Human Rights - a Challenge for us all

There is hardly any politician in the civilised world who will not publicly commit himself (and his party) to respect, uphold and defend Human Rights. This is good, and a great achievement for many campaigning groups and organisations (of whom the most prominent is undoubtedly Amnesty International). After all, only 65 years ago the world's nations were occupied with killing and destroying each other, and two centuries ago slavery was still seen as 'normal' by the majority of political (and religious!) leaders.

However, when it comes to implement the well-spoken words into policies and action, the record of the same politicians is far less impressive. In fact some of the most vociferous supporters of Human Rights are regularly found to be liars and hypocrites, who abuse in practice the same Human Rights they seem to support and uphold in their speeches.

The list of these politicians is long, too long to be published here. But I am sure that most readers will know plenty of the names that come to my mind. So I will concentrate for today - May 15th, the day Bloggers unite in a concerted international action for Human Rights - on some of the worst cases and their words and deeds.

Undoubtedly the worst hypocrite of our time is George W. Bush, who takes every opportunity to speak about "freedom, democracy and human rights". How much would one wish that he actually means what he says. But the most powerful man alive on this planet always speaks - as Native Americans used to put it so fittingly - with a forked tongue.
Occasionally he makes public gestures, such as awarding some medal or accolade to prominent Human Rights' campaigners and sufferers from political oppression and injustice. They include the Dalai Lama (above left) and Aung San Suu Kyi (above right), who are both the legitimate leaders of their nations - Tibet and Burma - and both recipients of the Nobel Prize for Peace.

But the same George W. Bush is responsible for the worst crimes and Human Rights' abuses in modern time. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the ongoing illegal occupation of these countries by US and allied troops (for seven and five years respectively) have killed more than a million people, most of them innocent civilians. Even more were wounded, and further millions - including more than four million Iraqis - were made homeless and driven into exile as refugees: homeless, jobless, penniless and by now almost forgotten by the world. Bush is also responsible for the systematic torture of thousands of political prisoners - at Guantanamo Bay and in secret CIA prisons in foreign countries - and has personally vetoed the banning of the infamous torture technique named 'Waterboarding' by the CIA. In fact it is simulated drowning and was originally invented by the Inquisition of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages.
The CIA, with Bush's personal approval, re-introduced this barbaric method some years ago. For that alone Bush and every CIA agent involved should be brought to the International Court of Justice. Sadly that is not going to happen, as the USA simply do not recognise the court.

One should also remember that the same George W. Bush, during his time as governor of Texas, had more prisoners executed than all other US states together. Nearly 200 US citizens died in six years on the orders of Governor Bush.
More than 4000 US soldiers have died meanwhile in Iraq, where he sends them as his human killing machines, and nearly 500 in Afghanistan. Additionally the lives of more than 60,000 US soldiers are blighted forever by serious wounds, many of them so severe that they will disable the wounded soldiers for life.

There is no shortage of public criticism of Bush, his henchmen and their criminal actions, but it only comes from ordinary people, including academics, writers, journalists and bloggers. Hardly any fellow politician has the guts to stand up and speak openly against the murderer, torturer and hypocrite in the White House.

As recommendable exceptions one has to mention Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (right), Bolivia's President Evo Morales and Cuba's new leader Raul Castro - three men whose countries and people have suffered more than enough from US imperialism. They are not only very brave, honest and courageous, but also very popular with the people.
So there is, after all, some hope...

The vast majority of the world's political leaders, ministers and parliamentarians are cowardly bowing before Bush and his regime of systematic Human Rights' abusers. I suppose that some countries are simply too small and too weak to even raise their voice against the USA. But what about the strong nations?
When has one ever heard a critical word from Japan, still the second-largest economy on the planet? And how does Europe fare? The mighty European Union (EU) with meanwhile 27 member states is sadly also a gathering of hypocrites and lickspittles, following eagerly the lead provided by the White House. No-one seems to have learned any lessons from history, as if Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and a dozen other dictators of the 20th century had never existed.
In our schools children learn little enough about them and their crimes, and what they learn there are usually stereotypes and twisted half-truths. Those in power are not really interested in well-educated and informed people. Tranquil and half-witted consumers, addicted to alcohol and various other drugs, are much easier to rule and control than enlightened and active citizens.

