June 4th: "Just Another Day"

James Fallows is blogging about the anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre as it's being experienced in China.

In his first post, he discusses walking by the square on the eve of the anniversary:

There are more representatives in all categories -- soldiers, police, obvious plainclothesmen -- than I recall seeing even during the Tibet violence in early 2008 or through the Olympic games. Also many people whom you would normally classify as fruit vendors, tourists from the Chinese provinces, youngish white collar workers male and female, and skateboarder-looking characters wearing cargo shorts and with fauxhawk haircuts, were last night walking up and down the sidewalks with their eyes constantly on visitors and drifting up next to people who were holding conversations.

The way to avoid their attention is keep moving briskly along the sidewalk rather than stopping as if you think there is something particular to look at in the square today. The way to draw it is to stop and look around, to pay attention to the security forces themselves, or to have a camera in your hand. If the camera comes out, it may be pointed at one of the scenic highlights in the center of the square.

In his second post, he gives updates from various sources, including his wife (below). Fallows also notes that in other parts of Beijing and China, everything was "perfectly normal" and it was "just another day."

Lots of groups were obviously deputized young men who stood around watching, staring, following people like me at least 3 on 1 at any given moment. There were no women in this capacity. There was a clear absence of the usual "oblivious" quality of Chinese crowd movement, where people bump into you, brush against you, or cut in front of you if you happen to be in the path of where they're going. Everyone milling about was acutely aware of everyone else in his space. They seemed to have assigned space. Some deputies also wore group-colored shirts, all wore "badges" with the Chinese flag surrounded in gold, Many looked like the kids who volunteered at the Olympics. Clearly nationalistic. All young. I wondered if they were paid for the day.

I would guess about 85% of people on the square were there officially. You could tell that because the security lines were basically unpopulated, while all the "deputies" just walked around the screeners without being checked. There were very few tourists, foreign or otherwise. There were mostly uniformed and non-uniformed police. Some foreigners were taking pictures, seemingly unmolested. Any footage and photos will be dull-looking; the shots would look "normal". It was just the feeling of intense orchestration and deliberate crowd-building that gave it away. And also a distinct sense of high-tension, which carried around the front of the Forbidden City, but evaporated just around the corners.

I found her comment about the young, nationalistic volunteers pretty interesting in light of some statistics I read in the paper today. In today's Express (the Washington Post's free paper) that because discussion of the 1989 events is "virtually off-limits" in China, the 200 million "post-1980" kids are most apolitical. Apparently 75% of Chinese college students hope to join the Communist Party. Of those, 56% think it would "boost their chances of finding a good job." In any case, it turns out that many young Chinese no idea what happened 20 years ago.

Slate's "Explainer" is about what the official government line is on Tiananmen Square.

This week marks the 20^th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Western media characterize the incident as a brutal government crackdown on peaceful protesters. What does the Chinese government say about it?

Very little. Neither the 1989 protests nor the ensuing massacre is included in Chinese textbooks, and many students today have never heard of these events. For the most part, the government avoids discussing the issue at all. The government does acknowledge that the People's Liberation Army intervened after seven weeks of demonstrations and that people were killed. But the official line is that, rather than crushing a peaceful protest, the military simply defended itself—and the country—against violent counterrevolutionary elements. ("Counterrevolutionary" is used in China in much the same way as "anti-American" in the United States.)

Humanitarian Aid Updates

Sri Lanka is forcing international aid workers to leave under strict new visa rules, claiming that the aid workers were sympathetic to the defeated Tamil Tigers.

The US has pledged an additional $200 million in aid for those displaced from Pakistan's Swat Valley.

"The Democratic Spirit" in Iran

Andrew Sullivan has a great post on the election campaign in Iran.

I don't know whether you have been reading the various press accounts of the election campaign in Iran. I know that the candidates' list is fixed, but I can also see democratic spirit when it is bang in front of me. There appears to be a genuine fight for votes; and the images from the Mousavi rallies look more like Obama rallies than assemblies in a totalitarian state. Notice how young these people look, and how unafraid.

Does anyone doubt that if this kid of peaceful campaigning were happening in Iraq, it would be regarded as a sign of a nascent democracy?

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But we should not be blind to change when it emerges. Ahmadinejad has discredited himself in the eyes of many Iranians. They are looking for change they can believe in. This is the target audience for Obama this Thursday. He needs to reach out to the democratic forces in that country and remind them that America is their ally.

