Kung Hei Fat Choy 恭喜发财 2010

It may well be Valentines Day but it is also Chinese New Year, so as we enter the year of the Tiger let's look at what I said last Chinese New Year.

Then I looked at some of those that were sentenced under the crime of subversion. Just before this new year another sad tale is added to the list Liu Xiaobo who lost his appeal earlier this week against a eleven year sentence for inciting subversion.

He is one of the co-authors of Charter 08 and I wrote about his arrest in December 2008. Last month 4 retired members of the Communist Party officials had written to authorities pleading for Liu's release. They suggested his conviction violated some of the principles for which they had fought.

Charter 08, taking its name from Vaclev Havel's Charter 77 movement in Czechoslovakia against Soviet occupation, originally was signed by 303 people from across China's communities (intellectuals, editors, lawyers, artists and people who described themselves as peasants and workers). It quickly gathered pace and was signed by 10,000 signatories, but the authorities were anxious that so many people had managed to show their support for the discussion laid out in Charter 08 without their authorisation.

His defence lawyers said that in court there was a lack on commonsense to distinguish between the government and ruling party, which Liu had criticised, and the state which he did not attack.

Charter 08 is calling for human rights, democracy and an end of the Communist Party's monopoly on power. The last is the line that has been crossed which has brought the party hierarchy down on those who are leaders of the movement.

Kung hei fat choy means "congratulations and be prosperous" so yet again this year there isn't too much, outside of economic prosperity, to be congratulatory to China about. There is more to prosperity that what is in the bank.

Officious Police Halt Mr Gay China

The other day I post about the potential opening up of China with the arrival of the Mr Gay China Pageant.

Guess what?

The event that was due to start today has been shut down by the Chinese police. As the Guardian article concluded on Tuesday:

"Officials could show up and say 'your fire hydrant is in the wrong place. It is still a sensitive issue."

So today they did indeed turn up and said the event had not followed the "correct procedures", such a 'clear' reason of what is wrong is obviously difficult for organisers to appease the officials. I hope that Google.cn make this a special icon on their front page.

So the country that only decriminalised homosexuality 13 years ago and declassified it as a mental condition 9 years ago has either found a fire hydrant in the wrong place, a wrong date on a piece of paper work, or chairs no aligned in the right way as a reason to halt this step forward.

Google Release Self from Chinese Fetters

Google has made a stand against the censorship imposed on its Chinese service. They are to stop the self censorship of its search engine results.

The news comes as a result of a serious cyber attack from within China on Google and 20 other global brands, stealing part of their intellectual property. It has discovered that the Gmail accounts of dozens of US-, China- and Europe-based users who are advocates of human rights in China appeared to have been routinely accessed by third parties. As part of these malicious attacks only personal account information appears to have been targeted. They originate in China but Google do not name where they think these attempts to hack into accounts is coming from.

Human Rights Watch praised the decision saying, "A transnational attack on privacy is chilling, and Google's response sets a great example."

However, Google say that they are not sharing this information because of the security or human rights issues "but because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech".

Over the next couple of weeks they will be in discussion with Chinese authorities to see if an unfettered Google can operate within the law in China. The world leading search engine admits that if this cannot be done they may have to close their Chinese operations.

It is a great, bold and courageous step for Google to have made. Are the attacks against them to gain information that the Chinese have censored? Or to get information from the authorities on those that they don't want to speak? Or a direct attack on Google for kow-towing to the Chinese demands to self-censor? While the motivation for the attacks is not clear the message that Google are sending is you can either take the entirety of the world's online knowledge or leave it.

There is too be no more bowing to powers that be over what is or isn't acceptable for their citizens to view, that is for them to decide. Of course some sites which are of a global security concern that Google and ISPs will continue to hunt down and shut. But just because a site lays out an opinion that a regime doesn't necessarily agree with is not going to be a reason that such a site isn't searchable on that country's specific server.

In the last year as well as China censoring material available online, the Iranian authorities have tried to prevent news from within their borders getting out via new media, and other regimes have also tried to supress the inflow or outpouring of cyber messages to or from their citizens. Google are saying "we are the world" we now have a way of getting information that should know no boundaries, be free for all to hear

A Pageant as Progress (?)

