A quiet little day, today. Woke up to get myself vaccinated at the GGD...had three shots in total, against Hepatitis A, polio, and a host of other chemical cocktails which are supposed to keep me free from diease. I've never been to a country where I needed to prepare so thoroughly before hand. The malaria, Hepatitis B, rabies and dengue fever drugs I could not take in, because it's too short notice. I actually needed to start going to vaccination like two months ago, but left it till the last week. My arms are sore.
Then I went to pick up my passport at the Taipe Representative Office (de-facto embassy which issues visas for Taiwan). I was a bit worried, because a year ago I had tried to get my Taiwanese passport renewed, but it turned out I could only do so if I filed a missing/stolen report at the police. I didn't do that, and tried to forget about it, but it's of course been at the back of my mind often. I'm worried what the police will think when I file a report of a passport gone missing for so many years, and what they will think when I already have the Dutch nationality.
Like I often imagine, how wonderful it would be not to have nationalities, to come and go as people like...and not to struggle constantly for identity, for belonginess...a passport is just a gateway, an open door, so many say...but to me, to me who personalises all things, it's an identity, a measure of who you are, and how people look at you. And it's unpleasant if you hold a nationality, but do not identify. But that's just me.
The lady at the embassy was quite nice, and she told me not to worry too much. Double nationality is common, and the police will not question
why I've come so late. And then she mentioned the politics behind the Taiwanese nationality...it's not even recognised, so that should not be too much of a problem. And then it dawned on me how poorly the country I am orignally from is treated (again). On my out, as I cycled, I thought about many things...the idignity, first of all, of having a passport that is not recognised, but then strangely is more useful to travel with than many other countries' passports! Then I thought of how Taiwanese people are viewed by the international community...what kind of people are they? Are they nomads? Are they nationality-less? Who are they? Where do their rights lie? Which state governs them? What status do they have as world citizens? Bizarre. And dispicable.
My mind then wondered off to things I've pondered on...how does international law apply or not to Taiwan? Does the country even have to comply with international law at all? And what are the protections, or the lack of, that the state, government and people of Taiwan guaranteed? Harrowing questions. And still unanswered.
As I cycled, I thought: one day, they will see. One day, they will see what great injustic0,e and what flippant and baseless denial of the most basic human right to recognition they have all been party to. Someday.
Then I went to centrum, in search of some gifts. Spent almost three hundred euros, just on tea, Strepsil, books, clogs, cookies and foot cream...all for relatives and friends. It is a society based on gift-giving, based on face, politeness and kindness. Especially when you come home from abroad, coming empty hands is definitely a no-no.
So, my suitcase is three-quaters full....full of gifts!
The past few hours I've spent clearing out some old piled up rubbish, packing things into boxes, and preparing/filtering the things I might need for the few months ahead. Sifting through dusty old files, papers, clothes and boxes, you realise what you've done, or not done. All these papers, documents, pictures, writings and collections of brochures, handouts and notes I've put together over the years. All there. When I see some of these things, I think, when am I ever going to use or read all this again? But then I imagine myself, older, probably retired, and getting out all these papers to read. I wonder now what I should safe, what I should throw away to remove the burdens and loads of moving almost yearly...but it all seems like treasure to me!
Every piece of paper, every word ever written, a recording of a place, time, people and experiences! Throwing into the rubbish bin, I feel like betraying history. A sense of guilt, and shame. Maybe not life changing history worth remembering or recording, and maybe not history that is worth songs or praise, but history nonetheless.
SOAS paychecks, the pink forms you get back when you handed an essay in, accomodation searches in London, contracts of mobile phones, newspaper cutouts, articles which once inspired me (but which I probaly forgot the contents of...), pictures of old friends and times that were, cards written by friends who had long left and may never see again, brochures of Madurodam, prospectuses of Rotterdam and Museum voor Volkenkunde (met Kuifje naar de Incas...), diary entries from years ago written with pen and ink which I had feared would fade with time, bank statements, old fotos, etc etc etc etc...
and most of all,
old memories.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Dinner for ten
Just had dinner with colleagues tonight. Initially wanted to cook for them, show them the good cooking skills I have, but in the end we ended up going to a pannekoeke huis around Leiden Centraal. Nice little group of people, delicious, and gezellig.
There were many sorts of pancakes to choose from. You could have seafood, chicken, beef, even Mexican, Chinese, or Egyptian...even have pizzapancake! So strange, but nonetheless delicious, and filling.
Like a big social events, it was difficult to talk to everyone. At some point I was unsure which conversation I should listen to, which I should actually join. Just like always, I felt awkward wanting to say something, but not knowing how, or when the appropiate moment is. But then there were many fascinating facts, stories and exchanges. Towards the end, I was asked to share my thoughts about my time at the Institute. I likened it to joining a family, as I had earlier done today, talking to another colleague. There's a strong sense of belonging, of in-out. And then there is also openness, frankness and a very relaxed attitude to work and work relations. Something which I thoroughly enjoyed, and cherish. I've learned much, especially having indulged myselves in books and articles during my study, it's the first eye-opener into the real world, into reality. Working, planning, people skills, cooperation, division of work, deadlines, criticisms, toleration, smiling, patience, reliance, dependence, mutual respect and learning.
But then I also expressed my feeling of being an outsider, especially in the first few months. Of course, as some said, being new to the place, people and the work, and being an intern, without a self-focused research agenda didn't help to come to grips with the place. Complicated human relations, conflicts of interests and being in between the 'clash' of 'bigger fish' did not ease things. And my inherent shy, timid, and passive nature also made it difficult to fit in in the beginning. But eventually I found my way, and eventually I started to enjoy it more. Eventually, the problems went away, and finally left for good.
Of course, it was one of my 'farewell' dinners, so undoubtedly my trip to Indonesia came up. People started talking about what's it'll be like, and problems I might face. And one that really hadn't crossed my mind was discrimination. Especially because I 'look Chinese', and there's been racial hatred, or maybe jealousy for a less violent word, toward ethnic Chinese. Not sure how I would deal with that....the worst forms of racism, if you can call it that, is children mocking the way 'I' speak (tsing tsong, wing wong enz enz, which is just gibberish), and that was a long time ago. But then it left me wondering what I should do in the face of this.
And then there was talk of corruption...especially the first hurdle at the airport, where the customs officer might try to tap into 'unregistered sources of income'. Never have had to deal with such situations in my life either. And then there was talk of the dangers of getting robbed, or being in threatening situations...again, I've never been to places where I've had to constantly worry about my sense of security, about my safety (maybe except London at night, especially around Stepney Green or Whitechapel...)
Hearing all these things, it seems like I'm a naive child going into the big world for the first time. Or even a country folk, innocent and pure at heart, thrown into a pack of wolves in the urban jungle. And I think back at what mum said once sometime ago that something terrible might befall me in July (according to the fortuneteller...)
I wonder what to believe.
It seems I still have a lot to learn, lot to experience...
There were many sorts of pancakes to choose from. You could have seafood, chicken, beef, even Mexican, Chinese, or Egyptian...even have pizzapancake! So strange, but nonetheless delicious, and filling.
Like a big social events, it was difficult to talk to everyone. At some point I was unsure which conversation I should listen to, which I should actually join. Just like always, I felt awkward wanting to say something, but not knowing how, or when the appropiate moment is. But then there were many fascinating facts, stories and exchanges. Towards the end, I was asked to share my thoughts about my time at the Institute. I likened it to joining a family, as I had earlier done today, talking to another colleague. There's a strong sense of belonging, of in-out. And then there is also openness, frankness and a very relaxed attitude to work and work relations. Something which I thoroughly enjoyed, and cherish. I've learned much, especially having indulged myselves in books and articles during my study, it's the first eye-opener into the real world, into reality. Working, planning, people skills, cooperation, division of work, deadlines, criticisms, toleration, smiling, patience, reliance, dependence, mutual respect and learning.
But then I also expressed my feeling of being an outsider, especially in the first few months. Of course, as some said, being new to the place, people and the work, and being an intern, without a self-focused research agenda didn't help to come to grips with the place. Complicated human relations, conflicts of interests and being in between the 'clash' of 'bigger fish' did not ease things. And my inherent shy, timid, and passive nature also made it difficult to fit in in the beginning. But eventually I found my way, and eventually I started to enjoy it more. Eventually, the problems went away, and finally left for good.
Of course, it was one of my 'farewell' dinners, so undoubtedly my trip to Indonesia came up. People started talking about what's it'll be like, and problems I might face. And one that really hadn't crossed my mind was discrimination. Especially because I 'look Chinese', and there's been racial hatred, or maybe jealousy for a less violent word, toward ethnic Chinese. Not sure how I would deal with that....the worst forms of racism, if you can call it that, is children mocking the way 'I' speak (tsing tsong, wing wong enz enz, which is just gibberish), and that was a long time ago. But then it left me wondering what I should do in the face of this.
And then there was talk of corruption...especially the first hurdle at the airport, where the customs officer might try to tap into 'unregistered sources of income'. Never have had to deal with such situations in my life either. And then there was talk of the dangers of getting robbed, or being in threatening situations...again, I've never been to places where I've had to constantly worry about my sense of security, about my safety (maybe except London at night, especially around Stepney Green or Whitechapel...)
Hearing all these things, it seems like I'm a naive child going into the big world for the first time. Or even a country folk, innocent and pure at heart, thrown into a pack of wolves in the urban jungle. And I think back at what mum said once sometime ago that something terrible might befall me in July (according to the fortuneteller...)
I wonder what to believe.
It seems I still have a lot to learn, lot to experience...
Half way around the globe...
