While working in Dharamsala, India, I spoke with leading members of the Tibetan exile community about the freedom movement and the future of Tibet. Dorjee Tseten is a leader in the Tibetan youth movement.

In 2012, a parody of the Korean “Gangnam Style” video was released with a slightly different theme: the struggle between China and Tibet. Made by International Tibet Network and Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), a Dharamsala non-governmental organization, the hilarious video shows a life-size bobblehead representing Chinese leader Xi Jinping dancing. What many don’t know is that the guy in the Ray-Bans jumping into the frame with Xi Jinping is Dorjee Tseten, the 30-year-old national director of SFT. At first the bobblehead is happy that Tseten is dancing the same dance, but when Tseten pulls out the Tibetan flag, he’s dragged off by “Chinese guards.” He says his intention was “to make fun of the dictator and take away the fear from people’s minds, undercutting the regime.” Though soft-spoken and unassuming, Tseten is a driving force behind the increased youth involvement in this movement.

Tell me a little about yourself.

I am a Tibetan refugee born and raised in India. I attended the Central School for Tibetans in Paonta and Mussoorie, and did postgraduate economic and human rights studies at an Indian university.

How did you get started with SFT?

Having family who escaped Tibet in 1959 when the Chinese military invaded, I heard my parents’ stories about how our people have suffered. In college, I was president of the Tibetan Youth Congress chapter, and SFT was a key organization leading the freedom movement. So after college, I joined SFT as a campaign director and later became the national director.

What is SFT’s biggest challenge?

Since its inception in 1994, SFT has created a global network in almost 30 countries. But it is always a challenge to engage non-Tibetans in the movement. At this time when China is perceived as so strong, it is difficult to gain sympathy and support. That’s what we’re working on.

What do students bring to the struggle?

The way that students engage in activism and show such interest from a young age, from high school or college, is so powerful. If we have a chapter in a school or university, they can reach out to hundreds of thousands of students in other schools easily. Students are more eager to learn, to work, and to experience new things. They are really fresh and excited to take part in the social movement. SFT is one of the most active grassroots networks, and we believe that this approach is important because when students become adults, they will continue with the movement.

What are SFT’s ultimate goals?

SFT’s ultimate goal is justice and freedom for Tibet, as well as a safe environment for its people. To achieve that, we follow a policy of nonviolent resistance. We want to develop this movement into a strong grassroots movement inside and outside Tibet. That’s our 10- to 15-year goal to gain the final goal of independence.

What are SFT’s tactics?

Overall, our strategy is to make China’s occupation of Tibet costly enough that one day it will leave. You need a cultural campaign and an economic campaign, as well as an environmental campaign. These are our different strategies.

We highlight the bad things happening inside Tibet, the human rights violations, the killing. It could be a blockade, it could be a protest, it could be banner-hanging. We are trying to shift the movements from the riskier direct confrontations to a path that involves the larger community. The Internet is very useful because we can engage a lot of people. This is why China is scared of the Internet: it is one of the mediums that it cannot completely control or stop.

What do you see as SFT’s role in the coming years?

SFT has the responsibility of crafting new leaders that are highly skilled and serve as our weapons. When we talk about nonviolence, the weapons are the individuals who will lead through their knowledge and understanding of nonviolence. They have to know the strategies, how the world works, and how to involve Tibetans and others. We now have chapters in some of the most important countries to China: India, the U.S., Japan, and Taiwan; and we need to engage this global community in our movement. This is our strength, it is how we can challenge China, and it is our young network’s responsibility.