Helena Norberg-Hodge: Localization: Development without destruction and The Economics of Happiness, interviewed by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
January 30, 2011

(SOAPBOX #85) – Cindy welcomes Helena Norberg-Hodge, an analyst of the impact of the global economy on cultures and agriculture worldwide and a pioneer of the localization movement.  The destructive impact of globalization on our children is no less destructive than its historical impact on the Ladakh, an isolated Himalayan culture described in countercurrents.org here. Over the past three decades, Ms. Norberg-Hodge has studied this process in numerous cultures around the world and discovered that we are all victims of these same psychological pressures.

Is The World Ignoring A Massacre of Uighurs In China? by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
14 July 2009

I have just received disturbing information from several Uighur correspondents in the United States, regarding the “riots” that began just nine days ago in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China.

When the unrest began, the world’s media suddenly discovered the story of the Uighurs, who describe their situation as akin to that of the Tibetans, but without the popular support. Once known as East Turkestan, the Uighurs’ long-contested homeland was conquered by the People’s Liberation Army in 1949, and anyone even remotely familiar with recent Uighur history will be aware that, in the 1960s, Mao Zedong encouraged Han Chinese to settle in the area in large numbers, and that the Uighurs — some of whom came to the attention of the West when 22 refugees were sold to US forces and imprisoned in Guantánamo — maintain that, as a result, they are marginalized and persecuted in their own country.

Prospects in the Middle East + UK recognises China’s direct rule over Tibet

compiled by Cem Ertür
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
6 November 2008

1) Prospects in the Middle East

2) UK recognises China’s direct rule over Tibet

***

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/latest-news/?view=Speech&id=8620160

excerpt from ‘Prospects in the Middle East‘

Speech by UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband

Annual Lunch of Labour Friends of Israel, Whitehall, London, 4 November 2008

[W]hat we have not had before is an Iranian nuclear programme that poses a threat not just to Israel but to the stability of the entire Middle East. And that makes the case for a comprehensive approach that much more urgent. We must ensure that the unfinished business of Israel’s relationship with the Arab world is not a barrier to dealing properly with the Iranian nuclear issue.

We have made Iran serious offers of engagement, reintegration, and support with civilian nuclear capacity, if they halt their enrichment-related activities as required by five UN Security Council Resolutions. Tehran should be in no doubt that unless they stop enriching uranium we will continue to step-up the pressure. In this, we need to work closely with Israel, and we will, not least through the Strategic Dialogue established between our two countries. But we also need to work with Iran’s Arab neighbours. The rhetoric of President Ahmedinejad is directed against Israel. The support for Hamas and Hizbollah is directed against Israel. But there is a growing awareness that Iran’s nuclear programme poses a threat to regional stability and therefore to all countries in the region.

I don’t underestimate the scale of the challenge or the size of the task. As Prime Minister Olmert said recently this opportunity “is limited in time – a time so short as to cause terrible distress”. But the scale of the challenge is what makes our engagement – all of our engagement, in Government, in Parliament, in business, in civil society, in strong and proud organisations like LFI [Labour Friends of Israel] – all the more necessary.

***

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/3385803/UK-recognises-Chinas-direct-rule-over-Tibet.html

excerpts from ‘UK recognises China’s direct rule over Tibet’

by Richard Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 5 November 2008

A historic change of position to recognise Chinese sovereignty [over Tibet] was announced in a little-noticed parliamentary statement by the Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

…

Critics are already asking what Beijing offered – or was asked for – in return.

—–

* editorial note:  Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s statement to Parliament

Brian Conley and other American activists Detained in Beijing

Dandelion Salad

Updated: For more info and updates, please visit: http://freetibet2008.org

Sent to me by UJ.

by UJ
http://readoralive.com
20 August 2008

From FreeTibet2008.org

Beijing – Brian Conley, creator of the well-known videoblog, Alive in Baghdad, was detained with his friend, Jeffrey Rae, early Tuesday, August 19th in Beijing. Their detention appears to have taken place at the same time as that of international artist James Powderly, whose detention was reported Tuesday. Three other bloggers and activists, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, and Tom Grant, have also been missing since Tuesday morning. Conley, 28, Rae, 28, Goldin, 40, Liss, 35, Grant, 39 are all American citizens.