It is not often, indeed this is likely to be the only time, you'll see this blog praising a beauty pageant, but I will make an exception for this one.

Yes there is a swimwear round and yes there is a talent round. It is the location and the competitors that make this newsworthy rather than the event itself. The location is Beijing, this Friday, the winner will be crowned Mr Gay China.

In a country where being gay was illegal until 1997 and still classed as a mental illness until 2001, this is a major step forward. One of the contestants from Inner Mongolia Emilio Liu said:

"We are intelligent, we're professionals, we're gorgeous – and we're gay. I want the audience to know there are a whole bunch of people like us living in China. It's a wonderful life and it's not hidden any more."

The winner will be picked for his ability to represent gay issues as well as his skills, personality and looks before heading to Norway for next month's finals of Worldwide Mr Gay.

However, there was outcry only last month when Chinese authorities shut down 10 gay websites, so while there is public acceptance on one hand there is also restraint on the other. Indeed many of the contestants in Mr Gay China are reluctant to give their full name, all are from white collar jobs, most have studied or worked abroad and some talk about the stereotyping of gay men being weak or HIV carriers in their country.

One contestant says that the pressures faced by the Chinese gay community are different, not greater, than elsewhere. There is no religious condemnation and anti-gay violence is rare. But it is still a traditional society where the only child, if he is male is expected to marry. However, while we have this pageant official acceptance remains at a variable level in China, Shanghai Pride for example remains a low key event without banners or a parade and indeed the authorities banned some events. Similarly the Mr Gay China event is to remain low key as organisers have not invited mainstream Chinese language media.

World Leaders to Pull an All Nighter in Copenhagen

Recently reading my student friend's updates on Facebook or Twitter I've seen numerous of them stating that they were pulling "all-nighters" to get the end of term essays finished. The latest news from Copenhagen is that the Danes are telling the world leaders not to go anywhere just yet on what is meant to be the last day of the Climate Change Summit.

Of course all nighters at the end of a period of discussion can get a result. The Northern Irish Agreement was meant to have been concluded on Maundy Thursday, it was only as a result of an all-nighter that the Agreement was made and the far more friendly Good Friday Agreement came into being.

President Obama sat down for an hour with the Chinese leader Wen Jiabao for an hour earlier in a head to head of what many correspondents see as the two key players in getting a global agreement settled. However, BBC News has just stated that President Obama is on his way to the airport and Air Force One to head to his Christmas vacation on Hawaii. He had earlier said he had come "not to talk, but to act". Whereas the Chinese Premier said:

"To meet the climate change challenge, the international community must strengthen confidence, build consensus, make vigorous efforts and enhance co-operation."

Apparently the major stumbling block at the moment is the American $100bn a year fund to help the developing countries business to develop in a green way. The Americans are wanting assurances that this is what the money will be going towards, the Chinese who are heading up the G77 of the developing nations is urging the USA to trust them to make sure this is what happens.

There are still poles of difference between these two major players, but it may be down to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to move the issue onwards if an agreement is to be made before the world heads away from Copenhagen. President Sarkozy of France however is saying that the Chinese are the ones currently holding up the talks.

UPDATE: Within half an hour of me first hearing this the BBC are now stating that the UN Secretary General's office is denying that such an edict to world leaders has been issued. However, I'm saying why not?

What Bank Ki Moon's office is saying is that they are still hoping to reach an agreement in a few hours, without the need for overnight discussions. Although it may no longer be a Treaty but an Accord that is signed and that a deadline (2010) to sign up for a legally binding agreement may be omitted from the final text.

FURTHER UPDATE: Latest Facebook update at 16:15 from Lib Dem MEP for Scotland George Lyon does not make for good reading.

Uyghur Death Toll Rising

It's just over 20 days from the deadliest day of China's attempts to put down public protest in Tiannemen Square but on Sunday in Urumqi the capital of China's only Muslim majority region there is a death toll of 156 and rising. I've commented before on the unrest that is ongoing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (AKA East Turkestan, Uyghuristan, and Uyghurstan ) it is one of the remotest regions of China where the standard Beijing time of the whole country is a nonsense as it should really be two hours behind.

