The Nobel Peace Prize is the only one of the Five Nobel Prizes awarded by Norway and the committee has a history of making controversial decisions which have been vindicated by history. The prizes have been awarded to (amongst others) the Burmese Leader Aung San Suu Kyi (as far back as 1991), the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), and the Irishman Sean McBride who has the distinction of being the only recipient of both the Nobel and Lenin Peace Prizes. Judging by the howling from the Chinese Dictatorship the committee have got it right again with the award of the 2010 prize to Chinese dissident and author of Declaration 08, Liu Xiaobo.
Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia
Naoto Kan, the Japanese prime minister, joined the US, Germany and several other European nations in criticising the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo and calling for greater freedom in China. China accuses pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo of inciting a rebellion. Mr Kan called on China to respect universal human rights, adding that it would be “desirable” to release the 54-year-old former literature professor who was jailed for 11 years last December on charges of “inciting subversion of state power”.
China expressed outrage last week over the Nobel committee’s decision to award its prestigious Peace Prize to incarcerated Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. But the real outrage is China’s treatment of those who dare to speak truth to power. We should be thrilled for Liu and the spotlight the award places on his unrelenting fight for fundamental freedoms and human rights in China. But Liu won’t be able to celebrate his win with the rest of the world from the confines of his prison cell.
Adding insult to injury, Chinese authorities have placed Liu’s wife Liu Xia under house arrest, likely preventing her from receiving the award in Norway on Liu’s behalf. They’ve also cracked down on activists celebrating Liu’s achievement. Liu Xiaobo needs your help.
Liu, a 54-year old author and scholar, is a prominent government critic who has repeatedly called for human rights protections, political accountability and democratization in China. In 2009 Liu was charged with "inciting subversion of state power" and given an 11-year prison sentence after an unfair trial for co-authoring a proposal for political and legal reform in China.
Amnesty International has long called for Liu’s release. We need now more than ever to send a loud and clear plea for Liu’s release.
The tanks of Tiananmen Square
Urge Chinese authorities to release Liu Xiaobo immediately.
This award can only make a real difference if it prompts more international pressure on China to release Liu, along with the numerous other prisoners of conscience languishing in Chinese jails for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Now is the time to act.
Numerous human rights organizations maintain a litany of grievances against the Chinese government. Controversial human rights issues in China include policies such as capital punishment, the one-child policy, the social status of Tibetans, and lack of protections regarding freedom of press and religion. One of the foremost areas of concern is a lack of legal rights, for want of an independent judiciary, rule of law, and due process. Another prominent area of concern is lack of labour rights, which is related to the hukou system, the absence of independent unions, and discrimination against rural workers and ethnic minorities. Yet another area of concern is the lack of religious freedom, highlighted by state clashes with Christian, Tibetan Buddhist, and Falun Gong groups.
Tonight Aylesbury is deserted at the end of a tense and economically damaging day after English Defence League protestors descended on Aylesbury's Market Square chanting 'England' repeatedly and engaging in some audible racist chanting. As I predicted the effect on Aylesbury of this racist Rent-a-mob descending was fairly dramatic with the Town Centre in a complete lockdown and over 600 Police on duty including mounted police, Police from Wales and the Police Helicopter overhead. For a Town Centre where a normal policeman cannot be found on a Saturday this is a dramatic and expensive change. No Market took place in Market Square, The main shopping centres and bus station closed as did most shops in the Town Centre, many of which were boarded up. EDL members wouldn’t quiet appreciate the economic damage they have done as few of them appear to be economically active.
However their attempted invasion of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire failed today. The EDL’s racist, swaggering; Islamophobic supporters hoped they could take over the town and intimidate Muslims and ordinary people. They failed.
They hoped Asians and black people and trade unionists would be too scared to demonstrate against them. They failed. Around 200 anti-EDL demonstrators, overwhelmingly local people including trade unionists and 75 Asian people, gathered in the town’s Vale Park in a show of anti-racism and support for multiculturalism. Twelve people have been arrested during the protest which attracted more than 800 people. The EDL, which says it opposes "militant Islam", organised the protest in Aylesbury's Market Square. A police spokesman said that "on the whole" the protest had been peaceful but there had been "some disorder". Eight of the people arrested were being held on suspicion of carrying offensive weapons.
Several "disorders" were dealt with by riot officers as more than 800 English Defence League supporters gathered in Aylesbury, Thames Valley Police said. Demonstrators were believed to have hurled coins, glass bottles, plastic flag sticks and cans at officers. Officers had to deal with a surge against police lines in the Market Square.
