April 2008: Chinese People’s Liberation Army dressed in monks’ clothes

I guess all of this is coming to a head, in some ways brought about by the Olympics being hosted in Beijing is only serving to put China under a very unforgiving spotlight.

In some respects it makes me acutely aware and deeply grateful for all of the choices that I have by merely being born into this world in a Westernised country. There are so many other people out there who don’t get any education because they can’t afford it, don’t get to vote because they’re a woman, get shot for just expressing their own political views, get their organs harvested for expressing their own religious views, and on and on.

Whereas before I was quite content to ignore the problems of the world, now I feel a change in me – where I am more interested in what’s going-on in the world, but not in a doom-and-gloom sort of a way, but in a Sean Penn do-gooder stylee. I’ve become aware of a few of the problems of the world, but there are things that can be done.

One initial reaction is to say that nothing can be done. Or to say that if I did write to my MP / Senator / Government Representative then it would be ignored and nothing would be done. Indeed it might be ignored, but that’s the point at which you actively engage your existing MP / Senator / Government Representative and make them aware of the fact that you don’t mind voting for somebody else, that your confidence is waning, that they are failing to serve their communities and perform the role to which they have been appointed and that they should either help or go fuck themselves with an iron pole.

All of this sounds very involved, very demanding in-terms of time that might otherwise be well-spent happily twitching in the corner on Gummi Berry Juice with Hard Dance music blaring out. One of my coming-of-30 realisations is that life is quickly passing me by and I can either continue to be a good-time fun-loving type or I can do something positive – like trying to improve the lives of others. While I’ve known this before, now Old Man Time is knocking more loudly on the door, I’m beginning to think about what is important and what is worth doing …

Latest News

• Sign the petition for Helen Clark to stand-up for Tibet before she departs for China on Saturday 5/April/2008
• I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to world leaders and the international community for their concern over the recent sad turn of events in Tibet …
• Sources at British Spy Agency Confirm Tibetan Claims of Staged Violence
• Dalai Lama suggests China could be behind Tibet unrest
• China Scholars Condemn CCP’s Brutality in Tibet
• Eleven years ago Tash risked his life to flee Tibet. Now he has risked it again by returning with a hidden camera to film the stories of torture, murder and forced sterilisation that China does not want the world to hear …
  

The People’s Liberation Army would never incite violence by dressing-up as monks and running amok. They would never think of doing anything like that. Not a chance …

Play safe,
Tomo