What exactly had Nyima Drakpa done? He had produced posters reading ‘Free Tibet’, ‘Tibetans have no freedom’ and ‘Tibet is not part of China’, and he had posted them on the gates of the local memorial garden.

Composing, producing and distributing posters and pamphlets is usually all the political ‘writing’ that Tibetans manage before local authorities apprehend them. Tibetan newspapers and publishing houses cannot publish Tibetans’ views on China’s oppressive regime. Underground presses are virtually unheard of. Not only is there no freedom to publish, but basic freedoms that Australians take for granted – the freedom to receive an education in their own language and to practise their religions – simply do not exist within Chinese-occupied Tibet.

Tibetans who create and publish on contemporary Tibet, such as Tsering Shakya and Jamyang Norbu, live in exile. It is their brothers and sisters in Tibet who create posters and pamphlets – at profound risk to their own safety – who need our support.

Members of the Drepung Monastery Printing Group, who managed to run an underground press in Tibet for a short period, are honorary members of the Sydney PEN Centre. PEN campaigns for their release. The Australia Tibet Council campaigns for self-determination for the Tibetan people, and also runs discreet political prisoner campaigns. You can read more at www.pen.org.au and www.atc.org.au.