The Riverman Reports - Inc. Huttz World : 2011-01-30

Friday, February 04, 2011

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A persecuted people - Who are the Tibetans?

A persecuted people - Who are the Tibetans?

Since 1951 the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)* has been part of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is historically the indigenous home to mainly ethnic Tibetans, most of whom practice Tibetan Buddhism. The administration of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government in Exile, claims jurisdiction over Greater Tibet which includes Qinghai province and parts of other neighbouring provinces, in addition to the TAR.

The population of the TAR historically consisted of mainly ethnic Tibetans as well as other ethnic groups including the Menba (Monpa), Lhoba, Mongols and Hui Chinese. However, the increasing numbers of Han Chinese migrants in the region is a politically sensitive issue for the Tibetan Government in Exile. They claim that the PRC is actively attempting to alter the demographic makeup to diminish chances of Tibetan political independence and to destroy the distinct Tibetan ethnic makeup, culture, and identity, thereby cementing it as an indivisible part of the PRC. The opening of the Qinghai-Lhasa railroad in July 2006 sharpened the tension surrounding the issue of Han migrants.

The Tibetan Government in Exile views the current PRC rule in Greater Tibet as colonial and illegitimate, motivated solely by its natural resources and strategic value. They believe it is a gross violation of both Tibet's historical status as an independent country and the right of Tibetan people to self-determination. The Dalai Lama has called for Tibetan autonomy under democratic conditions and respect for human rights.

How are they victims of human rights violations?

The Tibetans are victims of many human rights violations including:

Restrictions on the freedom of religious belief, including the suppression of any activity venerating the Dalai Lama. This includes Government control of monasteries. Government-approved management committees approve the selection and training of reincarnate lamas and control religious publications. Under the so-called 're-education' campaign launched by the authorities in May 1996, the activities and education of monks and nuns is monitored and they are forced to denounce the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader and sign pledges of political allegiance to the PRC. According to TCHRD, the authorities increased their oppression of the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries during 2007.
Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including torture, in prisons: Prison conditions are poor and medical care is inadequate. In 2006 the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reported that Chushul Prison, which was built in 1960s and was thought to be closed, has been re-opened and that several political prisoners were held there in substandard conditions.
Unfair legal procedures: In contradiction to the official legislation concerning judicial procedures, Tibetans rarely receive legal assistance and most trials are held in secret or before a specially selected audience. There are no effective official channels through which a procedural complaint can be filed.
The continued arrest and detention of political prisoners: Almost all known Tibetan political prisoners were arrested solely for peacefully expressing their political views and opinions. According to TCHRD, 70% of known political prisoners in the TAR are now monks and nuns.
Lack of access to education and suppression of the Tibetan language: Illiteracy rates are high and many children are deprived of access to basic education. School is usually conducted in the Chinese language and teaching about Tibetan history, culture and religion is non-existent, replaced by its Chinese equivalents. Some Tibetan language schools do exist, although the content of the syllabus continues to be heavily focused on Chinese history and ideology. Denunciation of the Dalai Lama is required. As the Chinese language is required in most schools, Government offices and in day-to-day activities, many ethnic Tibetans now opt to learn Chinese so that they will be able to find work.
Discrimination in the workplace: As a result of the discriminatory education system and the requirement of the Chinese language in most jobs, there is a high unemployment rate among Tibetans.
Lack of representation: Chinese authorities in the southwestern Tibetan region of Lithang have recently been removing ethnic Tibetan officials and replacing them with Chinese officials.

Tibetan refugees continue to flee to neighbouring Nepal as a result of these problems, and excessive force has been used in recent years to prevent those attempting to flee.

How is Tibetan freedom of expression violated?

The Chinese authorities continue to suppress the Tibetan people's basic rights to freedom of expression and freedom to information. They continue to ban a large number of imported publications and audiovisual materials that advocate Tibetan independence. Locally printed journals and writings dealing in an independent manner with political or human rights matters are also banned.

In 2006, the authorities banned all reports distributed within the country by foreign news agencies until they had been cleared by the government. This is achieved mainly through the State-run Xinhua news agency, which has the authority to censor news reports. Severe restrictions are in place on the press, investigative reporting, the internet, radio and other forms of broadcasting. The Government uses advanced technology, as well as crude intimidation, detention, imprisonment, and ambiguously and arbitrarily applied censorship regulations to control the media.

In 2006, the blogs of a Tibetan intellectual named 'Woeser' were shut down after she questioned Beijing's rule of Tibet. In 2007, Chinese internet authorities shut down several Tibetan language and literature websites and blogs. On 16 October 2007, a day before the Dalai Lama was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, several Tibetan websites including www.tibetcm.com and www.tibettl.com were temporarily shut down due to their political content and blog discussions concerning the medal. On 16 November, the site www.tibetcm.com was shut down permanently and the authorities deleted all the data from the site including over 10,000 blog articles. The Google China site censors websites and web searches for certain subjects including 'Tibet', the 'Dalai Lama' and 'democracy'.

