Human rights: March 2008 Archives

We already know that Bush and Gordon Brown have no cojones when it comes to standing up for China and boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- Forbes' most powerful woman in the world and highly worthy of the title -- has become the first leader to put her foot down and do the right thing:

"As pressure built for concerted western protests to China over the crackdown in Tibet, EU leaders prepared to discuss the crisis for the first time today, amid a rift over whether to boycott the Olympics.

The disclosure that Germany is to stay away from the games' opening ceremonies in August could encourage President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to join in a gesture of defiance and complicate Gordon Brown's determination to attend the Olympics.

Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, became the first EU head of government to announce a boycott on Thursday and he was promptly joined by President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, who had previously promised to travel to Beijing.

'The presence of politicians at the inauguration of the Olympics seems inappropriate,' Tusk said. 'I do not intend to take part.'

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, confirmed that Merkel was staying away. He added that neither he nor Wolfgang Schäuble, the interior minister responsible for sport, would attend the opening ceremony.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, the politician from Merkel's Christian Democratic party who chairs the European parliament, encouraged talk of an Olympic boycott this week and invited the Dalai Lama to address the chamber in Strasbourg, while another senior German Christian Democrat, Ruprecht Polenz, said a boycott should remain on the table."

This is awesome news!! And I'm willing to bet that Sarko will take the boycott route.

My column last week on how we shouldn't play China's games anymore got a lot of interesting reaction, by the way, including a death threat from the mainland. No worries -- I'll just sic these creepy "fuwas" on him:

Very, very sad news about the passing yesterday of Dith Pran, the "Killing Fields" survivor who became a photographer for The New York Times -- and strove to ensure that Pol Pot's genocide would not be forgotten:

"I'm a one-person crusade. I must speak for those who did not survive and for those who still suffer. Since coming to America, I have visited Cambodia three times to evaluate the ongoing Cambodian crisis. The problems Cambodia faces are not only political but also economical and social. The Khmer Rouge have brought Cambodia back to year zero and that's why I'm trying to bring the Khmer Rouge leaders to the World Court. Like one of my heroes, Elie Wiesel, who alerts the world to the horrors of the Jewish holocaust, I try to awaken the world to the holocaust of Cambodia, for all tragedies have universal implications."

"Part of my life is saving life. I don't consider myself a politician or a hero. I'm a messenger. If Cambodia is to survive, she needs many voices."

Plenty of countries claim up and down that they don’t hold political prisoners, and those eager to do business with that country are usually too eager to buy their story. But a recently leaked copy of a secret politburo document should leave everyone with little doubt that not only does Vietnam persecute political prisoners; they’re worried about learning to persecute more efficiently so they’ll catch less flack from the international community.

I got a hold of that memo, which was so tightly controlled that copies were numbered, sent out to the Communist Party hierarchy, then recalled and the numbers ticked off to make sure all were returned. Read all about it in my column today:

“When pressed last year on human rights during his historic visit to D.C., Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet passed off violations as a ‘different understanding’ that needed to be taken in context of ‘historical backgrounds and conditions.’Pro-democracy Vietnamese, however, understand well the conditions in place to systematically keep their voices silent. Now an apparent memo from the top tells the story.

The top-secret, just-leaked Vietnamese government document urges Communist Party officials to become more conscientious in their quest to ‘limit the spread of false ideas in the population about democracy, human rights, religious freedom, which impacts negatively on the Party and the State foreign policy,’ and work ‘to institute effort to neutralize these organizations and individuals who conspire to maneuver against the country and socialism.’

The document titled ‘NOTICE: Conclusion of the Political Party, concerning raising the bar of quality and effectiveness in the execution of the political trials in the face of new development’ and dated Sept. 12, 2007, was distributed to provincial authorities, party officials and leading technocrats, as noted in the memo.

Signed off and stamped by Standing Secretariat Member Truong Tan Sang, the Politburo sent out numbered copies on a recall basis. Yet a copy of the document was leaked by a Communist Party member to the People’s Democratic Party of Vietnam, which advocates a multi-party system and is thus banned by the Vietnamese regime.Reading the document - the English translation provided by the PDP - is a window into a regime that systematically conspires to silence dissidents and fears international scrutiny could derail its attempts at global acceptance.

‘The quality and effectiveness of the execution of the political cases have not met the requirements to enable the struggle to prevent and deal with these crimes,’ the memo reads, complaining that ‘the charges and rulings in a number of cases have not been appropriate’ and trials have been ‘allowing the accused excessive responses.’

‘…To fight and defeat the attack plot of the enemy forces is our first line of defense, urgent and immediate.’…”

Over at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a reader says this in response to the column running there:

"If we had followed thru in Vietnam 30 years ago this would not be happening..."

Looking forward to seeing how those readers respond to that...

(The photo, btw, is Father Nguyen Van Ly, who said "Down with communism!" at his sham trial, and in response the politburo puppets clapped a hand over his mouth.)

The Olympic torch run is set to pass through San Francisco -- its only U.S. stop -- on April 9. Now, Mayor Gavin Newsom refused to even listen to human-rights advocates who said that welcoming this tainted torch in the city stands against SF's liberal traditions. And now, he's trying to corral protesters into designated "free-speech areas" -- out of sight of the torch path so as not to offend the delicate Chinese government. Which, as I've been told, thousands of protesters may not take kindly.

The weekend's tragic, bloody crackdown on freedom-seeking Tibetans in Lhasa should make everyone angry -- and should stress the need to hold China's feet to the fire. Mark your calendar for a pre-torch rally at UN Plaza in San Fran on April 8, followed by march to the Chinese consulate and candlelight vigil that evening; then on April 9 the torch run is expected to go through the financial district, where tens of thousands of protesters are expected to gather. I'll be there, and I hope many Angelenos can make it!!