Today I was riding around Victoria, and I spotted some Tibetan prayer flags in the front window of a house. They reminded me of the recent unrest in Tibet, and China’s fifty year control of the region.
With the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, advocates for Tibetan independence rightfully see this year as crucial in their struggle. The cause simply doesn’t get enough visibility in the West.
I thought it would be cool to start a little corner banner viral campaign, which would enable bloggers and other site publishers to fly the flag for Tibetan independence. You’ve probably seen these–they’re a little chunk of javascript that, when added to your site, displays a clickable banner in the corner of the page (I’ve written about them before). It could run through the Olympics in August of this year, and click through to some actionable cause.
I hacked together an ugly example of what I’m thinking of (thanks to Burt Youngsters for the source photo):
Those are too big, and awful looking, but you get the general idea.
Designers, Make It Beautiful
If there’s a designer or designers who can make a more attractive version, go to it. I’ll provide the hosting, and try to promote it around a little. The banner has to be beautiful, though–really aesthetically appealing. People will be temporarily messing with their site design, so we’d have to make it worthwhile. Likewise, I’d expect to produce a few colour schemes, including a black and white version.
I suppose we also ought to check with a Tibetan about the appropriateness of using a prayer flag as a symbol of protest and advocacy. Er, any Tibetan readers out there? That’s a bit of a longshot.
Anyhow, I just thought I’d float this idea. Or rather, throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Try here.
http://www.island.net/~sakya/
Just out of curiosity, what form of government did Tibet have before being taken over fifty years ago?
And would an independent Tibet be a free Tibet, as we understand the word? Or would it just be free from Chinese rule?
Double: No time to look up the answers today, but I’m guessing it’d certainly be a ‘freer’ Tibet.
Their type of government would have been classed as a theocracy. (governed by religious leaders)
I would’ve called it an enlightened theocracy.
On the one hand I first thought that some little website decoration was kind of trite and temporary, but on the other hand, it is a convenient way to show some support and spread knowledge. The message would be: this is in the news right now and people do care about it.
I like the idea of the corner banners, but how about something with elements of the Tibetan flag? It’s bright, and it lends itself well to being reshaped into a triangle that could be displayed in any corner. The flag would avoid any appearance of religious or cultural appropriation.
I would’ve called it an enlightened theocracy.
Well, I got curious, and did some reading. Not so enlightened, actually. It was a feudal society, run by lamas and rich aristocrats at the top, owners of most of the arable land. The majority of the population were serfs, who were little more than slaves. Sexual exploitation of children, either serfs or monastic novices, seemed a common practice.
As at least one rebellion fizzled out because of a lack of popular support, I’d be really curious about the feelings of the former serf classes in Tibet regarding restoration of the theocracy. That’s not likely, given the autocratic Chinese rule, but I’d be hesitant to support this campaign without some idea of what the replacement would be.
Hi,
i’m an italian blogger…
I found this old post , i would like to know if you finish to make the tibet banner…i really would like to have one, also this version. I was take a look in the web just to find some kind of tibet banner and the flag’s idea i think is the best.
sorry for my english, i hope you write me and visit my blog.
bye
Elisabetta