While walking to work today, I saw a globe in a shop window. The side of Asia happened to be facing me. I looked at it, and a sense of strangeness mixed with familiarity overcame me. I've been there, and I'll be there soon. As I stood there those few seconds, my mind wondered off to try to locate where I am now...and I walked around the globe, passing oceans, passing land, passing, in my mind, millions of people, their lives, their livelihoods and everything else. It seemed to be a long journey to Europe, even though it was just a small globe in the shop window. And then it dawned on me...how very far I will be going.
How very far I will be.
Yesterday I went home, and felt really dizzy. I don't know what came over me, but I was so tired. And I was also quite misserable while I went home. So many, so many strange people...so many strangers. I felt sick for some reasons. Even worse when I got home. Again, lots of washing undone, and dinner was just shoarma meat with rice. I was a bit angry... some people are home all day, but all these things that could be done so quickly is left. I didn't wash anything, instead cooked some vegetables and egg to eat.
I went to bed, thinking I would lie down a while, at eightish...I slept, slept and slept...I got up only to drink a bit, but went back to bed. I thought I would wake up again and would have to spend the rest of the night aware. But I kept on sleeping. Until the morning, twelve hours later!
As I listened to the radio before I dozed into sleep, it was talking about abused children. It was talking about the sideeffects growing up, and in later life. Inability to express their feelings, inability to say what they really want, or uberhaupt know what they really want...unable to be close and intimate...the feeling of loneliness even though they are surrounded by people...the feeling of insecurity and fear around strangers.
By then I was gone.
How very far I will be.
Yesterday I went home, and felt really dizzy. I don't know what came over me, but I was so tired. And I was also quite misserable while I went home. So many, so many strange people...so many strangers. I felt sick for some reasons. Even worse when I got home. Again, lots of washing undone, and dinner was just shoarma meat with rice. I was a bit angry... some people are home all day, but all these things that could be done so quickly is left. I didn't wash anything, instead cooked some vegetables and egg to eat.
I went to bed, thinking I would lie down a while, at eightish...I slept, slept and slept...I got up only to drink a bit, but went back to bed. I thought I would wake up again and would have to spend the rest of the night aware. But I kept on sleeping. Until the morning, twelve hours later!
As I listened to the radio before I dozed into sleep, it was talking about abused children. It was talking about the sideeffects growing up, and in later life. Inability to express their feelings, inability to say what they really want, or uberhaupt know what they really want...unable to be close and intimate...the feeling of loneliness even though they are surrounded by people...the feeling of insecurity and fear around strangers.
By then I was gone.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Less than ten more days...
Looked at the yesterday night when I went to sleep, and it's already the 17th of May. In less than ten days, I will be on the plane, going far away.
The thought kept me awake at night, twisting and turning, until around four, when I slowly fell asleep after exhausting myself with thoughts. It was one of those nights again, when I felt I should sleep, but couldn't. So many words went through my mind, so many thoughts waiting to be captured, described and kept for others and other times.
I lay awake thinking over the things I've actually done the past year, and tried to imagine how it would be when I say goodbye to people at work. Sure, it's not forever that's I'll not see them, but a few months is still a very long time...especially long when I think about the great unknowns and the long road into places and meeting people I have not yet known.
And I drafted a letter, actually, in the pitch dark, with the help of a scrap piece of paper, a pen and the light from my mobile phone. Strange when the thoughts and urge to write arrives, you can't resist.
I hope to give to VVI the day I leave. At least I will leave behind a few words. And leave behind my thoughts, reflections and appreciation for the fulfiling times of the past year.
As the TPG Post slogan goes:
"Schrijven zegt meer" (Writing says more)
The thought kept me awake at night, twisting and turning, until around four, when I slowly fell asleep after exhausting myself with thoughts. It was one of those nights again, when I felt I should sleep, but couldn't. So many words went through my mind, so many thoughts waiting to be captured, described and kept for others and other times.
I lay awake thinking over the things I've actually done the past year, and tried to imagine how it would be when I say goodbye to people at work. Sure, it's not forever that's I'll not see them, but a few months is still a very long time...especially long when I think about the great unknowns and the long road into places and meeting people I have not yet known.
And I drafted a letter, actually, in the pitch dark, with the help of a scrap piece of paper, a pen and the light from my mobile phone. Strange when the thoughts and urge to write arrives, you can't resist.
I hope to give to VVI the day I leave. At least I will leave behind a few words. And leave behind my thoughts, reflections and appreciation for the fulfiling times of the past year.
As the TPG Post slogan goes:
"Schrijven zegt meer" (Writing says more)
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Taiwan-China issue
I was asked by a friend to draft an a brief summary of the 'who, when, what and how' of the Taiwan-China issue. I'm a bit surprised this has not come up yet, since this is what I think about almost daily. Some people may say I'm a fanatic when it comes to the issue. Maybe. But, I think this is what motivates me to do many things I've done, and many more what I'd like to do in life. And I feel it's important to know about it! Not just because it's a classic example of the 'small guy fighting the big bully' (David and Goliath often springs to mind), but it's not well publicised enough, and people seem to have many misconceptions.
Especially now that China is becoming so powerful, and praised by some many (especially the money-greedy communities who place business and money before freedoms and human rights...). I was told that it's a good thing that Taiwan, the US and some other are critical of China, since it shows a whole other side of this giant dragon, and gives us all also a sense of caution.
Maybe I'm just too obsessed...but to me, it's about the denial of such basic rights as being able to stand up and proudly be recognised as a state, as a citizen of a state, and being able to participate in the international community as an equal.
Just today, the World Health Organisation made a memorandum with China, setting out the means of cooperating and facilitating the medical needs of Taiwan.... HELLO?! That's just bizarre! How can China, a country that does not even have any say or influence in the way of life of 23 million people in Taiwan talk and deal on behalf of Taiwan?? And this is just one ridiculous example of Taiwan's exclusion and pariah status from the international community. I once wrote,
"How can it be that Taiwan, with a population and territory larger than two-thirds of UN members, is not entitled to exist as an equal actor on the world stage? How can a free democracy with a prosperous economy be treated like an international pariah? Have the Taiwanese committed a crime so criminal that they be barred from freedom for life? [...] There are states utterly insignificant, but they are part of the UN. There are states utterly repressive, but they are part of the UN. There states which blatantly violate international principles, but they are part of the UN. Taiwan is none of the above, yet she is not part of the UN."
SOURCE: Taipei Times
These words still ring true today
Such is the hypocrisy of world organisations and leaders that know nothing but political games of ignorance, and suffer from incurable symptoms of total blindness and deafness to reality.
Such injustice has shaped the way I think about the world today, about the disempowerment of the poor, illiterate, voiceless and oppressed. Maybe that's why I studied law, maybe that's why I feel law is the ideal weapon of empowerment, of talking back to power, or breaking down the constructed order of minority rule over the majority.
But then laws are ideals too...and without taking into account the realities of life, the social, economic, historical, political and human contexts in which law operates, then it is nothing more, nothing less than words.
A disclaimer: Before I get hate-mails calling me a racist and bigot, I have nothing personal against the Chinese as a people, country or civilisation. What I do have a problem is with the government and the regime that currently governs China. Think Tiananmen, think SARS, think Tibet, think Falun Gong, think gulags, think censorship of the internet... all the lies, tyranny, terror and propogand spread by the Communist Party is more than enough to make me sick.
Finally, the piece I wrote... I'm including it here, for people who are interested!
-------------------------
History
The original inhabitants of Taiwan are thought to be ancestors of the Polynesian tribes throughout the Asia-Pacific. For centuries, Han Chinese have been migrating to the island in search of a better life. Throughout Taiwan’s history, the island has always been the colony of one country or other. The Manchu Dynasty included Taiwan as part of Chinese territory for the first time in 1885. However, ten years later, China gave Taiwan “in perpetuity and full sovereignty” to Japan as a result of the Sino-Japanese war.
Japan colonised the island until the end of the Second World War in 1945, when Japan was forced to surrender all its overseas colonies. The problem was, it was not agreed who Taiwan would be given to. The Allied Supreme Command in the Pacific gave China at the time, under Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist regime, the mandate to govern temporarily Taiwan until a final solution is made. However, in the meantime, the Nationalist Chiang Kai-Shek regime lost the Chinese Civil War against the Communists in China, and in 1949 fled to Taiwan and established itself there since. In 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean, US President Truman decalred that the status of Taiwan was still “undetermined” and that:
“The determination of the future status of Formosa [Taiwan] must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations.”
Up to now, nothing concrete has been done to determine the status of the islands yet.
China’s insistent position
The People’s Republic of China’s position has been consistent ever since the 1950s: Taiwan is an inalienable part of the motherland, and must be liberated at all costs. China argues that Taiwan is a part of the motherland which has been historically unlawfully stolen by the big powers. The close cultural and ethnic ties between China and Taiwan is another reason for unification with the motherland. Hundreds of missiles are now aimed at the island. During Taiwan’s presidential elections in 1996, China ‘tested’ missiles close to the seas around Taiwan. In 2000, again just before elections in Taiwan, China warned of bloodshed if the people of Taiwan chooses a pro-independence candidate (which they actually did). In March 2005, China’s rubber-stamp parliament passed the ‘Anti-Secession Law’, which is basically a carte blanche for China to take any action it sees fit to deal with Taiwan’s separation from the mainland. The law says China would “employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Any state which interferes in the issue of Taiwan meets strong repercussions from China, such as a boycott on imports. Philips, Siemens, Volvo, Walmart, Airbus are just a few of the companies China plays with to threaten other countries to back down. The Taiwan issue is a matter of national pride, and a constant reminder to the Chinese of the historic humiliations China suffered in the hands of big powers. Just like Hong Kong and Macau have returned to China under the so-called ‘One Country, Two Systems’ formula, the last enclave is Taiwan. Beijing refuses to talk to anybody or any government official from Taiwan who does not recognise that Taiwan is part of China.
