_________________ WTN-L World Tibet Network News _________________
Published by: The Canada Tibet Committee
Editorial Board: Brian Given, Conrad Richter, Nima Dorjee,
Tseten Samdup, Thubten (Sam) Samdup
WTN Editors: wtn-editors@tibet.ca
______________________________________________________________________
Issue ID: 00/02/10 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup
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Thursday, February 10, 2000
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Contents:
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1. JOINT PRESS RELEASE - EU MUST SPONSOR RESOLUTION
2. Wrap Up the Shahtoosh Trade -- IFAW Calls on Fashion Industry
to Prevent Extinction of Tibetan Antelope
3. People have the power
4. Studio chiefs battle China syndrome
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1. JOINT PRESS RELEASE - EU MUST SPONSOR RESOLUTION
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February 10, 2000
As the 56th session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights approaches,
we, the undersigned organizations, urge the European Union to fully
acknowledge China's deteriorating human rights situation by
co-sponsoring a resolution on China.
Since 1997, the European Union has abandoned support for a China
resolution at the Commission in favor of relegating criticism of Beijing
to behind-the-scenes discussion, in the framework of a constructive
dialogue on human rights. But the approach of dialogue alone has proved
futile in stopping rights violations, let alone in fostering fundamental
human rights progress.
The Chinese government is currently conducting the most ruthless
repression of dissent since the 1989 crackdown. This is most vividly
evidenced in the drive against the Falungong movement and the harsh
sentencing of labor, political and spiritual activists and Tibetan
religious leaders to prison terms of up to 18 years. Thus we are
seriously questioning the substitution of quiet diplomacy for
multilateral pressure as a way to effectively improve the human rights
situation in the People's Republic of China.
In the history of the Commission, a China resolution has not yet been
adopted. Thus its full potential has never been realized. Yet, even in
its unfulfilled state, the resolution has provided a key focus for
debate about the state of human rights in the PRC and has exerted an
important form of pressure on Chinese authorities. The experience of
the last several years demonstrates the Chinese government's
extraordinary sensitivity to the prospect of debate on its human rights
record in the U.N.'s highest human rights situation. The past shows
that the kind of pressure resulting from the tabling of a resolution on
China has generally been a successful tactic for achieving concessions
from Beijing, such as the occasional release of prisoners, promises to
sign U.N. treaties or steps towards legal reform. By the same token,
when the prospect of a resolution was abandoned, these kinds of
concessions dwindled.
Dialogue must not become an end in itself, and that is now happening
with China. Continuation of the dialogue, with the prospect of
predictable marginal concessions which have no bearing on the current
crackdown, cannot be enough any longer. We strongly believe that
multilateral pressure must now be part of the strategy to enforce
respect for human rights in China. Dialogue without pressure in the
face of persistent gross violations of human rights is simply
appeasement and degrades the authority of international human rights
standards.
The United States has already announced that it would support a
resolution on China this year. In the interest of upholding the
universality of human rights, it is of the utmost importance that the
issue of human rights in China be taken up as a multilateral effort, and
not be reduced to a topic of U.S.-China politics in accordance with its
own aims in relation to Common Foreign and Security Policy, namely to
develop and strengthen democracy and rule of law as well as human rights
and fundamental freedoms (art. II EU Treaty), the European Union has a
significant role to play.
Although the main impetus for change will come from within China, we
believe the international, multilateral pressure provides crucial
leverage to those forces inside China that favor progress towards more
respect for human rights. The European Union has asserted that the
possibility of tabling a resolution would be re-examined every year,
depending on the progress of the human rights situation in China. We
firmly believe that there is sufficient indication that China has taken
a radical step backwards in the realm of human rights. Thus we urge the
European Union to support a China resolution at the 56th session of the
U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS CONTACTS
Amnesty International (AI). Gaby Juen, ++ 322 548 27 77
Human Rights in China (HRIC) New York. XQ Pans, Marie Holzman. ++331 45
85 2376
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Lotte Leicht. ++322 732 20 09
International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) Beatrice Laroche ++331
46 51 38 48
International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Tsering Jampa ++ 31 20 330 82 65
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) Vincent Brossel ++331 44 83 84 84
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2. Wrap Up the Shahtoosh Trade -- IFAW Calls on Fashion Industry
to Prevent Extinction of Tibetan Antelope
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LONDON, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- As fashion weeks in London, Paris and
Milan reveal designs and trends for Autumn and Winter 2000, the
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW--www.ifaw.org) is
highlighting how fashionable demand for the high-priced shahtoosh shawl
is bringing an entire species to the brink of extinction.