The protest sparked this time after unrest last month between factory workers from the predominant Chinese Han and Uighur workers over the alleged rape of a Han girl by two Uighurs. A crowd gathered to protest at the government's handling of that incident.

The Han are now the majority people in Urumqi but the government has once again their is racial unrest brought about by the long standing Chinese resettlement programme of placing Han into the major cities of the provinces and given roles of responsibility in overseeing the local populations. No more so is this the case that in the Western provinces such as Uyghur that looks to its shared ancestry more with the former Soviet Central Asian republics than the Pacific plains Chinese.

Tension is mounting an today violence has broken out in a second city in the region.

Paddy Ashdown: The World Will Never be the Same

Yesterday evening Paddy Ashdown gave a lecture at Edinburgh University entitled The World will never be the Same.


There was poetry, a song, accents of Northern Ireland and Somerset, an Afghan war revisited, Bosnia and Herzagovina, China, Obama, India and Africa all visited. Plus the introduction of Ashdowns 3rd Law*. There was also a look at the cover (the inside is embargoed) of his new Autobiography A Fortunate Life which two lucky people will be winning a signed copy of. However, after retiring from the campus to a Indian meal with the man himself, some of the students, Fred Mackintosh and Simon Clarke, then moving on for a few drinks after Paddy had left I didn't get around to writing this up until now.

The Scotsman reporter who was present gave a brief overview. This is my recollections with the aid of my copious notes of what was said.

On the idle hill of summer,
Sleepy with the flow of streams,
Far I hear the steady drummer
Drumming like a noise in dreams.
Far and near and low and louder
On the roads of earth go by,
Dear to friends and food for powder,
Soldiers marching, all to die.

From On the Idle Hillside A.E. Houseman 1896

Paddy started by telling us that after periods of stability we often tend to end up in periods of conflict and blood. (Well actually he started with some light hearted banter about introductions but the crux of the matter was as stated). There is a shift of power from the West to the East that is coming. There are things in the economic instability in the West that mean a that the West cannot achieve a solution by themselves.


There is the beginning of a sea change of economic power. China will be going through the turmoil from being a Liberal Economy to being a liberal society. China has gone through such changes in the past and to ignore the possibility that they are capable of doing so again in disingenuous. India and others in Asia will also rise up as economic powers as the West lies helpless from its own excesses.


Some will say that the American economy has gone past its zenith and is in decline. But those that show resistance to change are those that have past their zenith. America over the past 40 years has shown that that they are still open to change but Europe is faltering on this score. For the next 10-15 years Paddy said he sees the USA as still being the most powerful nation in the world, but after then what?


We're moving away from the premise of having a single Super Power to having different centres growing, more in line with Europe’s 19th Century Concert of Power. When there five great powers who between them, mainly because of the UK, kept the peace more or less in tact. The European existence as a prime mover on the world stage is also something that is liable to be diluted as the new powers come to the fore. You only have to look at how the Obama regime started out with its foreign policy. Paddy said they looked across the Atlantic [sic] to Japan and Hillary went to China these are relationships that are seen as important to the USA now. Of Europe of course Britain is still the pre-eminent but what of the rest. They are losing their significance as Obama and America are looking at how best to effect the change that the world can believe in.

Of those emerging there is an assertive Russia, a rising China and a prospering India. Of these Russia's strength is also their biggest weakness. Paddy said that their criminality and acceptance of criminality was potentially their undoing. They also don't have the population to man their domain, let alone defend it and are heading back to be like the 19th century feudal Russia.

Now as never before power is shifting not just laterally but also vertically. Out of the institutions. Unto the global space. But the global space is a lawless space we do not have the means in place to control what happens in that global space. Lawless spaces always help the powerful for a bit. Our multinationals have taken advantage of this but eventually the lawless space becomes more helpful to the destroyers. International terrorism, international criminality these are things that use the prosperous for their own devices then retreat back into that lawless space where they cannot be touched. As Paddy pointed out 89% of the funds that went to fund the 9/11 attacks had passed through the institutions that had offices housed in the Twin Towers.