(Image from a pro-Mousavi rally from the Charlotte Observer.)

China Censors Tiananmen Information

On the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square revolt, China is censoring information about the event.

Reporters Without Borders said this week that Chinese media cannot refer to the incident, which took place June 4, 1989, and information has been suppressed so effectively that most young Chinese are unaware of the event, which led to the deaths of hundreds of demonstrators.

When Internet users look for information on "4 June," Baidu, China's most popular search engine, displays a message saying: "The search does not comply with laws, regulations, and policies," Reporters Without Borders found in recent tests. Video search for the date leads to a message that says, "Sorry, no video corresponds to your search."

An earlier post about Human Rights Watch's video, "The Tiananmen Legacy," is here. Another post, on the memoirs of a Chinese official who was involved in discussions about the crackdown on demonstrators, is here.

OAS Lifts Ban on Cuba

The Organization of American States (OAS) has lifted its 47-year ban on Cuba, inviting Cuba to return if it meets certain conditions. Nevertheless, Cuba has said it will not return.

The Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas Baca read the resolution to delegates in San Pedro Sula.

She said Cuba can rejoin after initiating a dialogue with the group and conforming to its practices and principles.

The document says those principles include democracy, self-determination and human rights.

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Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Cuba and other Latin American nations have suffered a long history of injuries at the hands of so-called imperialism. He told delegates that the United States could do even more to reconcile the past.

Maduro said it should not be too much to ask for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba. He said Venezuela welcomed the OAS decision but it was not enough.

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In Washington, a group of U.S. congressmen condemned the OAS decision and proposed a bill that would withhold U.S. funding for the group, which is based in the U.S. capital. In a statement, Florida Representative Connie Mack said hundreds of Cubans live as political prisoners and many suffer constant fear and repression.

Post-Conflict Sri Lanka

On Bloggingheads, Mark Leon Goldberg of UN Dispatch and Matthew Lee of Inner City Press discuss the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war.

Darfur Rape Epidemic

A study by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) details the threat of rape faced by Darfuri women, both at home and at refugee camps.

PHR's report, titled "Nowhere To Turn: Failure To Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women," tells the stories of 88 women refugees living at the Farchana camp in Chad, a country that borders the Darfur region of Sudan.

Some 17 of the 88 women -- who were interviewed by four female researchers, including three physicians -- reported instances of "confirmed or highly probable rape" occurring in their Darfur villages during attacks. They and many other women fled and sought safety in neighboring Chad, but did not escape the danger. Another 15 of the 88 women reported being raped in the refugee camp, said PHR.

PHR's press release is available here.

Jamaican Security Minister Withdraws Remark

Last week, Dwight Nelson, Jamaica's Security Minister said that people killed by police are collateral damage in the country's war with criminals. According to the group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), in an address to Jamaica's Police Federation's Annual Conference, Nelson said the following:

"I pledge to you today that. I will use every effort to assemble a team of first-class legal officers to defend policemen when they are hauled before the court like common criminals," Nelson told the conference.

"This country must recognise and accept that we are fighting a war, and in any war there will be collateral damage. No policeman should be made to pay for this damage," Senator Nelson said.

"I am prepared to stand by you as you go out there to trample the underground network who have no compunction to dabble in criminal activities," he added. "I want to say to you today, I have the support of this Government, of which I am a part, in my unequivocal support of all policemen and women in the lawful execution of their duty. Inspite of the challenges we face as a nation, we must recognise that we have to provide you with the tools to get the job done."

JFJ condemned these remarks by saying:

"The rule of law demands that those who have acted outside the law are called to account," said JFJ. "Our problem in Jamaica is not that many policemen are "hauled before the courts like common criminals" as the minister is suggesting. Our problem is that our justice system fails to credibly investigate, charge and effectively prosecute those policemen against whom allegations of unlawful conduct are made. The result of these failures is impunity for unlawful police actions, increasing distrust of the police by citizens and increasing frustration by the citizens at the failure of the Government to protect them from unlawful actions by the police force."

Nelson apologized and withdrew the remark. He said that he did not mean that the government should back illegal acts by officers, but that police officers are justified in using deadly force against criminals.

For background, I recommend a couple of useful reports that I have come across or been a part of in my work.

"Killing Impunity: Fatal Police Shootings and Extrajudicial Executions in Jamaica, 2005-2007," by Jamaicans for Justice and the George Washington University Law School International Human Rights Clinic.