SOURCE: Cagle.com
Taiwan’s difficult road
For over a decade now, Taiwan has politically and socially been the most democratic country in Asia. The Chiang Kai-Shek Nationalist Chinese regime imposed 40 years of Martial Law after arriving in 1949, and dominated the political landscape and shaped national identity. The Nationalist Chinese never forgot the dream of one day returning to China, and therefore imposed Chinese indoctrination and repressed Taiwan’s population. Since the 1980s, local Taiwanese (85% of the population) increasingly demanded more freedoms and the ability to express their identities in language, culture and education. The first open and free elections were held in 1992, which installed the first local Taiwanese in the office. In 2000 and again in 2004, the Democratic Progressive Party of Chen Shui-Bian, which supports the formal independence of Taiwan, won the presidential and parliamentary elections. In recent years, Taiwan has been trying hard to join international organisations like the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, but without success. China’s veto power, military might and threats to cut economic ties with other countries, has effectively isolated Taiwan and her 23million people. Increasingly, many Taiwanese businesses are investing in China, which is benefiting both sides of the Strait. The majority of people do not want to be unified with China, nor do they want to become independent. The status quo, peace and cooperation is what most people want. Nobody in Taiwan wants to be united with a regime that is comparatively more backward, politically and socially unfree and continually threatens to use force.
The position of the International Community
Every state in the world which wants to establish diplomatic relations with China must recognise the ‘One China Policy’. This says that there is only one China in the world, and that Taiwan is a part of China. The catch lies in the word ‘recognise’. Though the vast majority of states have established relations with China, they do not do so in recognition of the ‘One China’ policy, but mere ‘acknowledge’ it. This subtle word-play has much significance. Everyone knows that Taiwan has long before Second World War had completely separate social, political and economic developments from China. Everyone knows that the People’s Republic of China has never for a day governed over the island of Taiwan or its people. Due to China’s economic and geo-political importance in the world, most states will official say that they acknowledge that Taiwan is a part of China. However, in all non-official channels every state still maintains strong links with Taiwan. Between the international community’s realpolitik and China’s unrelenting stance on the ‘internal affair’ that is Taiwan it is important to note differences in the intention to create legal obligations under international law between recognising a fact, and the mere acknowledgement of a fact.
SOURCE: Cox & Forkum
International nature of the conflict
Most states in the world, as well as the UN, cower to the bullying tactics of China in this matter. Not many dare to condemn China’s threats, or poor human rights records. The notable exception is the United States. Though the US has formal relations with China (and acknowledges that Taiwan is a part of China), under the Taiwan Relations Act 1979 it has a legal obligation to sell weapons to Taiwan and to defend Taiwan from attack. Aside from NATO allies and Israel, no other country in the world has such status with the US. President Bush said in 2000 that the US would do “whatever it takes” to aid Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. When China tested missiles in 1996, two US aircraft carriers anchored in the Taiwan Strait, the biggest show of force since the Gulf War, to ease tensions. The strategic position of Taiwan governed the crossroad of the Asia-Pacific, and Taiwan, together with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, completes the chain of islands that has traditionally been outposts of US influence in Asia. Recent reports indicate that a conflict in the area will cause an economic crisis and IT industry meltdown, due to the fact that more than 70% of the world’s processors, notebooks and LCD monitors are produced on the island. China cannot afford to ‘loose face’ and will never back down on the Taiwan issue, while the US will suffer a huge loss in its image as the protector of democracies and the support of allies, should Taiwan be swallowed by China. Early 2005, Japan and the US signed an pact which prioritises the Taiwan Strait as a major security concern.
The European Union has to date not had a great role to play. It constantly reiterates the need for dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the issue, but does not say what or how. However, recent proposals by France and Germany to lift a weapons embargo on China, in place since the Tiananmen Incident in 1989, have fuelled tensions across the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. Many cite the lack of any improvement in human rights and political and religious freedoms in China and the potential of fuelling an arms-race as reasons to maintain the embargo. France and Germany however are attracted by lucrative contracts.
SOURCE: Cagle.com
The Future
To summarise, the Taiwan issue is a relic from a period when the world was torn apart between peace and war, unity and separation. However, this is not just a matter of two Germanies, or two Koreas. For the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan is “purely an internal Chinese matter […] an indivisible part of Chinese territory.” For the United States and the rest of the world, it is an issue that continues to hinder relations with China, and which forces Washington and other capitals to walk the tight-rope between supporting the democratic freedoms in Taiwan and enhancing economic trade with China. For the Taiwan, the conflict has meant the continual denial of recognition and entitlements to be a fully-fledged member of the international community. From a historic point of view, it springs from the lack of attention with which international agreements were made at the end of the Second World War. As one of the last remnant of Cold War politics, the unresolved dispute between Taiwan and China has the potential to break out into a conflict that will have huge repercussions all over the world.
SOURCE: Taipei Times
The international community and the UN cannot continually deny, at the insistence and threats of Beijing, that the conflict between Taiwan and China is a non-issue. Or else world leaders will again be confronted with a ‘clash of titans. One day it must be resolved. China would to do whatever possible to ‘liberate’ the island. But brute force and threats will solve nothing, only create more problems and suffering. The freedoms and livelihoods of Taiwan’s people are at stake. Taiwan’s 23million people are those who should have the most voice in the future of their own country. No one else. And the world should listen. Whether that will be the case is another matter.
Especially now that China is becoming so powerful, and praised by some many (especially the money-greedy communities who place business and money before freedoms and human rights...). I was told that it's a good thing that Taiwan, the US and some other are critical of China, since it shows a whole other side of this giant dragon, and gives us all also a sense of caution.
Maybe I'm just too obsessed...but to me, it's about the denial of such basic rights as being able to stand up and proudly be recognised as a state, as a citizen of a state, and being able to participate in the international community as an equal.
Just today, the World Health Organisation made a memorandum with China, setting out the means of cooperating and facilitating the medical needs of Taiwan.... HELLO?! That's just bizarre! How can China, a country that does not even have any say or influence in the way of life of 23 million people in Taiwan talk and deal on behalf of Taiwan?? And this is just one ridiculous example of Taiwan's exclusion and pariah status from the international community. I once wrote,
"How can it be that Taiwan, with a population and territory larger than two-thirds of UN members, is not entitled to exist as an equal actor on the world stage? How can a free democracy with a prosperous economy be treated like an international pariah? Have the Taiwanese committed a crime so criminal that they be barred from freedom for life? [...] There are states utterly insignificant, but they are part of the UN. There are states utterly repressive, but they are part of the UN. There states which blatantly violate international principles, but they are part of the UN. Taiwan is none of the above, yet she is not part of the UN."
SOURCE: Taipei Times
These words still ring true today
Such is the hypocrisy of world organisations and leaders that know nothing but political games of ignorance, and suffer from incurable symptoms of total blindness and deafness to reality.
Such injustice has shaped the way I think about the world today, about the disempowerment of the poor, illiterate, voiceless and oppressed. Maybe that's why I studied law, maybe that's why I feel law is the ideal weapon of empowerment, of talking back to power, or breaking down the constructed order of minority rule over the majority.
But then laws are ideals too...and without taking into account the realities of life, the social, economic, historical, political and human contexts in which law operates, then it is nothing more, nothing less than words.
A disclaimer: Before I get hate-mails calling me a racist and bigot, I have nothing personal against the Chinese as a people, country or civilisation. What I do have a problem is with the government and the regime that currently governs China. Think Tiananmen, think SARS, think Tibet, think Falun Gong, think gulags, think censorship of the internet... all the lies, tyranny, terror and propogand spread by the Communist Party is more than enough to make me sick.
Finally, the piece I wrote... I'm including it here, for people who are interested!
-------------------------
History
The original inhabitants of Taiwan are thought to be ancestors of the Polynesian tribes throughout the Asia-Pacific. For centuries, Han Chinese have been migrating to the island in search of a better life. Throughout Taiwan’s history, the island has always been the colony of one country or other. The Manchu Dynasty included Taiwan as part of Chinese territory for the first time in 1885. However, ten years later, China gave Taiwan “in perpetuity and full sovereignty” to Japan as a result of the Sino-Japanese war.
Japan colonised the island until the end of the Second World War in 1945, when Japan was forced to surrender all its overseas colonies. The problem was, it was not agreed who Taiwan would be given to. The Allied Supreme Command in the Pacific gave China at the time, under Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist regime, the mandate to govern temporarily Taiwan until a final solution is made. However, in the meantime, the Nationalist Chiang Kai-Shek regime lost the Chinese Civil War against the Communists in China, and in 1949 fled to Taiwan and established itself there since. In 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean, US President Truman decalred that the status of Taiwan was still “undetermined” and that:
“The determination of the future status of Formosa [Taiwan] must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations.”
Up to now, nothing concrete has been done to determine the status of the islands yet.
