from Political Affairs magazine
The Strange Tibetan Theocratic Model
By Jean-Luc Mélanchon
Original source: l'Humanite
Are Western leaders truly defending human rights?
Is it possible to criticize the Chinese government without embracing the Dalai Lama’s theocratic project? For such is the impasse we are heading for as a result of the media-sustained agitation and brainwashing initiated by supporters of a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. So history will have taught us nothing. So we have forgotten all about the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games to protest the Red Army’s invasion of Afghanistan in support of Babrak Karmal’s communist government. And how, when it came to condemning this campaign and discrediting communism, just anything went: the US then did not stop at arming and financing all those who fought against the communist government and the Soviets, first among whom the Taliban, then Al Qaeda.
The threat of an Olympics boycott commits us to the same preposterous logic. Apparently, solidarity with the religious Tibetan faction and Tibetan supporters of independence is a must. Never mind if China is severed of a quarter of its territory: that is not something that should make us pause. The feudal regime of the Tibetan monks and their exiled king, the 14th Dalai Lama, must be supported. And the Dalai Lama should be extravagantly recognized as a living God and absolute ruler over the Tibetan people.
His grotesque claim to choose, with his higher clergy, the person in whom he professes he will be reincarnated should be assented…
Not content with all that silly stuff we should also negate the historical links between Tibet and China since the fourteenth century. Forget the fact that the independence movement was instigated in the twentieth century by Western powers at the height of their imperialist supremacy in order to carve China up.
Keep mum about what “the 1959 Chinese crackdown” really cracked down upon: the Tibetan monks’ revolt against the abolition of serfdom and feudal taxes and codes, by virtue of which there was a scale of prices for diverse categories of human beings and the monasteries’ masters had the power of life and death over their serfs…
We are also expected to protest indignantly against the police suppressing the demonstrations in Lhassa, and make nothing of the fact that these started with a pogrom of Chinese shopkeepers. Waste no pity on those who were clubbed to death and burnt in their shops with their families by those who claim to support the Dalai Lama. Have no scruple about calling “genocide” the more than doubling of the Tibetan population since the 1950s. Bow low before the Tibetans’ so-called religious identity at a time when those populations have embarked on the secularizing process characteristic of all developing countries. Turn a blind eye to the strange social code that fidelity to tradition and Tibetan identity as preached by Tibetan monks entails: the condemnation of abortion and homosexuality (deemed unnatural by the Dalai Lama himself), of mixed marriages between Tibetans and Chinese, considered impure, the recruitment of children at a very early age by the monasteries… Say nothing about the recent campaign against the railway linking Beijing and Lassa, with arguments that were used in the nineteenth century, e.g. the condemnation of railways by Pope Gregory XVI as a devilish means to spread new ideas and subvert religious tradition.
How can one invoke human rights and accept the negation of the secularist separation of church and state?
The present campaign in favour of an Olympics boycott therefore amounts to a manipulation; it is a trap for the setting of which the rights of Tibetans and Chinese merely serve as a pretext.
If the real aim was to put pressure on the Chinese government, why did Western leaders allow China to submit its application and why didn’t they say anything when it was elected to play host to the Games? Why do they keep signing contracts worth billions of dollars? Is China an eligible partner for the purchase of nuclear power stations or US Treasury bonds, but not for the organization of the Games? And why choose to meet it on the ethnic field rather than the social field? Is it not because Western powers would have a problem if social claims in China were met?
All this hypocrisy binds the US and Europe to an aggressive escalation against China as a nation: the result will be a unanimous surge of national feeling across the country. The strategists behind this worldwide campaign have rested their hopes precisely on this. The fact it is headed by Robert Ménard [1] is a sure indication that US neo-conservatives are behind it. When all’s said and done, the sorcerer’s apprentices will be found to have once more befuddled us all.
--Jean-Luc Mélanchon is a Socialist senator in France.
[1] Co-founder and general secretary (for life) of the French association Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF). Mélenchon remarks in his blog that the RSF "has shrunken, becoming this one individual" whose defense of civil liberties depends, in an opportunistic way, on the government in question, "being incapable of even token criticism of the use of torture by the U.S., or of seeking legal aid for those detained in Guantanamo.
"
From l'Humanite. Translated by Isabelle Metral.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Expert: Lhasa riot reveals hypocritical features of Dalai clique
The recent riots in Lhasa, capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and some other ethnic Tibetan areas revealed the hypocritical features of the Dalai clique, according to an expert on Tibetan studies.
The Dalai clique always claim that they would resort to "peaceful" and "non-violent" means to solve problems, but the recent riots only proves these claims are hypocritical, Monday's Guangming Daily reported, quoting Chen Qingying, a researcher from Institute of History under the China Tibetology Research Center.
