August 2010

The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy based in India reported that one of Tibet’s richest man has apparently been sentenced to life in prison. Dorje Tashi, the owner of the most famous hotel in Llasa, The Yak Hotel, has it seems been found guilty of helping exile groups. He is believed to be in his thirties and once met the President of China. The harsh sentence is attributed to the crackdown on well known Tibetans and part of the increased repression taking place in the country.
Nelson Mandela was once so unheard of. Doubtful Dorje Tashi will be the next Mandela. That’s not important. What is is that he stands as a reminder that in many countries of the world, Myanmar, North Korea, Zimbabwe to name but three, people are convicted for a pretext, held because their convictions are deemed a threat to an authoritarian regime.
Amnesty International often makes their names known. But known or not they exist and at the very least deserve the highest respect and admiration we can give them.

We read about the results of so many surveys without knowing what good comes of the knowledge. So it was particularly comforting to read about a campaign to each young people about the First Amendment. A survey had shown that only one in 25 can name all five freedoms listed in the First Amendment—religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. It’s a troublesome finding and it’s therefore reassuring that several organizations such as American Society of News Editors, and the Gannet Foundation are sponsoring the effort. In fact the American Society of News Editors had conducted its own research showing that education and advertising were key to increase awareness. Hopefully young or old we shall be exposed to their work, and when we encounter it feel glad that perhaps 1 in 25 of us knowing all 5 First Amendment freedoms will hopefully soon be history.

Sometimes the smallest thing can speak loudly. In this case it is numbers an independent TV station in Munich, Germany, is broadcasting in a corner of it screen, the times of the beginning and end of the Ramadan fast. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset. It is a gesture towards the Muslim community, but in an era of such resistance to immigrants and particularly Muslim immigrants, it acquires much meaning. Yet, the head of marketing at the station put it more simply, “One can theorize a lot about integration, but we simply wanted to send a clear signal for once.”
Why couldn’t other stations in Germany, Europe and the U.S. send the same signal too?