It appears at this time that the Spanish Court is going to retire from its pursuit of indictments against the Bush Six as a result of the Obama Administration’s tentative steps towards clearing the way for a congressional investigation. So much for knight errantry. It is lamentable that Spain is dismounting and leaving this investigation up to the United States because American political soft-pedaling is bound to taint the affair, and there is the great likelihood that it will not deliver a decisive verdict containing substantial punishments for all of those responsible. The results of an American investigation are highly predictable: a lengthy period of congressional hearings culminating in a massive report that will find the Department of Justice heads who authorized the torture culpable, based on already damning evidence. In the course of the investigation it will also uncover evidence clearly implicating Bush and Cheney, but will stop quite short of delivering a sentence of any magnitude upon the latter for breaking international treaty law. That Bush and Cheney will receive their walking papers in the form of a symbolic condemnation and exit history with merely poor citizenship grades on their report card is a foregone conclusion. The Spanish court’s action would, undoubtedly, have had a great deal more bite.
However, it needs to be made very clear that it is not Spain’s responsibility to hold America’s leaders accountable either to their constitutional vows or America’s commitments to international treaties that it has ratified. That is something Americans need to perform for themselves, and at this point, is just a matter of time before they do. Nonetheless, something tells me that the results coming from a Spanish court would be a lot more satisfying than anything that an American commission will render. The Spanish court’s inevitable guilty verdicts would exact a severe penalty upon the defendants. At the very least, they would never be able to travel abroad - and that is not a small punishment. Further, they would suffer a great deal of international humiliation. The precedent would also energize the international community toward inhibiting future shady American foreign policy, a prospect that the neo-con American right would choke on. Given that all an American commission will conclude is that Bush and Cheney, et al., are guilty qua guilty, and that the verdict itself will be serving as the punishment renders the whole affair virtually pointless. Yet, now that Spain has spurred the Obama Administration to take an action that it clearly would prefer not to have to perform, I’m afraid that this is the best that we can look forward to.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
A hot air ballon: China's National Human Rghts Action Plan
On Monday the Chinese State Council, chaired by Premier Wen Jibao, released what it termed "a human rights action plan". The lengthy 27 page document, as posted on China Daily and reported in the NYT, was announced as the government's "first working plan on human rights protection". The document pledges, in less than two years, to correct just about every conceivable wrong in China.
The National Human Rights Action Plan, 2009-10 comes less than two months before the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen, and as I see it, that's its sole raisson d'etre: to preemptively take the steam out of any disturbances that are bound to arise at that time. However, it's just an emergency valve that the Party has placed on the machine of the Party State for what's bound to be a hot summer in a few places in China, but it's a facade knob. It's something straight out of Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory. However, I give Wen Jibao and gang a hand for their hurry up attitude in drafting the Party's "first working plan on human rights protection". (That in itself reveals the sad condition of human rights in the PRC). And all of this accomplished in less than two years! Bravo! I'm rolling. Who do these clowns think they are fooling?
This rights paper is only the latest in a long series of white papers and policy pronouncements dating back to '49 that have all been intended to show that Party orficials take human rights seriously in China. However, it's the first "action plan". None of the previous ones were. Here is the list of all the wonderful things they say they are going to do for the nice, downtrodden people of China, finally. Read at your pleasure...
Introduction
I. Guarantee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1) Right to work
(2) Right to basic living conditions
(3) Right to social security
(4) Right to health
(5) Right to education
(6) Cultural rights
(7) Environmental rights
(8) Safeguarding farmers' rights and interests
(9) Guarantee of human rights in the reconstruction of areas hit by the devastating earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province
II. Guarantee of Civil and Political Rights
(1) Rights of the person
(2) Rights of detainees
(3) The right to a fair trial
(4) Freedom of religious belief
(5) The right to be informed
(6) The right to participate
(7) The right to be heard
(8) The right to oversee
III. Guarantee of the Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, Elderly People and the Disabled
(1) The rights of ethnic minorities
(2) Women's rights
(3) Children's rights
(4) Senior citizens' rights
(5) The rights of the disabled
IV. Education in Human Rights
V. Performing International Human Rights Duties, and Conducting Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of International Human Rights
(1) Fulfillment of international human rights obligations
(2) Exchanges and cooperation in the field of international human rights
Whew! Got all that? The Ant has heard that they were going to add a 28th page to the document, but they decided that they didn't want to waste any more paper. One wonders what the point is of all of the above if, as legal experts say, the civil liberties mentioned in the action plan are already guaranteed by Chinese laws or the Constitution? However, international human rights advocates, trying to look on the bright side, say that "it focuses on trying to advance respect for human rights within the existing bureaucracies and that the release of the action plan could help abused citizens by providing clearer guidance to local and provincial governments of the long-term direction of national policy". (One suspects that they intend to bring in the foreign experts of Stuart Smalley Seminars, Inc. to provide them with the "sensitivity training" to enable all of this). Further, "they cautioned that any implementation would require many years of work by local, provincial and national government agencies, many of which have shown little interest in initiatives that may limit their power." I guess that rules out getting all of this done in less than two years. Bummer...