We are heading to another time of change like in the middle of the 19th Century. The Liberals in Britain foresaw that and brought in the 1832 Reform Act to allow for that power shift in the UK. Unlike our European neighbours, this ended up resulting in the 1848 revolutions. Governance of that global space is the challenge of this age. We need to establish institutions to bring law to that global space. If we fail the consequences are going to be like nothing never seen before.

However, it may not happen through the UN institutions. Good though it has been in maintaining some semblance of peace over the last 50-60 years is it not good at taking executive and swift action. Treaty based organisations may be the way forward. Organisations like the World Trade Organisation working for trade, Kyoto working for the climate, the expansion to the G8 to the G20, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. All of these are treaty based organisations that have and are seeking to make a change.

(Personal comment here)

Next week as the G20 meets in London the anti-globalisation protestors are going to argue that the big businesses move into the global space, which Paddy has talked about, has been a bad thing. They are ignoring that fact that many of our issues are no longer confined to national boundaries and therefore there is a need to work across those arbitrarily draw lines in the sand. But more of that is a bit back to Paddy.

(Go on Paddy)

Not just is our power globalised but so are our problems too. In Africa Oxfam say 16m people currently live in uninhabitable space. They rely on aid from those of us who have to allow them to carry on existing in those spaces. However, with the credit crunch how much of that aid will be cut leading to starvation. If global warming continues the amount of habitable space in the region shrinks many more will come to rely on those limited sources of aid. Worldwide there is estimated to be 50m people living in uninhabitable space.

We are living in a completely interdependent world. Lehman Brothers collapses and the world economy spirals out of control as a result. We are more connected now than at any time in history both internally and externally.

The world now operates as a network. The structures we have created thus far are vertical but the reality is that our connectivity in networked and interlinked. This is why those structures we currently have in place have been unable to cope.

Twenty or thirty years ago when you were talking about defence you knew who to turn to the MoD. But now the defence minister has to be interconnected. He has to talk to the Dept. of Health about the threat of a pandemic being released, the Dept. of Agriculture about the security of our food, Industry about our companies and businesses being infiltrated, the Home Office because of our connection to so many through immigration. The capacity of our country to make us secure depends on everything being able to connect.

Paddy asked us if we knew of Lord Roberts of Kandahar. There were nothing but blank stares. Roberts was the man who in 1879, some 30 years after the massacre in Kabul, led the British force in to Afghanistan. It was one of the few successful campaigns by anyone into the Afghan lands. But in those 30 years the preparation had been laid, mainly through working to bring together the tribal forces in the Helmand provinces.

Accounts of his exploits don’t mention the importance of the poppy fields. They were there but they weren’t the issue. No was there mention the need to suppress of mad Jihadists living in caves in the southern hill country, though there was also one of those the Wali of Swat. Nor was there concern of collateral damage, though there was plenty of that two, it wouldn’t get reported back home for 6 weeks.

The important lesson from that parallel to today in its not what you do that matters but what you do with others. This Paddy said was Ashdown’s third law.

The age of unilateralism is over, George W. Bush tried it and we have seen where that left him. We have a need to reach out for new allies and some of those will be uncomfortable, but we need to work with them, make compromises and work for the common good. One of those we will need to work with is Iran. The key to the solution in Afghanistan is not our western allies but moderate Muslims. 25% of Afghanistan is of the Shia sect so we will need to get moderates from Iran the epicentre of Shi-ites. The phrase that we use that we are protecting our values ignores the facts that Christianity, Judaism and Islam share many of the same values.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; everyman is a piece of the continent, a
part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,Europe is the less, as well
as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own
were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and
therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for
thee."

John Dunne from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions 1624

Paddy then moved on to talk a little about what he is currently doing in Northern Ireland. He’s working with Sinn Fein and the DUP and others in trying to resolve the contentious issue of parades. The thing about what is happening in Northern Ireland that is different from the Israeli/Palestinian issue and the fundamentalist Muslims and the West is that both parties have realised they have a shared destiny. There is something there they need to work at. Israel need to realise that and progress will not be made until they remove the occupation settlements from Palestinian territory which make it impossible for a Palestinian state to operate even if other things weren’t in its way. Cross all the main roads and access points is a mean of subverting that ability to reach for a shared destiny.

