A thought for the Citizens of China

This blog has been critical of certain policies of the Chinese State in the past and still disapproves of those policies. Leaving that aside for the moment, this is a small gesture of solidarity for the citizens of China in their troubles.

There can be very few anywhere who are unaware of the tragedy of the massive earthquake and the accompanying aftershocks still unfolding there, or the dreadful loss of life, especially amongst so many children.

It is a hideous blow to those who have lost loved ones, parents, children, their homes and possessions, families riven. For them right now it may well be difficult to go on. Even for those not directly impacted upon by the quake there will be a mental impact.

There will inevitably be questions about building quality, codes and standards.

And no I have not forgotten about the Burmese cyclone, but the contrast between the reaction of the Chinese State and the Burmese State, in their efforts on behalf of their people is stark.

I heard a General being interviewed yesterday and he was questioned about the loss of some lives amongst the rescuers and he replied that they had been serving the people, so it was worth it. I expect something may have been lost in translation, but I still found myself tending to agree with him.

We seem to expect these days to be coddled and protected by the state from all possible threats. An obsessive health and Safety culture. It distorts our perceptions. No one is capable of doing that. If they tell you they are they are lying. If you believe it you are deluded.

The world is a dangerous place. Sometimes dangerous because it has people in it who don’t see other people as people, or are stupid, selfish and greedy - but also dangerous because there are vast impersonal forces that can snuff any of us out in an instant. And face it who of us are immortal?

Life is a battle against entropy, that sooner or later, individually we will all loose. The trick is to get ahead of the game for long enough to make a difference and springboard the next generation.

It is part of what makes us human that in the face of death and disaster people will risk their own lives to save others, without counting the cost. We often see it in the emergency services, we see it in the armed forces, we see it in individuals. We admire it. Ultimately it is a survival instinct for humanity as a whole. So the General was right.

Here then is a thought for the Citizenry of China. In the end though we may be superficially different in many ways deep down we have much more in common. Many of the differences are learned.

So this post is to express solidarity and sympathy with them.

Olympics will ‘rebound’ says Rogg

It is difficult to tell about Jacques Rogge, head of the International Olympic Committee. Maybe in an Ideal world the ideal of the founders of the Olympics might actually hold sway and the games wouldn’t be inexorably bound up with the world of politics.

On planet Earth it is - and to pretend otherwise is to be blindly idealistic and naive. Mr Rogge may be many things but it is doubtful he either of those. It is unlikely he would have been able to work his way into the position he holds if he were.

According to the BBC he has told a meeting of national committees in the Chinese capital that they “should assure their countries the Games would succeed.” I hope that is a misprint and he actually said “be assured”. But equally we know they will anyway and it could be his Freudian slip showing.

We all know that the Chinese state will ruthlessly assure the games are not ‘blighted’ by further protest, once they are under their control ‘in house’ so to speak, no matter what the cost, we have heard their representatives say they will ‘show no mercy’ to anyone who attempts to disrupt them anywhere they hold sway.

Chinese security officials have already behaved like “thugs” according to Lord Coe - and that is in the West, what they will feel free to do on their own turf is anyone’s guess.

Rogg is also reported as having said the games will “rebound from crisis" after days of protests along the torch route. The crisis will certainly be less obvious, as mentioned, anyone brave enough to protest, once the route is under Chinese control will most likely never be able to be seen by the media and will be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly if they do.

Any such protesters will require incredible courage and must be aware their efforts will be a forlorn hope and the price for making them will be high indeed.

The athletes will be happy to turn a blind eye. It is their moment in the sun - and many of them are insulated in their world of sport.

So on the surface things will look ok and that is what Mr Rogg and the Chinese Government want. That way they can pretend to the world under the cover of a threadbare fig leaf.One wonders if the then head of the International Olympic Committee Count de Baillet-Latour was equally concerned the 1936 Olympics should go off without any hitches. They went off well by all accounts.

Strangely, threadbare pretence seems to satisfy them - and the many dispicable and unpleasant leaders and governments on the world stage, such as the likes of the ‘democratic’ Robert Mugabe.

Surely they don’t imagine they are really actually fooling anyone?

Amnesty say Olympics are actually making things worse in China

One hears much guff that engaging the Chinese Government over the Olympic Games. There has been much talk about the possibility that the presence of western media (around 20,000 reporters) might help improve China’s human rights record.

It was not a good sign when British authorities, apparently colluding with Chinese oppression, decided to force UK athletes to sign a gag order, preventing them criticising the Chinese government, before they will allow them to attend the games. Why they felt it necessary to do this when other countries did not remains open to question.

Now it seems this may not necessarily result in an improvement after all. According to Amnesty International it is in fact making things worse.

Clearly the Chinese authorities see the prospect of any dissent as an embarrassment and are ruthlessly pre-emptively suppressing anything, or any one, that has the potential to flair up in front of the western media before they get there in numbers.

One only has to look at how they ejected reporters from Tibet and manipulated reports and figures. down playing the number of Tibetans killed by a factor of 10 or more. Or the vast numbers of troops they have sent into the country to suppress the native population.

China claims riots all Dali Lama’s fault

According to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, whom we must suppose represents the official stance of the Chinese Government, all the riots in Lhasa over the Han Chinese colonisation and cultural cleansing of Tibet are the fault of the Dali Lama - masterminded no less.

And moving on for those convinced by these cogent arguments – an opportunity to purchase the Marco Polo/Lugou Bridge.

Personally, I prefer the lesser known theory, that the riots were actually masterminded by Mother Theresa, operating out of a vast secret underground bunker somewhere near Calcutta, after first cunningly faking her own demise as the perfect alibi…

It seems that, sometimes, 'They' do listen

China is not exactly known for it’s willingness to allow the open and free exchange of information. For a start it blocks news websites and regularly blocks websites that do not agree with government views.

However this is hopefully some good news. The Chinese government had been planning to force millions of Chinese bloggers to register their real names. It is estimated there are some 20 million bloggers in China and the idea mooted last year provoked enormous objections from Chinese internet users, rejecting the idea as a move by the government to control information.

The government had attempted to justify the compulsory scheme by suggesting that it would make bloggers more ‘responsible for their behaviour’ and that real-name registration would ‘protect’ users from libel, pornography and other ‘harmful’ information.

Now the Chinese government has backed away from actually forcing bloggers to register and are bringing in a voluntary code instead. It will encourage bloggers to register with their real names and personal details, offering improved services as an incentive to those who register.

Blogs in China have developed into an informal way of spreading news that can not be got through mainstream media - popular blogs get millions of hits every day.

Keeping in mind that they were facing a compulsory system, it seems as if bloggers are cautiously welcoming the new voluntary code.