It’s still Valentines Day in the Europe and US!!
Students for a Free Tibet has launched a website, NoLuv4Google.com, dedicated to
helping people "break up" with Google on Valentine’s Day. Our
supporters have sent over 42,000 emails to Google’s executives through
our online
actions and about 1700 people have alrady committed to boycott
Google on February 14th.
Our site has resources to form
protests at Google offices, downloadable images, lists of alternatives
to Google, testimonials for them to read written by people who’ve
broken up with Google, and answers to some FAQs about our
campaign.We’ve also formed an online action for people to tell Microsoft
andYahoo how they feel about their ongoing partnerships with the
Chinese government.
"It hasn’t been easy but we’re strong and we’re moving on," said Lhadon
Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “For five
years, I had a meaningful relationship with Google but now they’ve
betrayed me. They’ve betrayed all of us and now we’re saying: it’s either us or the Chinese government.”
Google, I can’t believe you let the Chinese government change you. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”
My Entry. When I first met the internet it was love at first sight. I believed that this would be a love that helped people learn and bridge psychological gaps. It was a relationship filled with knowledge and interaction. Then I joined a dotcom, one that was owned by Xin Hua Agency, the Chinese Government Press. It made me censor the news, and ban sensitive information. It made me write out lists of words and thoughts that cannot be shared! I felt bereft. I hated it, but as with any abusive situation I stayed too long. I didn’t believe in the internet revolution anymore and google you gave me hope. You were supposed to be different. But you let me down in the same way.. How? Once you healed a hurt and now you are just like the others… I want to take away the love you felt, so you can feel it no longer!
(the news bit is true)
Students for a Free Tibet has launched a website, NoLuv4Google.com, dedicated to
helping people "break up" with Google on Valentine’s Day. Our
supporters have sent over 42,000 emails to Google’s executives through
our online
actions and about 1700 people have alrady committed to boycott
Google on February 14th.
Our site has resources to form
protests at Google offices, downloadable images, lists of alternatives
to Google, testimonials for them to read written by people who’ve
broken up with Google, and answers to some FAQs about our
campaign.
We’ve also formed an online action for people to tell Microsoft
and
Yahoo how they feel about their ongoing partnerships with the
Chinese
government.
We also have a video blog post up on our blog, Tibet
Will Be Free. The blog has a script
that changes the Google homepage for any local Google domain to our
jammed Google logo — "I’m feeling lucky" is replaced with "I’m feeling
repressed".
Here’s our press
release announcing the launch of our NoLuv4Google.com site. I’m
copying the press release below.
Hope you like what you see and please spread these sites and materials
around as much as possible. If you’re interested you can link to
NoLuv4Google using any of the code on this page.
Cheers,
Matt
Students for a Free Tibet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2006
Contact: Lhadon Tethong, (917) 418-4181 Han-shan, (212) 358-0071
TIBETANS CALL FOR MASS BREAKUP WITH GOOGLE ON VALENTINE’S DAY
Cite Chinese government partnership as source of relationship woes
www.NoLuv4Google.com
New York – Distraught and angry Tibetans and their supporters are
calling for a mass break up with Google this Valentine’s Day, citing
Google’s new partnership with the Chinese Government, Google.cn.
Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) launched the website NoLuv4Google.com
in
order to help people navigate the tricky waters of this massive life
change, as well as to provide an outlet for widespread anger and grief.
SFT is also coordinating protests at Google’s offices worldwide on
Valentine’s Day, February 14th, to help channel users’ emotions and,
according to the organizers, “to provide closure.”
"It hasn’t been easy but we’re strong and we’re moving on," said Lhadon
Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “For five
years, I had a meaningful relationship with Google but now they’ve
betrayed me. They’ve betrayed all of us and now we’re saying: it’s
either us or the Chinese government.”
“It’s been the classic five stages for me, except backwards.” said
Han-shan, an Action Coordinator with Students for a Free Tibet. “It
started with acceptance that they were just like any other greedy
corporation. Now I’m kind of stuck in shock and outrage. Google, I
can’t
believe you let the Chinese government change you. It’s like I don’t
even know you anymore.”
Other jilted users are urged to go to www.NoLuv4Google.com
to seek
counseling and advice on how to move on… and get even. There, you can
post and read “Google Breakup Stories” including a testimonial from
Tsering Lama of Vancouver, Canada. She writes, “Dear Google, if you
think the Chinese Communist Party (we call them “CCP” for short) will
be
a good friend, take it from a Tibetan, you’re gravely mistaken. You’ll
soon find them to be a fickle partner at best.” The website also
provides support for Valentine’s Day demonstrations at Google offices
worldwide.
Google launched a web search platform custom-built to the Chinese
authorities’ specifications that blocks access to and distorts
information about Tibet, human rights, and other topics sensitive to
Beijing. Google rivals, Yahoo! and Microsoft, have already cooperated
with Chinese authorities. Last year, Yahoo! provided information that
helped jail a Chinese dissident for ten years and last month Microsoft
shut down a Chinese political blogger’s site for "not complying with
local law."
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 