So first off, let me just point out how absolutely pathetic it is that, as I’m sitting down to write on this terrible no-name unpopular zit of a blog, the big time zillion dollar mainstream media CNN is showing Larry King reruns and not bothering at all to cut away to the story of 5 American citizens being arrested by a foreign government. Now, I know Brian Conley. We’re not buddies, we don’t send each other christmas cards or nothin,’ but I have talked to him enough to know the he understands and cares way more about this stuff than any of the blowdried corporate chuckleheads the big networks have covering Beijing. The fact that my unheard of ass has to blog about this while CNN sits back and runs repeats is absolutely outrageous and a complete and utter disgrace. These cheesy dipshit network goons in Beijing are all drooling and prawning around for the next chance to give Michael Phelps a handjob on live television while the real journalists who came to cover actual important stories are left to rot in a Chinese jail. I could puke.

[…]

http://aliveinbaghdad.org/donate/

If you go that link above to the support page, you’ll also notice that you can pick up a copy of the Alive in Baghdad DVD and also some t-shirts and assorted swag and stuff. In fact, if you haven’t been watching AiB, now would be a great time to pick up a copy of the vol. 1 DVD. Iraq will be a major issue in this year’s election, and Alive in Baghdad will teach you everything you need to know about life in Iraq. Grab one for yourself, for somebody else, whatever you want. Besides that, just give whatever you can. It is absolutely critical that we support independent journalists like Brian Conley. If he doesn’t have the funds to keep bringing you the truth about Iraq, China and so many other places, these stories will not get covered, period. Please, give whatever you can so that when Brian gets back he’ll know that even though the Chinese government doesn’t like citizen journalists, the rest of us are hungry for more.

Free Brian Conley Right Now | Read or Alive.

see

Alive in Baghdad: Iraqis Discuss the Resistance (video)

Alive in Baghdad: Welcome to Ruweishid – Iraq (video)

Alive in Baghdad: Life as a Painter and Mother (video)

Alive in Baghdad: Uncut – An Iraqi Woman and Her Library (video)

Chewing the Buddha by Greg Palast

Dandelion Salad

By Greg Palast

For Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

18 August 2008

Lhasa, Tibet – China’s secret police are just terrible at keeping themselves secret.

The detective, dressed in her business suit and pumps appropriate to urban Lhasa, did not expect to be trailing my wife and me up the steep hillside to a monastery 15,000 feet up an ice-crusted ridge. Even at 200 yards behind us, I could see her shivering in the thin, frozen air, trying, absurdly, to look like just another hiker on the barren slope.

But then, she really wasn’t trying to hide. Her presence was meant to send a message of fear and intimidation.

I got the point earlier when a photographer we’d helped sneak into Tibet was arrested, her film of protesting Tibetans seized and her camera smashed as she was hustled onto the first plane leaving the country.

When my police shadow looked away, I snapped a photo of the long boxes below me, roofs of the prison complex. It housed more Buddhist monks than any monastery.

Greg Palast » Chewing the Buddha.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Tibet Marchers Arrested by Police

Dandelion Salad

marchtotibet

265 Tibetans get arrested by Indian police while they were walking toward Tibet. The marchers are 180 kilometers away from Tibet when the arrest happened in Berinag in Uttarkhand, India. Please visit http://www.tibetanuprising.org for more information.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

“Tibet Marchers Arrested by Police“, posted with vodpod

Will the Olympic Torch Pass Through Iraq? Pass the Hypocrites Bean Dip

by Paul Donovan
featured writer
Dandelion Salad

May 8, 2008

The Olympic torch has been steadily making its way across the globe, lighting up news headlines, and surprisingly enough transcending embargoes into North Korea to reach it’s final destination in the evilest nation on earth – Communist China…which yes, has been nearly a complete Capitalist enterprise since the death of Chairman Mao Tse Tung in 1976.