The coincidence of recent riots in Lhasa and other ethnic Tibetan areas has proved the existence of a plot by the supporters of the Dalai Lama -- to seek "Tibet independence" at all costs, said Chen who has compiled a 10-volume General History of Tibet with other scholars.
"To realize their political ambition, they would not scruple to resort to violence," Chen was quoted as saying.
The fact the Dalai Lama and his supporters chose to create turmoil in Tibet and other areas ahead of the Olympics and make innocent people victims of riots shows that their "peaceful" and "non-violent" means are merely lies, he said.
Source:Xinhua
The Dalai clique always claim that they would resort to "peaceful" and "non-violent" means to solve problems, but the recent riots only proves these claims are hypocritical, Monday's Guangming Daily reported, quoting Chen Qingying, a researcher from Institute of History under the China Tibetology Research Center.
The coincidence of recent riots in Lhasa and other ethnic Tibetan areas has proved the existence of a plot by the supporters of the Dalai Lama -- to seek "Tibet independence" at all costs, said Chen who has compiled a 10-volume General History of Tibet with other scholars.
"To realize their political ambition, they would not scruple to resort to violence," Chen was quoted as saying.
The fact the Dalai Lama and his supporters chose to create turmoil in Tibet and other areas ahead of the Olympics and make innocent people victims of riots shows that their "peaceful" and "non-violent" means are merely lies, he said.
Source:Xinhua
Tibet: What’s behind the protests?
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12731/1/415/
As preparations pick up steam for this summer’s Beijing Olympics, the world has looked with growing dismay at the violence associated with protests seeking independence for Tibet.
While casualty figures are conflicting, it is tragic that deaths have occurred both among demonstrators for independence and among victims of violent protest actions that reportedly included torching of public buildings and homes in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa. It is urgent to end the loss of life.
The protesters acknowledge they are motivated by the publicity surrounding the Olympic Games. The head of the Tibetan Youth League, a major exile organization calling for independence, told the Chicago Tribune that with the spotlight on the Chinese, “We want to test them. We want them to show their true colors. That’s why we’re pushing this.”
The U.S. has consistently backed supporters of Tibet’s independence from China. Tellingly, the Voice of America — a notorious instigator of opposition in socialist countries during the cold war — said this week it is stepping up its broadcasts into Tibet.
Tibet, closely linked with China long before the 1949 revolution, has gained much, both economically and socially, from being an autonomous region within People’s China. While much remains to be done, the region has come from being an abysmally poor backwater to being an area where more and more people, both ethnic Tibetans and migrants from elsewhere in China, can access health care, education, and jobs in a modernizing economy.
Undoubtedly Tibetan culture could also use more support. But some western observers point out that over 90 percent of Tibetans speak Tibetan as their first language, and report that both Buddhism and the arts are doing well there.
The current situation should also be seen in the context of Washington’s longstanding campaign to break up socialist countries, including the USSR and Yugoslavia, with dire economic and social consequences for their populations. Most recently independence for Kosovo has held the spotlight.
A look at the bigger picture suggests it is important to end cross-border efforts to dismantle countries whose social policies Washington doesn’t like, as well as to end the loss of life in Lhasa.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
"US-Russia anti-missile dispute" hard to settle
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91343/6371897.html
On March 10, US President George W. Bush and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that progress had been attained in their talks in the White House to allow the U.S. missile defense system to house in Poland. In return, the United States will help modernize Polish military as part of a U.S. plan to base components of the US anti-missile defense system in the country.
The U.S. and Poland began contacting secretly on the construction of an anti-missile system back in 2002. About five years later, in January 2007, the U.S. side proposed to resume its talks with Poland and the Czech Republic on the construction of the U.S. anti-missile system. It plans to install 10 missile intercepting facilities in Poland and to build a radar system in the Czech Republic.
Shortly after his assumption of office, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would move to improve ties with Moscow gradually and, whenever he made decision, he said, he would like to consult or have "dialogues" with Russia and other relevant nations. In his latest negotiations with the United States, his government asked the U.S. to help raise its air defense capacity. To be specific, Polish negotiators have asked the U.S. to provide Patriot 3 or THAAD missiles and listed 17 areas that the country could help modernize.
Russia, however, has been and remained in firm opposition to the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and its officials have given harsh, strong remarks time and again regarding the issue. Under such circumstances, both Poland and the Czech Republic will inevitably come under criticism by both sides.
Moreover, recent polls in Poland show that 57 percent of Poles opposed hosing U.S. missile defense base, and the former Polish Prime Minister has been jilted or sacked by his voters precisely for the dispatch of Polish troops to Iraq and his endorsement of the deployment of the anti-missile system.