Subsequently there is little awareness - and even less open criticism - of the world's modern dictators and oppressive regimes. Since Russia is supposed to be our friend now, we close our eyes completely on its dark sides. There are no reports in our media about the brutal war in Chechnya, where Russian troops kill civilians at will and behave even worse than the Americans in Iraq. No mentioning either of the crimes against humanity that go on inside Russia, where power is now shared between ex-KGB officers (like Prime Minister and ex-President Vladimir Putin) and a mafia of common criminals which is well-organised, well-armed and absolutely ruthless. Anyone who dares to stand in their way, or even to speak about them in public, is in mortal danger. The number of journalists, writers and Human Rights' activists that have been murdered in Russia since 1991 is growing ever larger. If it were not for Amnesty International, we would never hear and know about them.

An even crueller and more cynical regime rules China, which has become a truly hybrid country: A totalitarian Communist state with absolute power, exercised by the one existing party, but with a more and more capitalist and consumerist mentality and society. Having enough manpower, available at very low cost, China has turned itself into the biggest workshop on the planet, manufacturing now about 85% of all basic consumer goods for the industrialised countries of the West. Many western books are also printed there, by people who cannot read English, while China is still blocking and filtering news from the free world, especially online.

Currently the country is in Olympic fever, preparing for this year's games in the capital Beijing. In a very Confucianist way the Chinese leadership is using the event also to humiliate the West (and the rest of the world) and make them bow before China's new industrial power. Protesters against the brutal occupation of Tibet (since 1952) are arrested, beaten up or simply shot in the streets, while at the same time the Olympic flame is paraded around the world by the Chinese in an unprecedented way. Showing off their newly gained strength, the Chinese leadership demanded that a stick with a flame would be treated by the world's major nations like a head of state, with 2000 policemen out on duty in London, and a similar sad spectacle in Paris.
In the past the flame travelled around a host country, carried by numerous athletes. There has never been any need for police or security, and everyone along the way cheered happily. But this year things are different. China managed to turn the Olympic flame - once a symbol of free sporting contest between the youth of the world - into a symbol of hypocrisy and oppression. The fact alone that it is surrounded at all times by ten burly 'flame attendants' (a job and word that did not exist until the Chinese government created it) says enough. It is a spectacle for political reasons, and like Hitler in 1936 the Chinese leaders use the Olympic Games to show off their newly gained strength.

What is the reaction of the 'free' world? Silence, ignorance and complacency. Having a few hundred hours of sports on TV this summer seems more important to most of us than the political conditions in China, and the freedom and well-being of the people of Tibet plays almost no role in most Westerners mind. Bestowing the odd honour on the Dalai Lama now and then is nothing but poor window dressing and no help for the Tibetans at all.
Being in economical hock to China now, the West is caught in its own trap. The capitalist demand for ever cheaper products, manufactured for less and less cost, has lead to the outsourcing of our manufacturing industry. Most brands you can think of as famous, fashionable and stylish in the West have their goods produced in Chinese sweatshops for years. People still pay high western prices for them, while a pittance is paid to Chinese workers. The balance fills the pockets of the super-rich in the USA, Japan and Europe.

In order to produce all the things the world wants to buy, China is in need of huge amounts of resources and raw materials. This has lead to a new form of neo-colonialism, especially in Africa, where now China call the shots in many of the 'independent' African countries. This suits many African leaders a lot better than co-operation with the West, because China never makes any comments or demands on them regarding Human Rights. Thus China is very happy to be the main supporter and arms supplier of the militant Islamic regime in Sudan, which commits genocide on a large scale in their western province of Darfur. The western world stands stunned and gapes, shouts and makes demands. The result: no change.
If our politicians would really be interested in Human Rights and the protection of innocent people from all kinds of harm and oppression, the US Army would be in Sudan instead of Iraq. (And there is even oil in Sudan...)

Africa is a subject one could - and should - write books about. It is a vast continent, with vast resources and riches. It could be feeding itself easily, produce plenty of food for export and give its people a live of great wealth and comfort. So why is it that Africa is the poorest, least developed and most suffering of all the continents?
Once again it comes down to the will of political leaders to act or not, to uphold Human Rights or to prefer shady deals with warlords and cleptocrats instead. Due to western hypocrisy and the selfish greed and brutal methods of Africa's tribal leaders the continent is experiencing now four decades of war, instability, turmoil and economic collapse. The obvious results are famine, genocide, destruction and the complete decline of culture and society, in the absence of law, order and proper administration.
Western countries, and especially the former colonial powers, carry a lot of the responsibility for this. But like the Thirty-Years War that devastated central Europe and especially Germany in the 17th century in a similar fashion, the catastrophe has many fathers and could not happen without the co-operation of the willing soldiers on the ground. The Thirty-Years War only ended when both sides ran out of people, food and other resources, after destroying and depopulating vast areas of Germany. If no alternatives are offered by the world's leaders - and especially the leaders of powerful nations - this is most likely the fate of Africa, too. They will carry on killing each other, destroying their infrastructure and devastating their fertile lands until no one has enough power and resources left to carry on.

