Disaster and unity

There have been many destructive earthquakes this year. It seems the movie "2012" is going to realize, which is clearly not a good news for people who don't have a billion euros. Also, considering the fact that those arks are being built in Tibet, I hope they are not affected by this earthquake.

National disasters are also tragic. People lose their lives. Survivors lose their home. But it is also a time to unite people. Just like Poland after the air crash, that country was united for a while. In China, there has also been sign of improvement.

For Han Chinese, most of them saw it on the TV that how bad the living conditions the Tibetans have, and how wrong the propaganda has been. This can change their previous perception that Tibetans are simply not thankful for the Chinese who help them raise their life quality.

For Tibetans, the rapid and timely rescue efforts really saved a lot of lives and many are, indeed, thankful to the government, even in front of the international media, without any sign of being forced to do so. For people around the world, they also see for the first time that there is cooperation and gratitude between Han Chinese and Tibetans sometimes.

True, this doesn't tell us a lot. This is just what government has to do. But I hope the bad things can help people to bridge their difference and live together peacefully. That depends on what people do after the disasters. If they do it like what Poles do to put the President's grave in the controversial cathedral, the natural disasters will turn into human disasters and people will turn from sadness to anger. If they do it like what Indonesians did in Aceh, they can help us find a solution which is beneficial for everybody.

How to prevent coups?

A coup took place a poverty-stricken African country again. This time it was in Niger. The reason, of course, was to restore democracy. But unlike most others, its cause was somewhat justified. While being criticized by most international organizations and governments, the spokesperson of U.S. State Department murmured, blaming it on the dictator’s attempt to prolong his rule.

Coupled with the coup in Honduras last year, this brings us a serious question. What is our attitude to the good coups – those against bad or brutal leaders?

Everybody agrees that coup is a bad thing, but when there is no democracy and rule of law in those countries in the first place, is it really that bad if it can help restore the democracy?

Of course, say the dictators around the world, holding the international law in their hands. With this, it seems that only atrocities committed by the incumbents will be tolerated and ignored.

But if you want to prevent the coups, you should do something to ensure there is no popular support for them. Can we do something? The international law is blocking our way, claiming that those are internal affairs.

That really sounds familiar. Allowing husbands to rape and torture their wives, but stoning the wives who resist. We all know this kind of problem can only be solved by laws which can be enforced, but why can’t we do anything in the international stage?

The only reason is that, the world is still ruled by abusive husbands and men who might be nice to their wives, but they are doing business and even owing money to those abusive husbands. This certainly sounds miserable, but I’m sorry that it’s real.

Use Internet to bring democracy to China and Iran? Not Yet!

It seems that the Iranian regime has indeed started blocking the access to Gmail on the eve of the Islamic Revolution’s anniversary, the most important day in Iran’s political calendar. Twitter and other social networking sites are still accessible right now, but they are equally fragile as Gmail. This only strengthens my belief that internet’s influence on democratization is minimal in the most oppressive countries.

Advocates believe that because the use of internet is assumedly anonymous and ubiquitous, it can spread information more freely and safely, which enables people to reveal the misconducts of the governments and increase the influence of opposition forces, domestic and foreign. They also start to emphasize its ability to help organize massive protests after the prominent Green Movement in Iran.

True, the internet is playing a positive role in some countries. For example in Ukraine, its role in uncovering the frauds during the 2004 election was significant, if not indispensable, to the final success of the color revolution. But it has only achieved modest successes in countries where the government is far from omnipotent. Strong opposition movements already existed and the ruling regime didn’t have the total control over all the government resources.

Some people also regard the Green Movement in Iran and the Saffron Revolution in Myanmar as examples of successful influence of internet. But the failure to shake the regimes and the result of more restrictive internet access can hardly second their points.

Can the internet alone achieve, or even stimulate the democratization process in the most oppressive countries? The answer is no.

Firstly, the chaotic opposition voices cannot match the well-organized response from the most oppressive governments. The advantage of the internet is that it bestows chances to everybody to make their voice heard, but that is also its disadvantage, in that there are simply too many of them. In the most oppressive countries, there are generally lacks of strong opposition core. Thousands of anonymous dissidents can send their anti-government messages out, but this only puzzles the people more, who wonder which one to listen to. On the contrary, the government has the benefit of staying in the open. Its supporters know who their leader is (Chinese Communist Party in China), where to listen to their direction (People’s Daily), and moreover, money-coveting people can be legally employed to flood the internet with pro-government statements (50-cent party).

Secondly, the most oppressive governments have total control over the internet access. However mobile and anonymous the internet service is, it still heavily relies on resources provided and controlled by the governments, no matter whether it is through the land line, wireless or even the 3G service. Radio and TV signals can be sent from abroad, which means to block them requires the installation of intercepting and disrupting facilities. In the case of Internet, it is no harder. The experts deployed by the government have learned to establish a system to filter and restrict what the people can see. Even when there is a unified powerful opposition movement, the government has always had the “North Korea solution” – the option to shut down the internet in its entirety.

