Monday, August 11, 2008

Last Post

I met Rebiya Kadeer in October 2007 and started this blog soon after. I said I would continue this blog until the start of the Olympic Games - and here we are.

A lot of things have happenned in the intervening months. Detainees at Guantanomo Bay are being found innocent - after 7 years of incarceration - some of them have been Uighurs. China has been exposed for the paranoid nation it is. Tibet is on the lips of many more people. Uighur exiles are coming out of their silences and daring to communicate.

Some things have not changed in these months. Politicians in search of power have been responsible for the deaths of thousands. War is stupid. Rebiya has heard no news of her children. It is assumed that they are missing or dead. Confessions under torture remain a viable option for all -the UK included.

The world will not change on its own. It needs the young people to engage, but for as long as so many remain glued to their virtual worlds the risk is that they won't be looking in the right direction and the freedoms we do have will dissipate for want of precious youthful energy.

Our lives are stocked full of answers. Everything from a TV dinner to outright war is sold as a solution. What we need are questions.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Bad News

Firstly I must convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of the Chinese policemen killed in Kashgar today. There is no excuse for violence. In so many ways it is counterproductive and serves to alientate people such as myself who have undertaken to support those in East Turkestan (Xinjiang Autonomous Region if you are Chinese) and the millions of Uighurs who in no way want their call for freedom to be answered with the death of others. It will also alientate the international friends who have supported Rebiya Kadeer in her quest to bring the plight of the Uighurs to the attention of world leaders. It certainly makes all our lives more difficult and it will not free Rebiyas children. Worse, it will lock them, and others like them, away for even longer.
It is fair to say that the Uighurs thoroughly dislike the Chinese. I think it is also fair to say that the Chinese government, by deliberately disenfrachising the original ethnic groups of the countries they have overrun, have more or less asked to be disliked. But violence breeds violence and there is no stopping it until all parties are too exhausted to continue and only then do they think to talk. Unfortunately the Chinese government is mired in outdated policy and strategy and thinks only to use force. Violence is wrong, but unsuprising.

When I was taking part in a demonstration in London earlier this year, I stopped to ask a Chinese gentleman why his group had paused for 2 minutes silence. He said that it was to remember the earthquake dead. I smiled at him, and before I had chance to offer my own sympathy, he turned on me saying ' Why do you laugh at us, why do you hate us so much.' I attempted to put the record straight, but he would have none of it. He was determined that I hated him. He was wrong. We are all in part victims of the propaganda put out by our various governments and react accordingly. Of course I do not hate the Chinese people, they are polite and charming. I do not hate anyone. I just campaign against repression.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Facebook

Amazing isn't it? I try through all the usual channels to contact Uighurs and to establish a news route. Exasperated by the lack of response I create a Uighur group on Facebook and lo - in a matter of days I find 350! Admitedly not all of them are actual Uighurs, but the level of sympathy from other groups has heartened me. Many of those on my list do not show a photograph. Fear is rife. These people feel little safer here than in their own country.
Another Facebook friend, Craig Murray, who has previously published a book underlying human rights abuses in the name of the UK and the USA (particularly confessions extracted under torchure - again, in our name) is fighting to get his next book published. I recommend Murder in Samarkand as a first hand insight for all those who suspected that the British Government was no better than any other, but had so far not found the evidence.
The Olympic Games are almost upon us. Journalists say they do not have the promised free access to the internet. In particular Human Rights sites such as Amnesty International are blocked. A spokesman for the Chinese Government said that the Olympic Games would not be affected by journalists having access to these sites, and saw no reason why they should be available. Is there a Chinese word for 'context'?
Over 8,000 people a year suffer the death penalty in China. Thats the official figure. Then we have the Detention Without Trial scenario. As you can imagine, this last one has been very popular in the run up to the Games.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Uighurs shot dead on 9th July

