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)

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

Tibetans and their supporters around the world held vigils this week in support of the ongoing uprising in Tibet, as Chinese military and police jailed protesters inside Tibet, and reports of injuries and deaths continue.

Today on Boing Boing tv: Xeni visited one such vigil in front of the LA Federal building, organized by Southern California Tibetans, including Namgyal Kyulo of the Tibetan Association of Southern California, and Tseten Phanucharas, of the Los Angeles Friends of Tibet.

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Some of the vigil participants reported they were unable to connect with family and friends at home in Tibet, to check on their well-being, because of blocked telecommunications. Others (an exiled grandmother and her 11-year-old son, alike) spoke of being "glued to YouTube," straining to watch blurry phonecam videos of the demonstrations and violence.

China's government is not allowing reporters or human rights observers inside Tibet, and human rights advocates are concerned that grave violations are taking place.

(Image: some of the hundreds of ethnic Tibetans identified as protest participants and turned in to Chinese police in Tibet. The detainees were presented before state-run television cameras before being transported to prison / XZTV, Tibet).

"The Chinese government must immediately allow independent media access to all areas of Tibet," said the Tibetan Association's Kyulo. "We continue to hear eyewitness reports of house to house searches and arbitrary arrests in Lhasa and growing numbers of killings in Amdo, Kham, and other areas."

China blocked YouTube and Google News, and Boing Boing tv viewers inside China tell us that Boing Boing is also blocked (perhaps due to keyword filtering for words like "Dalai Lama," or "Tibet.") Google appears to be complying with China's net-censors by censoring the version of Google News that is available inside China.

"Without the internet, we would have no information at all about what's going on inside of Tibet," said Tseten Phanucharas. "nor would this global movement in solidarity with the Tibetan people exist."

Also present at the rally was Gyalthan Gyatso, part of a team of cyclists doing a "Peace Ride for Human Rights in Tibet" beginning March 29th in San Francisco.

(Image: some iphone snapshots during the BBtv shoot / Xeni Jardin)

Previously on Boing Boing:

Tibet: nearly 1,000 jailed in Lhasa, Dalai Lama offers to resign

Xeni on G4's AOTS re: Tibet and China's 'net blackout

Tibet: China blocks YouTube, protests spread, bloggers react

Tibet: more deaths, injuries in Lhasa as crackdown grows

Tibetan protests in Lhasa turn violent as Chinese forces crack down

China sends in troops to quell monks' peaceful protests

Police attack peacefully protesting monks in Tibet

Protest inside Tibet captured on tourists' cameras

Hacking the Himalayas: Xeni's stories and trek-blog from Tibet and India

Boing Boing tv: Miss Tibet/Eames Elephants

Google, China, and genocide: web censorship and Tibet

The Los Angeles vigil continues on Friday, March 21, from 5-7pm, at the Los Angeles Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd.

In 2005, Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, brought to public attention documents which showed that the National Security Agency had obtained copies of Internet traffic flowing through an AT&T facility in San Francisco and through several other AT&T locations across the country.

This led to public outcry over the US government's warrantless wiretapping program, and a lawsuit against AT&T by the Electronic Frontier Foundation .

At the 2008 EFF Pioneer Awards ceremony during the O'Reilly ETech conference, the EFF honored Klein's whistleblowing efforts. In this interview at the awards ceremony, Klein and EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn speak with us about efforts to persuade lawmakers not to grant legal immunity to telecoms that may have broken the law while helping the government in anti-terrorism efforts.

On March 6, 2008, another whistleblower came forward with similar claims. Computer security consultant Babak Pasdar said he'd discovered a mysterious "Quantico Circuit" while working for an unnamed major wireless carrier.

He believes this circuit gives the U.S. government direct, high-speed access to customers' voice and data transmissions.

For more information: EFF.org.

Update: Wired's Threat Level blog posted about this BBtv episode just now, and reminds us...

And just to toot our own horn, although Wired wasn't the first to write about the Klein documents, we did acquire them while they were under court seal (from a party not subject to the gag order) and publish them for geeks of the world to analyze. (Explanation here.)