China’s insistent position
The People’s Republic of China’s position has been consistent ever since the 1950s: Taiwan is an inalienable part of the motherland, and must be liberated at all costs. China argues that Taiwan is a part of the motherland which has been historically unlawfully stolen by the big powers. The close cultural and ethnic ties between China and Taiwan is another reason for unification with the motherland. Hundreds of missiles are now aimed at the island. During Taiwan’s presidential elections in 1996, China ‘tested’ missiles close to the seas around Taiwan. In 2000, again just before elections in Taiwan, China warned of bloodshed if the people of Taiwan chooses a pro-independence candidate (which they actually did). In March 2005, China’s rubber-stamp parliament passed the ‘Anti-Secession Law’, which is basically a carte blanche for China to take any action it sees fit to deal with Taiwan’s separation from the mainland. The law says China would “employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Any state which interferes in the issue of Taiwan meets strong repercussions from China, such as a boycott on imports. Philips, Siemens, Volvo, Walmart, Airbus are just a few of the companies China plays with to threaten other countries to back down. The Taiwan issue is a matter of national pride, and a constant reminder to the Chinese of the historic humiliations China suffered in the hands of big powers. Just like Hong Kong and Macau have returned to China under the so-called ‘One Country, Two Systems’ formula, the last enclave is Taiwan. Beijing refuses to talk to anybody or any government official from Taiwan who does not recognise that Taiwan is part of China.
SOURCE: Cagle.com
Taiwan’s difficult road
For over a decade now, Taiwan has politically and socially been the most democratic country in Asia. The Chiang Kai-Shek Nationalist Chinese regime imposed 40 years of Martial Law after arriving in 1949, and dominated the political landscape and shaped national identity. The Nationalist Chinese never forgot the dream of one day returning to China, and therefore imposed Chinese indoctrination and repressed Taiwan’s population. Since the 1980s, local Taiwanese (85% of the population) increasingly demanded more freedoms and the ability to express their identities in language, culture and education. The first open and free elections were held in 1992, which installed the first local Taiwanese in the office. In 2000 and again in 2004, the Democratic Progressive Party of Chen Shui-Bian, which supports the formal independence of Taiwan, won the presidential and parliamentary elections. In recent years, Taiwan has been trying hard to join international organisations like the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, but without success. China’s veto power, military might and threats to cut economic ties with other countries, has effectively isolated Taiwan and her 23million people. Increasingly, many Taiwanese businesses are investing in China, which is benefiting both sides of the Strait. The majority of people do not want to be unified with China, nor do they want to become independent. The status quo, peace and cooperation is what most people want. Nobody in Taiwan wants to be united with a regime that is comparatively more backward, politically and socially unfree and continually threatens to use force.
The position of the International Community
Every state in the world which wants to establish diplomatic relations with China must recognise the ‘One China Policy’. This says that there is only one China in the world, and that Taiwan is a part of China. The catch lies in the word ‘recognise’. Though the vast majority of states have established relations with China, they do not do so in recognition of the ‘One China’ policy, but mere ‘acknowledge’ it. This subtle word-play has much significance. Everyone knows that Taiwan has long before Second World War had completely separate social, political and economic developments from China. Everyone knows that the People’s Republic of China has never for a day governed over the island of Taiwan or its people. Due to China’s economic and geo-political importance in the world, most states will official say that they acknowledge that Taiwan is a part of China. However, in all non-official channels every state still maintains strong links with Taiwan. Between the international community’s realpolitik and China’s unrelenting stance on the ‘internal affair’ that is Taiwan it is important to note differences in the intention to create legal obligations under international law between recognising a fact, and the mere acknowledgement of a fact.
SOURCE: Cox & Forkum
International nature of the conflict
Most states in the world, as well as the UN, cower to the bullying tactics of China in this matter. Not many dare to condemn China’s threats, or poor human rights records. The notable exception is the United States. Though the US has formal relations with China (and acknowledges that Taiwan is a part of China), under the Taiwan Relations Act 1979 it has a legal obligation to sell weapons to Taiwan and to defend Taiwan from attack. Aside from NATO allies and Israel, no other country in the world has such status with the US. President Bush said in 2000 that the US would do “whatever it takes” to aid Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. When China tested missiles in 1996, two US aircraft carriers anchored in the Taiwan Strait, the biggest show of force since the Gulf War, to ease tensions. The strategic position of Taiwan governed the crossroad of the Asia-Pacific, and Taiwan, together with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, completes the chain of islands that has traditionally been outposts of US influence in Asia. Recent reports indicate that a conflict in the area will cause an economic crisis and IT industry meltdown, due to the fact that more than 70% of the world’s processors, notebooks and LCD monitors are produced on the island. China cannot afford to ‘loose face’ and will never back down on the Taiwan issue, while the US will suffer a huge loss in its image as the protector of democracies and the support of allies, should Taiwan be swallowed by China. Early 2005, Japan and the US signed an pact which prioritises the Taiwan Strait as a major security concern.
The European Union has to date not had a great role to play. It constantly reiterates the need for dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the issue, but does not say what or how. However, recent proposals by France and Germany to lift a weapons embargo on China, in place since the Tiananmen Incident in 1989, have fuelled tensions across the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. Many cite the lack of any improvement in human rights and political and religious freedoms in China and the potential of fuelling an arms-race as reasons to maintain the embargo. France and Germany however are attracted by lucrative contracts.
SOURCE: Cagle.com
The Future
To summarise, the Taiwan issue is a relic from a period when the world was torn apart between peace and war, unity and separation. However, this is not just a matter of two Germanies, or two Koreas. For the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan is “purely an internal Chinese matter […] an indivisible part of Chinese territory.” For the United States and the rest of the world, it is an issue that continues to hinder relations with China, and which forces Washington and other capitals to walk the tight-rope between supporting the democratic freedoms in Taiwan and enhancing economic trade with China. For the Taiwan, the conflict has meant the continual denial of recognition and entitlements to be a fully-fledged member of the international community. From a historic point of view, it springs from the lack of attention with which international agreements were made at the end of the Second World War. As one of the last remnant of Cold War politics, the unresolved dispute between Taiwan and China has the potential to break out into a conflict that will have huge repercussions all over the world.
SOURCE: Taipei Times
The international community and the UN cannot continually deny, at the insistence and threats of Beijing, that the conflict between Taiwan and China is a non-issue. Or else world leaders will again be confronted with a ‘clash of titans. One day it must be resolved. China would to do whatever possible to ‘liberate’ the island. But brute force and threats will solve nothing, only create more problems and suffering. The freedoms and livelihoods of Taiwan’s people are at stake. Taiwan’s 23million people are those who should have the most voice in the future of their own country. No one else. And the world should listen. Whether that will be the case is another matter.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
A change in the weather
It's already mid-May, and the past few weeks the weather has been like winter: freezing winds, rain, and frosty nights. But today, there seems to be a change. The sun is shining, and the temperature rising. And today I even heard the first fly buzzzz near my window. More like the season, more like spring.
Just spoke to mum on the phone. Even at home there may be a change in the weather. I called dad a few days ago, after a silence of almost three months. I talked to him a while, and told him of my plans. He was a bit sceptical, but not angry when I said I wanted to postpone my study yet again this year. Just heard from mum that she saw and spoke to dad today at the hospital when he went for the weekly check-up. He is delighted that I'm coming home. He even rescheduled his weekly check-up on Saturdays to another time, because he wants to pick me up at the airport.
My eyes were about to water when I heard that. Though he does not show it, he does care, he does want to be with his son, and his family. Mum invited him to join us on our trip to Eastern Taiwan, and he agreed. Mum told him that in old life, the most enjoyable things are time with family, and family. All else are material things, things one cannot take with you when you go. And she said he seemed to understand. She says he has become softer, even repentant in his tone, and that he is showing signs of wanting to return. I'm not sure how to react to this all...dad has been out of our family, and out of our home for almost three years already. I remember that year when I was in my first year:
I came home from work at university, and brother told me dad had moved out, that mum had been crying. Things seemed so terrible at that time. The next few months following would be solemn, filled with tensions between relatives and family members, with angry letters, phone calls and burden. I felt often like a ghost, not sure where to go, who to side with, when in fact I wanted to side with no-one. And family get-togethers were so dramatically fake and brimmed with such tolerated acting, with spiteful words, with such sarcasm and such twisted mind games that I often felt physically sick. Could it be better now? Could it all be over now?
I heard from mum today that dad is considering retirement earlier than planned. And that he might join us for a while here in Holland. At first I was happy about that. After all, it's been a while since we saw, or even lived with dad. But then my thoughts turned to something else...to the old habits that caused much of the tension and sorrow in the family in the first place. Will he be doing the same things he did almost nightly in the four years he was here? That dreaded place of smoke, of dazzling lights, of the clinking of money, chips and cards...
I now look more forward to going home. I can close my eyes and feel them water at the thought of seeing mum and dad at the airport, waiting. For me, for the proud son they have returning home. And I can already imagine the warm tears that flow when the time it is to go again...
I wonder how many smiles, sad moments, what sort of close bonding and of unpleasantness we will go through till we realise, till we realise that...
we are family.
Mum and dad in front of Mackay Hospital, Taipei, where I was born
Just spoke to mum on the phone. Even at home there may be a change in the weather. I called dad a few days ago, after a silence of almost three months. I talked to him a while, and told him of my plans. He was a bit sceptical, but not angry when I said I wanted to postpone my study yet again this year. Just heard from mum that she saw and spoke to dad today at the hospital when he went for the weekly check-up. He is delighted that I'm coming home. He even rescheduled his weekly check-up on Saturdays to another time, because he wants to pick me up at the airport.