One cannot write about Africa at present without mentioning Zimbabwe, where President Robert Gabriel Mugabe - a Jesuit-educated Catholic - has declared total war on the entire population. Having destroyed the economy of this once rich, prosperous and very fertile country, Mugabe is now bullying his people with brute force into submission, trying to make them elect him again as President. With over 80% unemployment and meanwhile 250,000% inflation (which is a sad all-time world record, making even the massive inflation that blighted Germany in the 1920s look insignificant) Zimbabwe is on its knees. Most people spend all their time with nothing else but searching for a little bit of food, in order to survive another day.

Mugabe (pictured here in one of his Rolls Royce state cars at an official function) and his clique of criminal henchmen still live a life in luxury, while ordinary people have two choices: death by starvation or fleeing into neighbouring countries. There are now nearly four million Zimbabweans living in South Africa alone. Nevertheless, South Africa's spineless President Thabo M'beki sees "no crisis in Zimbabwe". His lack of leadership, action and humanity makes him one of the worst of the political hypocrites alive, and even his own people have now lost confidence in him and elected Jacob Zuma as the new leader of their ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC).

The list of Human Rights' abuses and hypocritical politicians is long, and so is meanwhile this text. There is so much more one could say and write, but I will draw to a close, to keep this article to a readable length. One could, however, not end a post about Human Rights without mentioning Burma. This poor and long-suffering country, almost unknown to most Westerners, is currently experiencing its probably worst period in centuries.
Devastated by the forces of cyclone 'Nargis', which wiped out whole communities and killed a very large, but still unknown number of people (the early estimates are between 70,000 and 250,000), the south-western part of Burma, including the largest city (and former capital) Rangoon, is a disater area for the past two weeks.
Despite that, and the inability to deal with a catastrophe of that dimension alone, the Burmese military junta is still refusing foreign aid workers visas and entry to their country. In an act of cruel cynicism, matched only by Stalin and Hitler, the Burmese generals went ahead with a nationwide referendum on a new constitution (which will keep them in power for the foreseeable future) while people died of injuries and starvation unattended on the roads outside the polling stations!
Once again western politicians made speeches and demands, and than backed down and left it at that. France is the only western country that suggested to invoke a special clause in the UN Charta which allows foreign intervention under exceptional circumstances, even without co-operation from the target country's government. But since no-one else picked up the idea, it died even faster than the victims of cyclone 'Nargis' in Burma.

If the leaders of the western world were serious in their many verbal commitments to freedom, democracy and Human Rights, American and international troops would not be in Afghanistan and Iraq, but in Burma, Chad, Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. There would be no jovial business deals with the Russians, and no bowing down before the cruelties of the Chinese.
But as long as the majority of people in the western countries does not care, keeps electing the wrong people to positions of power and prefers getting drunk to taking an active part in politics, there will be no change.

No-one can change the world single-handed, but every single hand put to a good cause will help to make the world a little bit better. The challenge is there, for you, me and everyone. Let's see who takes it up, let's see if we want a decent future for this planet and the human race!

The Emerald Islander

Chinese Ambassador cannot face the Truth

The Chinese Ambassador to Ireland has walked out of the Green Party convention tonight after criticism by John Gormley of China's role in Tibet. Ambassador Liu Biwei left the venue in Dundalk as Gormley delivered his leader's speech shortly before 9 p.m. this evening.

John Gormley (right) told his delegates that human rights must extend to all countries and cultures. He said one country which has been exploited and suppressed and suffered for far too long is Tibet. He said the party condemns unequivocally the flagrant abuse of human rights by the Chinese government and called on the Chinese government to enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

After he left, the ambassador told RTÉ News that "Chinese people love peace and want good relations with Irish people". But with such empty platitudes the Chinese diplomat will not win a lot of friends among the well-informed Irish population. Well, he better keep his propaganda and brainwashed lines of waffle to himself if this is all he has to say.

