Several people posting have commented on those making the protest and they are just plain wrong about us. This is not the only issue I have worked on in my life or recently even. In fact the things you mention - I personally have worked for free elections and against hangings in Iran (and in the US for that matter.) I'm not rich and if I was, would that make my protest wrong? Someone is actually justifying the Chinese occupation that destroyed 6000 monasteries and killed over a million Tibetans because the Chinese brought TV to Tibet? (By the way, there wasn't much TV anywhere before 1950.) As for complaining that we should have gone to a "city board meeting", we packed the recent city meetings. The city torch run is going to disrupt the commute more than the one shut lane of traffic today, which does seem like not much of an inconvenience when compared to getting imprisoned, tortured or shot dead as protesters in Tibet have experienced, and which is the reason we did this action. Participation in a torch run through occupied Tibet shames us all and we all need to say no in any way we can.