My eyes were about to water when I heard that. Though he does not show it, he does care, he does want to be with his son, and his family. Mum invited him to join us on our trip to Eastern Taiwan, and he agreed. Mum told him that in old life, the most enjoyable things are time with family, and family. All else are material things, things one cannot take with you when you go. And she said he seemed to understand. She says he has become softer, even repentant in his tone, and that he is showing signs of wanting to return. I'm not sure how to react to this all...dad has been out of our family, and out of our home for almost three years already. I remember that year when I was in my first year:
I came home from work at university, and brother told me dad had moved out, that mum had been crying. Things seemed so terrible at that time. The next few months following would be solemn, filled with tensions between relatives and family members, with angry letters, phone calls and burden. I felt often like a ghost, not sure where to go, who to side with, when in fact I wanted to side with no-one. And family get-togethers were so dramatically fake and brimmed with such tolerated acting, with spiteful words, with such sarcasm and such twisted mind games that I often felt physically sick. Could it be better now? Could it all be over now?
I heard from mum today that dad is considering retirement earlier than planned. And that he might join us for a while here in Holland. At first I was happy about that. After all, it's been a while since we saw, or even lived with dad. But then my thoughts turned to something else...to the old habits that caused much of the tension and sorrow in the family in the first place. Will he be doing the same things he did almost nightly in the four years he was here? That dreaded place of smoke, of dazzling lights, of the clinking of money, chips and cards...
I now look more forward to going home. I can close my eyes and feel them water at the thought of seeing mum and dad at the airport, waiting. For me, for the proud son they have returning home. And I can already imagine the warm tears that flow when the time it is to go again...
I wonder how many smiles, sad moments, what sort of close bonding and of unpleasantness we will go through till we realise, till we realise that...
we are family.
Mum and dad in front of Mackay Hospital, Taipei, where I was born
Friday, May 13, 2005
About the recent visits to China...
The following makes it clear what I think about the visits of opposition party leaders Lien Chan and James Soong, and their visits to China:
- they have personal agendas and are making so-called 'historic journeys of peace' as a political show;
- they are both sour because neither of them, either running alone (2000 elections) or running together (2004 elections), were able to become president of Taiwan;
- their trips to China, and their red-carpet treatment by the Chinese is nothing more than ploys to undermine the democratically elected government of Taiwan;
- ironic that fifty years ago the Nationalist Party of Lien Chan and (for a while) also of James Soong were arch enemies with the Communist Party...now they seem to have become close pals, calling one another family, relatives, brothers;
- China has played the 'Taiwanese compatriots come home' trick, aggrandising the visits by Lien Chan and James Soong, propogandising it in the news media as a victory of China's campaign to woo Taiwan and its people to embrace the motherland'. It is however ironic that though China expects everyone to accept that Taiwan is a part of its sovereign territory, the red-carpet treatment extended to the two special guests are befitting and only given to foreign dignitories;
- their trips have undermined the credentials of Taiwan's not-so-old and not-yet-mature democratic foundations, and send an ambiguous message to the rest of the world that the people of Taiwan condone such 'peace-seeking' visits, whereas the visits were (in the words of the two politicians themselves) purely personal in nature, and have no official capacity;
- the trips come in the aftermaths of the adoption of the 'Anti-Seccession Law' by China which is directly targeted towards Taiwan, and which legitimises the ability of the Chinese regime to use force to forcefully invade and conquer the island; Again, the trips appear to the world that the people of Taiwan are cowering to the threats and bully tactics of China.
- the agreements and the pacts made by both Lien Chan and James Soong with President Hu Jin-tao are illegal and should have no effect on the lives of people in Taiwan, and the status of Taiwan as a de-facto independent state;
- such agreements are ploys by both the Chinese Nationalists and Communists to realise their fantasies that Taiwan ever belonged to them at all, and ignore the rights and democratic freedoms of Taiwan's 23million people;
- if China wants to respect the rights of the so-called 'Taiwan compatriots', it should be willing to talk and negotiate with the democratically elected government of Taiwan, without pre-conditions, without coercion, without the threat of force, without any pre-planned arranged, but on the basis of mutual equality and respect;
- any change of the status quo, such as the threat to use force to invade and 'liberate' Taiwan, is clearly unacceptable and a clear violation of all international norms governing peaceful relations between states and a disturbance to world and regional peace and order;
- the international community and international organisations in the world should recognise the fact that China's encroachments to Taiwan's sovereingty and dignity are illegal and threaten not only Taiwan's people and their livelihoods, but also all else in the region and stability in the world as a whole.
SOURCE: Cagle.com
Below is an excellent editorial in the Liberty Times about this all...
---
Responding to a double sell-out
By the Liberty Times editorial
Sunday, May 15, 2005,Page 8
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2005/05/15/2003254782
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (宋楚瑜) visit to China was a carbon copy of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) earlier trip. Both behaved as Beijing's script dictated.
Their behavior was no different in substance -- they both identified with the concepts of "one China" and "one Chinese people."
Neither dared to bring up the name "Republic of China," let alone stress that the Republic of China is a sovereign country.
This pair of political puppets predictably made Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) very happy and helped in his efforts to dwarf Taiwan's status.
Both the Hu-Lien communique and the Hu-Soong communique were ambiguous on Taiwan's sovereignty, but in fact are barely disguised plots to promote unification and prepare for surrender.
Lien and Soong have run in presidential elections twice, and were rejected on both occasions. During those campaigns, Lien and Soong repeatedly stated that the future of Taiwan should be decided by its 23 million people. They even got down on their hands and knees to kiss the ground in an attempt to repudiate allegations they were selling out the nation.
`The ease with which Hu mixed with Lien and Soong suggests that the three have far more in common with each other than any of them have with the people of this nation.'
Now, in order to save themselves from political marginalization, Lien and Soong have dashed to Hu for help, shouting "one China" and "one Chinese people" along the way. How is such behavior different from selling out Taiwan?
The future of Taiwan should be decided by its citizens. So long as a majority of people agree, of course Taiwanese independence remains an option.
But Lien and Soong denied Taiwanese their right to choose independence by dismissing it as an option altogether. They are therefore genuine enemies of democracy and hold the people in contempt.
Since 2000, helped by an opposition majority in the legislature, Lien and Soong have repeatedly jeopardized the sovereignty and security of the nation.
They have behaved as if the public were not entitled to good governance simply because they failed in their bids to be elected president.
The defeat of Lien and Soong in last year's election demonstrated that the public's stance on sovereignty and security was not swayed by these efforts at cultivating mayhem over the past four years.
This means that as long as the president of this country holds firm to a pro-Taiwan stance, he can win the support of the majority.
This is not surprising. Taiwan is our home. People will not tolerate Lien and Soong dividing Taiwan and handing it over on a silver platter.
Unfortunately, recent events suggest that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has not been his usual self in standing firmly by the nation's sovereignty and security.
The combination of Lien's and Soong's agenda of havoc, Chinese threats from without and other international factors have placed a lot of pressure on Chen.
However, as a leader, he must do what is right as well as live up to his own campaign promises and stay faithful to his supporters.
This fundamental principle of democracy seems to have been thoroughly forgotten after last year's legislative elections.
When Soong and Chen issued a 10-point consensus, through which the two embraced the "Republic of China," Chen cast aside his campaign platform on name rectification and a new constitution. The only excuse offered was that they could not be accomplished.
The political change that has come over Chen has opened a Pandora's box, opening the door for Lien and Soong to do what they have always wanted to do but dare not admit -- team up with the Chinese communist regime in a gambit to revive their political fortunes. When the Chen-Soong consensus was announced, Soong immediately declared that Taiwanese independence was not an option. And there was Chen, sitting right next to him but saying nothing, as if tacitly supporting Soong's words.
Even more puzzling is this -- when China invited Soong to visit, Chen was expecting Soong to serve as a kind of envoy.
He probably entertained the illusion that Lien and Soong would open doors for him in China.
So it was a little strange for Chen to repudiate Soong after the latter declared in Beijing that Taiwanese independence was no option.
Other than his endorsement of the 10-point consensus, what could have earned Soong's invitation to China?
After saying that Taiwanese independence was not an option, Soong proposed to Hu that the "wisdom" of the "Chinese" on both sides of the Taiwan Strait had to be combined so that the "Chinese" could handle the misunderstandings and problems left over from the past on their own.
In other words, the Taiwanese had no substantial right to speak on cross-strait differences. They were merely at the mercy of the "Chinese" on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
If this is the case, then Taiwan will take only one path in the future: Chinese unification, or Chinese engulfment, in other words.
This is why the six-point consensus between Soong and Hu accepted the "one China" principle and opposed any campaign on name rectification and a new constitution.
Soong even seemed to take pride in the slogan "two sides of the Strait, one China" and "`one China' with each side of the Taiwan Strait free to interpret its meaning."
If Taiwan accepts "one China," then it is all over. So Soong has not achieved anything at all. Given such treacherous behavior, it would be ridiculous for Chen to continue portraying Soong as some kind of envoy.
Some pro-unification media outlets have pointed out that Soong's speech in National Tsing Hua University mentioned "Taiwan" and "Taiwan consciousness" a number of times.
So what? Does using these terms make treachery less treacherous?
Lien and Soong have stressed that "Taiwan consciousness" is not the same as "Taiwanese independence."
Soong, for example, said in China that Taiwan consciousness is a sentimental identification with the land and people of Taiwan that has built up over a long period of time, while Taiwanese independence is an attempt to sever ties between Taiwan and China.
Then is it not naked political manipulation by Beijing to spurn this identification and coerce Taiwan into its arms?
Soong has now returned from his homecoming tour. And with his and Lien's helping hands, China can now accelerate its efforts to divide this nation.
This is therefore a major test for Taiwan as it works toward becoming a normal country.
The ease with which Hu mixed with Lien and Soong suggests that the three have far more in common with each other than any of them have with the people of this nation.
It is important that Taiwanese recognize this so that it can pass this test.