Liu Biwei (pictured left), who has only recently taken up his post in Ireland after serving as China's Consul General in New York, said he had been invited to the Green Party convention, but he had not expected Minister Gormley as the leader of the Greens to say what he had said.

Well, Mr. Ambassador, if you have not noticed it so far, I have some news for you: In contrast to your own nation, Ireland is a free country. And here even politicians and government ministers can speak the truth, as strange as this might seem to you.

The whole of the Irish population might well be less than that of your sub-provincial city of Harbin (in the North-East of China), but we are a free people, free since 1922, after we fought 750 years against the same kind of oppression you have established in Tibet. So you should not be too surprised that the Irish feel more solidarity with the people of occupied Tibet than with their arrogant oppressors, who believe that now that they have a lot of money they can behave as they please and the whole world has to pay them homage.

Wrong, Mr. Ambassador. All the money in the world will not buy you honour and decency. As long as you keep Tibet occupied and maltreat and kill its people, you are not welcome in the free countries of this world. And if you cannot even stand to listen to a peaceful speech, then you better pack your bags and go home. Among the brainwashed minions there you will feel a lot happier than among the free people of Ireland.

The Emerald Islander

The Olympic Farce and China's Power

Does anyone else see through the huge public spectacle that China has started to force down the throat of major western countries? Or is it just me?
Yesterday, when I was talking to some local people about the matter, they seemed not to be able to understand what is going on. But then again, they have never been to China, and the only way they know Chinese people is from our local take aways. There is not a lot of cultural, philosophical and sociological knowledge gained from ordering the odd fried duck with fried rice and prawn crackers.

For previous Olympic Games the Olympic Torch - always lit by a ray of Sunlight at Olympia, the Greek home of the ancient games - was carried through the host nation until it arrived on the day of the opening ceremony in the host city.
But this year the Chinese have extended this tour of the torch to a number of foreign countries, in order to highlight the fact that they host the games even more. Not that they were short of cities and towns in their own country to parade the torch through. In fact, if one would move it all around China, it would take about two years to complete the journey.

So why then the foreign legs of the tour? Very simple. It is a deliberate act of superior arrogance and dominance, forcing the western countries, most of which are already completely dependent on China for the manufacturing of most of their consumer goods, to bow before Communist China, the Olympic host. There is a lot of pride in this, as well as deliberate humiliation for the western "paper tigers", as Mao tse-tung used to call them.

What I don't understand is why countries like Britain and France play along with it and threat a little stick with a flame as if it were a head of state! In total there were yesterday more than 2000 uniformed police officers detached for the torch parade through London. And a similarly sad spectacle is expected to take place later today in Paris. How much all this costs the taxpayer, and how much crime those police officers could have prevented if they had been allowed to do their proper duties, can only be estimated. But it is quite substantial.

A protective ring of ten Chinese "flame attendants" (read: special forces police) in light-blue track suits and white baseball caps plus British police officers in fluorescent jackets surrounded the torchbearers closely at all times, with additional uniformed police joining at potential flash points along the route.

This unprecedented close protection of a small object was so massive that the spectators and even people watching the event on TV could often not see the Olympic torch or make out who was actually carrying it. The whole sad show only exposed two things: That there is no freedom in China, and that the UK government prefers the staging of a sick spectacle to please the Chinese dictators to the highlighting of the human rights abuses China commits every day, and especially in Tibet.

Like Hitler used the Olympic Games of 1936 to make the world bow to National Socialism, China now uses the games to make the world bow even deeper before Communist Mercantilism of Chinese fashion. All those - politicians, sports people and anyone else - who close their eyes to the facts or decide that they could not be bothered with details about China, Tibet and human rights as long as they get a few hundred hours of sport on TV this summer, are not only fools, but dangerous fools who contribute to a lot of political, social and economical damage.

People should realise that there is an unbroken tradition of 6000 years in China, which was already a high civilisation at a time when our ancestors still lived in caves and wattle huts. Reading about China and its history might help to understand Chinese ambitions, aspirations and general attitudes. And we should also remember that there is a word called "no" which we should use more often when encountering developments and behaviour we are not happy with. Letting every bully get away with every prank will only create a world ruled by bullies.

The Emerald Islander

Silent Dick and the Paddy Farce in China

Saint Patrick apparently arrived in Ireland in the year 432 to convert the Pagan population of the Emerald Isle to Christianity. Never mind that he was not the only one doing that, and not even the first (parts of Ireland, especially in the South, were already Christian before he ever set foot on the island), he did succeed in converting many Celts by first converting their kings. And what the ruler believed that became overnight the doctrine in his kingdom. Such were the rather blunt laws in fifth century Ireland.