Currently, the U.S. is faced with a number of "hard nuts to crack" in helping to modernize the Polish military and it is particularly difficult to modernize its air defense system. Superficially at least, the two nations have scored substantial progress on the issue. President Bush assured Tusk that his administration would appraise the Polish needs for military modernization carefully and meticulously and work out a concrete viable plan.
Meanwhile, the White House spokesman said the US task was up to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to accomplish. Earlier, President George W. Bush and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek also referred to a "breakthrough" progress they had attained in their talks, namely, the two countries have now been nearing the completion of their final agreement. The suspending issues, however, are only secondary matters that cover environment protection and other topics in this regard, acknowledged Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.
To date, key stumbling blocks in negotiations have been removed, and the crux of matter, however, is to dissolve or do away with suspicions and opposition from Russia, the third party. The Russian side has never comprised or retreated despite the repeated assurance of President Bush, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Czech Prime Minster Mirek Topolanek that the U.S. anti-missile system was definitely not to direct against Russia. "The strategic missile troops will be capable of having these facilities (in Poland the Czech Republic) as targets and of having them destroyed if necessary, warned General Nikolai Solovstov, commander of Russia's mighty missile forces, recently.
Although such occurrences shall not occur ultimately, according to Russian media analysts. With components of the U.S. anti-missile system to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, it is possible for the United States to launch another, or a new round of arms race, which is hazardous to peace in the region and around the world. Consequently, it seems that the "US-Russia anti-missile dispute" will not lull and is unlikely to be settled shortly.
By Li Xuejiang, top "People's Daily" resident reporter in the U.S. and translated by PD online
On March 10, US President George W. Bush and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that progress had been attained in their talks in the White House to allow the U.S. missile defense system to house in Poland. In return, the United States will help modernize Polish military as part of a U.S. plan to base components of the US anti-missile defense system in the country.
The U.S. and Poland began contacting secretly on the construction of an anti-missile system back in 2002. About five years later, in January 2007, the U.S. side proposed to resume its talks with Poland and the Czech Republic on the construction of the U.S. anti-missile system. It plans to install 10 missile intercepting facilities in Poland and to build a radar system in the Czech Republic.
Shortly after his assumption of office, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would move to improve ties with Moscow gradually and, whenever he made decision, he said, he would like to consult or have "dialogues" with Russia and other relevant nations. In his latest negotiations with the United States, his government asked the U.S. to help raise its air defense capacity. To be specific, Polish negotiators have asked the U.S. to provide Patriot 3 or THAAD missiles and listed 17 areas that the country could help modernize.
Russia, however, has been and remained in firm opposition to the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and its officials have given harsh, strong remarks time and again regarding the issue. Under such circumstances, both Poland and the Czech Republic will inevitably come under criticism by both sides.
Moreover, recent polls in Poland show that 57 percent of Poles opposed hosing U.S. missile defense base, and the former Polish Prime Minister has been jilted or sacked by his voters precisely for the dispatch of Polish troops to Iraq and his endorsement of the deployment of the anti-missile system.
Currently, the U.S. is faced with a number of "hard nuts to crack" in helping to modernize the Polish military and it is particularly difficult to modernize its air defense system. Superficially at least, the two nations have scored substantial progress on the issue. President Bush assured Tusk that his administration would appraise the Polish needs for military modernization carefully and meticulously and work out a concrete viable plan.
Meanwhile, the White House spokesman said the US task was up to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to accomplish. Earlier, President George W. Bush and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek also referred to a "breakthrough" progress they had attained in their talks, namely, the two countries have now been nearing the completion of their final agreement. The suspending issues, however, are only secondary matters that cover environment protection and other topics in this regard, acknowledged Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.
To date, key stumbling blocks in negotiations have been removed, and the crux of matter, however, is to dissolve or do away with suspicions and opposition from Russia, the third party. The Russian side has never comprised or retreated despite the repeated assurance of President Bush, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Czech Prime Minster Mirek Topolanek that the U.S. anti-missile system was definitely not to direct against Russia. "The strategic missile troops will be capable of having these facilities (in Poland the Czech Republic) as targets and of having them destroyed if necessary, warned General Nikolai Solovstov, commander of Russia's mighty missile forces, recently.
Although such occurrences shall not occur ultimately, according to Russian media analysts. With components of the U.S. anti-missile system to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, it is possible for the United States to launch another, or a new round of arms race, which is hazardous to peace in the region and around the world. Consequently, it seems that the "US-Russia anti-missile dispute" will not lull and is unlikely to be settled shortly.
