Sunday, September 30, 2007

Buddhist Monks - Burma


Buddhist Monks - Burma, originally uploaded by Kathleen Andersen.


Buddhist Monks - Burma

One of the Flickr 500 for September 21, 2007.

I never make political comments on Flickr but I'll make an exception today. This photo is in support of the Buddhist monks' protest marches in Rangoon (Yangon) and other parts of Burma this week.

Sept 26th update. Sadly we're now getting news of monks' deaths. Let's hope this situation doesn't get totally out of control with even more deaths.

This photo was taken a few months ago at a Buddhist monastery in Rangoon and has nothing to do with this week's protests. However, the monks are now locked in this monastery, and guarded, along with all the other monks in the city.

This photo was linked to various Yahoo news articles hence the 7,000+ views.

Uploaded by Kathleen Andersen on 21 Sep 07, 2.41PM PDT.
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the shout


the shout, originally uploaded by Kris Kros.


the shout

The Shout of all Freedom Loving People Around the World!
FREE BURMA!!!

Time's An Eye in the Sky on Burma

On Friday Burma began to go dark. After days of the largest street protests since 1988, the ruling military junta cracked down, confronting and firing on civilians, reportedly sealing thousands of monks inside their monasteries. Lines of communication into the country were apparently being cut, with Internet cafes closed and web sites shut down, leaving Burmese exile groups and reporters starving for information.

But while the junta can control the street, the monasteries and even the web, they can't control the sky. On Friday the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), working with Burmese groups, released a new analysis of high-resolution satellite images that pinpointed evidence of human rights violations in the eastern Burma. For the first time in Burma, scientists were able to use orbital satellites to confirm on-the-ground reports of burned villages and forced relocations of civilians by the military. The technique has already been used to document human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Darfur, but in Burma, a closed country that often seems like a modern-day version of Orwell's 1984, it's almost like turning Big Brother against itself. "We are sending a message to the military junta that we are watching from the sky," said Aung Din, policy director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

More from the source

Uploaded by Kris Kros on 29 Sep 07, 11.29AM PDT.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Serving the people?为人民服务?



Serving the people?为人民服务?

October 1, will be China's 58th National Day! The background of the photo is Dictator Mao Zedong's handwriting five Chinese characters "serving the people"; foreground is the prospect of two soldiers armed with conventional weapons walked into the Xinhua Gate —— the front gate of the Chinese Communist Party’s Headquarter in Beijing.

Mao Zedong's death 30 years, China has also undergone tremendous changes within the last 30 years, but Chinese people are still living under the shadow of the dictator, and China is still a highly centralized authoritarian state. 1.3 billion Chinese citizens still live in the darkness of the "Social Democracy "——a democracy without political rights. However, it has been a long time since Chinese people raised a question: Is the party serving the people, or are the people serving the party?


再过几天就国庆节了,我想到了一件饶有趣的往事:我漫步在红砖绿瓦的西长安街上,路过雕龙绘凤的中南海新华门时,偶然看到政府衙门的卫兵在换岗,我即刻拿出了相机,当卫兵所持的那两把刺刀把“民”挟持在中间时,我往前走了四五米,冲进了门口的“黄线”,并按下了快门。不料一个探子随之走了过来严厉质问我: “你是干什么的?”我只好随机应变,用英语反问了他几句,他摸不着头绪,以为我是外国游客,便指着我身后的黄线意示我离开。

上图照片中的背景是雕刻在新华门前牌坊上毛泽东当年手写的“为人民服务”,前景是两位手持常规武器的军人走入新华门。毛泽东已去世三十年,中国在这三十年里也发生了巨大的变化,但中国人仍然生活在毛的阴影之下,而且中国仍旧是一个高度集权的专制国家。十三亿中国公民至今仍然生活在阴暗之处的“刀光剑影”之中,没有政治上的民主权利,而共产党也没有任何在除去他们量身定做的法律保障之下的群体或机构的监督,这就使一个问题浮出了水面:到底是共产党在为人民服务呢? 还是人民在为共产党服务呢?

1945年黄炎培访问延安,在窑洞里与毛泽东谈话说:“我生六十多年,耳闻的不说,所亲眼看到的,真所谓其兴也浡焉’,‘其亡也忽焉’,一人,一家,一团体,一地方,乃至一国,不少不少单位都没有能跳出这周期率的支配力。中共诸君从过去到现在,我略略了解的了。就是希望找出一条新路,来跳出这周期率的支配。” 毛泽东听后几乎从座椅上跳了起来,大声嚷道:“我们已经找到新路,我们能跳出这周期率。这条新路,就是民主。只有让人民来监督政府,政府才不敢松懈。只有人人起来负责,才不会人亡政息。”

可是六十多年过去了,共产党建国到今天又已过了五十八年,老毛及中共所说的“民主”在哪里呢?连个影子都看不见。别说“让人民来监督政府,”就是共产党的干部们少拿人民的纳税钱养几个二奶,少出几个贪污犯;高级官员的王八子孙们不用特权谋取私利,不把国家当自己家,中国的老百姓就谢谢共产党了!


This great shot by Luo Shaoyang, a rising star & member on www.flickr.com




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