Persecuted Tibetan Writers (March 2008)

Dawa Gyaltsen
Tibetan dissident arrested in November 1995 for writing pro-independence pamphlets which were posted in April 1995 as part of widespread protests against the Chinese authorities. Dawa was charged with carrying out 'counter-revolutionary propaganda' and is now serving a 15-year prison sentence. He is currently being held in the notorious Drapchi Prison (now known as Tibet Autonomous Region Prison) in Lhasa. He was severely tortured under interrogation, and has suffered numerous forms of abuse in prison, including beatings, psychological stress, and lack of access to fresh air. When he was first arrested, he was handcuffed and thrown into a dark room without food for ten days.

Dolma Kyab
English PEN Honorary Member
Writer and teacher, arrested on March 9, 2005 in Lhasa, Tibet for allegedly endangering State security in his unpublished book, The Restless Himalayas, which was comprised of 57 chapters he had written on various topics: democracy, sovereignty of Tibet, Tibet under communism, colonialism, religion and belief, and so forth. Dolma was charged with 'espionage' and 'illegal border crossing' at a secret trial, and sentenced to ten and a half years in prison. In July 2007, he was reportedly moved from Chushul prison in Lhasa to Xining Labour Camp, Qinghai Province; he is seriously ill.

Ven Rinchen Sangpo
Tibetan writer currently hiding from the Chinese police. Sangpo was arrested, interrogated and tortured by the police in July 2006 who claimed that he had committed serious crimes through his writing. He was held without charge for a month, then released. He was briefly detained again on 4 April 2007 for his critical writings entitled The Story of Blood and The Story of Lhasa. During detention, he was subjected to sustained ill-treatment. Since his release he has been in hiding from the police, and is suffering serious medical issues and financial difficulties. He continues to write critical articles.
Read more: www.englishpen.org/writersinprison/campaigns/tibetanrightsandwriters/

http://www.englishpen.org/

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China suppresses dissident groups such as the Falun Gong...

BEIJING (AP) - Dissidents organizing a democratic party, Protestants flocking to private homes to worship and millions belonging to a mystical meditation group - all have become targets in China's summer clampdown.

The communist government, rarely tolerant of groups operating beyond its control, has ratcheted up the intensity of its campaign this time to sweep away potential challenges ahead of the 50th anniversary of the communist victory on Oct. 1.

Most visible - and seemingly bizarre - has been an intense, nearly six-week campaign to pull millions of people away from their belief in Falun Gong, a blend of meditation, slow-motion exercises and ideas from Buddhism and Taoism said by devotees to improve health and morality.

While diatribes against the group saturated state airwaves and Communist Party officials pressured practitioners to renounce the group, police and courts quietly put away second-tier leaders of the China Democracy Party. In one week, four of them received prison sentences as long as 13 years.

Emboldened by their success, security forces have turned to Christian groups not sanctioned by the government. Police arrested at least 30 leaders of underground Protestant church groups this week, the second raid this month in central Henan province, rights groups reported.

Local authorities have used the same tactics against the church groups applied to Falun Gong - ransacking homes for evidence and detentions, a report by New York-based Human Rights in China quoted David Zhang, an underground church movement advocate, as saying.

"The leadership's greatest fear is organized opposition," said one government scholar called upon by the party's Propaganda Department in recent weeks to research and publicly criticize Falun Gong. He added that the group represented the most organized threat "because so many high-level officials practiced Falun Gong."

Before the crackdown began, one government estimate placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners at 70 million, more than the Communist Party. Human Rights in China said four of the Protestant leaders arrested this week represent church groups with more than 20 million members.

The government forbids Christian worship outside churches under state control.

Since there has been scant international or domestic criticism of the campaign against Falun Gong, officials felt free to act against the church leaders, Human Rights in China quoted Zhang as saying. Zhang, who lives in the United States, has had his normally broad contacts with leaders of the house churches almost entirely cut off since the arrests.

When asked about the arrests of the Protestant leaders, a spokesman for the local Tanghe county police, who identified himself as Mr. Niu, said, "Let me tell you, don't get involved in this matter."

China's news media denounce Falun Gong as a cult opposing science and the government. Falun Gong provoked the leadership's ire by staging a silent protest by 10,000 supporters outside communist headquarters in Beijing. Its spokesmen in the United States say it is neither religious nor political.