By Li Xuejiang, top "People's Daily" resident reporter in the U.S. and translated by PD online
President Hu: enhancing national defense for world peace
http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66102/6370486.html
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Chinese President Hu Jintao (C), who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks to the deputies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 10, 2008. Hu Jintao attended the plenary meeting of the PLA delegation and made a speech on Monday. Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday called for redoubled efforts to step up defense and army building to guarantee national security and make greater contribution to world peace. Hu made the remarks when he attended a meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army to the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, or China's parliament. "We must intensify our effort to strengthen national defense and step up army building while going all out for economic, political, cultural and social development, so as to support and guarantee the progress of socialism with Chinese characteristics and make greater contribution to world peace," said Hu, also chairman of the Central Military Commission. The modernization of the armed forces should be aimed at combat readiness, and military training should be conditioned to the age of information technologies, he said.  Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks to the deputies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 10, 2008. Hu Jintao attended the plenary meeting of the PLA delegation and made a speech on Monday. "We must aim at improving the capability to win high-tech regional wars and keep enhancing the ability of the military to respond to security threats and accomplish a diverse array of military tasks," the president said. While describing reform and innovation as strong impetus to national defense and army building, Hu underscored the policy of upholding coordinated development of the economy and national defense. "We should step up the establishment and improvement of the research and production system for weapons and dual-use equipment, the education system for military personnel training and the military logistics system, promoting defense and military modernization based on the achievements of China's economic and social development," the president said. Source: Xinhua |
More than three million benefit from Cuban literacy method
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/marzo/mier12/yosipuedo.html
THOUSANDS of illiterate people in many different countries are learning how to read and write using the "Yes I Can Do It" method, which has already benefited more than three million people in 28 countries, education leaders noted.
The Cuban project aims to help eradicate illiteracy in the world, where there are more than 774 million illiterate people, 72 million children without schools and a shortage of 30 million teachers, said Gómez. He added that many countries are interested in applying the Cuban method.
The minister reiterated that Cuba is to be the venue of the Ibero-American Congress for Literacy in Basic Education of Young People and Adults, which constitutes an acknowledgement of the island’s contribution.
The forum is to take place in Havana’s International Conference Center from June 9-12, sponsored by the Cuban Ministry of Education, the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture and the Ibero-American General Secretariat.
Translated by Granma InternationalOver 152 billion VND raised for Agent Orange victims
http://www.cpv.org.vn/english/socialaffairs/details.asp?topic=59&subtopic=157&ID=BT980769478
The Agent Orange (AO) Fund of the Viet Nam Red Cross Society has over the past nine years raised more than 152 billion VND (9.5 million USD) to support AO victims throughout the country.
A portion of the funds was doled out to provide 425,000 beneficiaries with micro-business start up capital, health care services, corrective surgery, wheelchairs, vocational training, allowances and scholarships, said Tran Duc Phan, managing director of the fund, at a press briefing in Ha Noi on August 9.
From 2002-2005, the government allocated close to 9 billion VND (roughly 562,000 USD) for surgeries and rehabilitation treatment for AO victims in the southwestern province of Tay Ninh and the Central Highlands, Phan said, adding that the figure will rise to 16.3 billion VND between the 2006-2010 period.
He added that many foreign organisations have played an important role in delivering services to the suffers. They include the Ford Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Cooperation and Development, the Belgium-Viet Nam Friendship Association, the US Fund for Reconciliation and Development, and Red Cross Societies from the US, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the UK and Spain.
Phan said the Viet Nam Red Cross Society is also organising a photo and writing contest to depict the lives of those affected with various related diseases from AO to mark this year’s Day of AO Victims, which falls on August 10.
The Agent Orange (AO) Fund of the Viet Nam Red Cross Society has over the past nine years raised more than 152 billion VND (9.5 million USD) to support AO victims throughout the country.
A portion of the funds was doled out to provide 425,000 beneficiaries with micro-business start up capital, health care services, corrective surgery, wheelchairs, vocational training, allowances and scholarships, said Tran Duc Phan, managing director of the fund, at a press briefing in Ha Noi on August 9.
From 2002-2005, the government allocated close to 9 billion VND (roughly 562,000 USD) for surgeries and rehabilitation treatment for AO victims in the southwestern province of Tay Ninh and the Central Highlands, Phan said, adding that the figure will rise to 16.3 billion VND between the 2006-2010 period.
He added that many foreign organisations have played an important role in delivering services to the suffers. They include the Ford Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Cooperation and Development, the Belgium-Viet Nam Friendship Association, the US Fund for Reconciliation and Development, and Red Cross Societies from the US, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the UK and Spain.
Phan said the Viet Nam Red Cross Society is also organising a photo and writing contest to depict the lives of those affected with various related diseases from AO to mark this year’s Day of AO Victims, which falls on August 10.
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