As the NYT writer stated, this is "a lengthy document promising to improve the protection of civil liberties, which are often neglected and sometimes systematically violated in China". The abysmal history of civil rights in "modern China" (there's nothing really modern about China in terms of its internal dynamics) is a long story about how Chinese citizens are systematically and routinely violated by the authorities, leaving citizens who find themselves jacked up by the Party without any practicable grounds for appeal through the Communist Party-controlled courts. Further, the document "does not propose any fundamental reforms of the country’s one-party system, such as making the courts independent of party control or allowing other parties or political groups to hold power. Nor does it propose phasing out the system of administrative detention, which gives broad powers to local law enforcement officials, including the ability to send people to prison camps for “re-education through labor” without a trial. There is also no promise to close the unregistered jails that municipal and provincial governments have set up in Beijing and elsewhere to detain petitioners who want to present their grievances". (NYT). Until the Chinese get a clearer sense of what habeas corpus means and put an end to local PSB officials acting like a regional militia in their own private fiefdom, not much is going to change in China. But that's why those things aren't slated in the document. There is no good faith here, nor could there ever be.
This whole document is a bogus hot air balloon. Simply reading the very first pledge of the document immediately reveals how massively suspect it is. "By the year 2010, the registered urban unemployment rate will be kept below 5 percent. In 2009 and 2010, an additional 18 million urban workers will be employed and 18 million rural laborers will move to cities or towns and find jobs there, and the state will take proactive and effective measures to offset the negative impacts of international financial crisis, and ensure the economic, social and cultural rights of all members of society." It doesn't take a genius to realize that this very specific promise, without question, depends more on the health of the global economy than on the efforts of the government by itself. It reads more like a sorcery than a practicable plan, from beginning to end. Again, I presume the aforementioned foreign experts intend to provide training in positive thinking technologies to assist the Chinese with making this probable delusion a reality. "China, just say, 'I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!' (and will buy the things I make that I can't afford to buy myself), and we'll all be a 'harmonious society!'". Dream on.
The official Xinhua news agency cleared its throat and in conclusion said, “The government admitted that ‘China has a long road ahead in its efforts to improve its human rights situation.’ ”
The National Human Rights Action Plan, 2009-10 comes less than two months before the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen, and as I see it, that's its sole raisson d'etre: to preemptively take the steam out of any disturbances that are bound to arise at that time. However, it's just an emergency valve that the Party has placed on the machine of the Party State for what's bound to be a hot summer in a few places in China, but it's a facade knob. It's something straight out of Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory. However, I give Wen Jibao and gang a hand for their hurry up attitude in drafting the Party's "first working plan on human rights protection". (That in itself reveals the sad condition of human rights in the PRC). And all of this accomplished in less than two years! Bravo! I'm rolling. Who do these clowns think they are fooling?
This rights paper is only the latest in a long series of white papers and policy pronouncements dating back to '49 that have all been intended to show that Party orficials take human rights seriously in China. However, it's the first "action plan". None of the previous ones were. Here is the list of all the wonderful things they say they are going to do for the nice, downtrodden people of China, finally. Read at your pleasure...
