Lhadon Tethong (born 1976) is a
Tibetan-
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
political activist, co-founder and director of
Tibet Action Institute, and former executive director of
Students for a Free Tibet.
Biography
Tethong was born in 1976 in
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, to Judy Tethong, a Canadian aid worker, and
Tsewang Choegyal Tethong, who ran a refugee camp in southern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and worked for the
Central Tibetan Administration
The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ), often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an elective parliamentary government, comp ...
.
She is a graduate of the
University of King's College
The University of King's College, established in 1789, is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and Nova Scotian Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century." Anglic ...
, where she founded the first chapter of Students for a Free Tibet after being encouraged by the size of the crowd at the first
Tibetan Freedom Concert.
Activism
Tethong first became a public spokesperson on
Tibetan independence
The Tibetan Independence Movement () is the political movement advocating for the separation and independence of Tibet from the People's Republic of China. It is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora in countries like India and the United Stat ...
when she gave a speech at the 1998
Tibetan Freedom Concert.
She started working for Students for a Free Tibet in 1999, moving to
New York to do so, and became an executive director four years later in 2003.
Tethong was detained in
China in 2007 after protesting against Chinese rule of Tibet while in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. She had kept a blog, posting writing, videos, and photos detailing the country's preparation for the
2008 Olympics, and garnered the attention of security officials, who arrested her after intense monitoring.
She was released and deported to Canada less than two days after her detainment.
Tethong founded Tibet Action Institute in 2009, aiming to strengthen the Tibetan independence movement through the use of digital communication to bolster strategic nonviolent activism.
In 2011, she was awarded the first annual
James Lawson Award for Nonviolent Achievement by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.
References
External links
''Beijing Wide Open'', Tethong's blogTibet Action Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tethong, Lhadon
1976 births
Living people
Canadian people of Tibetan descent
Tibetan humanitarians
Tibetan women activists
University of King's College alumni
Tibet freedom activists