“'Let them kill each other': Public security in Jamaica’s inner cities," by Amnesty International. Amnesty International's latest human rights report, which just came out last week, mentioned police killings.

Rwandan Charged in Finland

A Rwandan asylum-seeker in Finland has been charged in connection with the Rwandan genocide. Francois Bazaramba, a former Baptist preacher, has been detained in Finland for more than two years.

On Monday, Finland's prosecutor-general said a pre-trial investigation had found evidence that Mr Bazaramba, a Hutu, had "committed a crime of genocide in the municipality of Nyakizu in April and May 1994 with intent to destroy the Rwandan Tutsis partly or totally".

Mr Bazaramba was also charged with 15 counts of murder, he said.

Rwandan authorities accuse him of having participated in planning, leading and carrying out the massacre of 5,000 Tutsis while the head of the Union of Baptist Churches of Rwanda (UEBR) in Nyakizu.

Finnish prosecutors determined that there was enough evidence to try him in Finland. In February, the Rwandan government expressed disappointment in Finland's decision not to extradite Bazaramba. The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda had said that suspects who are referred to Rwanda may not receive a fair trial.

According to the BBC article, "Finnish law allows prosecutions for crimes against humanity wherever they are committed." A previous post on universal jurisdiction is here.

Pakistan Emergency: UNHCR Increases Aid for Desperate Pakistani Civilians

An update from UNHCR's email list:

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SWABI, Pakistan, May 29 (UNHCR) – Abdulla, 45, is prematurely grey. He begins to cry as he unpacks a package of food and other relief supplies that he and his wife have just picked up from a "humanitarian hub" set up by UNHCR and other agencies to provide assistance to the hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis fleeing the bombs and mortar fire in the north-west.

He says he was grateful for the help from UNHCR and others. "But what we really want is to go back to our home." Abdulla was forced to leave his village in Buner district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province along with his wife and nine children when fighting intensified nearby last week.

"I was afraid that my children would get killed. But I can tell you that when we were walking along the road and we arrived in Mardan district, all the inhabitants from Mardan were looking at us. I felt so ashamed that we had abandoned our land!"

He had little choice. Estimates provided by local authorities this week put the number of people displaced in and around north-west Pakistan's Swat Valley at 2.4 million, or more than 300,000 families, although the government is now cross-checking and verifying those numbers to ensure there is no duplication. Meanwhile, more and more people are being driven into Mardan and Swabi districts and beyond.

To help them, UNHCR is providing non-food aid. Some of that help is going to people, like Abdulla and his family, who are living outside of camps with host families. UNHCR is keen to reach more of these people with aid.

Many local families have seen the number of people living in their homes double or triple overnight as they provide refuge to new arrivals. Distribution began this week of the first batch of 5,000 tents for the most vulnerable families identified by UNHCR's sister agency, UN-HABITAT, in Swabi and Mardan districts. The tents are intended to be pitched in the grounds of individual homes. UN-HABITAT is also providing hygiene kits and latrines to households and helping with minor repairs to shelters and boundary walls, as well as to hand pumps and sanitation in local mosques.

At humanitarian hubs in Mardan and Swabi districts, UNHCR, through the local NGO partner Sarhad Rural Support Programme, is distributing plastic mats, buckets, jerry cans and kitchen sets to displaced people staying with host families. World Food Programme (WFP) is handing out food rations.

In camps, UNHCR is distributing material to its NGO partner, IDRAK, to provide some shade beside tents. IDRAK is providing the bamboo poles and tool kits for families so they can assemble the shade structures themselves.

Together with local authorities and other partners, UNHCR has identified two potential sites for new camps in Charsadda and Nowshera districts. Private citizens, for their part, continue to display generosity. Businessmen and others are buying food in bulk which volunteers then bundle into portable ration packages that include, for example, cooking oil, tea, sugar, cereal bars, beans and flour. "Drivers stop on their way into the city and give us 5,000 or even 10,000 rupees (US$123)" to buy more food for the displaced, explains one volunteer in Mardan, a local clothes dealer.

Relatively small numbers of families are still arriving in Jamala, Sheikh Shehzad and Sheikh Yaseen camps in Mardan, which are now mostly full. New arrivals are being moved to Yar Hussain camp in Swabi.

Some families say they were given only an hour to leave their homes and have no information about family members they left behind in their villages. They also talk about food and medicine shortages for the people still stranded in their home areas.
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