Introduction
I. Guarantee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1) Right to work
(2) Right to basic living conditions
(3) Right to social security
(4) Right to health
(5) Right to education
(6) Cultural rights
(7) Environmental rights
(8) Safeguarding farmers' rights and interests
(9) Guarantee of human rights in the reconstruction of areas hit by the devastating earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province
II. Guarantee of Civil and Political Rights
(1) Rights of the person
(2) Rights of detainees
(3) The right to a fair trial
(4) Freedom of religious belief
(5) The right to be informed
(6) The right to participate
(7) The right to be heard
(8) The right to oversee
III. Guarantee of the Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, Elderly People and the Disabled
(1) The rights of ethnic minorities
(2) Women's rights
(3) Children's rights
(4) Senior citizens' rights
(5) The rights of the disabled
IV. Education in Human Rights
V. Performing International Human Rights Duties, and Conducting Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of International Human Rights
(1) Fulfillment of international human rights obligations
(2) Exchanges and cooperation in the field of international human rights
Whew! Got all that? The Ant has heard that they were going to add a 28th page to the document, but they decided that they didn't want to waste any more paper. One wonders what the point is of all of the above if, as legal experts say, the civil liberties mentioned in the action plan are already guaranteed by Chinese laws or the Constitution? However, international human rights advocates, trying to look on the bright side, say that "it focuses on trying to advance respect for human rights within the existing bureaucracies and that the release of the action plan could help abused citizens by providing clearer guidance to local and provincial governments of the long-term direction of national policy". (One suspects that they intend to bring in the foreign experts of Stuart Smalley Seminars, Inc. to provide them with the "sensitivity training" to enable all of this). Further, "they cautioned that any implementation would require many years of work by local, provincial and national government agencies, many of which have shown little interest in initiatives that may limit their power." I guess that rules out getting all of this done in less than two years. Bummer...
As the NYT writer stated, this is "a lengthy document promising to improve the protection of civil liberties, which are often neglected and sometimes systematically violated in China". The abysmal history of civil rights in "modern China" (there's nothing really modern about China in terms of its internal dynamics) is a long story about how Chinese citizens are systematically and routinely violated by the authorities, leaving citizens who find themselves jacked up by the Party without any practicable grounds for appeal through the Communist Party-controlled courts. Further, the document "does not propose any fundamental reforms of the country’s one-party system, such as making the courts independent of party control or allowing other parties or political groups to hold power. Nor does it propose phasing out the system of administrative detention, which gives broad powers to local law enforcement officials, including the ability to send people to prison camps for “re-education through labor” without a trial. There is also no promise to close the unregistered jails that municipal and provincial governments have set up in Beijing and elsewhere to detain petitioners who want to present their grievances". (NYT). Until the Chinese get a clearer sense of what habeas corpus means and put an end to local PSB officials acting like a regional militia in their own private fiefdom, not much is going to change in China. But that's why those things aren't slated in the document. There is no good faith here, nor could there ever be.
This whole document is a bogus hot air balloon. Simply reading the very first pledge of the document immediately reveals how massively suspect it is. "By the year 2010, the registered urban unemployment rate will be kept below 5 percent. In 2009 and 2010, an additional 18 million urban workers will be employed and 18 million rural laborers will move to cities or towns and find jobs there, and the state will take proactive and effective measures to offset the negative impacts of international financial crisis, and ensure the economic, social and cultural rights of all members of society." It doesn't take a genius to realize that this very specific promise, without question, depends more on the health of the global economy than on the efforts of the government by itself. It reads more like a sorcery than a practicable plan, from beginning to end. Again, I presume the aforementioned foreign experts intend to provide training in positive thinking technologies to assist the Chinese with making this probable delusion a reality. "China, just say, 'I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!' (and will buy the things I make that I can't afford to buy myself), and we'll all be a 'harmonious society!'". Dream on.
The official Xinhua news agency cleared its throat and in conclusion said, “The government admitted that ‘China has a long road ahead in its efforts to improve its human rights situation.’ ”
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Spanish Indictments of Bush Cabal : Ariba!
The Spanish Supreme Court appears imminently set to indict former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Federal Appeals Court Judge and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, former Defense Department general counsel William J. Haynes II, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff David Addington, and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith. All are accused of having sanctioned the torture and mistreatment of prisoners held in U.S. detention in “the war on terror.” The latest news is that indictments could be handed down in the next 24 hours. A brief but comprehensive account of the matter is reported here. Of particular interest is the background on the investigating judge and the status of recent U.S. and Spanish relations.
