Activists in San Francisco Call for a Boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

A summary video (Video by Winnie Lau)

Human rights activists call for a full boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics due to the Chinese Communist Party’s continuous violation of human rights on International Olympic Day, June 23rd, 2021.

In San Francisco, Tibetan activists organized a peaceful protest as part of the global campaign “NoBeijing2022.” The campaign is a coalition between Tibetans, Uyghurs, Southern Mongolian, Hongkongers, and Taiwanese.

They marched 6 miles from the Golden Gate Vista Point, Sausalito to the San Fransisco Chinese Consulate. Over 50 people participated in the march and around 100 people attended the rally in front of the Chinese Consulate.

Protestors sang “Prayer of Truth” before the start of the march. The prayer helps practice compassion and control anger and hatred. (Photo by WInnie Lau)

A Brief Timeline of Tibetan Activism Against Chinese Ruling and Beijing Olympics (Created by Winnie Lau)

“We do not celebrate it [the international Olympics Day], but to condemn the international committee’s decision to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.” Lobsang Choedon, the Secretary of San Fransisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress said. “Because the Chinese government does not uphold the values of Olympics.”

Dhondup Tsering, the President of the Tibetan Association of Northern California, said that the Tibetan activists are urging to boycott of the Beijing Olympics because China is committing Genocide against the Uyghur people and undergoing repression in East Turkistan, Tibet, Southern Mongolia, and Hong Kong.

“The US government has been supporting us for a long time. We hope that it will help us not to let the Winter Olympics happen in China,” Lobsang Tsepel, the President of the San Francisco Regional Youth Congress said in an interview before the march.

Protestors marched 4 hours and 6 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to the San Francisco Chinese Consulate. (Photos by Winnie Lau)

“People in Tibet do not have the rights to protest. We are the people to protest for those who don’t have the rights,” Samphel Dorji, one of the broad members of the San Fransisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, said.

Protestors gathered in front of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate. (Photos by Winnie Lau)

Ms. Hong Kong is giving a speech in front of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate. (Photo by Winnie Lau)

“Apply Daily, a 26-year-old pro-democracy newspaper company was forced to shut down. This is one of the examples of this totalitarian ruling government suppressing human rights violations,” Ms. Hong Kong, a representative of the US Hongkongers Club, said. “We don’t want a totalitarian regime to host a Game that symbolizes solitary and peace.”

Dhondup Wangchen (left), a Tibetan filmmaker, is chatting with Giovanni Vassallo (right), the president of Bay Area Friends of Tibet, in front of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate after the rally. (Photo by Winnie Lau)

Dhondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker who was imprisoned in China for six years for subversion because of his film “Leaving Fear Behind,” which documented the voices and lives of 108 Tibetan individuals in 2007–08.

In the interview with Wangchen after the rally, he said “The reason why the Olympics is being held in Beijing is that the Chinese government always tells the media that we have human rights, language, and religious rights in Tibet.”

“But on my documentary film, I proved that we don’t have human rights and language rights in Tibet,” Wangchen said, “As the Chinese government is not keeping its words, it is important not to continue the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.”

When asked about the June 23rd San Francisco protest, Wangchen said, “I’m a bit disappointed at today’s protest because there weren’t a lot of people. But I am happy that a lot of young people came today.”

More photos of the June 23rd San Francisco protest:

The protest started with speeches from Lobsang Choedon, the Secretary of San Fransisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, and Dhondup Tsering, the President of the Tibetan Association of Northern California, a prayer, and a one-min silence commemorating the victims under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). (Photos by Winnie Lau)

[Right] Giovanni Vassallo, the President of the Bay Area Friends of Tibet is giving a speech in front of the Chinese Consulate. [Left] Tenzing Choeyangl, the representative of Students for a Free Tibet, is giving a speech. (Photo by Winnie Lau)

[Left] Alex, an American attendee from Arizona, was invited to give a speech in front of the Chinese Consulate. [Right] Alex (right) is holding a sign written “No Genocide Olympics. No Organ Harvesting Olympics, No Beijing Olympics at the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point.” (Photos by Winnie Lau)

[Left]Fang Zheng (方政)(left) is giving a speech in front of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate. Zheng is a survivor of the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement, and the president of the Chinese Democracy Education Foundation. [Right] Will, the representative from the Far East Freedom Youth League, is giving a speech.