinese security forces after the series of peaceful protests.

Update 2: Chinese military police killed 8 Tibetans today, after shooting on hundreds of Tibetan monks and villagers in a monastery:

Witnesses said the clash – in which dozens were wounded – erupted late last night after a government inspection team entered a monastery in the Chinese province of Sichuan trying to confiscate pictures of the Dalai Lama.

Officials searched the room of every monk in the Donggu monastery, a sprawling 15th century edifice in Ganzi, southwestern Sichuan, confiscating all mobile phones as well as the pictures.

When the inspectors tore up the photographs and threw them on the floor, a 74-year-old monk, identified as Cicheng Danzeng, tried to stop an act seen as a desecration by Tibetans who revere the Dalai Lama as their god king

Link (thanks Oxblood)

Art-prankster Johannes Grenzfurthner of monochrom storms the front doors of various multinational corporations to ask employees (and random folk on the street) if they're aware that these companies have "corporate anthems." Yes, theme songs, sometimes official, sometimes unofficial, always painfully cheesy.

KPMG boasts a particularly heinous ditty, and while renditions sometimes pop up on YouTube, none can be quite so rich as the one we paid an Argentinian street musician $20 to sing. "KPMG, we're strong as can be -- a dream of power and energy!" Bet you $20 the song sticks in your brain longer than you'd like.

Johannes explains, "I told all of the would-be anthem singers that I was interviewing them for an Austrian economics journal called 'Wir kriegen euch' (We will get you, in German)."

Link to previous Boing Boing tv episodes featuring Johannes and the monochrom crew.

Today on Boing Boing tv, we meet the filmmakers behind "Second Skin," a new documentary that examines computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs).

World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Everquest allow millions of users to simultaneously interact in virtual spaces. Second Skin introduces us to couples who have fallen in love without meeting, disabled players who have found new purpose, addicts, Chinese gold-farming sweatshop workers, wealthy online entrepreneurs and legendary guild leaders - all living in a world that doesn't quite exist.

We just received permission from the publicity handler for George Lucas to air this *!*!*!*exclusive*!*!*!* interview with the Star Wars creator about his new self-help audiobook and line of aromatherapy bath salts and sugar scrubs, "The Boba Fett Mystique."

This product is co-branded by notoriously cocooned celebrity author JD Salinger. Behold, our power of videobloggage is mighty! It's a special calendar day.

Today on Boing Boing tv, a conversation with Ethan Zuckerman, co-founder of Global Voices, about videoblogging culture in the North African nation of Tunisia.

Despite intense restrictions on freedom of speech there, and extreme risks for critics of the political status quo, bloggers there are finding innovative uses for video online, as a method of cultural commentary and activism. Using tools like Tor and SipPhone to ensure anonymity, they have proven themselves to be several steps ahead of their US counterparts -- as evidenced by a story Zuckerman shares about an Apple ad remix.

Sites and organizations referenced in or related to this BBtv episode include:

* advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org
* Reporters Without Borders
* Committee for the Protection of Journalists
* Amnesty International.

Related previous Boing Boing posts:

Tunisia jails, reportedly tortures popular blogger and online journo

Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, continued.

Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, continued.

Report: Journalists, others at WSIS attacked by authorities

BoB award noms for world "freedom of expression" blogs