During the Middle Ages the Church declared Patrick patron saint of Ireland, and Waterford-born Franciscan friar Luke Wadding (1588-1657) was instrumental in establishing his feast as official church holiday. It became the National Day of the Republic of Ireland, but only since the 1990s it is rapidly becoming a global event as well (and an ever larger festival in Ireland, now extending over five days in Dublin).

Our government, inspired by the sudden economic boom known as "Celtic Tiger", is now promoting Irishness, Irish culture and Irish products around the world in similar fashion as Patrick promoted Christianity. Practically the entire cabinet, plus most of the junior ministers, travel abroad for St. Patrick's Day, in order to bring everything Irish to everyone. St. Patrick's Day has become a huge commercial event that makes millions for everyone and every industry that can connect with it.

Every year new countries and cities join the celebration, encouraged by the our government and supported by numerous Irish ex-pats one can find now everywhere.
This year it is the turn of China to jump onto the green band wagon, and since a single day seems no longer enough to celebrate Irishness, Beijing laid on a five-day Patrick's festival (pictured above), copying Dublin.

Although the number of Irish ex-pats in China is small and St. Patrick is as alien to Chinese culture as Moses, Jesus or Mohammed, money talks and anything that brings in more is now very welcome in the officially still Communist People's Republic of China.
There is also an ever growing number of Chinese living, working and studying in Ireland. In fact Chinese students are now an important source of income for Ireland, and China gets in return well-educated academics who speak good English.
One should also not forget the fact that this is the year of the Beijing Olympics, a major project for the Chinese government and used to strengthen ties with western countries.

Since the Chinese leadership decided to allow Irish ex-pats (and anyone else who likes this sort of thing) to roam the streets of Beijing, clad in green, wearing leprechaun hats and getting drunk on the omni-present Guinness, the Irish government felt obliged to dispatch one of its ministers as well to grace the event with his dignified presence. As all cabinet members were already booked for similar missions to places where there are more Irish and St. Patrick's Day is established for longer, the Beijing job was given to Dick Roche, Fianna Fáil TD for Wicklow and Minister of State (in both the Taoiseach's Department and the Department for Foreign Affairs) with special responsibility for Europe. It is rather typical of our government to send the Minister for Europe to a minor fun event in China, while the country is preparing for another EU referendum and there are major matters discussed in the various EU councils.

And yes, a minor fun event it was, and not more. Less generous people might call it a silly farce on which the Irish taxpayer spent a lot of money. And they would be right, too. Obviously neither Mr. Roche nor anyone else in the government bothered to study Chinese culture, mentality and general political practice. Marches and demonstrations are neither popular nor encouraged in China, unless they are organised, orchestrated and tightly controlled by the Communist Party or the state authorities.
And as much as the Chinese try to make "good weather" in the run-up period to the Olympic Games, they remain inflexible bureaucrats who will have things their way - or not at all. The small Irish ex-pat group in Beijing which organised the festival with massive sponsorship from the Irish government, Enterprise Ireland and several other organisations and public bodies, was told the parade down Wangfujing Lu - Beijing's major pedestrianised shopping street - could not exceed 200 people.

So Paddy Taxpayer financed the official trip of a minister to China, to join a bunch of ex-pats going wild for a week and promoting the stereotype that being Irish means oafish, disorganised, noisy and drunk. But it was not just Mr. Roche alone who flew to China. A whole delegation went with him on this very special mission, including blonde Irish dancing girls in embroidered green dresses, government officials and civil servants, representatives of Irish companies, some journalists and a group of "normal" people who went just for the craic.
Some of them came from the Christian Brothers' College in Cork, presumably brought along to tell the Chinese that there is a "People's Republic" in Ireland as well. Taxpayers' money well spent, wouldn't you agree?

In the end the embassy managed to soften up the Chinese bureaucrats. So when China's first ever St. Patrick's Day parade took off on Sunday to start the Irish festival, there were close to 1000 people, a truly motley crew if there ever was one. A satirical caricaturist, out to make the Irish look like bumbling fools, could not have done a better job. It was one of the tackiest events of its kind and included the most ridiculous looking impersonation of Saint Patrick I have ever seen. His alb was way too short, reaching just below the knees, and what was meant to represent a Celtic cross on the chasuble looked more like the targeting cross-hairs of a rifle. (see photo above) Well, we cannot offend the secular Chinese by displaying too many Christian symbols, can we?
To make things worse, the fellow posing as St. Patrick sported the most unreal and idiotic looking false beard ever seen on a man. Not even the tackiest of tacky "Santa" impersonators would sink that low in his choice of fake facial hair!

