A Political Glimpse from Ireland

I mentioned two days ago about an upcoming blogging event however it is 20 minutes to 12am over here so I might be a bit delayed. This event is in conjunction with Amnesty International and the people over at Blog Catalog about a human rights issue that is pertinent to me. Given that I am as  geeky as they come, something that means alot to me is the freedom of expression. Sometimes people can abuse that though whether it be the ladies of code pink or some newspaper publishing a cartoon about the prophet Muhammad, where do we draw the line? I honestly don’t know, but I personally believe that the only information that should be regulated is information that relates to the national security of a country. Preventing people from accessing western media, images, or dialogue is simply wrong and I am not just pointing a figure at China here but at other countries around the world who censor the internet.

I am going to talk about China though and about the jailing of journalist Shi Tao in April 2004 for sending an email to a pro-democracy based organization in the USA. Can  you imagine going to jail for sending an email? If so I am sure we would all be in jail beyond our human lifetimes. I don’t understand how such censorship is beneficial though, some of my friends describe China as a democracy in progress but can anyone imagine the CCP giving up power to a President in the near future. I cannot imagine such an event occuring but the next best thing would be to let the media in China; local and foreign do what they want and publish what they want. From the Amnesty International Action Letter:

China has constructed an extensive system of Internet censorship to silence activists and journalists like Shi Tao. All Internet communications pass through government-controlled routers, and authorities are able to block access to many sites, to filter content, and to delete links or web pages considered “dangerous” or “subversive.”

There is the other side of the coin though, the PEW research center recently released a report about the internet in China stating that in 2007, over 85% of the respondents in the survey believed that the Government should control the internet. I find it startling that anyone would want to have their internet censored but Carolyn Marsan over at Network World has written a great article on the 10 ways that the Chinese internet is different from ours. She lists the following as positives as far as their internet infrastructure is concerned:

1. There is less pornography
2. Malicious activity such as botnets, phising scams and zombies are less common
3. China produces 4% of the world’s spam while the United States originates 42%
4. China’s internet is based on the next generation internet backbone aka IPv6

The negatives far outweigh the positives though in that if I lived in China I would not be able to acess this blog or any of the other blogs on my blog roll. The most important fact is that Shi Tao should not be in jail for something as silly as sending an email. People need to be free, and deserve to be free, it is a basic human right. If you would like to speak out about the jailing of Shi Tao, please send a polite letter to China’s Prime Minister asking him for the unconditional release of Shi Tao. The address is:

Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China
Wen Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

I was browsing around the internet today when I came upon RR’s homepage and the badge on the right hand pane. I am a member of Blog Catalog but in all honesty I joined the place because I had seen the icon on alot of blogs around the internet. To my astonishment, the people at Blog Catalog in conjunction with Amnesty International are making May 15th: “Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day.” I am a firm believer in Human Rights having being born into a country where the color of my skin made me a second class citizen for a long time however in the present day I am lucky enough to live in a country where I am free to express my views no matter how crazy they may be.

Many of us living in the  Western Hemisphere forget how lucky we are; countries like China employ over 30,000 people to actively censor blogs like this one. This was proven to me earlier on this year when I tried to send the link to my blog to two friends of mine in China who cannot access it to this day. This kind of censorship is wrong as all people are entitled to read, express and voice their views on any subject. 2008 is  the 60th anniversary of the U.N declaration of human rights therefore I hope many of the other bloggers that I know will blog about this issue on Thursday. Some topics for consideration:

1. The wrongful imprisonment of journalists covering assemblies.
2. Governments that ignore the plight of citizens left to the mercy of gangs.
3. The censorship of the Internet in order to prevent freedom of expression.
4. Harsh punishments that include torture, forced labor, and starvation.
5. Sexual assault against women by members of military or militia.