He finished he talk near the heart of Midlothian quoting the words of another great Liberal spoken not too far away in Dalkeith during his 1879 Midlothian Campaign.

"Remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan
among the winter snows, are as sacred in the eye of Almighty God as are your
own. Remember that He who has united you together as human beings in the same flesh and blood, has bound you by the law of mutual love, that that mutual love
is not limited by the shores of this island."

William Ewart Gladstone

*Nobody in questions afterwards dared ask about one and two.

Chinese Deathly Whispers

In 2007 there were a total of 1,252 executions around the world. In 2008 one country had 40% more that the entire number for the world in the previous 12 months with 1,718. Not only was China responsible for that increase by by itself the People's Republic of China accounts for 72% of the world's executions in 2008. Four other countries Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States join them to make up 93% all all in the last 12 months.

It could me worse as Amnesty International say that the figures for China are only the minimum estimate, the exact figure is a secret and may be as high as 6,000 to 15,000 according to some activists estimates. This was despite a promise to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to clean up their human rights record ahead of hosting the game in Beijing last summer. Yet while the world was enjoying the hospitality of the games more than 4 times the number of China's own citizens were put to death than the year before.

The change in style of execution has also changed from firing squad to lethal injection a move that Chinese authorities says shows a greater attention to human rights. And mobile death vans travel from town to town to administer the injections cutting costs.

The sharp increase goes against the trend in recent years which showed a decline in executions in China.

Kung Hei Fat Choy

恭喜发财

Welcome to the year of the Ox as today in the Chinese New Year. The greeting translates as "congratulations and be prosperous". While I'm not not disputing that the Chinese economy is certainly prosperous it is not and should not be the only measure.

In July 2001 when China were awarded the 2008 Olympics, government authorities promised improvements in human rights. However seven years on, China remains a country that executes, tortures and silences its citizens. In many areas, human rights have deteriorated because of the Olympics. The positive legacy that many around the world hoped for is becoming increasingly unlikely.

Amnesty International lists 4 distinct areas and various indicators in each that would be a measure of just how China is measuring up. You can view that checklist on the Amnesty website but be warned it makes grim reading. The four areas are:

• The death penalty




• Fair trails and the prevention or torture




• Human rights defenders




• Freedom of expression

On the death penalty there are still 68 crimes on the Chinese statute books that are punishable by execution including tax fraud, counterfeiting money and smuggling cultural relics. As for fair trails and prevention of trail the Chinese have continued to maintain their practice of "Re-education through labour" and even swept up undesirables from the streets pf Beijing in the run up to the Game.

Human rights defenders such as Shi Tao, Chen Guangcheng, Ye Guozhou and Hu Jia are amongst some that are currently detained while carrying out what in most of the world is considered peaceful dissent and disagreement.

Foreign journalist are still restricting from reporting on certain issues. And Internet access while relaxed for foreign journalists was not completely uncensored and Chinese such as Huang Jinqui and Yang Tongyan, who are serving 12 year sentences, face imprisonment for legitimate use of the Internet if it disagrees with the state.

Those named and the many other, less high profiled, victims of China's human rights injustices really do need to have a 新年快乐 - Kung Hei Fat Choy. But they do not need theirs to be merely financial.

Footnote: There were links in the article but when I posted they came up with invalid links and blogger prevented me posting. There were too many to do a quick check so I will take a look later and try and direct you to the right sources.

China Declares Contempt for Human Rights: Part the Umpteenth

Following on from the arrest of Guo Quan last month, China have now arrested Liu Xiaobo on Monday. Liu was first jailed for his role in the Tiannanmem Square demonstrations in 1989 and this arrest came hours before the online launch of the "Charter 08".

The Charter signed by 300 scholars, journalists, freelance writers and activists in China marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by calling on greater freedom of expression and the end of one party system. The hope was to bring about democracy and human rights to China.

It most not be forgotten that the host of this years Olympics did promise the IOC and the World that it was going to improve their record on Human Rights as part of the decision to allow them to host th games. Little more than nothing has been done by the Chinese authorities in this direction. The arrest and detention of leading activist for change Liu Xiaobo, Zhang Zuhua, Chen Xi, Shen Younian and Du Heping over recent days shows that China really does need a change they can believe in.

