Dear Friends of Tibet,

We would like to take this opportunity to tell you the latest on the TibetNet project and an important new dimension which will greatly increase the Tibetan Government's communications. We hope you will be able to contribute to this new initiative, our goal is to raise US $35,000 for construction and maintenance of Internet facilities to help bring TibetNet's message to the world.

*THE TIBETNET PROJECT*

A vast nation isolated for many centuries by its location on the Himalayan plateau, Tibet has always suffered from poor communications. Indeed, the lack of contact with other nations allowed the Chinese army to invade Tibet in 1950 - the rest of the world was unaware of the onslaught until it was too late. Tibet's ancient and fantastic civilization and ecosystem are now faced with extinction due to 47 years of mismanagement and abuse under its colonial rulers.

It would be very difficult to oust the Chinese by armed force, and it would go against the Tibetan Buddhist belief in non-violence. Instead, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people have used diplomacy and non-violent activism in the hopes that the People's Republic of China will be condemned and pressured to withdraw its occupation forces from Tibet.

It is our belief that anyone who hears of what has happened in Tibet will support its cause. But the Tibetans must be heard. The Canada Tibet Committee has worked in collaboration with the Tibetan Computer Resource Centre since 1993 to establish and maintain electronic communications between the Government-in-exile and its support community abroad. The financial contributions of World Tibet Network readers have enabled the link to be built. There is now a TibetNet Office in New Delhi which is maintaining the project and expanding into settlement camps in other parts of India and Nepal.

*THE GANGKYI WIDE WEB*

Now the Committee of 100 for Tibet and the Tibet Online Resource Gathering have planned an expedition to Dharamsala, India, home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in exile, to install an Intranet email and "Gangkyi Wide Web (GWW)" network that will allow Tibetans in the Dharamsala area to communicate much more effectively with the outside world. A dedicated team of Internet development professionals is preparing to go late this spring, but we need your help.

All the members of the expedition are taking leave from their jobs and paying their own way to Dharamsala; we need your help to cover the projected cost of the expedition's hardware, which is US $15,000. In addition, the annual cost of TibetNet's overall maintenance and staff in Delhi and Dharamsala is approximately $20,000. We would like to ask each of you to send what you can, be it $10 or $1000, to help the Tibetans prove that non-violence is a solution that works. In a world where terrorism gets so much attention, it is important to support those who are willing to brave the path of peace.

If you live in the U.S., please send your tax-deductible donation to:

The Committee of 100 for Tibet

PO Box 60612

Palo Alto, CA

94306-0612

IMPORTANT: you must write "TibetNet" on your check.

Outside the U.S., please send your donation to:

Canada Tibet Committee

4675 Coolbrook

Montreal, Quebec

Canada H3X 2K7

For more information on TibetNet, please visit:

http://www.tibet.org/TibetNet/

Thank you for your help!

Tibet Online Resource Gathering http://www.tibet.org/

Tenzin N. Tethong, Michael Bachmann

Committee of 100 for Tibet

http://www.tibet.org/Tibet100/

Conrad Richter, Thubten Samdup, Nima Dorjee, Brian Given - WTN and Canada Tibet Committee

Tseten Samdup, WTN and Office of Tibet, London

http://www.gn.apc.org/tibetlondon/

Phuntsok Namgyal, Sonam Dargyay - TibetNet, India