Olympic Torch - A beacon of light on Chinese Human Rights, Tibet, etc.

Few days ago I spent sometime talking to Calgarian Ralph Maclean, a Hong Kong veteran who fought for Hong Kong in the Canadian army during the Second World War. In fact, Ralph was captured by the Japanese army and became POW for 3 years and 7 months. His love of Hong Kong has continued to this day and he actually visited HK in recent years and was part of a HK-made documentary about that war and these HK vets.

The reason of my chat with Ralph was that he was really upset and disappointed of what he saw how the Chinese government has mistreated the Tibetans and jailed other innocent Human Rights activists in China. He read this article “Olympics? I will not run, jump or dive in China” and wanted to hear our thoughts on it. So I called Ralph to share with him my thoughts.

I told Ralph that, in my humble opinion, having the Olympics in Beijing and the torch relay around the world can actually bring some unintended but needed attentions to Chinese Human Rights problems, the Tibet stalemate, and even Chinese investment in Sudan (which indirectly prolong the genocide in Darfur). The protests in London, Paris, and today in San Francisco created an unprecedented international platform to focus on, I repeat, Chinese Human Rights problems, the Tibet stalemate, and even Chinese investment in Sudan.

Membership to World Trade Organization, host country of the Olympics, de facto “Factory of the World”, etc are achievements that the Chinese should be proud of. At the same time, it is about time the Chinese government also starts to respect human rights, helping to halt the genocide in Darfur, etc.

I can write more but I should stop now and end with a crowd-shot London protest video clip and an excerpt from Telegraph.

Here is an excerpt from Telegraph.

Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London Olympic Committee, has described the Chinese officials guarding the Olympic torch as “thugs”, piling more embarrassment onto the Games’ organisers. [...]

Lord Coe made the comments as a member of Channel 4 News staff was attempting to contact him over the telephone and they were accidentally connected via the switchboard to a private conversation.

“They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English … I think they were thugs,” he said.

In a statement, Channel 4 News said: “By chance Channel 4 News had attempted to contact Lord Coe’s press office via their switchboard and was accidentally connected to the conversation he was having with a colleague, a 2012 press officer Jackie Brock Doyle.”

Important week for Kenya

It is horrible to see that 600,000 people have already been displaced in Kenyan violence. To my big relieve, I have finally got words from my Kenyan friend that things had been Ok for the past few days. She mentioned that this week is crucial. I will be keeping my fingers crossed. Please do the same.

Democracy Springs from Brushstrokes?

Mr. Szeto Wah (everyone calls him “Wah Suk” in Cantonese, meaning “Uncle Wah“) has been fighting for democracy in Hong Kong and China for over 20 years. Uncle Wah is 77 years old now, and I have to say that I have tears (of support, of sadness …) in my eyes when I watched the following Google video of him writing his Chinese New Year calligraphy (”Fai cheun“, or “Brushstrokes of spring” as my friend translated) on the cold street of Hong Kong to raise funds to fight for democracy in Hong Kong and China.

It takes a lot of determination and stamina to keep fighting day in and day out for over 20 years. These days, I think the likes of Mr. Szeto Wah are really tough to come by anywhere in the world. Visit here to find a timetable of Uncle Wah writing his Fai cheun.

Thanks Daisann for blogging about Uncle Wah and his “Brushstrokes of spring” selling.

Video of The Day: The Road to Serfdom

My economist friend Angela has put a spotlight on an interesting documentary on Friedrich Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom“. Hope you enjoy the YouTube Videos.

Save RTHK - 撐 香 港 電 台

See Save RTHK Photo Album of 2008-01-27 street forum

Here is the Save RTHK Facebook group description,

挺 公 共 廣 播 、 撐 香 港 電 台 、
爭 言 論 自 由 、 反 另 立 假 貨 ！

We care about speech freedom in Hong Kong.
We support RTHK.
We demand the delinking of RTHK from the government structure and the making of RTHK a genuine public broadcaster.
We oppose the setting up of a government propaganda media organization.

The Save RTHK Facebook group has collected various news articles and video clips, quite nice.

Nuclear Lapdog, Hotdog or Watchdog?

Here is a sharp commentary from Rex Murphy on the firing the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission president Ms. Linda Keen that I agree with very much. And the end of this National “At Issue” panel discussion Afghanistan which touches on the dismissal of Ms. Keen at the end of the program. (I think Mr. Andrew Coyne was so wrong. And Ms. Chantal Hebert was very sensible. And Mr. Allan Gregg and I share much concern of the long term impact of the government’s influence on independent commissions. And the idea of parliament knows more about nuclear safety than a nuclear commission that is designed to do just that is just wrong to me as well as I’ve blogged previously.)

Thanks to the Harper government, we now know we don’t have a Nuclear Watchdog in Canada. We are now left with a Nuclear Lapdog at best.