A friend, Mr. Howard Kuff recently forwarded the link to this video about a Channel 4 documentary that was aired on March 31, 2008. I am ashamed to say that I have Channel 4 but hardly ever watch it with the exception of a few comedies. Here is an excerpt from the Channel 4 website:

As Tibetan protesters take to the streets in the biggest and most bloody challenge to Chinese rule in nearly 20 years, Dispatches reports on the hidden reality of life under Chinese occupation after spending three months undercover, deep inside the region. Dozens are feared dead after the recent clashes and crackdown by Chinese troops, but with reporting so rigidly controlled from the region little is known of living conditions inside Tibet.

He sees for himself the impact of the enormous military and police presence in the region, and the hunger and hardship being endured by many Tibetans, and hears warnings of the uprising taking place across the provinces now.

To make this film, Tibetan exile Tash Despa returns to the homeland he risked his life to escape 11 years ago, to carry out secret filming with award-winning, Bafta-nominated director Jezza Neumann (Dispatches Special: China’s Stolen Children). Risking imprisonment and deportation, he uncovers evidence of the “cultural genocide” described by the Dalai Lama.

He finds the nomadic way of life being forcefully wiped out as native Tibetans are stripped of their land and livestock and are being resettled in concrete camps. Tibet reveals the regime of terror which dominates daily life and makes freedom of expression impossible. Tash meets victims of arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and “disappearances” and uncovers evidence of enforced sterilisations on ethnic Tibetan women.

The documentary is fairly long, about 48 min from beginning to end. I would recommend that you let the video cache (let the grey bar move all the way to the end) before you begin watching so that there is no interruption. Many people might question the authenticity of this video but given the digital age, almost anything can be fabricated so how do you determine whether there is any truth behind this video? The best way is to reason it out, what do Channel 4 gain by making up such a documentary? Absolutely nothing therefore to the best of my knowledge this is 100% real and absolutely horrifying.

The Dalai Lama described what was going on in Tibet at one stage as a “cultural genocide”, this is quite true. The Chinese government is systematically dismembering the tibetan culture and the people. If you have a look at the english translation of Woeser’s blog ( A Tibetan lady blogging out of Beijing), she describes how the Chinese government has locked down the capital of Tibet while forcing people to write negative things about the Dalai “Clique.” The Chinese media is also using various methods to demonize the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Prize Winner, he must be some Demon!

The worst part about all of this is that nothing is being done about it, the Western media has shelved the story because of pressure from the Chinese government as well as their own governments. It also comes down to ratings I think, however I honestly hope that Channel 4 will allow this documentary to be shown on other news channels so that the truth can be known about the atrocities commited by the Chinese government in the name of the “One China Policy.”

I was doing my end of the night browse through Digg when I came across the headline that Time had released their list of the 100 most influential people. Number one on that list for “Leaders & Revolutionaries” was the Dalai Lama which is quite fitting given the strength of the character the man has shown in recent months considering the deaths of over 100 of his people at the hands of the Chinese government. Despite all of this adversity, he has chosen the peaceful course for his country which is simple autonomy rather than pure independence. Can you imagine making such a decision? Can you imagine the harmony that must  exist in the man’s soul to deal with adversity on a daily basis? I simply cannot since I quite often lose patience over the simplest things therefore the lesson I would like all of us to take away today is one of “Patience.” Patience in all things especially politics.

Well I have decided to create a whole new category today and make two posts in one day because of a conversation I had with a Korean friend of mine this morning. This did not see quite the coverage that it should have got here in the West but some Pro-Chinese demonstrator’s beat up some Pro-Tibetan demonstrator’s in Seoul during the Torch Relay. This video is quite disturbing however I must state that the Chinese people in this video do not represent the whole of China but merely a fringe few who have taken nationalism/patriotism a fair bit too far. This kind of behavior is intolerable and also gives credence to my theory that the nationalistic tendency in China is only increasing rather than abating as the Olympics draws closer. Nationalism/Patriotism can be deadly and I hope people around the world realize that you should be proud of your country but that pride must be balanced with logic, common sense and control. This video is in Korean but you don’t need to understand the language to feel my disgust.