A Political Glimpse from Ireland

China’s Secret National Security Threat

Who would have thought the day would come in society when a Poet would be considered a national security threat however this day has apparently dawned because the Chinese government considers the Tibetan poet Woeser exactly that. Many of you may not know Woeser and I only discovered her blog through my numerous searches on Digg and other websites, she is one of the few Tibetan blogger’s who posted live images and commentary about the Tibetan protests and the ongoing repression in Tibet. You can find Woeser’s blog on my blog roll however all the posts are in Chinese hence a decent translator is needed or you can visit The Secret of Tibet which often posts some of her posts in English.

The Chinese government promised the IOC that they would respect human rights however this has not been the case and the lack of media coverage in Tibet is evident of how much the Chinese government has to hide. USA Today reported that Beijing is going to allow protests during the Olympic games but these protests are restricted to area’s far away from the arenas. I find that a bit ludicrous because how are the protestors going to get any coverage of their issues when all the camera’s will be focused on the Olympics? It is just another stunt in a series of stunts that is expected to cloak the Olympics in a veil of shadows, hopefully the Western media will be able to pierce that veil once the Olympics commences.

Freedom For Granted

Since my youth, I often imagined myself living in different countries and what it would be like to be Greek, Japanese, Argentinian or Australian. These were the typical dreams of a boy who yearned to fly which I did get to do at age 12 but the world that I soon discovered was truly amazing with too many sights, sounds and smells to include in a single book. This world amazement has not abated over the years, instead I have made an effort to more deeply understand  the world that I live in and how I can effect some sort of positive change given that I am neither rich or good looking enough to be an actor.

If you don’t have money and good looks then what do you have? Words. Words are equally as powerful as a $100 bill and can shape a person, a state or even a nation. What happens if even those words are taken away? You have a society in which the word is controlled but knowledge is the last thing anyone should control yet that is exactly what the Chinese government has done. They have created a system and society where the Government decides who you support and what you believe in. I am so thankful to have come from America and now live in Ireland where I can publish my own blog and criticize any component of any Government in the world and have people read my views and disagree with them if they are so inclined.

Amnesty International is once again leading the campaign to ensure that the the Chinese government makes more progress on basic Human Rights as well as dropping the “Great Firewall” so that their citizens are equally informed about global events be they anti-Chinese or pro-Chinese. People often criticize the American government for their control of the media however they do not censor the masses of anti-American information awash in European blogs. Dissent is part of life, we have to accept it or argue but totally pretending it is not even there, is not acceptable.

If you were in China right now, you would not be able to access this blog, I have already tried to send this link to friends of mine repeatedly with no success. In support for the Amnesty Campaign, I have implemented code to demonstrate what the censorship of this site will look like on July 30. Additionally I hope that some of my fellow blogging friends will do the same.

Nationalism Fanatics

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.

The Party Line

This is going to be the second non-American related post in two days which is a record for me but I just received another email from Mr. Howard Kuff who is one of the few Westerners that have ever been to Tibet and seen the reality of the situation there. Many Chinese have accused Westerners like myself of not understanding the situation and that we should comment once we have visited Tibet. Here is a man who has been there and verifies what the Western Media has been saying about the oppression of the Tibetan people by the government of China.

You can find his website at http://www.changing-history.com, where you can also purchase his book which I plan to do at the end of the month once I get paid since I seemed to have squandered my money on the wonderful world of electronics again. Mr. Kuff further goes on to give his theory as to why China is so insistent about Tibet:

China wants world power. Water is the key to the future. Tibet is the key to the waters of Asia. It will take the World to force China to give this up. Control of water is control of humanity. We are all water and we all share water. China seeks domination. The people of Tibet are simply pawns in China’s quest for power.

I know this sounds a bit hard to believe that water is key to the future but many people overlook the issue of changing environment because it is quite convenient and makes our lives easier but millions of people around the world do not have access to clean water. Water is a key component of our human nature so given the fluctuating state of the global climate; wouldn’t it make sense that sometime in the future as the population of the world expands, that we will start to run out of this precious substance? I think so and given the fact that we just had the first World Water Day on March 22nd, perhaps this is something to think about. Here is an excerpt from the UNESCO World Water Day Report:

According to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, an estimated 1.6 billion people must acquire access to improved sanitation over the period 2005-2015 to meet the MDG target on sanitation. If trends since 1990 continue, the world is likely to miss the target by almost 600 million people.

To those of you who still doubt the assertion that China is trying to control the water, I urge you to adopt that as a premise (Also examine Mr. Kuff’s website) and follow along with my argument. Let’s look back at yesterday’s post, the Chinese in essence sold weapons to an unstable and illegitimate government for the sake of money or destabilizing the government. Which ever way you side, neither of these situations would have been good for Southern Africa however I think we can come to the conclusion that China is going to continue to try to flex its power over the coming years in order to make up for years of mediocrity. This is a shame and I hope that the Chinese people will eventually see through the shallow nature of the CCP’s policies. Tibet was free before China and deserves to be free now. The Tibetans are not Chinese and have a unique culture, tradition and understanding of the world. I honestly hope that the world will not fall for the CCP’s tricks in their efforts to cloak their actions with the “peaceful” Beijing Olympics.

This is a beautiful photo I got over at 看不见的西藏～唯色博客, the lady who runs the blog is Tibetan and lives in China and gives us the story on the ground whereas most News outlets are continuously tailed by Chinese policeman when they enter China. I really admire this lady because you cannot dispute what the is saying in there and the worst part of this whole story is that her blog has been hacked into twice with her passwords change because the nationalistic tendencies of some Chinese people cannot be controlled. Seriously, leave this excellent blogger alone and get over the Party Line.

Contrasting Protests

I came across these video’s on Youtube but I wanted to point out the difference between the Chinese government handling a protest and the American government handling a protest.  All credit goes to the people at Digg for finding this great video and of course to the relevant uploader.

Video 1: LAPD at March 15 Anonymous Scientology Protest

Video 2: Tibet Protests Grow