Friday, March 13, 2009

The 3 T's...



I guess I just can't get enough of the politics. Everyday I read more and more that reminds me I am in a different world over here. You learn about oppression, domination, tyranny, authoritarianism and dictatorships in school but you always feel distanced from them. We'll now I feel that for the first time, I am realizing what it's like to live in such a place. Now don't get me wrong, I would not compare present day China, to Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany or even China 30-40 years ago during Mao's reign but I would say outright that things like freedom of speech and basic human rights are neglected, denied or prohibited in so many instances that I feel a dramatic disparity between here than to my native country.


In my last blog I explained a little about some of the major issues that China is currently facing. In a recent article of a English Newsletter in Shanghai, I learned that the Sloan concert I was planning to attend, was in fact cancelled. The article, ever so gracefully implied that the reason is likely due to one of the 3 T's (1). Of course, I was wondering what the 3 T's were but thankfully someone posted a comment on the article describing that one of the T's was an island off the south-eastern coast of China, one is a province in south-western China and the other is a square in the middle of Beijing. It turns out that Noel Gallagher played at a Free Tibet Concert in New York in 1999. Wow, now that's what I call holding a grudge. To make the matter more interesting, the show in Hong Kong was still scheduled to proceed, yet another example of how different Hong Kong is to China. To top it off, the advertised reason that this was cancelled was because, in our current financial crisis people cannot afford tickets. This, I know is false and simply a cover up story since I saw how many of the tickets had already been sold for the event.


If you thought the 3 T's were interesting check out the new committee called 6521 (2). 6521 is a secret committee of government appointed agents in charge of dealing with the potential unrests and protests expected this year. This year should be quite a year because it marks the anniversaries of many important dates. The 60th anniversary of The Peoples Republic of China, the 50th anniversary of the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, the 20th anniversary since the anti-communist protests in Tiananmen Square, and finally the 10th anniversary since China banned the practice of the Falun Dafa movement. Put these anniversaries together and you see what a numerology crazed nation can create. Some of the actions put forth by the Chinese government or this 6521 committee has been by sending thousands of troops to Tibet and by cutting off phone and internet connections in some areas. This unofficial Martial Law is part of President Hu Jintao's measures to ensure the "building of a Great Wall for combating separatism and safeguarding national unity" (3). The Great Wall is symbolic to strengthen stability, something that the Dalai Lama and his folllowers don't want, says

Shall I continue??? Why not right? Although some of this research is still unverifiable, I have read two articles lately about how citizens have the constitutional right (4) to petition their complaints and grievances in Beijing to try and rectify the wrong done unto them or their families. Depending on the type of issue and the nature of the petitioner will depend on how they are treated. Some times, people will make up to eight trips to the capitol and still receive no help or rectification but other times these people are taken to so called "black houses" (4) which is a code word for secret jails and detention centres. In an effort to avoid blame or fault, plain clothes security guards are abducting these petitioners from the street and taking them to one of the many "black houses" where they are insulted, beaten for an undetermined amount of time until they are sent back to their home province. I guess they're hoping that if they rough them up enough, they wont cause a fuss in the future and try to file a petition again.

Wow right? As a result I am constantly reminded of how lucky that I am being from a country that doesn't commit such human rights violations. Just wish me luck that these blogs don't get me into trouble. Ooops.

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