Well, I asked for Uighur news and I got it. Needless to say it is not good. A party of fifteen Uighurs was raided by Chinese troops and 5 were shot dead. Those taken captive have confessed that they were plotting against China. I wonder, was that confession extracted under the a)' good cop/bad cop' scenario we have come to accept in our own country, or was it b)'Confess to x happening or I will dip your grandchildren in boiling water' type of scenario.
We will never know the truth. But we can know that is was not scenario a).
A Burmese friend stated that her facvourite torture was not the 'rolling an iron bar up and down your shins until the skin breaks down to the bone' type of thing. She should know. Another friend is not too keen on the 'hanging naked for days in below zero temperatures and having buckets of freezing water splashed over you' type of scenario. And he should know.
I tried to find a picture of torture for this post, but the ones I found were just too awful for me to contemplate. I can't even stand a picture of it.
Don't let torture go unchallenged whether it be Uigurs or Tibetans or anyone else. Our own government condones the use of confessions extracted under torture. Do the people? Stay silent and you are agreeing to torchure by default. So don't stay silent!

Monday, July 7, 2008

And another thing - Guantanamo


Guantanomo Bay is apparently no longer the US Base it used to be and I am getting fed up with the new rhetoric which goes out of its way to site the horrible Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre in Cuba.
I guess that the US are now trying to distance themselves from the whole sorry affair. But blaming it on Cuba just rubs salt into Cuban wounds. Guantanamo Bay is quite beautiful as you see from my picture above. But the Detention Centre is nothing to do with Cuba. The US have been allowed to keep this site in exchange for not bombing the living daylights out of this beleagured nation. Cubans do not even acknowledge the existance of the naval base - as I found out first hand.
I am feeling very cross today. The whole Cuban thing is annoying. Why do we force economic sanctions on Cuba? Can anyone remember why we prevent trade with Cuba? Oh, I do believe that we don't like the government because it upset out 'friends' in the US. Does anyone know why we don't use economic sanctions on Zimbabwe? Oh yes, because we say that sanctions hurt the people.

Thanks Patrick


Well, I've been away on a short break, but my friends have been on the ball. Patrick brought to my attention a massive piece of news:

In the first ruling of its kind, a US court has overturned the designation of an inmate at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as an "enemy combatant".

How could I have missed that?

Huzaifa Parhat is an ethnic Uighur from East Turkistan. He was rounded up by China after 9/11 when every misguided government thought 'whoopee' and incarcerated anyone with the wrong shaped beard because obviously they were terrorists. Unfortunately the poor bloke has not even heard this news because they have not let him out of solitary confinement. The judges have said he must be freed, transferred or be the subject of a fresh hearing. I suppose they will dither around indefinately, meanwhile it has just been the 7 years of wrongful imprisonment and misery. Hands up those who have been in solitary confinement. I have met only one person - Rebiya - and she hadn't done anything wrong either.

So this poor man (who is at worst a petty criminal) faces even more time in solitary confinement despite the fact that he poses no threat to our beloved friends in the US, and no-one says a word. Great. I so love the bloody human race.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Response from the BBC


Annoyed that there was no coverage by the BBC of the Uighur problems, I wrote to them suggesting that they cover the Olympic torch relay in Xinjiang, and, co-incidence or not, they have. They have also loaded up some lovely new pictures, two of which I have borrowed. One shows the ancient market in Urmuqi, a major city in the region. The other is a view of the modern city which lies on the ancient Silk Road.

The Chinese government has pulled yet another fast one and pushed the torch through the Uighur region a week early. People living on the route have been told to stay indoors, close their windows and doors, not look out of them and watch the proceedings on television! Being used to the type of punishment involved for not obeying orders, they did just this.

Urmuqi, although seemingly having many new buildings and roads, is apparently the most polluted city in China. The region is rich in minerals and fossil fuels. No doubt it is por in safety and environmental concerns. Who cares, they are only a minority ethnic group fighting for a place in their own land.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Olympic Torch to East Turkisthan

The Olympic torch will be paraded in East Turkisthan, but our News services will not report it. If a thousand people are killed we can be sure only that our news services will not report it.

The Uighurs are more frightened than the Tibetans and they have less hope. The Uighurs in this country are very afraid to show themselves because they still fear reprisals from the Chinese government if they speak up. We cannot comprehend such fear. We have no knowledge of what form such reprisals may take. They know.

In little old Cardiff I was taken to task by a random Chinese person for showing a picture of the Dalai Lama in public. He thought it was a terrible thing and shoudn't be shown. He actually became quite angry about it. Is is suprising how many people do not understand the principles of Freedom of Speech.