Despite the tense atmosphere, the government was now rushing to bring the campaign against Falun Gong to a close, said the government scholar, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said charges would soon be brought against ringleaders and, in absentia, Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong's founder who now lives in the United States.

By ending the biggest witch hunt of opponents since the suppression of the democracy movement in 1989, the government wants to make sure nothing detracts from touting national achievements during 50th anniversary celebrations.

Chinese leaders also want to clear the decks to focus on a forceful response to Taiwan, an island claimed by China, the scholar said. Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui took what Beijing regards as a dangerous move toward outright statehood last month by declaring the island has "state-to-state" relations with China.

A sample of the displays of devotion to party likely to be a big part of the anniversary can already be seen in reports on the massive deprogramming of Falun Gong members.

A professor of Chinese medicine, Wang Dequn, praised the "concern" of the party and government for people like him who had practiced Falun Gong.

"Now my thinking is being transformed step by step, and I have determined to make the party and government satisfied," the state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted him as saying.

Acknowledgements: Associated Press

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Thursday, February 03, 2011

Major NZ drug king jailed...

EXPAND

Ronald Brown. Photo / Supplied

An Auckland man at the centre of an international drug ring which brought millions of dollars worth of drugs into New Zealand has been sentenced to 11-1/2 years' imprisonment.

Ronald Terrence Brown, 65, earlier admitted eight charges related to the importation and supply of ecstasy, methamphetamine and LSD, and also charges of using a false passport and laundering more than $4 million over three years.

Brown organised for the class A and B drugs to be smuggled into New Zealand from Europe in granite statues, and co-ordinated with alleged drug world kingpins Rokas Karpavicius who is believed to be at large in Lithuania, and Silvio Blazevich, believed to be in either Serbia or Slovakia.

Brown's fingerprints were also found on a Harry Potter book couriered in from Spain which had LSD hidden in the spine.

Brown was on unemployment and sickness benefits for about 20 years, yet part-owned a bar on Auckland's Karangahape Rd and owned six vehicles - including a Porsche and BMWs - valued at $440,000.

In the High Court at Auckland this morning, Justice Mark Woolford said if Brown was not right at the top of the syndicate hierarchy, he was very close to it.

He had some 50 previous convictions, including conspiracy to supply heroin, for which he was previously sentenced to seven years in jail, rape, theft, and numerous assault and drug-related convictions.

Justice Woolford sentenced Brown to 11-1/2 years' imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of five years.

A three-week trial of Brown's co-accused Zvonko Dzomba, 49, Blair Aaron Bidois, 39, and Kellie Sheree Simanu, 33, ended in November.

The jury found all three not guilty, by majority verdicts 11-1, of conspiracy to import a class A drug. Simanu and Anna Keziah Sauer, 31, were found guilty of money-laundering charges.

Acknowledgements: NZPA

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Dark clouds descend on Queensland - Cyclone Yasi comes to town...

Yasi and Katrina compared:
Fierce winds and driving rains brought by the most powerful storm ever to hit Queensland are lashing northern coastal areas of the Australian state.

With winds reaching up to 290km/h (181mph), Cyclone Yasi is ripping roofs off buildings and has cut power to at least 100,000 people.

The storm struck south of Cairns and is moving inland, with forecasters warning of severe damage and likely deaths.

Queensland's premier has warned of devastation on an unprecedented scale.

'Destroyed'
The town of Tully, close to where the cyclone hit land, is a "scene of mass devastation", resident Ross Sorbello told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Sorbello, who briefly went outside as the eye of the storm passed over, said roofs were ripped from houses, electricity poles were down and the streets were covered with debris.

Tully resident Stephanie Grimaz said that houses in her street had been torn apart, the Queensland Times reported.

"The flat from across the street is in our front yard and we can see other houses which have just been destroyed," she said.

Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney
Queenslanders are being told to brace for the most catastrophic storm ever to hit their shores. State Premier Anna Bligh said she did not think Australia had ever seen a storm of this intensity in an area as thickly populated.

She predicted it would be a very frightening time, with 24 hours of terrifying winds, torrential rains, and the likely loss of electricity and mobile phones.

Meteorologists upgraded Cyclone Yasi to a category five storm. With winds of almost 300km/h (186mph), they are warning it poses an extremely serious threat to life and property, especially around the cities of Cairns and Townsville.

Other residents of Tully described tree tops being shredded by winds that roared like jet engines, and water being forced under doors by the pressure.

The nearby communities of Mission Beach and Innisfail are also believed to be badly affected.

Officials say the full extent of the damage will not be known until daybreak.

More than 10,000 people are in evacuation centres, which became so overcrowded that people were turned away.