If Chen still cares about Taiwanese sovereignty and security, then he should no longer employ the "Republic of China" -- a name that even Lien could not dare to utter in front of his communist masters -- as a tool for co-existing with the current pan-blue-camp leadership. Lien and Soong have not only failed to find a way forward for this nation, they have in fact dug a hole for Taiwan to fall into.
Will the efforts of Lien and Soong to sell out Taiwan work? Will China's plot to force unification through an economic Trojan horse be successful? And will the national identification with Taiwan be ripped apart?
Chen's decision to either cooperate with the communists or stand up against "China fever" is critical.
- they have personal agendas and are making so-called 'historic journeys of peace' as a political show;
- they are both sour because neither of them, either running alone (2000 elections) or running together (2004 elections), were able to become president of Taiwan;
- their trips to China, and their red-carpet treatment by the Chinese is nothing more than ploys to undermine the democratically elected government of Taiwan;
- ironic that fifty years ago the Nationalist Party of Lien Chan and (for a while) also of James Soong were arch enemies with the Communist Party...now they seem to have become close pals, calling one another family, relatives, brothers;
- China has played the 'Taiwanese compatriots come home' trick, aggrandising the visits by Lien Chan and James Soong, propogandising it in the news media as a victory of China's campaign to woo Taiwan and its people to embrace the motherland'. It is however ironic that though China expects everyone to accept that Taiwan is a part of its sovereign territory, the red-carpet treatment extended to the two special guests are befitting and only given to foreign dignitories;
- their trips have undermined the credentials of Taiwan's not-so-old and not-yet-mature democratic foundations, and send an ambiguous message to the rest of the world that the people of Taiwan condone such 'peace-seeking' visits, whereas the visits were (in the words of the two politicians themselves) purely personal in nature, and have no official capacity;
- the trips come in the aftermaths of the adoption of the 'Anti-Seccession Law' by China which is directly targeted towards Taiwan, and which legitimises the ability of the Chinese regime to use force to forcefully invade and conquer the island; Again, the trips appear to the world that the people of Taiwan are cowering to the threats and bully tactics of China.
- the agreements and the pacts made by both Lien Chan and James Soong with President Hu Jin-tao are illegal and should have no effect on the lives of people in Taiwan, and the status of Taiwan as a de-facto independent state;
- such agreements are ploys by both the Chinese Nationalists and Communists to realise their fantasies that Taiwan ever belonged to them at all, and ignore the rights and democratic freedoms of Taiwan's 23million people;
- if China wants to respect the rights of the so-called 'Taiwan compatriots', it should be willing to talk and negotiate with the democratically elected government of Taiwan, without pre-conditions, without coercion, without the threat of force, without any pre-planned arranged, but on the basis of mutual equality and respect;
- any change of the status quo, such as the threat to use force to invade and 'liberate' Taiwan, is clearly unacceptable and a clear violation of all international norms governing peaceful relations between states and a disturbance to world and regional peace and order;
- the international community and international organisations in the world should recognise the fact that China's encroachments to Taiwan's sovereingty and dignity are illegal and threaten not only Taiwan's people and their livelihoods, but also all else in the region and stability in the world as a whole.
SOURCE: Cagle.com
Below is an excellent editorial in the Liberty Times about this all...
---
Responding to a double sell-out
By the Liberty Times editorial
Sunday, May 15, 2005,Page 8
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2005/05/15/2003254782
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (宋楚瑜) visit to China was a carbon copy of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) earlier trip. Both behaved as Beijing's script dictated.
Their behavior was no different in substance -- they both identified with the concepts of "one China" and "one Chinese people."
Neither dared to bring up the name "Republic of China," let alone stress that the Republic of China is a sovereign country.
This pair of political puppets predictably made Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) very happy and helped in his efforts to dwarf Taiwan's status.
Both the Hu-Lien communique and the Hu-Soong communique were ambiguous on Taiwan's sovereignty, but in fact are barely disguised plots to promote unification and prepare for surrender.
Lien and Soong have run in presidential elections twice, and were rejected on both occasions. During those campaigns, Lien and Soong repeatedly stated that the future of Taiwan should be decided by its 23 million people. They even got down on their hands and knees to kiss the ground in an attempt to repudiate allegations they were selling out the nation.
`The ease with which Hu mixed with Lien and Soong suggests that the three have far more in common with each other than any of them have with the people of this nation.'
Now, in order to save themselves from political marginalization, Lien and Soong have dashed to Hu for help, shouting "one China" and "one Chinese people" along the way. How is such behavior different from selling out Taiwan?
The future of Taiwan should be decided by its citizens. So long as a majority of people agree, of course Taiwanese independence remains an option.
But Lien and Soong denied Taiwanese their right to choose independence by dismissing it as an option altogether. They are therefore genuine enemies of democracy and hold the people in contempt.
Since 2000, helped by an opposition majority in the legislature, Lien and Soong have repeatedly jeopardized the sovereignty and security of the nation.
They have behaved as if the public were not entitled to good governance simply because they failed in their bids to be elected president.
The defeat of Lien and Soong in last year's election demonstrated that the public's stance on sovereignty and security was not swayed by these efforts at cultivating mayhem over the past four years.
This means that as long as the president of this country holds firm to a pro-Taiwan stance, he can win the support of the majority.
This is not surprising. Taiwan is our home. People will not tolerate Lien and Soong dividing Taiwan and handing it over on a silver platter.
Unfortunately, recent events suggest that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has not been his usual self in standing firmly by the nation's sovereignty and security.
The combination of Lien's and Soong's agenda of havoc, Chinese threats from without and other international factors have placed a lot of pressure on Chen.
However, as a leader, he must do what is right as well as live up to his own campaign promises and stay faithful to his supporters.
This fundamental principle of democracy seems to have been thoroughly forgotten after last year's legislative elections.
When Soong and Chen issued a 10-point consensus, through which the two embraced the "Republic of China," Chen cast aside his campaign platform on name rectification and a new constitution. The only excuse offered was that they could not be accomplished.
The political change that has come over Chen has opened a Pandora's box, opening the door for Lien and Soong to do what they have always wanted to do but dare not admit -- team up with the Chinese communist regime in a gambit to revive their political fortunes. When the Chen-Soong consensus was announced, Soong immediately declared that Taiwanese independence was not an option. And there was Chen, sitting right next to him but saying nothing, as if tacitly supporting Soong's words.
Even more puzzling is this -- when China invited Soong to visit, Chen was expecting Soong to serve as a kind of envoy.
He probably entertained the illusion that Lien and Soong would open doors for him in China.
So it was a little strange for Chen to repudiate Soong after the latter declared in Beijing that Taiwanese independence was no option.
Other than his endorsement of the 10-point consensus, what could have earned Soong's invitation to China?
After saying that Taiwanese independence was not an option, Soong proposed to Hu that the "wisdom" of the "Chinese" on both sides of the Taiwan Strait had to be combined so that the "Chinese" could handle the misunderstandings and problems left over from the past on their own.
In other words, the Taiwanese had no substantial right to speak on cross-strait differences. They were merely at the mercy of the "Chinese" on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
If this is the case, then Taiwan will take only one path in the future: Chinese unification, or Chinese engulfment, in other words.
This is why the six-point consensus between Soong and Hu accepted the "one China" principle and opposed any campaign on name rectification and a new constitution.
Soong even seemed to take pride in the slogan "two sides of the Strait, one China" and "`one China' with each side of the Taiwan Strait free to interpret its meaning."
If Taiwan accepts "one China," then it is all over. So Soong has not achieved anything at all. Given such treacherous behavior, it would be ridiculous for Chen to continue portraying Soong as some kind of envoy.
Some pro-unification media outlets have pointed out that Soong's speech in National Tsing Hua University mentioned "Taiwan" and "Taiwan consciousness" a number of times.
So what? Does using these terms make treachery less treacherous?
Lien and Soong have stressed that "Taiwan consciousness" is not the same as "Taiwanese independence."
Soong, for example, said in China that Taiwan consciousness is a sentimental identification with the land and people of Taiwan that has built up over a long period of time, while Taiwanese independence is an attempt to sever ties between Taiwan and China.
Then is it not naked political manipulation by Beijing to spurn this identification and coerce Taiwan into its arms?
Soong has now returned from his homecoming tour. And with his and Lien's helping hands, China can now accelerate its efforts to divide this nation.
This is therefore a major test for Taiwan as it works toward becoming a normal country.
The ease with which Hu mixed with Lien and Soong suggests that the three have far more in common with each other than any of them have with the people of this nation.
It is important that Taiwanese recognize this so that it can pass this test.
If Chen still cares about Taiwanese sovereignty and security, then he should no longer employ the "Republic of China" -- a name that even Lien could not dare to utter in front of his communist masters -- as a tool for co-existing with the current pan-blue-camp leadership. Lien and Soong have not only failed to find a way forward for this nation, they have in fact dug a hole for Taiwan to fall into.
Will the efforts of Lien and Soong to sell out Taiwan work? Will China's plot to force unification through an economic Trojan horse be successful? And will the national identification with Taiwan be ripped apart?
Chen's decision to either cooperate with the communists or stand up against "China fever" is critical.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
A day in May
Just spent the past couple of hours browsing the net, looking for where my future might lie. And I still have no clue at all!
Been to see a studieadviseur about my plans and possibilities. She advised me to conduct my little research, and maybe even find someone who is willing to supervise me so that I could possibly bring my research into my masters studies...It all sounds so wonderful, if things could fall into place. I would go to Asia, to Taiwan, to Indonesia, see different people and worlds, collect lots of information, write many articles about my findings. I would achieve something there, I would touch lives there, I would find out what it is that has been missing from my life. Then I would return, with renewed hopes, with ideals and with determination. I would do an intership at the ICC starting next year, earn some money to support myself, gain great experience and contacts in the international world and in legal practice. Then I would pursue a study, and things would start rolling from there on.