The fact that leading activists for human rights activists in China are being detained over the 60th anniversary of the declaration that they are seeking to get recognised in their homeland shows the calculated contempt and rejection that Chinese authorities show for human rights and freedoms once again.

China's Arrested Democrat

Chinese authorities have arrested the founder of the New Democracy Party (New People's Party) Guo Quan in Nanjing on charges of subversion of state power. He has been arrested several times in the past since founding the party last year but the charge of subversion is one the Chinese authorities often use to imprisons dissidents for years.

He is a well known blogger, though now removed, and he is accused of being 'too radical' he radicalness in recent days has been for blogging about the need for democratic change in the world's most populous nation. He had also threatened to sue Google and Yahoo in February of this year after the US companies in compliance with Chinese Government requests removed his name from searches on their Chinese language search engines. In his own words he said Google have "become a servile Pekinese dog wagging its tail at the heels of the Chinese communists".

In February when he announced his legal actions Guo said:

"Through this I hope that the world will become more concerned to resolve human
rights issues in China. The freedom of the Internet should be realised all over
the world."

Sadly his fight for human rights in China have led to him being denied his own human rights of liberty, freedom of thought, right to question and have a say in his own affairs. It is nineteen and a half years on from the events of Tiannamen Square and the Chinese authorities have moved nowhere politically from that day, even though promises were made to enable them to host this years Olympics. They still seek to control political process by coercion rather than strength of debate.

Governments Move to Green Up Our Act

Yesterday the Scottish Parliament voted announced it is to set annual targets to ensure continuous progression to the reduction of emissions by 80% by 2050. They also voted to include all six major greenhouse gas emissions* rather than just Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in these targets.

It comes the day ahead of the Westminster vote which looks likely to include aviation and shipping emissions in UK targets. Ed Miliband has also said earlier this month that he is looking to increase UK reductions from 60% to 80% matching the Scottish target.

With both the Governments in Westminster and Holyrood taken emboldened steps to include more of the proposals of the Kyoto Protocol we need them to reach out to others, especially USA, Russia and China, to also do their bit. The three largest contributors to climate change through their emissions have yet to make bold or indeed even tentative strides to do much in line with many others in the world. We need the big three on board before much longer. It is not an excuse for them to rely on market forces alone, nor of China to say it needs to catch up industrially to hide the fact that cleaner alternatives and practises are available and should be encouraged as much as possible.

* The other five are methane, nitrous oxide, Hydrofluorcarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6).

Edinburgher Climbs to Different Bird's Nest in Beijing

Close to the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing some very different creatures were seen perched at a great height this morning. Four members of Students for a Free Tibet unfurled a banner reading 'One World One Dream Free Tibet' high up a 120ft lamppost not far away.

Iain Thom from Edinburgh called the BBC from his mobile while up the lamppost to say:

"I'm here today because I've been a long-term Tibet activist and I feel
like now is a really critical time for Tibet.

"The Beijing Games have been used by the Chinese government as a
propaganda tool to whitewash their human rights record in Tibet."

He along with Lucy Fairbrother from Cambridge, and Americans Phill Bartell from New Jersey and Tirian Mink from Portland, Oregon have since been arrested.

A spokesperson for the Olympic committee said the protest was an "illegal gathering" adding:

"We want to express our strong opposition to this. China has relevant laws
regarding protests and gatherings. We truly hope that foreigners coming to visit
China will respect the relevant laws of China."

Does this mean that should any foreigner in China stumble across any Tibetan's trying to protest against their treatment they will be allowed to persecute, beat or shoot at the protester's before they are taken away into solitary confinement? Or is that not what the spokesperson wanted us to remember about the relevant Chinese laws.

What's in a flag?

OK to the Olympics at Beijing will not be allowing any regional flag etc if it is not part of the recognised country that participants are presenting. There goes the colourful array you'd expect in the cycling road races as the Basque or French departmental flags are a tradition at the Tour de France. Should an American senator turn up at the game would he not be allowed to wear a pin of their States flag only the star and stripes. You see what is black and white in China is grey for the rest of us.


Let's look at just one of the sports I've taken part in shall we, in this case we'll take bowls, not an Olympic sport sadly but one that will illustrate my point.