Yasi was classed as a category five cyclone as it crossed the coast - the highest grade in the scale used to measure such storms. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology later downgraded the storm to category four and then to category three, but still classified it as dangerous.

State Premier Anna Bligh described the weather system as the "most catastrophic storm ever seen" in the state.

She warned that it could cause a tidal surge as high as 9m (nearly 30ft) in some places, overwhelming low-lying coastal areas.

"It will take all of us and all of our strength to overcome this. The next 24 hours I think are going to be very, very tough ones for everybody," she told a news briefing.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the storm as a "cyclone of savagery and intensity".

The state disaster co-ordinator, Ian Stewart, warned residents they would be on their own during the coming hours as it was too dangerous to send out emergency workers.

Many fear that Yasi could be worse than Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin on Christmas Eve in 1974 and killed 71 people. That was a category four storm.

The cyclone follows the worst floods in Queensland's history, triggered by tropical storms which have battered the region since the end of November.

'Life-threatening'
Cyclone Yasi made landfall between Innisfail and Cardwell at around midnight local time (1400 GMT Wednesday).

The eye of the storm was reported to be 35km (22 miles) in width, with a front stretching across 650km (400 miles).

Mr Stewart told Australian television that deaths were "very likely" and there would be "significant destruction of buildings".

A resident of Ravenshoe, west of Innisfail, who gave her name only as Glenda, says she is on an isolated property

My biggest worry is not allowing the children to sense my fear”

Tania Moevao
Cairns resident
Your stories: 'Dark clouds descend'
"We couldn't get any tape for our windows so we tried to use wide sticky tape but it's peeling off... we are very scared. One side of our whole house is just glass," she told ABC News.

"We are actually camping under a desk that is bolted to concrete walls on two sides."

Those remaining in their homes were told to tape up windows, fill sandbags and prepare a "safe room" with mattresses, pillows, a radio, food and water supplies to wait out the cyclone.

They were also encouraged to fill bathtubs with water for drinking supplies.

'Bunkering down'

Cairns resident Philip Baker told the BBC it seemed "a safer bet" to stay in his home rather than flee or head to an overcrowded evacuation centre with his wife and young daughter.

Analysis

Holly Green
BBC Weather
There are lots of ingredients needed to develop a tropical storm including heat, moisture and falling surface pressure. All these factors have come together this time to create a powerful storm.

Yasi developed into a severe tropical cyclone as it tracked across the Coral Sea and large amounts of very warm, moist air were drawn into the system, giving it a great deal of energy.

There have been seven tropical cyclones in the vicinity of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in the past three weeks. This is unusual and possibly linked with the strong La Nina weather pattern.

BBC Weather: Interactive map
"We're as prepared as we can be. There is little left to do but wait.

"The authorities have been wonderful, supplying us with updates and the latest information via text. We've been told that we might lose power and the phone lines in the next few hours.

"The windows have been taped and if the situation rapidly deteriorates we plan to bunker down in a windowless room when the storm hits - there's just enough room to fit a single blow-up mattress on the floor. We're reasonably high up, so hopefully should be okay."

More than 400,000 people live in the cyclone's path. The area, which includes the Great Barrier Reef, is also popular with tourists.

Cairns airport closed on Wednesday. Rail lines, mines and coal ports have also shut down.

Acknowledgements: Sydney Morning Herald; BBC News

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

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Sunday, January 30, 2011

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New Zealand will not be admitting banned undesirables into the country during the Rugby World Cup...

Media claims that New Zealand could be forced to admit undesirables into the country during the Rugby World Cup have been denied by the Government.

It was claimed that the New Zealand Government could be forced to admit Fijian coup leader and dictator, Frank Bainimarama, into New Zealand during the RWC tournament because he will be a VIP have been denied. Bainimarama is blacklisted and will not be admitted into New Zealand under any circumstances, RWC Minister, Murray McCully stated.

It was also claimed that his brother-in-law, Francis Keane could also enter New Zealand as a VIP, once he stages his own little coup and takes over the Fijian Rugby Union as its Chairman.

Francis Keane is a convicted killer - he was convicted of manslaughter after fatally punching a man at Bainimarama's daughter's wedding.. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but served only three months on full pay before being released and promoted to head the Fijian Navy. What sort of navy the Fijians have is another matter and won't be discussed here today.

The media have claimed both men could be hosted by New Zealand during the Rugby World Cup at a cost of $45,000 each - under the rules of the IRB hosting nations pay for two officials from each participating nation.

However the news today claimed IRB officials are on the way to meet with Fijian leaders concerning the RWC.

There is more to write about this subject in coming days. I will post an update in due course.

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk

Friday, February 04, 2011

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Thursday, February 03, 2011

Ronald Brown. Photo / Supplied

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Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Sunday, January 30, 2011

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