The EDL protest presented a "major challenge for the town", officers said. The organisation, which describes itself as "a counter-Jihad movement", has held several demonstrations in recent months in Manchester, Bolton and Dudley. Police said there were fewer protestors than the EDL had anticipated.
Supt Richard List, of Aylesbury police, said: "We made it very clear to the EDL at the outset that we would not tolerate any disorder on the day and that there would be a significant police presence. "The police operation will continue until we are totally satisfied that there are no risks or threats to public safety. “He added “We are a tolerant, successful and proud town - we all need to remember our tremendous strengths at this difficult time. I would like to express my sincere thanks to you all."A counter protest was held in Vale Park earlier, but has since dispersed.
Andrew Grant, the chief executive of Aylesbury Vale District Council said afterwards that “a range of entertainment has been organised for Monday by the Town Centre Partnership to help welcome people back to the town". Indeed – the vast majority of local people will be glad the EDL have gone.
Aylesbury last Saturday was its usual relaxed weekend self enjoying a sunny day enlivened by St. George’s day celebrations on a subdued scale. In Kingsbury Square the cafes and pubs had plenty of tables outside as people enjoyed the weather with their children and had a drink or snack whilst enjoying the Morris Dancing. There was also a Dragon roaming around attracting the kids and a little street train with a loco called “George” bringing the kids around the pedestrianised centre of the town. In the Market Square, overlooked by the statue of the local MP John Hampden whose refusal to pay the “ship tax” (Buckinghamshire is not on the coast!) to Charles I precipitated the English Civil War, the market traders jostled for custom from their colourful stalls as they have done for over four hundred years in this the County Town of Buckinghamshire. In the courtyard of the King’s Head, an ancient coaching inn owned by the National Trust, locals and visitors were enjoying the live music and the traditional ale from the Chiltern Brewery.
Market Square, Aylesbury
But what a difference a week will make in this town of 70,000 people. There is a sizable minority of Muslims in Aylesbury who are mostly from Pakistan controlled Kashmir where they have fled from conflict and work hard to provide a better future for themselves and their children. We have a Mosque and some of the best schools in the UK and by and large everybody rubs along quiet well. There is, as in any large town, a lumpen proletariat and there have been in the past some racist incidents whose reports generally include the words “skinheads” and “drink” but we pride ourselves on community relations and have had a Muslim Mayor.
Aylesbury has a mixture of London commuters and busy local employment and is set in the attractive and rich farming area of the Vale of Aylesbury close by the Chiltern Escarpment and the area of Outstanding Natural Beauty known as the Chiltern Hills. It is a good and improving place with a good quality of life which is appreciated by the inhabitants who include sturdy yeomen of Buckinghamshire and many who have moved here from elsewhere including a large Italian and Irish community and more recently Polish. It is an inclusive place and we are particularly protective of disabled people who are very visible in the Town Centre on a normal Saturday as Stoke Mandeville Hospital with the National Spinal Injuries Centre is nearby. That was last Saturday. Next Saturday will be different, very different.
The borrowed iconography of the EDL including Constantine the Great's motto " In this sign I will conquer"
On Saturday 1st May our town is being high jacked by a self appointed Rent-a-Mob called the English Defence League or EDL. The effect is palpable. Aylesbury Bus Station will be closed, many small shops are closing at 12, they gave been advised by the Police to not have chairs and tables outside, keep shutters down and consider if they want to really open. The fear is well founded as the video taken by a neutral outsider at a recent EDL “Rally” in Stoke on Trent where 17 people were arrested shows. So next Saturday May the 1st these strangers are going to use our town to contrive conflict where none exists. So next Saturday in Aylesbury Town Centre there will be no buses, no old people, no children, no disabled people and no shoppers. There will also be no pubs open in the town. Here are the details from these Brave English Defenders own website;
“Initially, point 'A' was chosen as a muster area due to it having a small cluster of pubs that would serve as a meet point for our supporters to socialise in before the demonstration. However, the local licensing authority has visited these pubs and as an upshot of that, they have decided to close on the day. We would like to point out that at every single EDL demonstration; no pub has ever received any damage whatsoever. A business that could take three weeks worth of business in the space of a couple of hours deciding to close? I don't know what was said to them, but it sure must have been scary.”
Some Brave Army the EDL marching on its accelerated alcohol consumption?
Kingsbury Square, Aylesbury where all the pubs and cafes will close next Saturday
Some England, some defence? And who are the EDL? Well they have no discernible policy, have not been elected or stood in any democratic process and their web site consists of one long sneer against Muslim people quoting liberally from extremist and unrepresentative Muslim preachers to justify their obsessive fixation with “defending” the English against Islam?