Evading spies in Tibet + Secret report from the roof of the world

Dandelion Salad

Jezza Neumann on undercover reporting: ‘It’s hard to explain that fear in your gut’

Evading spies in Tibet was harrowing for the journalist Jezza Neumann, but just a fraction of what locals suffer

Dispatches: Undercover in Tibet (video)

Dandelion Salad

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Channel 4 British television station
48 min 26 sec – Apr 4, 2008

Associazione ASIA

Risky Geopolitical Game: Washington Plays ‘Tibet Roulette’ with China (article removed)

Dandelion Salad

Updated: May 12, 2008

From tsitsimom:

Please note that Engdahl has retracted his article on Tibet because he put forth incorrect and inaccurate statements in it.

So, I have removed this entire article as well. I’ll leave the post up for its’ commentary below. ~ Lo

Dennis Kucinich: Tibet & China + 500 Tibetans protest in front of White House

Dandelion Salad

mayyoubekind

US Congressman Dennis Kucinich Condemns China on human rights.

Support free Tibet.

US Calls Dalai Lama a Man of Peace.

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

.

***

500 Tibetans protest in front of White House

by Yoshinari Kurose

The Daily Yomiuri
April 2, 2008

WASHINGTON–About 500 Tibetans gathered in front of the White House on Monday to protest the decision of U.S. President George W. Bush to attend the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics.

It was the first such gathering of Tibetans in Washington since the riots in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on March 14, and the subsequent violent crackdown by the Chinese government.

In addition to Tibetans living on the East Coast and in the southern parts of the United States, those at the meeting included Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, a U.S. lawmaker known as a human rights advocate, and several other members of Congress.

Kucinich called on Bush to reconsider his decision to attend the ceremony, saying Bush should wake up and protest against China, and that instead of going to Beijing, he would be better off going to Lhasa.

The protesters, demanding peace for Tibet, then marched to the Chinese Embassy, several kilometers northwest of the White House.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Kucinich-Dennis

Merkel says she will not attend opening of Beijing Olympics

Dandelion Salad

Ian Traynor in Brussels and Jonathan Watts in Beijing
The Guardian
Saturday March 29 2008

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, yesterday became the first world leader to decide not to attend the Olympics in Beijing.

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.”

…continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Propaganda – Tibet – Democracy or Economy? by William Blum

Fresh Tibet protests reported as diplomats visit

Tibet

Fresh Tibet protests reported as diplomats visit

Dandelion Salad

AFP
29/03/2008 20h57

DHARAMSHALA (AFP) – Tibet’s government-in-exile reported fresh mass protests in Lhasa on Saturday as foreign diplomats visited the tense city following recent deadly unrest over Chinese rule.

As EU foreign ministers called for an end to violence, the exiled Tibet body said “thousands” had joined demonstrations in Lhasa, although a spokesman stressed details were hard to confirm.

“Around 2:00 pm (0600 GMT) local time in the afternoon, Tibetans gathered for a protest in front of Ramoche Monastery,” said a statement posted on the exile government’s website.

“Also, nearby, in front of Tsuglag-khang (Jokhang) temple and Beijing East road, protests were started, and thousands joined in the protests within no time.”

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who earlier urged the world community to help end the turmoil, said he was following developments.

“I heard people of Lhasa came out in protest again today,” he said after returning to his base here.

…continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Propaganda – Tibet – Democracy or Economy? by William Blum

by William Blum
Featured Writer, Dandelion Salad
March 29, 2008

The Anti-Empire Report

Read this or George W. Bush will be president the rest of your life

Propaganda as an Olympic competition

The latest protests in Tibet and crackdown by Chinese authorities have brought up the usual sermonizing in the West about Chinese government oppression and illegitimate control of the Tibetans. Although I have little love for the Chinese leaders — I think they run a cruel system — some proper historical perspective is called for here.

The Tibet Card by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

Dandelion Salad

by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Global Research, March 27, 2008
middle-east-online.com

It seems that the US government excels at propaganda for it continues to win over the very people it has betrayed and caused to be killed; buying their trust, it offers a friendship that is only self-serving. Oblivious to the past havoc wreaked by the CIA in Tibet, the innocent gather around the storm, stare into the eye, ready to be sucked into it, says Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich.