Indelible human spirit

Went to the Closing Night of an art exhibition - Made in Palestine. Serveral times I was moved to the brink of tears only to be rescued by the strength and determination shown in some of the artworks. Two of them were particularly striking – one was an installation of chocolate silkscreen on glass, titled Blindfolded History by Rana Bishara. I was fixated on this installation, it was at once haunting and transient - snapshots of history and events frozen in time, suspended (literally, in midair) casting shadows reminiscing fragmented past and shattered lives but shadows etched into memory, leaving indelible bloodstained marks.

The second of my favorite is titled Jenin by Abdel Rahmen Al Muzayen; this is a series of prints that I went to for refuge when the emotion became too overwhelming. The medium is ink on paper; not the type of medium that I would usually notice, but the art itself is so embracing that one can’t help but be drawn to it like a child to mother’s bosom. It would be hard for me to describe the symbolism so it is best for you to look it up and see for yourself. They were the most sanguine artworks that I have seen; the defiant optimism in the face of senseless destruction brings such astonishing hope that it is almost euphoric.

As China move towards producing 20% of the world's output, let's hope that it doesn't take on the consuming habit of the world’s largest economy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4337203.stm

New Pope

Hew! What a relief, another Anglo European Cardinal was elected Pope. I was really worried there for a bit.

For some reason, the last couple of days I had this crazy thought that a South American or worst yet an Asian would be appointed the new Pope. I was thinking, they are smart aren't they? Nevertheless, I was counting on their arrogance. Thank God! (ironic)

I was too afraid to even think about it much, less the thoughts might escape and enter an inopportune consciousness. Now I can talk about why anything other than a Caucasian Pope would be bad news, or may be not; I would just say this – Condoleezza Rice. Only, it will be a lot worst than that because it would not only have social ramifications but it could mean cultural eradication!

Alright, may be I’m a little paranoid :)

Seriously though, an Asian Pope would surely inspire and energies Christian Groups in Asia and would likely mean a lot more people converting to Christianity. Which in itself might not be a problem but the fact is, religion in general and Christianity in particular had been used historically to subjugate populations which might be too difficult to contain militarily. As Christianity is a mutually exclusive religion – you are with us or you are against us, it does not comfortably coexist with divergent culture either.

To replace ancient and diverse culture with Judeo-Christian religion would often mean, replacing intricately circular and holistic worldviews with one that is linear, and by definition narrower and more limited view of the world and universe for that matter.

That’s my peeve.

The glorious imperial one party rule!

Why bother with separation of power - that old cumbersome no good for business system? Let all branches of government and all government agencies become expediting, rubber-stamping cheer leaders. We demand 100% approval rate for all nominees! How dare the Democrats stall 10 nominees that see ideologies as more important than law? We must in our democracy push for absolute majority rule, albeit the majority is statistically indeterminate.

No sympathy for the victims unless they are ‘fair’?

Fair skinned that is. Do we use words like coercion, nationalism, “clean up your own house first” kind of statements to label Jewish people when they demanded recognition, apologies and commemorated their suffering during WWII? When they rightfully took to courts and asked for compensation from Euro/American companies, do we say that they have no right because Israel is building settlements on Palestinian land?

I suspect some of the comments on BBC are expressing more of a racial bias then legitimate criticism.

This is like a flashback to the 80s when North Americans painted Japan as this evil empire, when openly anti-Japanese sentiments were widespread because it was an economic threat at the time. Now we are seeing the same sentiments expressed against China. However, I think it goes far deeper then that; the West has always harbored suspicion and hostilities toward China. Aside from the rapid economic growth, there are many historic/cultural/political reasons that are more important in shaping this bias against China or anything Chinese. It will require a thorough and extensive discussion, which will have to be saved for another time.

For those criticizing none-western countries of not having freedom of speech, has anyone paused to think about the media biases, self-censorship and government propaganda in the West? Freedom of speech and freedom of information are most important and are only meaningful when facts are plainly presented and readily available for majority of people to have access. We should look into ourselves to try and figure out why we have such knee-jerk reaction whenever issues related to China comes forth. Is it really so hard to understand the pain and anguish that the Chinese, Korean and other neighboring counties of Japan felt?

Of course Asian countries are worried about Japan joining U.N. Security Council. Japanese officials are still paying annual visits to a shrine that hosts/celebrates war criminals! What would be our reaction if Gerhard Schroeder visits Hitler’s shrine every year and tells us he has only peace in mind?

Please go to this link and write a piece of your mind http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/4436425.stm

History and war crimes

I must admit that I was surprised by the number of Americans critical of the Chinese protests against the newly approved Japanese history ‘altering’ textbooks. They call China’s protests hypocrisy. Their logic seemed to be based on China’s 3 large skeletons - Tibet, Tiananmen and Falun Gong.

It is always interesting to see Americans talk about the hypocrisy of other nations, given that it has one of the most thorough genocide in history against the Natives, and is now an invader and occupier of two foreign nations. How do we square that?

To say China should not criticize Japan is like saying Israel should not condemn Germany, should it decide to alter history and down play its atrocity during WWII, because Israel is having a ‘territorial dispute’ with Palestine. What is naïve and childish is the inability to distinguish invasion, occupation, genocide, state sanctioned abuse and exploitation based on race and gender, from policy failures.

We should, in a separate conversation, talk about Tibet, Tiananmen and Falun Gong just as we should address Native American reservations, reparation to descendents of American slaves, inner city police brutalities, and brutal suppression of anti-war and anti-WTO protesters and oh, let’s not forget Waco.

What we should not do is to confuse issues. Japan should face the truth about its history of brutality against other Asian countries. Germany has done so after WWII so should Japan.

Many of our American friends support Japan’s bid on the U.N. Security Council. Has Japan shown that it deserves the U.N. Security Council seat by supporting every war the west has waged since WWII?