The national leader of the English Defence League has warned that Saturday's demonstration in Aylesbury could be the first of many after a bitter row erupted with police and council bosses. Officers were hoping to keep EDL members on the outskirts of town before a rally in Market Square, to prevent skirmishes with counter demonstrators. But yesterday Tommy Robinson – not his real name – said EDL protestors are now planning to evade police and instead gather in Vale Park – where an anti-EDL demonstration is due to be held.
King's Head Aylesbury
He said: "If our demonstration doesn't go how we want it to go, we'll come back in six weeks. No other place has tried to block us like this one has." The EDL fell foul of police and council chiefs after trying to put up a stage and use loudspeakers – which they need a licence for. At a tense meeting on Monday, they were also told that they were not allowed to carry wooden framed banners. Coach loads of EDL members would have been met by police and escorted to Market Square, where they would have been contained inside solid barriers. Robinson said ominously: "We don't think they're doing well if they want it to go peacefully."
Here is a thoughtful article in the Guardian about this entirely bogus “protest” which is hijacking our town next Saturday by local resident and Labour Parliamentary Candidate in the forthcoming General Election, Kathryn White.
So in Aylesbury next Saturday let us keep our nerve with these unwanted and unwelcome visitors. As Communities Minister John Denham pointed out, “The tactic of trying to provoke a response in the hope of causing wider violence and mayhem is long established on the far-right and among extremist groups.” Let us remind ourselves of the EDL’s origins which highlights the ambiguous position that the BNP holds in regards to this new combination of football hooligan gangs and street racists. The BNP, and the NF before it, used to openly embrace football hooligans as useful muscle with a fierce nationalist pride. However, demonstrations and punch ups no longer fit with the image that the BNP tries to project, and so the EDL has filled a gap in far right politics that the BNP voluntarily vacated in its pursuit of votes.
The flower of England?
So does England need these “Defenders?” Well, England has defended itself fairly well in the past and I presume will do so very well in the future and the EDL membership will make no contribution either way. Like the ludicrous Nick Griffin, the convicted racist who leads the BNP, who surrounds himself in photo ops with make believe soldiers in battle fatigues the EDL will seek to use the last refuge of a scoundrel and these shower of aggressive, unemployed yobs will wrap themselves in false patriotism, a patriotism which probably doesn’t include not being dole scroungers? You have to wonder about the mentality of people whose idea of a good day out on a Bank Holiday weekend is to hold a market town and its diverse inhabitants to ransom. There is no point in me telling them not to come to Aylesbury for their tribal cow stomping because, lets face it, these yobs didn’t get where they are today by listening to others. There is also the practical point that if they were to get themselves tanked up, fight the other side in a macho male tribal display and then go home and watch their yobbery on TV after a footie match it would cost them a lot more than these members of the underachieving Master Race can afford.
Preserve us from such sham defenders; preserve us from such sham patriots.
Few people, when we talk of Democracy, are aware of what a new idea it actually is and that the struggle for democracy went hand in hand with Labour rights and the development of the British Labour Party. Indeed it was only in the elections of 1918 in Ireland and in England that you had true universal suffrage for all without a property qualification for voting and votes for women, albeit over 30 – as women under 30 were considered too excitable and frivolous! Indeed!
The People’s History Museum tells the dramatic story of the British working class’s struggle for democracy and social justice - told at the only national museum in Manchester, the radical city where it belongs. The museum has reopened after a £12.5m redevelopment, which included the refurbishment of the existing Pump House and the construction of a four storey extension alongside it. The old and new buildings are joined together by a spectacular glass walkway. The museum galleries, changing exhibitions, education service, Labour History Archive & Study Centre, Textile Conservation Studio, corporate facilities, café and shop are housed in the new building.
Cotton Mill, Ancoats 1820
Two hundred years ago Manchester was at the centre of Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Based on the cotton textile industry, the town became the world’s first industrial city. Despite high wages in good times, workers endured appalling living and environmental conditions. Little could be done to improve these; there was no political structure and Manchester, for example, had no MP.
On 19 August 1819 a reform meeting held on St Peter’s Field in Manchester attracted over 60,000 mill workers and their families. Magistrates sent in soldiers to arrest the leaders. There were 17 dead and over 400 seriously injured. The event became known as the Peterloo Massacre and led to the first reform of Parliament in 1832. The People's History Museum tells the extraordinary story of ordinary people. It is the only national museum dedicated to the working people of Britain and the world-changing events they led to change society, improving life for future generations. The urbanisation of Manchester largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era, resulting in it becoming the world's first industrialised city.
