Austin Activist Deported From China

Illustration by Doug Potter

Most visitors to China don't expect to be deported, but for Austinite John Hocevar, founder of Students for a Free Tibet, his ouster was the culmination of 14 years of campaigning for the Tibetan people. He described his recent expulsion from China, where he and others had been protesting its occupation of Tibet against the backdrop of the Olympic Games, as "almost closure, but it was also a sense of responsibility, because none of my Tibetan friends and colleagues could go."

Hocevar started advocating for the Central Asian mountain state's people in 1994 – 44 years after the invasion by the People's Republic of China. The Olympics seemed a perfect stage to highlight Chinese abuses, including military occupation, disappearances, and widespread human rights violations. Traveling under tourist visas, Hocevar and other Westerners flew into Shanghai, then took a train to Beijing, arriving Aug. 5. "Our first action was on the morning of the 6th," he explained. Protesters climbed two large poles opposite the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the Bird's Nest. Hocevar, who initally did not participate in the demonstrations, served as a spokesman, explaining the group's purpose to the media and curious onlookers. "There were four people arrested and deported on that [first] day," said Hocevar, who thought he would be next. "I assumed that, at the end of the day, I'd go back to my hotel and get arrested and deported. As it happens, I could do it the next day and the next day and the next."

More protests followed, including a die-in on Tiananmen Square, but on Aug. 10, his luck ran out. "Myself and four others attempted to unfurl a banner saying, 'Tibetans are dying for freedom,' and we were pounced on immediately," he explained. He was taken to the airport and interrogated by police who seized his wallet. After a few hours, they returned it, and he discovered why: They had used his credit card to pay for his deportation flight back to San Francisco. "They gave me the receipt," he noted.

Hocevar is one of 31 protesters deported in the first seven days of the Olympics. He believes the protests, which continued after he left, helped place the spotlight on Tibet. "There's been a lot of attention, but it's been dwarfed by the coverage of the sporting events," he said. "But the protests are going to carry on through the Olympics and until Tibet is free."