Specially, the United States is guilty of violating the Right of the Child Soldier by incarcerating children from the age of 10 to 16 years of age, in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Secondly, the Chinese have the right to point out that the United States torture its captives, which is less harsh than the handling of Tibetan monk dissidents.

No, we have not forgotten about the human rights violations of female soldiers in the US military who have been raped and murdered like Pfc. LaVena Johnson.

Shining the light on human rights violations in one part of the world shines the light on travesties in other parts of the world.

Today, it is China. Not that China is the most brutal or inhumane regime, but because the spotlight is on China. In fact, the country begged for the 2008 Olympic global limelight. But, through its relationship with Sudan, China’s hands are bloody in Darfur.

We will not let oil companies like China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Chemical and Petroleum Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) go unnoticed in its commercial dealing with the government of Sudan.

China buys Sudan’s oil from Gen. Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 coup, and is held in power only by the weapons he buys from China to suppress dissidence and rebellion. The International Criminal Court gave notice of possible genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. The ICC took steps to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes. The court’s chief prosecutor accused Mr. Bashir of masterminding a campaign of rape and murder targeting people in Sudan’s violence-wracked Darfur region.

Murder, rape, and pillage are being systematically carried out by Janjaweed militia, which has left over 300,000 Durfurians dead and 2,000,000 dislocated and homeless. A recent BBC report states that in a recent Janjaweed attack upon a convoy left six people dead and 28 wounded. So, we know that the atrocities continue.

The Christian Science Monitor makes the argument that Omar al-Bashir is actually stealing the oil from the people of Sudan, like a thug dictator who plunders his country’s treasury, and that China’s willful complicity is that of knowingly buying stolen and plundered goods. The Sudanese president has since defied the Big Eight and bullied the African Union into silence.

Today (8/8/08), the onus is on China.

I’d say more, but I have to get ready for work now. So, more later tonight.

I guess there’s a philosophical question in the background here regarding the moral platform from which judgments and condemnations are launched. I would argue that none of us can claim universal stature as equal arbiters on all nations. Others might claim that they do indeed harbor a universal perspective. But I contend that we are soaked in the lens of our particular surroundings and that this lens colors everything we see and think about another country.

When it comes to China, the lens is deep and complicated, as are the interests pushing various angles.

In any case, I should stop derailing threads with my annoyance. The truth remains that the dealings between certain Chinese businesses and Darfur are incredibly dirty. I wish we could just say that without context and without worry, but you know how it is: such probings always spill over into more complex terrain.

Thanks for listening, bro.

Namaste.

Not that there aren’t serious problems to confront within China. I’ve lived in China, was born in the US, but refuse to pay homage to the US as the ultimate arbiter of justice, It seems to me that US citizens may want to first turn their attention to, say, stopping their nation from bombing and occupying faraway lands at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives before getting into moralistic international brow-beating.

I agree with Kai that we, United States Citizens, definitely are not in the position to go around calling the kettle black unless we are also taking our own gov’t to task for their crimes and misdeeds. In fact, we need to be doing that first and foremost.

I hope that my post doesn’t come off as giving the US a pass on these matters because I’m not even trying to go there.

Not that there aren’t serious problems to confront within China. I’ve lived in China, was born in the US, but refuse to pay homage to the US as the ultimate arbiter of justice, It seems to me that US citizens may want to first turn their attention to, say, stopping their nation from bombing and occupying faraway lands at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives before getting into moralistic international brow-beating. And if you’re unable to get that done, you might consider being humble enough to ease up on the self-righteous stick-waving which just looks stupid when your money is dropping bombs on folks.

I’m not defending CCP policy. But I know what I’m talking about. I’ve lived in Szechuan, have hung out in Tibetan communities, have travelled through Tibet, have lived in Hong Kong. Those things help. What helps Americans? Only their ugly colonial Americanness.

Peace.

I’ve also read that the Chinese Government is discouraging businesses from employing Black people during the Olympics.

I know that I am not as anxious to visit China as I once was, after reading about these things. It seems like maybe they’re treating Black people as badly as the United States does.

It was a mistake from the get go to have China host the Olympics. They removed 1.5 million people from their homes without any opportunity for protest to hold these Olympics.

Friday is a day of all day protest for me! It’s my middle son’s birthday, they will recognize.

I really am glad to hook up on a whole new level.

Light and Love all the day long.

Danielle
Modern Musings