Once the Spanish central criminal court in Madrid, the Audencia Nacional, issues warrants for their arrests, Spain will be known in America for more than just its windmills. What is of great value to understand is that this is not a question of "if". Madrid is clearly set to do this, and once done, 24 countries in Europe are obligated to enforce them. Dinner, I mean justice, is just inches away from being served. I'd especially like to see Addington's arrogant head on a platter. In my mind, he is the evil genius behind much of what went on in Cheney's office. Gonzales, the porky little pig that he is, the one who uttered the phrase, "ehbedeeb, ehbedeeb, ehdeebeh, I don't remember" approximately once every five minutes (64 times in 3 hours) in one of his most important testimonies before congress, would look great with an apple in his mouth. The rest of them can be raped into sangria. Of course, this banquet won't be complete with out El Jefe Bush flambeed and served for desert, some sort of good ol' Texas strawberry shortcake with his kidneys in the place of berries would be good. And let's not forget his good amigo, Dick Cheney. (Cheney strikes me as an after dinner cigar one would like smoke slowly and savoringly). Once court proceedings are under way, the popular wave of support for indictment of Bush officials will inevitably lead to Bush himself. I'm salivating already.
Lest I appear a tad bit bloodthirsty, I only want to say that I am hungry for justice and redemption and have been since Bush won a rigged Presidential election in 2000. I was eager to see Bush and cabal impeached for constitutional crimes, and followed that movement closely for over 2 years. The aforementioned having fallen through, I am now eager to see them tried in an international court of law. Bush is a war criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives. He is responsible for the vast devastation of both the Iraqi and American societies in the name of a bogus war on terror. But this trial is potentially more than just about an international criminal verdict of the Bush administration. It is also places on high notice the entire American right wing that marched like good Germans in lock-step with him, either wittingly or unwittingly. And what has now become clear to almost everyone is a matter that I and my friends and family have known for years: the American right wing is comprised in its base of uneducated, rural rednecks who couldn't spell Afghanistan even if you spotted them all the vowels or Iraq if you left out the Q. It's surburban/urban support comes from meek, little technocrats who only want a nice, safe, hygenic and conservative world in which they can drive from a gated community to a glass tower everyday in order that they might be able to take a cruise ship every once in a while so they can think that they are alive. Their game is weak. Those in positions of power within the American right, the so-called "masters of the universe", have taken advantage of these poor, unwitting slobs for years. We've seen how they've run Wall St and the Fortune 500. It's time to end the Bush "legacy" and all those that have been complicit with it. Ariba!
Once the Spanish central criminal court in Madrid, the Audencia Nacional, issues warrants for their arrests, Spain will be known in America for more than just its windmills. What is of great value to understand is that this is not a question of "if". Madrid is clearly set to do this, and once done, 24 countries in Europe are obligated to enforce them. Dinner, I mean justice, is just inches away from being served. I'd especially like to see Addington's arrogant head on a platter. In my mind, he is the evil genius behind much of what went on in Cheney's office. Gonzales, the porky little pig that he is, the one who uttered the phrase, "ehbedeeb, ehbedeeb, ehdeebeh, I don't remember" approximately once every five minutes (64 times in 3 hours) in one of his most important testimonies before congress, would look great with an apple in his mouth. The rest of them can be raped into sangria. Of course, this banquet won't be complete with out El Jefe Bush flambeed and served for desert, some sort of good ol' Texas strawberry shortcake with his kidneys in the place of berries would be good. And let's not forget his good amigo, Dick Cheney. (Cheney strikes me as an after dinner cigar one would like smoke slowly and savoringly). Once court proceedings are under way, the popular wave of support for indictment of Bush officials will inevitably lead to Bush himself. I'm salivating already.
