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On Human Rights, Amongst Other Disturbing Matters
By Mohamad Sobh, Acting Managing Editor

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia − One can only marvel at the duplicity of international politics, at the double standards we are witnessing day in and day out, and to make matters worse, nobody is giving these diabolical events any notice.

Tibet's current turn of events has compelled us to place the issue under the moral microscope, and to attempt to dismantle the diversions and smoke screens put into place to arrive at a crystal clear view of what is the heart of the issue under scrutiny.

The Mother of all Surprises

The US State Department's 2007 Human Rights Report was recently issued, and together with it, the mother of all surprises. To get the surprise out of the way, it basically was the removal of China from the list of the world's top human rights offenders. China has made the list twice in a row, for the years 2005 and 2006. Thus reporting from an impartial standpoint, one would have to logically assume that China must have taken some serious measures to improve its human rights situation, but evidence, and current affairs, states otherwise.

Back to the duplicity I mentioned, the State Department's report cites that for 2007, "[China's] overall human rights record remained poor." Moreover, the section where China was mentioned was for authoritarian states that are undergoing economic reform and rapid social change, and who "have not undertaken democratic political reform."

Top dogs for 2007 were (in no particular order): North Korea, Burma (Myanmar), Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan

The 2006 list was very similar; expect that China was on it, while Syria and Uzbekistan were not.1

Simply stated, and historically implicitly proven, is that economic interests are the main drivers of US foreign policy. Yes, I know this is not the re-invention of the wheel, but if ever is the case when someone states otherwise, you my dear reader, will know how to retaliate.

Human right practices notwithstanding, the US will remove you off its holy list if you are experiencing economic growth, allow for foreign direct investment in your country and presto! we'll get you off one list and upgrade you onto another.

We have grown accustomed to the fact that economic interests propel foreign policy and shape strategic alliances, as is the case when the United States presents itself as the vanguard of human rights, while in reality forging deep ties with systems long known to disregard human rights and humans altogether. The Shah of Iran to name one, Saddam Hussien to name another before they turned on him, Hugo's Chavez's predecessors and the list can extend over scrolls and scrolls of manuscript.

Now in retaliation, the Information Office of China's State Council issued its very own "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007", this report has been periodically issued by China for the past 9 years. The report says that although the US attacks more than 190 countries on human rights-related issues, it fails to mention its own human rights troubles. Truth be told though, the State Department's Report in 2006 did acknowledge that certain shortcomings will arise.

China's report examines the US's human rights record from several angles, namely: social, security, political, economic and civil. Supporting details are provided based on reports by US newspapers, Reuters and the FBI that tackle increasing crime rates, social class thrift between the rich and the poor and discrimination against race and gender.2

We should constantly keep in mind that the US has repeatedly played the role of "impartial" judge and participant in every single issue, be it human rights, democracy, neo-Crusades and social inequities just to name a few. Noam Chomsky, in his book "Hegemony or Survival", summed up this phenomenon, whereby he stated that the US justifies its actions through the "the guiding principle of Wilsonian [Woodrow Wilson] idealism: We -- at least the circles who provide the leadership and advise them -- are good, even noble. Hence our interventions are necessarily righteous in intent, if occasionally clumsy in execution."

Now let us examine the issues central to how China got off that infamous list, or shall I say, how it shouldn't have gotten off.

Tibet and the August Olympics

Now we have all supposedly heard of the crackdown on Tibetan protestors as they took to the streets in Tibet's capital Lhasa, to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed revolt against Chinese reign.

To understand the complexities of the issue would take us several months or articles, thus in a nutshell, Tibet is supposedly a sovereign region, but is under Chinese rule as of 50 years ago.
The Chinese government has accused the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the leader of Tibet's government in exile, based in India, of sabotaging the August Olympic Games. They have also accused him of being a "separatist" and a "splitist".

The Chinese government has said that, "the evil motive of the Dalai clique is to stir up troubles at a sensitive time and deliberately make it bigger and even cause bloodshed so as to damage the Beijing Olympics," said the state-run Tibet Daily, calling it "a life-and-death struggle between ourselves and the enemy."3

The Dalai Lama has vehemently denied these allegations stating that, "despite my repeated support for the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities, with the intention of creating a rift between the Chinese people and myself, assert that I am trying to sabotage the games."

What he has also repeatedly stressed past and present is that Tibet does not seek independence, but rather a "meaningful self-rule."

Tibet's government in exile has put the death toll at around 140 people over the 2 week peaceful-turned-violent protests, the Chinese government, on the other hand, has said that 19 "innocent victims", Han Chinese targeted by the Tibetan protestors, have died.4

There are mixed views as to whether Tibet has ever been independent, and I will not turn this into a discussion of whether or not it is, but it will suffice to say that there exists major cultural distinctions between the Tibet region and China, thus it is highly unlikely that the two were ever a consolidated entity, much less to say one nation.

Darfur

China has tried to distance its foreign policy affairs for its Olympic Games, but pressure groups around the world have found this to be the opportune time to corner the Asian giant to achieve several tactical goals. Most recently, Steven Spielberg, appointed as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics, withdrew from his position and said that his conscience dictates an immediate abandonment of his role.5 His move is a result of the continuing violence in Darfur, in spite of UN resolutions and international pressure (excluding China's).

Spielberg said that the bulk of the blame lies with the Sudanese government, but that the international community, together with China, should coalesce in order to resolve this 6 year long conflict in this highly troubled region.

This blow comes at a time when estimates report 200,000 casualties and around two million human displacements in this war torn region. One might wonder why is China accused of spreading chaos in Sudan when it is thousands of miles away. The answer lies in the aforementioned countries' military and (surprise! surprise!) economic ties. Simply stated, "We (China) provide you with the weapons to crush those annoying insurgents in Darfur, and you (Sudan) provide us with your oil."

A report by Human Rights Watch has stated that "weapon deliveries from China to Sudan since 1995 have included ammunition, tanks, helicopters, and fighter aircraft."6

This brings us back to the economic loop as I have grown fond of calling it, economic ends justify the means. Thus my partner is given a free pass at all forms of inhuman practices in his country if I can bend his will to mine. I have found none better than Alexander Solzhenitsyn's well chosen words in his Harvard address, "A World Split Apart", on June 8, 1978, to articulate our present-day global situation. He said that "the blindness of superiority continues in spite of all and upholds the belief that vast regions everywhere on our planet should develop and mature to the level of present day Western systems," concluding that "[c]ountries are judged on the merit of their progress in this direction."7

A Sad Reality

Sadly, countries with special interests in China's economy scuttled to de-link the happenings in Tibet with the Olympics. A White House spokeswoman said that President Bush believed that the Olympics "should be about the athletes and not necessarily about politics." This comes after US House of Representatives speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, said when meeting the Dalai Lama that events in Tibet were "a challenge to the conscience of the world". A fierce Congressional critic of China, she said that "if freedom loving people…do not speak out against China's oppression… we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world."8 French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner mentioned boycotting the Olympic Games, although he mysteriously backed away from the idea later on.9

What I have presented here is one in several heavy-loaded wake up calls, calls that will keep our eyes wide open, our mind in disarray and our soul caught up in trying to decipher double messages, wordplay and outright deceit. For what has the truth become in our times but an elaborate approach to telling a lie.

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