“Cottonopolis” as Manchester became known has a notable place in the history of Marxism and left-wing politics; being the subject of Friedrich Engels' work The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844; Engels himself spent much of his life in and around Manchester, and when Karl Marx visited Manchester, they met at Chetham's Library. The economics books Marx was reading at the time can be seen on the shelf in the library, as can the window seat where Marx and Engels would meet. The first Trades Union Congress was held in Manchester (at the Mechanics' Institute, David Street), from 2 to 6 June 1868. The economic school of Manchester capitalism developed there, and Manchester was the center of the Anti-Corn Law League from 1838 onward. Manchester was also an important cradle of the Labour Party and the Suffragette Movement. Indeed it has been an inspirational city in many ways from the development of Laissez-faire capitalism to the United Society of Believers or the Shakers as they are better known.
Railway Banner
In these days of Banking Crises and dismay at lack of values what better place to rediscover the role of honest labour as the source of values in society than this museum celebrating how ordinary people changed the world we live in.
Website;
http://www.phm.org.uk/
People’s History Museum Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3ER, England.
Much has already been said in the 20 years since the Chinese government’s heavy crackdown on a series of student-led demonstrations in and around the area of the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. June 4, 1989 was the day when tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square crushing bodies underneath them, and the military fired at the protesters made up mostly of unarmed students and workers. Until now, 20 years after, the death toll remains a mystery. The Chinese Red Cross initially reported that 2,600 died, but retracted allegedly under pressure from the government. Some journalists estimated that the number could be as high as 7,000. The official tally, however, concluded that less than 300 died and 7,000 were injured.
Dozens of protesters are still languishing in Chinese prisons after unfair trials and many more activists have since been arrested for questioning the government's actions in 1989.
Amnesty International has called for the Chinese authorities to:
• Grant an amnesty to those imprisoned in connection with the 1989 protests; • Allow the Tiananmen Mothers to mourn their children publicly without harassing them; • Respect the right to peaceful protest - whether it is in Tibet or mainland China; • Allow an independent investigation into what happened at Tiananmen Square in1989; • Honour the promises made when bidding for the Olympic Games to improve human rights.
China has relied on the complicity of the World to look the other way whilst it desecrates the memory of the brave students who opposed dictatorship and protested for democracy. Like most dictatorships the self appointed Communist Party tried to control Freedom of Speech and information flows to its people by raising The Great Firewall of China. Here are the views of two Chinese Bloggers;
“It’s widely known that China runs a pretty tight ship - to put it mildly - on what its citizens get to see online, especially that content which exists outside of China. YouTube has been blocked for some time and although Wikipedia was blocked for a while, it’s gradually become more available. However today Chinese authorities have come down like a tonne of bricks on a number of services including Twitter, Flickr, Bing, Live.com, Hotmail.com, Blogger and a number of other sites. And that’s no joke, given that we’re talking about the Great Wall of China here.”
MissXu
"Since many of the sites don’t actually have Chinese versions, it’s hard to know how many people will be affected by this, but for those brave and resourceful business people, entrepreneurs and social commentators with strong links to the world outside China, it’s a crushing blow.
Having travelled to China last year I have a number of contacts there now who have all now confirmed the shutdown (all agreed to be named in this post). The shut-down is almost certainly related to the date. The Tiananmen Square Massacre happened in June 4, and the lead-up to any date like this is usually a time when the Firewall is tightened. The API to Twitter, used by clients like TweetDeck, Twhirl and Seesmic Desktop, has also been affected. [Update: News is coming in that the Twitter API has not been affected as badly as the Web site, making API based Twitter applications better placed in China].
Kaiser Kuo, a Chinese-American writer and consultant in Beijing working with Youku told me via direct message after the system shut down completely using a VPN (which, like proxies, are commonplace in China) that “My only surprise in this matter is that it took ‘em so long.”
Ryan McLaughlin, an ex-pat American writer and web designer/developer based outside Beijing, said [updated:] that VPNs, which many Chinese use to get around the Great Firewall, are not being affected by the shutdown. He also blogs “Undoubtedly the blocks are in an effort to curb online commentary and the dissemination of information about the massacre, which on celebrates its 20th anniversary.”
Mimi Xu, a China/San Francisco based product dev and entrepreneur who Tweets as MissXu, summed it up: “The 3 web services I can’t live without - Twitter, Flickr, YouTube - are all blocked in China. Cheers, motherf#@#s!”