Lest I appear a tad bit bloodthirsty, I only want to say that I am hungry for justice and redemption and have been since Bush won a rigged Presidential election in 2000. I was eager to see Bush and cabal impeached for constitutional crimes, and followed that movement closely for over 2 years. The aforementioned having fallen through, I am now eager to see them tried in an international court of law. Bush is a war criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives. He is responsible for the vast devastation of both the Iraqi and American societies in the name of a bogus war on terror. But this trial is potentially more than just about an international criminal verdict of the Bush administration. It is also places on high notice the entire American right wing that marched like good Germans in lock-step with him, either wittingly or unwittingly. And what has now become clear to almost everyone is a matter that I and my friends and family have known for years: the American right wing is comprised in its base of uneducated, rural rednecks who couldn't spell Afghanistan even if you spotted them all the vowels or Iraq if you left out the Q. It's surburban/urban support comes from meek, little technocrats who only want a nice, safe, hygenic and conservative world in which they can drive from a gated community to a glass tower everyday in order that they might be able to take a cruise ship every once in a while so they can think that they are alive. Their game is weak. Those in positions of power within the American right, the so-called "masters of the universe", have taken advantage of these poor, unwitting slobs for years. We've seen how they've run Wall St and the Fortune 500. It's time to end the Bush "legacy" and all those that have been complicit with it. Ariba!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Enough is enough, PRC goons.
The New York times reported on the 7th of April that Sun Wenguang, a 75-year-old retired professor from the University of Shandong, while observing Qing Ming Jie (tomb sweeping day) on April 4th was attacked by a group of four to five men and beaten severely. This beating resulted in three broken ribs and injuries to his spine, head, back, arms and legs. He is now in a Jinan hospital, the capitol of Shandong province.
What brought about this sudden ill fate, you ask? Are there roaming bands of brigands in China's cemeteries? No, there aren't. But there are plain-clothes cops who will pound on you if you chose the wrong tomb to sweep. Sun came to remember Zhao Ziyang, a former prime minister and Communist Party general secretary who lost his party position and his freedom after sympathizing with student-led, pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Mr. Zhao, who died in 2005, is a martyr to some democracy advocates.
The attack on Prof. Sun was part of a concerted effort by the Chinese government to head off any efforts to memorialize the deaths of hundreds of Tiananmen Square protesters on June 4, the 20th anniversary of the government’s crackdown. China Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong-based group that has publicized this matter stated, “Chinese authorities are staging a campaign of terror to intimidate and suppress expressions of commemoration for the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.” The attack on Mr. Sun “is part of the overall campaign,” it said. Public security officials in Jinan referred calls about the attack to the propaganda office of the city’s Communist Party. No one answered phone calls to that office on Tuesday night, the NYT reported. (How curious).
The article goes on to say, "Mr. Sun said he had previously visited the cemetery on Qingming Day to honor Mr. Zhao’s death without serious incident. But this year, he said, he announced his forthcoming visit on the Internet. As he left the teacher’s dormitory at Shandong University, a public security officer and about 20(!) plainclothes officers tried to stop him. Quoting the former professor from a telephone interview from his hospital bed, “they said, ‘don’t go there today. So many people are going there. It is dangerous". When he got into a taxi, a car followed him. He said he had started down a cemetery path, carrying a banner that read “Condolences for the heroes who died for freedom,” when four or five men jumped him from behind, threw him into a ditch and beat him for more than 10 minutes. "It is important for China to restore the memory of its history. Zhao Ziyang is such an important person in Chinese history, and students today have no idea who he is. That is outrageous.”
Uh, that would be an understatement. To put in perspective Zhao's fall from grace one needs to understand that the General Secretary is the highest ranking official of the party and heads the Politburo Standing Committee. The General Secretary is usually the Paramount leader in China. Previous party worthies who have held this post, and whose names are better known than Zhou's, would be Deng Xioping, Jiang Zemin, and its current holder, Hu Jintao. Zhao's purgation was a watershed event in China. Since being removed from that post after having sided with the students and the intellectuals for the enactment of democratic reforms, his name has all but been erased from the history books in today's China. There has been no further nonsense talk amongst high rankers that economic progress is inextricably linked to democratization since his purge.
In the four days he has been in the hospital, the police have not shown up to investigate. (That's curious, too). Prof. Sun said, “I still feel very weak. And I think probably my days are numbered. But I don’t feel regret. I am 75 years old and I would be very happy to sacrifice my life for my ideals." Mr. Sun has a long history of activism. He was imprisoned for seven years in the 1970s for criticizing Mao and his successor, Hua Guofeng, and was among the first to sign Charter 08, a manifesto issued in December that calls for democratic reforms. Still, he said: “I didn’t expect this. I was not trying to organize any group of people. It was just a personal visit to a cemetery. In order to fight for democracy, we need to make personal efforts.”