We have to have greater dialogue with the Chinese people. Even though they live here they do not understand us. The fault is ours.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

We fear the worst

It is not possible to know how it feels to have lost a child until it happens to you. In a north-eastern province of China, once known as East Turkisthan, it happens a thousand fold. To the Uighur people it happens, to the Chinese people it happens. The Tianamen Mothers still wait to hear what happened to their children on that fateful day in 1989. The Chinese government is a problem. Witness the earthquake where so very many 'one child' young people died. Their mothers now beyond childbearing age mourn their everything, their entire investment in the human race. Who can comprehend their grief?

The time to find a change of heart is running short. Only the strong words of Europe and the US can find a way into the ears of the Chinese policymakers. Have you ever written to your MP? Now might be a good time to start. Tell them you want to see more freedom for the people of China - that includes the Tibetan Autonomous Zone and Rebiya's Uighurs. If there is no change now, the reprocussions on those who have spoken out so far will be terrible.

Freedom of speech? Why is that so hard? Yet Rebiya Kadeer fights on for her son and her people.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

China Jails Canadian Citizen


A joint report by Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China has revealed that "the systematic repression of religion in Xinjiang was continuing as "a matter of considered state policy". This comes just as a Canadian citizen is jailed for life for alledged separatisim and terrorism charges. The Canadian government is outraged by reports that he is being tortured in custody and the Chinese government have responded that the Canadians should mind their own business! Hmmm, a Canadian citizen would be Canadian business - wouldn't it?

Systematic repression includes executions and the detention of thousands of people every year, the report claims.

"Religious regulation in Xinjiang (East Turkisthan) is so pervasive that it creates a legal net that can catch just about anyone the authorities want to target," said Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China.

The report also reveals that almost half the detainees in Xinjiang's Uighur re-education camps are there for engaging in illegal religious activities.

Uighurs make up about eight million of the 19 million people in Xinjiang. Many of them favour greater autonomy, and China views separatist sentiments as terrorism and a threat to the state. September 11th has done all repressive governments one huge favour.

" The worldwide campaign against terrorism has given Beijing the perfect excuse to crack down harder than ever in Xinjiang. Other Chinese enjoy a growing freedom to worship, but the Uighurs, like the Tibetans, find that their religion is being used as a tool of control. "

Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.



Monday, April 7, 2008

Will this change China's place in the world?


On a Washington conference table one cold January day sixteen years ago was a very simple offer. In return for Beijing's support at the United Nations for a war against Iraq—which until then it had rejected—the United States would make no public objection to China's "final solution" for all their student demonstrators on Tiananmen Square. Beijing had decided the students would stand trial the day after the deadline against Iraq expired. In return for US compliance, President Bush would have China's support for the war. Another great deal for mankind.

In the meantime China has clamped down more and more mercilessly upon the 'minority' people trapped and disenfranchised in their own countries. Whilst we try and save Tibet here in London, China is building hatred of Tibetans in its homeland. There are going to be more clashes more killings. The Uighurs, enboldened by the effort of the Tibetans have started an expanding protest. There are 8 million Uighurs among the population of 19 million (imported) Han in Xinjiang province The Uighurs have begun to protest against the clampdown in Tibet.

Will this change China's place in the world?

Don't stop talking. Look what's happenning.

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-4-7/68746.html for more info

PS it is Joanna Lumley in the picture.


Thursday, March 27, 2008

Still no news reaches us from Rebiya's country



Yes, lots and lot of news from Tibet now - yet much of the truth is still repressed. We hear nothing from East Turkisthan (now known as Xingjiang Uighur Autonomous Region or XUAR). The last posted BBC news article from this country was in 2005. The Uighurs are repressed in the same way as the Tibetans. Rebiya Kadeer is losing all hope of seeing her family again.