That's all I would like to do, all I could imagine would make the worries and the frustrations go away... The days to when I'll be gone are counting down, and I feel I need more time. More time to prepare, to think things through, to read and to ready myself for my trip to Asia. Exciting as it all may sound, and as luring as it all may seem I'm having doubts and second thoughts whether I'll be able to accomplish what I set out to do. And most of all, whether I'll get the support, and by that I mean the physical, moral and approval, I need to continue on this journey.
I think about what I may be doing...I think about the one more year I'm taking out to pursue my interests, to continue this journey of discovery and exploration....but is it right? Is it what I need? Is it what I want? I doubt, sometimes, whether I will ever know what I truly want in life. Besides going to work and going home again, I feel like there is little space for me to breathe, to take time out and to just stop and think things through carefully. I should be reading up on the literature on migrant workers, I should be translating the articles I have been given, I should be studying and improving my Indonesian, I should watch the news and keep up with what's going on, I should contact my dad after all this time (it's been three months...one whole season, a quater of a year gone by without any contact at all...), I should get the essentials ready (like my visa, my plane tickets, my accomodation etc!!!) for my trip, I should be out there enjoying my life and youth more, I should be, I should be, I should be......
When I think about that all, I feel like sleeping. And I think back at the past year, at all the times I've been sleeping and playing games and doing nothing, wasting my life away, while I could have been preparing and could have been answering, or trying to find the answers to, the questions I now toil myself with! Filled with regret, remorse and longing to escape this dreadful time of doubt, uncertainty and denial.
I should face it all, no matter how tired I feel. I should be able to confront it all, no matter what difficulties and setbacks lie ahead. But it's really tough...really tough when there's no guidance, no one to really confide in and no one to share with.
The other day I was in the train and looking outside at the world pass by.
I thought how green and peaceful it all is! How peaceful and uneventful it has all been! And now I want to change all that, now I want to seek out excitement and seek out life itself elsewhere. And now I want to leave this peaceful and quiet life and head into the trouble, the dirt and the heat of other places, and of other people.
What am I doing?
What am I really doing?
Been to see a studieadviseur about my plans and possibilities. She advised me to conduct my little research, and maybe even find someone who is willing to supervise me so that I could possibly bring my research into my masters studies...It all sounds so wonderful, if things could fall into place. I would go to Asia, to Taiwan, to Indonesia, see different people and worlds, collect lots of information, write many articles about my findings. I would achieve something there, I would touch lives there, I would find out what it is that has been missing from my life. Then I would return, with renewed hopes, with ideals and with determination. I would do an intership at the ICC starting next year, earn some money to support myself, gain great experience and contacts in the international world and in legal practice. Then I would pursue a study, and things would start rolling from there on.
That's all I would like to do, all I could imagine would make the worries and the frustrations go away... The days to when I'll be gone are counting down, and I feel I need more time. More time to prepare, to think things through, to read and to ready myself for my trip to Asia. Exciting as it all may sound, and as luring as it all may seem I'm having doubts and second thoughts whether I'll be able to accomplish what I set out to do. And most of all, whether I'll get the support, and by that I mean the physical, moral and approval, I need to continue on this journey.
I think about what I may be doing...I think about the one more year I'm taking out to pursue my interests, to continue this journey of discovery and exploration....but is it right? Is it what I need? Is it what I want? I doubt, sometimes, whether I will ever know what I truly want in life. Besides going to work and going home again, I feel like there is little space for me to breathe, to take time out and to just stop and think things through carefully. I should be reading up on the literature on migrant workers, I should be translating the articles I have been given, I should be studying and improving my Indonesian, I should watch the news and keep up with what's going on, I should contact my dad after all this time (it's been three months...one whole season, a quater of a year gone by without any contact at all...), I should get the essentials ready (like my visa, my plane tickets, my accomodation etc!!!) for my trip, I should be out there enjoying my life and youth more, I should be, I should be, I should be......
When I think about that all, I feel like sleeping. And I think back at the past year, at all the times I've been sleeping and playing games and doing nothing, wasting my life away, while I could have been preparing and could have been answering, or trying to find the answers to, the questions I now toil myself with! Filled with regret, remorse and longing to escape this dreadful time of doubt, uncertainty and denial.
I should face it all, no matter how tired I feel. I should be able to confront it all, no matter what difficulties and setbacks lie ahead. But it's really tough...really tough when there's no guidance, no one to really confide in and no one to share with.
The other day I was in the train and looking outside at the world pass by.
I thought how green and peaceful it all is! How peaceful and uneventful it has all been! And now I want to change all that, now I want to seek out excitement and seek out life itself elsewhere. And now I want to leave this peaceful and quiet life and head into the trouble, the dirt and the heat of other places, and of other people.
What am I doing?
What am I really doing?
Monday, May 09, 2005
'Say a little prayer for...me'!
One of my favourite songs. Of course, the real title is 'Say a little prayer for you'. It's on the radio now. Ironic after somethings that happened today.
Just returned from a weddingparty of a colleague. It was in the cellar (or so it seemed) of Fort Blauwkapel near Utrecht. So different from the wedding parties in the movies...more like something SOASians (my uni in London) would able to pull off! Tibetan music and singing, Medditeranean foods, Medieval singing and dancing. Quite unique, quite 'multi-culti'! And the couple were beautiful together. Amid good friends and family we celebrated the night away. When you know it's the one, you know.
Looking at all these people around me, seemingly settled and happy. Either married or in a serious relationship. Maybe it's their age, since most people I know or work with are much (I mean MUCH) older. And seeing them together as couples makes me, not jealous, but somehow wonder why I'm alone. Often imagine meeting or being with someone...kind, sweet, warm and in touch with the 'human' side...often imagine going to some place to 'pick' someone up, or be picked up....but never had the will or courage. Always something is in the way, or excuses like 'if I start something now, I'll be gone in a few weeks...'
Then a 'Tante' at work was saying I think too much of others, and do not care enough of myself. Which was surprising, and I'm still wondering why she said that. But it's true. I do care too much about others, and they seem to come first before me, whatever I do, whatever I think of. Why do I not 'love' myself, not treasure who I am, and what I have accomplished? Nothing seems enough for me, I seem to want more, demand more from me, but take whatever others give, or do not give, me. This selfless-ness, if it's possible, is tiring, and should stop. Like Tante was saying, 'een gewoonte leer je aan, maar een gewoonte leer je ook af!' (a habit you learn, but a habit you also unlearn') True, very true, but difficult to practice.
The moment I came through the door, the first thing brother asked was whether I took the bike today. No greeting, no how-are-you, no how-was-it...just a command, a sentence to make me guilty of 'taking' the bike, of ot answering the phone when he called. Of course I took the bike, who else?! Of course I didn't hear the phone, or else I would have answered it. I just ignored him and went away. Not the first time, but everytime an insult. Incosiderate. Bossy. Unforgiving. Mean.
The kitchen seemed full of rubbish. Empty package of noddle just on the kitchen counter, bottles on the floor, noodle still in a pot after four days, unwashed dishes, and the bin full even though its garbage night. Why should I do anything? Be a little selfish. They have been home the whole day, why couldn't they do any of it?
When going upstairs, Kleine Kat (my cat) followed me. I sat down, and she butted me, my arms, legs, hands and body with her head. I caressed her softly...maybe she was hungry, maybe she was hungry for attention, but it still made me think, for the so many-est time (de zoveelste keer: meaning countless times):
at least someone is happy to see me!
Kleine Kat
Just returned from a weddingparty of a colleague. It was in the cellar (or so it seemed) of Fort Blauwkapel near Utrecht. So different from the wedding parties in the movies...more like something SOASians (my uni in London) would able to pull off! Tibetan music and singing, Medditeranean foods, Medieval singing and dancing. Quite unique, quite 'multi-culti'! And the couple were beautiful together. Amid good friends and family we celebrated the night away. When you know it's the one, you know.
Looking at all these people around me, seemingly settled and happy. Either married or in a serious relationship. Maybe it's their age, since most people I know or work with are much (I mean MUCH) older. And seeing them together as couples makes me, not jealous, but somehow wonder why I'm alone. Often imagine meeting or being with someone...kind, sweet, warm and in touch with the 'human' side...often imagine going to some place to 'pick' someone up, or be picked up....but never had the will or courage. Always something is in the way, or excuses like 'if I start something now, I'll be gone in a few weeks...'
Then a 'Tante' at work was saying I think too much of others, and do not care enough of myself. Which was surprising, and I'm still wondering why she said that. But it's true. I do care too much about others, and they seem to come first before me, whatever I do, whatever I think of. Why do I not 'love' myself, not treasure who I am, and what I have accomplished? Nothing seems enough for me, I seem to want more, demand more from me, but take whatever others give, or do not give, me. This selfless-ness, if it's possible, is tiring, and should stop. Like Tante was saying, 'een gewoonte leer je aan, maar een gewoonte leer je ook af!' (a habit you learn, but a habit you also unlearn') True, very true, but difficult to practice.
The moment I came through the door, the first thing brother asked was whether I took the bike today. No greeting, no how-are-you, no how-was-it...just a command, a sentence to make me guilty of 'taking' the bike, of ot answering the phone when he called. Of course I took the bike, who else?! Of course I didn't hear the phone, or else I would have answered it. I just ignored him and went away. Not the first time, but everytime an insult. Incosiderate. Bossy. Unforgiving. Mean.