Thirdly, the most oppressive governments have the determination to do whatever necessary to maintain their power. For leaders in the democracies, losing power just means 5 years in the opposition benches. For leaders in weak autocracies, losing power probably means personal notoriety and the end of their political careers. But for leaders in the most oppressive regime, losing power can mean criminal prosecution and retribution, which means they will fall from controlling everything to even not controlling over their own lives (example of Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania). Thus, they will undoubtedly do whatever possible to keep them in power. Shutting down the internet must be one of first steps, however high the cost it would be.

But how can we explain internet’s seemingly growing influence in Iran? The answer is not complicated. The internet is new to everyone, and the role of the social networking sites was especially unprecedented. The Iranian regime was also in the learning process. Their recent actions actually show that they are getting more and more confident.

But does it mean we should simply give up? No. Just as the VOA didn’t stop broadcasting even though its signals were blocked, the efforts to using internet to stimulate the democratization in the most oppressive countries shouldn’t stop. It may make little difference today, but we will certainly be ready when there are internal changes in those countries in the future. At the same time, we should also remember that placing too much hope on it will only bring about disappointments and unnecessary loss.

Pictures of Legislatures around the world. You will know what HARMONY means.

Turkey

Mexico

South Korea

Ukraine

Russia

Italy

Taiwan

India

Japan

 

OK, let me show you the congress in the harmonious society: China.

 

Link: http://www.chinaelections.org/newsinfo.asp?newsid=169282

To play in the Football World Cup, study the Koran!

Egyptian national team won the African Nations’ Cup held in Angola. The coach Hassan Shehata, who is a national hero right now, claimed when he was selecting players, religious piety and skill were equally important. (Google News)

Let alone the fact that more than 10% of the population are Christians, not all Muslims in politically secular Egypt would be pious enough for Coach Shehata’s standard. This reminds me the eccentric coach of French national team Raymond Domenech, who uses his astrological knowledge to determine who should be in his squad.

I’m not that sure that this championship is a reward from Allah. As a proof, his devotion didn’t bring his team to the World Cup final in South Africa, which is more important for Egyptian team, who hasn’t qualified since 1990. Instead, Egypt lost to their sworn archrival, the Algerian team. Probably he should make sure all of his players fulfill their salah requirements.

Revolutionary Textbook and Maths Exam

Cultural Revolution was a part of history my government wants us to forget. And most of my peers don’t know much about it. Even my parents are reluctant to tell me too much. Like those 20-year-old Americans who are coveting the magical drink, I am intrigued in this part of history.

At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Mao asked the students to quit classes and launch revolution against their teachers and principals. This lasted almost a year and its devastating effect on the whole nation is unimaginable.

Later, realizing this could not continue forever, Mao said students should return to classroom to continue the revolution. But their textbooks are still heavily influenced by the personality cult of Mao.

Recently I found an interesting excerpt of the Chinese textbook:

Chinese Textbook for 5th Grade, 1970 Fall:

1. Four Poems of Chairman Mao

2. Foreword for “Quotation of Chairman Mao” -- Vice Chairman Lin

3. Telegram to Chairman Mao from the Celebration of the Establishment of Hebei Provincial Revolutionary Committee

4. There is a a red sun never set in our hearts forever.

5. Long long live to Chairman Mao.

6. People in the world admire Chairman Mao.

7. Soviet People Wish Chairman Mao Live Forever.

8. I love New China, I love Mao Zedong!

Wow, this textbook is awesome. But I doubt they can learn a lot of characters in that. But as you know, you don’t have to know a lot of words to live in Oceania because the fictional totalitarian government designed by George Orwell want to destroy all words which can help people think of their government in a bad way. Yeah, the best way to prevent protest is to delete the word protest from the dictionary.

Here is an exam of maths:

1. “We do have sincere friends from places afar. Deep ocean will never do us part.” China and Albania are thousands of kilometers away, but our hearts are altogether. The distance from Beijing to Tirana is 7805 kilometers, but on a world map, the distance is 22.3 centimeters. Please calculate the scale of this map.

2. Mao Zedong Thought is the talisman of the revolution. Two young Argentineans came to their dreamland, Beijing, against all odds. On a map with a scale of 1:50000000, the distance between the capital of Argentina and Beijing is 36.7 centimeters. What is the actual distance between the two cities?

3. In the Proletariat Cultural Revolution, Red Guards learn from the Red Army veterans. They walked from Jinggangshan to Zunyi, then from Zunyi to Yan’an. Calculate the actual distance between those distances.

I'm back

Actually I was back more than a week ago, from the reclusive (in terms of internet) country on the other side of the Bamboo Curtain.

This semester is even more challenging for me, but I'm sure I will survive. So will this blog.

I will try to update as often as possible, and at least every week. Hope you can visit here more often and leave your comments.

See you very soon.