I have not lost sight of the reason for this blog. It is to help Rebiya and her people. Rebiya says: 'We were promised wonderful things when we were given autonomous status. We would be in charge of the natural resources, they wouldn’t increase the Chinese population, jobs would be first for locals, then for the incoming Chinese. They said they only came to help us, to develop our own country and culture. The Chinese government used autonomy as a noose to hook the Uighurs and hang them. We have nothing. We’re facing an existential threat, that the Chinese government’s policies will eliminate us as a people. The Chinese government gave us the so-called autonomous status but never respected it, and transferred millions of their own people. Now you can see more Chinese than Uighurs in our own homeland. What China is doing is a frontal attack on our ethnic identity, culture and language. It’s ultra-nationalism . We don’t look Chinese, we don’t speak Chinese, everything is different, and that makes it hard for the Chinese government to justify its repression and occupation.'

Her country is being used as a nuclear testing zone. A dumping ground for nuclear waste. I have heard first hand that there are significant and awful birth defects. The good doctor who risked his life to tell us this will never see his family again.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spread the word - it works!

The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world.
Not everyone gets out on to the streets like me (and I am pretty new to it), but its seems that positive action pays off. Gordon Brown is going to talk to the Dalai Lama and Nancy Pelosi (speaker of the US House of representatives) has asked for an investigation into China's behaviour in the Tibet unrest.

You will have heard that the Chinese will treat those Tibetans who hand themelves in to the authorities 'with lenience'. My friend has spent many years in a Chinese jail. They beat him so badly he was left for dead. I don't think China understands the word 'lenience'. My friend cries for those held in the prison - he knows what will happen. Despite everything, his needs are simple. Tibetans are not interested in money or power. "It doesn't matter whether Tibet is independent or not, as long as Tibetans live in happiness," he said.

Peace and compassion are not 'nice to haves' they are absolute necessities .

Keep talking my friends - it works

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Excerpt from BBC editors page today


"There are a handful of countries where the BBC is not welcome - but not many where our services on radio, TV and online are actively blocked. Along with every other news organisation, China's internal security laws mean we can't get into the region without permission - that has been refused. In addition to our problems in the field, China also routinely blocks access to BBC services in most of the country."

Tibet is a country where news does at least get out. What about the others such as East Turkisthan. Nothing comes from there. Can you imagine the anguish of the people in this country?

What do you say to this - 'Oh dear, there goes China being silly again.' Or maybe 'This should not be allowed. What can I do about it?'

Firstly, you should talk about it - to your friends and family; anyone who will listen.

Secondly get real. Contact your MP and make your point. They will not know how you feel until you tell them. Don't be lazy.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Free Tibet Rally - Cardiff 9th March 2008


It was pretty cold in Cardiff on Sunday, but that didn't sptop many people from turning out to learn more about the situation in Tibet. I was one of the speakers, and, in case you are wondering why I support the Free Tibet campaign, I was happy to take the opportunity to compare the obscene treatment of people in Tibet with those in East Turkisthan.

It is a harsh world we live in. Too many people are reluctant to leave their comfort zone and take a long hard look at the world we really live in. The paradox is the world we live in is often sutained by the hardship of others. Our consumerism is largely built on cheap labour. That cheap labour is build on an unfair society - in many cases it is built on downright cruelty. Yes, we are responsible for the opression in the world. We allow it. We fund it.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

News from East Turkisthan

Well, there is no news from East Turkisthan. Look at the neighbours. What chance is there of news. What chance to escape?

Here are the statistics for when China entered neighbouring Tibet:
  • 87,000 Tibetans dead in the first day
  • 80,000 refugees - 1000's perish in the mountains
  • 70,000 imprisoned - more than half perish through starvation
  • Crops shipped to China - hundreds of thousands die of starvation
  • Those sentanced to death have their tongues torn out by meathooks to prevent them saying 'long live the Dalai Lama"
  • Many buried alive, scolded to death, disembowelled, crucified.
  • Little children forced to shoot their own parents
  • Celebate monks forced to publicly rape nuns
  • 8 out of 6259 monastries escape damage
And we support this becuse of trade. We all have a voice. Use it. Do something for these people. Tell a friend about it. A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves - and we will deserve ours if we do not speak out now.

"A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves"

Monday, February 11, 2008

Freedom of speech denied to British athletes

This picture is of the England team being forced to give a Nazi salute in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Embarassing eh? A mistake definately. But we have learnt nothing. In 2008 it was announced that British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.