There was no interaction between marchers and ordinary Chinese people, most of whom had not the slightest idea what was going on. Shoppers and passers-by looked bewildered at the semi-costumed crowd walking down the street, led by a Scottish (!!!) piper and very closely watched and shadowed by about 200 uniformed policemen who did not really know what to do and how to behave towards the "green fools" either.
Yes, all the Paddy's Day friendship and peaceful intentions did not make the Chinese authorities take any risks or even a single chance.
To Chinese minds, formed for 25 centuries by the austere and principled ways of Confucianism and sharpened by now nearly 60 years of Communism, the whole idea of a nation going silly, noisy and getting drunk to celebrate its special greatness is just not comprehensible. Something very odd from the other side of China's Great Wall, to say the least.

Not even the special personal appearance of Ireland's Minister of State for Europe made any impression on the Chinese. His presence only added plain-clothed secret policemen to the 200 already there in uniform. And by the looks of it, Mr. Roche did not enjoy the experience much either, despite several desperate attempts to smile at everyone.
His very smart and rather serious looking black suit was lightened up by a brightly-green tie, but since that seemed not to be enough Irish green for the occasion, the minister also wore a posh lime-green scarf, almost looking like a priest's stole. (see photo below)

Being not a tall man, Dick Roche looked more like a leprechaun missing his hat than the representative of the Irish government. It is not known what the Chinese thought of the rather sad and ridiculous spectacle, but I imagine it did not enhance our nation's image in the Far East.

The parade itself probably qualifies for the Guinness Book of Records in several categories: Not only as the first staged in China and the most tacky, but also as the shortest St. Patrick's Day parade ever. It started in front of the foreign language bookshop on Wangfujing Lu and marched down circa 150 metres to the Oriental Plaza, where it turned around - and ended, still closely watched by 200 uniformed policemen (and who knows how many others in plain cloth). And 1.33 policemen for each metre of the way must also be a record, I am sure.

Apart from his participation in this truly memorable event, the Minister of State for Europe also had meetings and talks with representatives of the Chinese government. Though they took place behind closed doors, it can be assumed that they were mostly about trade and tourism, the two subjects Irish ministers are sent abroad to promote on St. Patrick's Day. However, there was a much more important matter an Irish minister - and especially one from the Department of Foreign Affairs - could and should have raised with his Chinese hosts. While a few hundred Irish wearing green costumes were allowed a heavily supervised walk in central Beijing, thousands of red-robed Buddhist monks were demonstrating in Lhasa, the capital city of Chinese-occupied Tibet, against the Chinese government and its oppression of traditional Tibetan culture. The monks, inspired by western ideas of freedom and liberty, were attacked by Chinese soldiers and police, beaten and shot at. The inofficial number of dead Tibetan civilians stands at about 100 now, but the true figure of casualties could well be larger.

When Dick Roche was asked by an RTÉ reporter in Beijing if he had mentioned the matter of Tibet to his Chinese hosts, the minister declared that he had not, because "this is not what we are here for". Well, well, so that's it then: As long as some Irish ex-pats can fool around in Beijing and have their craic, we don't give a hoot for human rights and do not care for those thousands of monks, nor for the Tibetan people who live under Chinese oppression for nearly fifty years! This is how Ireland is represented abroad, as a paradise for bumbling fools, not the slightest bit interested in real matters such as political clout and human rights.

Shame on you, Mr. Roche, for kowtowing so cowardly to the Chinese! Your silence in Beijing speaks a lot louder than anything you ever said or will say in future. And it will be remembered much longer than the silly parade you led in China.

But maybe we should not be too surprised by the minister's lack of political spine and moral fibre. This is the same Dick Roche who - as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government - messed up the electoral register. And he is also personally responsible for the M 3 project going through the Skryne Valley and destroying the Hill of Tara.
In fact the very last thing he did in this position - before being demoted by Bertie Ahern to junior ministerial rank - was the signing of the extremely controversial building orders for the M 3. And now, when he is back from China, Mr. Roche will try to make us vote for the Lisbon Treaty. Well, we'll see about that...

The Emerald Islander