In bowls I have won titles with the world North Irish in the title. Plus I've represented the Northern Irish Civil Service therefore this would be the flag:

But in the same year I've also won tournaments with the word Irish in them and reached the later stages of Irish indoor championships which I've I'd won through would have meant me representing under this flag:

As a Civil Servant I actually won a British title therefore this flag:

Bowls is also one of those sports where your nationality is decided by the affiliation of the club side that you play for rather than you own therefore I've also be eligible to play, if I'd been or ever will be selected under these flags as well.

Now I could have also represented two of those flags at the Olympics, which would have left me with a potential dilemma should I have gold medalled at say Beijing, where I'd have only been able to celebrate wrapped in my national flag. For as you can see I'm more diverse than the criteria for the 2008 games would allow me room to be me.

Of course the real issue is that China do not want to be reminded or for the world to be shown this flag:

or this one:

You see China wishes it was homogeneous but fortunately for us, sadly for Beijing, it isn't. Therefore this Olympics is being held under a set of restrictions that try to fit us into boxes just like the Citizens of the world's most populace country without consideration that we're not all the same.

We are individuals of this world as are the athletes and supporters heading to Beijing and the citizens of China. Each deserves to have their human rights recognised even if that means not being wholly part of the nation the IOC designates them as.

Uighur Unrest in Lead Up to Games

Sixteen Chinese policemen have been killed in the western Muslim Xinjiang region days before the opening ceremony at the other end of the country in Beijing. The attack on a border outpost in Kashgar, Kashi in Chinese, is close to the Turkmenistan border and is the latest terrorist act after a series of incidents claimed by the Turkmen Islamic Party in the past month.

The Chinese repression of the Uighurs is often overlooked by the far more high profile, media friendly, campaign for freedom in Tibet, but is another example of China's continuing appalling human rights record which it promised to clean up before the Olympics come to town this Friday. Sadly the IOC has not held China to its promise for improvement in this area since awarding it the Games of the 29th Summer Olympiad.

The Uighurs are a Muslim people who have been suffering religious suppression under the Chinese regime in the duel names of anti-separatism and counter-terrorism. Sadly the Chinese authorities appear to have been using the post 9-11 fear of Islamic extremists to persecute all Muslims in the region irrespective of activity even if totally peaceful. About have of the detainees being held in Xinjiang's re-education camps are there because of engaging in alleged illegal religious activities. However, the state control over religion in the is as harsh as in the 70s and 80s and the net is so tight that almost anyone can be detained under such guidelines at the whim of the authorities.

Many of the Uighur may well be becoming more militant as a result of the suppression, as with those other groups that China is overlooking and suppressing. So therefore with the worlds media gathering on China and with this attack in an outlying region there must be some concern as to what may happen nearer the Olympic venues from the various repressed groups seeking to draw attention to their causes. Chinese authjorites say they are prepared for action should any threat arise in Beijing, but one wonders just what sort of action that will entail knowing China's past record in such situations.

Shèngmu Feng Speaketh

After all the careful preparation, and trying to control everything, Chomolungma (Qomolangma) "the Goddess Mother of the Earth" if you're Tibetan, Sagarmatha "Goddess of the Sky" if you're Nepali, or if you're from Darjeeling Deodungha "The Holy Mountain", or just plain Shèngmu Feng to the Chinese or Everest to the rest of us seems to have spoken and taken things into her own hands.

Having closed both the Chinese and Napalese approaches to the World's highest peak for the ascent of the Olympic Torch. But high winds are reportedly delaying what must have surely been hoped by the Chinese authorities to be the crowning coup of the international relay. Especially in light of the protests against their actions in Tibet more or less everywhere, with the exception of North Korea. However, there is so much secrecy surrounding the 31 Chinese climbers who are apparently attempted to summit with the torch hat I'm sorry I haven't a clue just how well this is going. Nor has the worlds media as we are all relying on reports from the official Chinese media sources.

Tim'rous Beastie Brown

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,
O, what panic's in thy breastie!