The kitchen seemed full of rubbish. Empty package of noddle just on the kitchen counter, bottles on the floor, noodle still in a pot after four days, unwashed dishes, and the bin full even though its garbage night. Why should I do anything? Be a little selfish. They have been home the whole day, why couldn't they do any of it?
When going upstairs, Kleine Kat (my cat) followed me. I sat down, and she butted me, my arms, legs, hands and body with her head. I caressed her softly...maybe she was hungry, maybe she was hungry for attention, but it still made me think, for the so many-est time (de zoveelste keer: meaning countless times):
at least someone is happy to see me!
Kleine Kat
Friday, May 06, 2005
could, should, would
It's one of those nights. Been thinking to myself ever since I woke up today that I would do something useful. Read something in preparation for my trip to Asia, do some work for work, tidy my room, look into my future options, write an application...so many things, but not done a single one. At the back of my mind I want to have fun. I want to chill, and I keep on telling myself that I could do all these things some other time. Because today is Friday, and I should be having fun, instead of doing serious work. Because it's almost the weekend, and weekends people relax and get away from thoughts of work and work.
But then the problem is, workdays for me are like any other day because I don't have much work to do. I still go to the office and sit there, surfing the net, doing odd chores, doing my own stuff, and go home at the end of the day, exhausted, not willing to do anything else but watch TV or surf the net and do nothing.
It was one of those days again today. And the day is almost over. Already feeling the tiredness and lure of bed just sitting here. What did I do today? Did some food shopping, cycled to the market to get my hair cut, wrote some emails, read the news here and there...what did I do today?
I should have do some work, some serious work.
I could have gotten a lot done in the past hour or so.
I would if I could, and if I really think I should.
But then the problem is, workdays for me are like any other day because I don't have much work to do. I still go to the office and sit there, surfing the net, doing odd chores, doing my own stuff, and go home at the end of the day, exhausted, not willing to do anything else but watch TV or surf the net and do nothing.
It was one of those days again today. And the day is almost over. Already feeling the tiredness and lure of bed just sitting here. What did I do today? Did some food shopping, cycled to the market to get my hair cut, wrote some emails, read the news here and there...what did I do today?
I should have do some work, some serious work.
I could have gotten a lot done in the past hour or so.
I would if I could, and if I really think I should.
Vier vrijheid
"Vier vijf mei.
Op vier mei herdenken wij.
Op vijf mei vieren wij onze vrijheid."
Omdat vrijheid waardelos is,
Omdat vrijheid om te sterven is.
Vrijheid is een mogelijkheid,
Vrijheid is een keus.
Een leven zonder angst,
Dat is nou vrij.
Een leven van vreugde,
Dat heet nou vrij zijn.
Vrijheid is durven,
Vrijheid is wagen.
Vrijheid is zeggen,
Vrijheid is zweigen.
Van waar krijgen wij vrijheid?
Niet van de hemel geschonken.
Vrijheid maken wij,
En vrijheid hebben wij vaker gebroken.
Vrijheid kennen ons nog niet,
Maar wij kennen vrijheid wel.
Just watched the movie so many have told me is a must-see: Schindler's List. Indeed it was. How much is a human life? What is power? Where does human cruelty end? Why do people hate and discriminate? The ashes, the meaningless deaths, executions, torture, abuses, humiliations, annihilations, 'special treatments', the inhumanity of it all! to think this was just a few decades ago possible...to think that it could very well, and indeed probably does, happen anywhere and anytime in the world today or tomorrow again...The fear, the sheer monstrocity, the unimaginable-ness of it all!
One life cannot change the world, but one life can change another.
Ironically on another channel a short documentary called 26,000 gezichten was broadcast. It was about the anxieties and desperation of the tens of thousands of uitgeprocedeerde ('processed out') asielzoekers en andere vreemdlingen. The verharding (hardening) of government policy towards foreign immigrants and by minister Verdonk of immigration and asylum is reflective of the seperation and segregation of the worst excesses of Nazi past and Apartheid. There;s even talk of giving foreigners certificates to indicate their level of 'inburgering' (citizenising) and their level of assimilation to Dutch society and culture.
How contradictory that the last two days the whole country celebrated the 60th anniversary of liberation from the yoke of the Nazis, and yet there are portions of the population who live under the fear of deportation! A girl in the programme talked of the 'knock on the door'. I thought that only happened in places where tyranny reigns and the state security services run the system. But no...people who have been here for many years, many fearing the persecution and the instability and threat to life in their home countries, many settled and connected to Dutch society, many contributing to the society in ways others are not able or even willing to contribute...because they are different, because they are foreign and seen as a threat, so they must go.
Hypocrisy.
Stereotypes.
'Wij-zij gevoel' (us-them feeling).
It's reptitive. And it's disturbing.
Here is the text of the vrijheidslied 2005:
------------
In Vrijheid
(Thé Lau, januari 2005)
Kom broeder, geef je hand
vergeet je razernij
moed is de moeder van de rede
Kom zuster, schuif eens aan
en zet je angst op zij
sluit je aan en lucht je hart in vrijheid
Kom broeder, drink eens uit
vandaag is het vijf mei
feest van een zwaar bevochten vrede
Kom zuster, dans met ons
draai je rokken rond
dans op de klanken van de rede
vrede wordt zo voor onze neuzen weggekaapt
en vrijheid is niet iets dat zo van straat wordt opgeraapt
vrede is bevochten
vrede is bevochten
maar vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
Kom broeder, drink eens uit
we zijn hier niet alleen
wij zijn hier van lieverlede samen
kom zuster, dans met ons
voel je gelijk en vrij
kom, draai je rokken rond in vrijheid
vrede wordt zo voor onze neuzen weggekaapt
en vrijheid is niet iets dat zo van straat wordt opgeraapt
vrede is bevochten
vrede is bevochten
maar vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
vrede is bevochten
vrede is bevochten
vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een dreiging die nooit slaapt
------------
Als het allemaal maar waar zal zijn.
Op vier mei herdenken wij.
Op vijf mei vieren wij onze vrijheid."
Omdat vrijheid waardelos is,
Omdat vrijheid om te sterven is.
Vrijheid is een mogelijkheid,
Vrijheid is een keus.
Een leven zonder angst,
Dat is nou vrij.
Een leven van vreugde,
Dat heet nou vrij zijn.
Vrijheid is durven,
Vrijheid is wagen.
Vrijheid is zeggen,
Vrijheid is zweigen.
Van waar krijgen wij vrijheid?
Niet van de hemel geschonken.
Vrijheid maken wij,
En vrijheid hebben wij vaker gebroken.
Vrijheid kennen ons nog niet,
Maar wij kennen vrijheid wel.
Just watched the movie so many have told me is a must-see: Schindler's List. Indeed it was. How much is a human life? What is power? Where does human cruelty end? Why do people hate and discriminate? The ashes, the meaningless deaths, executions, torture, abuses, humiliations, annihilations, 'special treatments', the inhumanity of it all! to think this was just a few decades ago possible...to think that it could very well, and indeed probably does, happen anywhere and anytime in the world today or tomorrow again...The fear, the sheer monstrocity, the unimaginable-ness of it all!
One life cannot change the world, but one life can change another.
Ironically on another channel a short documentary called 26,000 gezichten was broadcast. It was about the anxieties and desperation of the tens of thousands of uitgeprocedeerde ('processed out') asielzoekers en andere vreemdlingen. The verharding (hardening) of government policy towards foreign immigrants and by minister Verdonk of immigration and asylum is reflective of the seperation and segregation of the worst excesses of Nazi past and Apartheid. There;s even talk of giving foreigners certificates to indicate their level of 'inburgering' (citizenising) and their level of assimilation to Dutch society and culture.
How contradictory that the last two days the whole country celebrated the 60th anniversary of liberation from the yoke of the Nazis, and yet there are portions of the population who live under the fear of deportation! A girl in the programme talked of the 'knock on the door'. I thought that only happened in places where tyranny reigns and the state security services run the system. But no...people who have been here for many years, many fearing the persecution and the instability and threat to life in their home countries, many settled and connected to Dutch society, many contributing to the society in ways others are not able or even willing to contribute...because they are different, because they are foreign and seen as a threat, so they must go.
Hypocrisy.
Stereotypes.
'Wij-zij gevoel' (us-them feeling).
It's reptitive. And it's disturbing.
Here is the text of the vrijheidslied 2005:
------------
In Vrijheid
(Thé Lau, januari 2005)
Kom broeder, geef je hand
vergeet je razernij
moed is de moeder van de rede
Kom zuster, schuif eens aan
en zet je angst op zij
sluit je aan en lucht je hart in vrijheid
Kom broeder, drink eens uit
vandaag is het vijf mei
feest van een zwaar bevochten vrede
Kom zuster, dans met ons
draai je rokken rond
dans op de klanken van de rede
vrede wordt zo voor onze neuzen weggekaapt
en vrijheid is niet iets dat zo van straat wordt opgeraapt
vrede is bevochten
vrede is bevochten
maar vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
Kom broeder, drink eens uit
we zijn hier niet alleen
wij zijn hier van lieverlede samen
kom zuster, dans met ons
voel je gelijk en vrij
kom, draai je rokken rond in vrijheid
vrede wordt zo voor onze neuzen weggekaapt
en vrijheid is niet iets dat zo van straat wordt opgeraapt
vrede is bevochten
vrede is bevochten
maar vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
vrede is bevochten
vrede is bevochten
vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een oorlog die nooit slaapt
vrijheid wordt bevochten
op een dreiging die nooit slaapt
------------
Als het allemaal maar waar zal zijn.
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