Exactly what planet are they all on? Oh yes, its the ' let's be nice to China' planet. Never mind that the lack of fair trials are a serious concern, with thousands of people locked up in "re-education through labour" camps without any trial at all. Thousands each year are sentenced to the death penalty, even for non-violent crimes. Free speech remains severely curtailed, with around 30 journalists behind bars and internet users denied information and jailed for their blogs. And what about Tibet? What about the Uighurs? What about (dare I say it) common sense?

Yahoo, Google and Microsoft, who built reputations and vast fortunes on the principles of free expression and access to information, have trampled over their own ideals in the rush for a slice of the Chinese market. They shut down blogs and censor their own search engines - all in the name of ..... MONEY.

Well it's not good enough is it. Can we really tolerate this type of behaviour, and indeed become infected by it? If we allow our kow-towing to China to inform many more decisions we may as well hang our few remaining shreds of democracy in the National People's Congress of the People's Republic.

Remember that Nazi salute.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Prince of Wales Boycotts Beijing Olympics

My Tibetan friend told me last night that Prince Charles was to boycott the Beijing Olympics. Funny that the BBC hasn't seen fit to debate this issue.

So, the Queens firstborn son (as the Lama will put it) has acted true to his own heart and will quietly boycott the Chinese Olympics to highlight the issues of gross human rights abuses by that country. Of course the UK government will have us think poorly of this man. They have snubbed his opinion time and again. Eventual circumstances have proved him to be more in tune with the mood of the nation than our arms dealing, consumer-pandering elected government.

I wonder if his sister and brothers will follow suit and put human rights before self interest?

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2248359,00.html has the Guardian story

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sold for 'Filthy Fish'


I just received a letter from Mark Mulloch-Brown in response to some lobbying I have done on behalf of Rebiya and the ethnic Uighurs in East Turkisthan. He is Minister of State for Asia among many other things, and a knowledgable man of some standing.

I do appreciate that it takes time to change even one tiny bit of the world, and being in charge of Africa, Asia and the UN is a very big job. I appreciate that mentioning the concerns about human rights in China, specifically including the Uighurs and specifically Rebiya Kadeer, to ones counterparts in China is the right thing to do by the usual politically correct diplo-speak methods. But they don't get anywhere fast, if at all. Rebiya's children remain tortured and lost. TORTURED AND LOST.

Could Lord Mulloch-Brown possibly find a way to stop beating about the bush, stop kow-towing to the bloody Chinese government and reunite this family. Whilst he is about it he could also 'mention' that the Uighur people have a right to their language, their religion, their land and their livlihood.

Have Rebiya's children been sold for a load of lead-laced children's toys, contaminated seafood and faulty tyres? I can live without Chinese imports, so can everyone else.

(Filthy Fish http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6275758.stm)

Monday, January 21, 2008

Money Rules


Yes folks, now we know for sure. Money rules us.

Gordon Brown had a clear message to take to Beijing. He wants the UK to be the "number one destination" for Chinese businesses to invest. Mr Brown was a little less clear about his human rights message. In fact I am not sure he had one.
Increasing our income from China from £20.2bn to £30bn will not help one iota to relieve the beleagured minorities in East Turkestan. Obviously the price of their human rights is too high for Britain and the rest of the West. Our right to cash versus their right to humanity.

"Kerching!"

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Vigil on 5th February, Chinese Embassy, London


On the 5th February every year vigils are held outside Chinese embassies around the world to mark the occasion when Chinese security forces opened fire on Uighur ethnics who were asking for equal rights in their own country.
Only a few people turn up for the vigil, and I wonder why. I wonder why there are not hundreds of British based Uighurs joining hands to mark their unhappiness at the treatment of their countrymen.

Are they afraid to be seen at a public gathering? Have they become so comfortable here in the UK that they have forgotten how hard it was at home? Of course I don't know the reason, but I would be very grateful if someone would tell me.

On February 5th 1997 a demonstration in Gulja City ended in violence and rioting after Chinese security forces opened fire on the crowd killing several people. The demonstrators were calling for equal rights for the Uighur ethnic people in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China. Following the massacre many people were detained. Some are still in prison while others have been executed. Many of those detained received no trial while other trials were manifestly unfair. (See Steve's link on the right.)