The writer of this blog has to admit that in the course of the last 6 months that he has been stupefied by the events that have unfolded. The sheer volume of information and opinions regarding our current straits has left The Ant panting inside a tiny little air bubble, trying to intellectually dig out of this collapse, not to mention financially, and find some light. No doubt, this is the case for many at this time. However, for this type of villainy that just occurred in Shandong, I don't need a PhD in Economics in order to understand. This blog has existed from its beginning to speak up about this manner of thing in China. Beating a 75-year-old man in a cemetery for carrying out a religious observance is just pathetic and cowardly. Once again, PRC, you don't fail to arouse disgust with your gross human rights abuse.
What brought about this sudden ill fate, you ask? Are there roaming bands of brigands in China's cemeteries? No, there aren't. But there are plain-clothes cops who will pound on you if you chose the wrong tomb to sweep. Sun came to remember Zhao Ziyang, a former prime minister and Communist Party general secretary who lost his party position and his freedom after sympathizing with student-led, pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Mr. Zhao, who died in 2005, is a martyr to some democracy advocates.
The attack on Prof. Sun was part of a concerted effort by the Chinese government to head off any efforts to memorialize the deaths of hundreds of Tiananmen Square protesters on June 4, the 20th anniversary of the government’s crackdown. China Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong-based group that has publicized this matter stated, “Chinese authorities are staging a campaign of terror to intimidate and suppress expressions of commemoration for the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.” The attack on Mr. Sun “is part of the overall campaign,” it said. Public security officials in Jinan referred calls about the attack to the propaganda office of the city’s Communist Party. No one answered phone calls to that office on Tuesday night, the NYT reported. (How curious).
The article goes on to say, "Mr. Sun said he had previously visited the cemetery on Qingming Day to honor Mr. Zhao’s death without serious incident. But this year, he said, he announced his forthcoming visit on the Internet. As he left the teacher’s dormitory at Shandong University, a public security officer and about 20(!) plainclothes officers tried to stop him. Quoting the former professor from a telephone interview from his hospital bed, “they said, ‘don’t go there today. So many people are going there. It is dangerous". When he got into a taxi, a car followed him. He said he had started down a cemetery path, carrying a banner that read “Condolences for the heroes who died for freedom,” when four or five men jumped him from behind, threw him into a ditch and beat him for more than 10 minutes. "It is important for China to restore the memory of its history. Zhao Ziyang is such an important person in Chinese history, and students today have no idea who he is. That is outrageous.”
Uh, that would be an understatement. To put in perspective Zhao's fall from grace one needs to understand that the General Secretary is the highest ranking official of the party and heads the Politburo Standing Committee. The General Secretary is usually the Paramount leader in China. Previous party worthies who have held this post, and whose names are better known than Zhou's, would be Deng Xioping, Jiang Zemin, and its current holder, Hu Jintao. Zhao's purgation was a watershed event in China. Since being removed from that post after having sided with the students and the intellectuals for the enactment of democratic reforms, his name has all but been erased from the history books in today's China. There has been no further nonsense talk amongst high rankers that economic progress is inextricably linked to democratization since his purge.
In the four days he has been in the hospital, the police have not shown up to investigate. (That's curious, too). Prof. Sun said, “I still feel very weak. And I think probably my days are numbered. But I don’t feel regret. I am 75 years old and I would be very happy to sacrifice my life for my ideals." Mr. Sun has a long history of activism. He was imprisoned for seven years in the 1970s for criticizing Mao and his successor, Hua Guofeng, and was among the first to sign Charter 08, a manifesto issued in December that calls for democratic reforms. Still, he said: “I didn’t expect this. I was not trying to organize any group of people. It was just a personal visit to a cemetery. In order to fight for democracy, we need to make personal efforts.”
The writer of this blog has to admit that in the course of the last 6 months that he has been stupefied by the events that have unfolded. The sheer volume of information and opinions regarding our current straits has left The Ant panting inside a tiny little air bubble, trying to intellectually dig out of this collapse, not to mention financially, and find some light. No doubt, this is the case for many at this time. However, for this type of villainy that just occurred in Shandong, I don't need a PhD in Economics in order to understand. This blog has existed from its beginning to speak up about this manner of thing in China. Beating a 75-year-old man in a cemetery for carrying out a religious observance is just pathetic and cowardly. Once again, PRC, you don't fail to arouse disgust with your gross human rights abuse.
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