To a Mouse Robert Burns

Well echoing the words of Scotland's bard Gordon Brown could well be discribed as a Timorous beastie. First there is his confised state of what he's doing over China and Tibet, then the Prudent Chancellor seems unable to take responsible action for the economy now he has his coveted top job. Now to get another panic off his breastie he's sneaked out a hard hitting statement to Robert Mugabe under the cover of the papal visit at the same time.

Admittedly Brown did say Mugabe must not be allowed to steal the Presidential election. Also he did say it to the United Nations security council. However, he hasn't been this forthright on that issue for the last almost 3 weeks since the elections took place for which we are still awaiting a result.

Of course Brown's statement in going to get lost on a good media day to bury a story as the Pope criticised the US Bishops for their handling of the child sex scandals. So much for Brown being different from Blair in not spinning his message.

Maybe like the end of Burn's poem Tim'rous Beastie Brown is just like the poet:

But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Can Clegg Demand Internal Controls on the Torch

I've just read that Nick Clegg is now demanding that Gordon Brown should object to China’s plan to take the Olympic torch to Tibet. Now as someone who once had aspiration to be an Olympic athlete I'm wondering what does Nick Clegg have against the Olympics and more to the point why attack the Olympics and not take a real blow against China.

Now imagine the scenario: March 2012.

In the previous 24 months a referendum in Scotland showed significant support for independence but not enough to sever the links with the United Kingdom. However, due to the conditions laid down by Westminster for a qualified majority to be in favour although 54% voted for independence it is not enough.

Protestors in Scotland have been demanding 'It's all for nothing if we don't have our freedom'. But they have been waiting until London's Olympic year to really gear up international support for their cause to sever the union.

As the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia kilted protestors draw attention to the cause in Scotland. In Perth, Australia as the Torch starts it's international tour protestors almost grab the flame from the hands of Danii Minogue. Another protestor almost extinguishes the flame while Paul Hogan is carrying it. Put the Torch reaches it's final destination by the Harbour.

On to Wellington, New Zealand where a group of kilted protestors dressed as Orcs from the Lord of the Rings manage to curtail the relay. With the Torch hopping into a bus to complete its route.

However, in the Falklands, where a combined relay with Argentinan representatives the route is changed to avoid protestors leaving many Falkland Islanders who consider themselves British upset at being unable to celebrate their Olympics.

There is the a cry from an opposition leader in Brazil that as Rio will host the 2016 games the President should not attend the opening ceremony in London. The President says he will not be attending but that he had not intended to dispite promising to do this shortly after visiting Alex Salmond in Edinburgh the day before.

The same opposition leader then also demands that the London Olympic Committee cancel the Scottish leg of the Torch relay in light of the protests that have happend so far.

How would we feel?

Of course the bit about the Scottish people actually voting for independence is pure fiction.

When is a Boycott not a Boycott?

In March when Gordon Brown announced that he would be meeting with the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, Beijing tried to point out how they felt about this.

When Nicolas Sarkozy came a calling he announced he was considering boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony. No. 10 issued advise that Gordon Brown was against such a response.

That was until yesterday when Gordon did a spectactular U-turn denying that he had ever intended attending the opening ceremony, despite evidence to the contrary and said he now wasn't attending. The timing of course is only a few days after the first major protests affected the international Olympic Torch relay in Gordon's own capital city, followed by even worse reaction in France and a diverted route yesterday in San Francisco which upset the 20% of San Francisco's population who are Chinese by extraction.

The Truth Behind Torch's Guardians

Driving into work this morning I heard Sarah Kennedy's paper review on BBC Radio 2 she was telling us about the true make up the Olympic Torch protection squad.

They come from the Chinese Armed Police Academy and are part of the paramilitary security force. Their role back home is ensuring riot control, domestic stability and the protection of diplomats. Believe it or not this is the same force that was sent in to deal with recent protests within Tibet. So while Lord Coe says 'I think they are thugs' and Konnie Huq calls them 'robotic'. Yet while these 30 blue track-suited guys have been trained to escort the torch their colleagues have been trained and will be on standby in the words of Tibet's Governor Qiangba Puncog to 'severly punish' anyone who tries to obstruct the passage of the torch through Tibet.

We've seen how they react where they do not have any jurisdiction of their own in London and Paris. What else might unfold when the Torch returns for its domestic travels?

LINK Free Tibet