IFAW is urging top designers to help stamp out the illegal trade in
Tibetan antelope skins which are used to make the luxury fine woolen
shawls known as shahtoosh [1]. If the shahtoosh trade, fuelled by demand
from the West, continues at this pace it is estimated that the Tibetan
antelope will be extinct within five years. IFAW is asking designers in
Europe, the USA and Delhi to sign a pledge
(http://www.ifaw.org/pdfs/pledgeform.pdf) to help raise awareness of the
illegal shahtoosh trade which follows a trail from China to India where
they are woven and then illegally sold to markets in Europe or America.
But although shahtoosh shawls continue to be sold discretely in
countries such as the UK, USA, Italy and France, the trade has been
illegal for over twenty years and shahtoosh itself is illegal contraband
[2].
The Tibetan antelope, also known as the chiru, inhabits only the remote
plateau of Tibet and Xinjiang and Qinghai provinces of China. The chiru
population has dropped from several million at the turn of the 20th
Century to less than 75,000 today. Only last month, dozens of poachers
were arrested in the Qinghai Province and since the beginning of January
this year 700 pelts and 1,000 rounds of ammunition were confiscated by
the Chinese Authorities. Due to lack of patrols and new routes taken by
the poachers, the illegal killing of the chiru continues unabated.
Myths have been created by illegal traders that Tibetan nomads gather
the fine strands of wool left by the chiru from bushes that don't even
exist on the barren plateaus which is the habitat of the chiru. The
reality is grim. This rare and beautiful animal is becoming a true
fashion victim. The herds of chiru are easy prey on the open plains for
poachers who gun them down in the thousands, skin them and leave the
corpses to rot. Poachers even target the chiru breeding grounds, gunning
down pregnant chiru and mothers with their young [3].
Grace Gabriel, Director of IFAW's China office said; ``The poachers
regard chiru skin more precious than gold. They are following pregnant
females into the calving grounds and killing them indiscriminately. It
is heart breaking to see the baby chiru, still suckling even when the
mother had been killed and skinned. Killing these animals just so their
wool can adorn the necks of the rich is appalling and must stop. The
Chinese Authorities are looking to the fashion industry to help stop the
illegal trade.''
Mike Baker of the IFAW UK office commented; ``It's pure ignorance on the
part of the consumer within the fashion elite that enables this illegal
trade to continue. We are sure that wearers of shahtoosh would not want
to be responsible for the demise of the Tibetan antelope. The fashion
industry must immediately use their powerful market influence to raise
awareness of this continuing illegal trade and stamp out demand for
shahtoosh before it's too late. We are not talking about a luxury shawl
- it's a shroud''.
As well as promoting awareness throughout the fashion world, IFAW is
supporting the Chinese Government's resolution to the Convention on
Trade in Endangered Species, which calls for support in ending the
illegal trade in Tibetan antelope skins. IFAW is also working with
groups in India to target the illegal market there, and is funding
anti-poaching patrols and education programs on the ground in China.
SOURCE: International Fund for Animal Welfare
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3. People have the power
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Patti Smith, David Byrne, Angelique Kidjo, Philip Glass and others throw
a New Year's benefit party for Tibet.
By Seth Mnookin
Feb. 9, 2000 (Salon) -- "I'd like to thank all of you Phish fans," Patti
Smith said before the finale of Saturday's annual Tibet House benefit on
the eve of the Tibetan New Year, and on cue, the upper balconies of
storied Carnegie Hall -- the cheap seats on a night when prime orchestra
spots went for upward of $100 -- erupted in cheers. Nodding to the
twirling, dreadlocked masses, Smith couldn't help giggling. "See, now
that's a collective voice. Good for you."
While Phish's Trey Anastasio, appearing at the Tibet House benefit for
the second time, may have elicited the most fervent fan reaction, he was
hardly the musical highlight of a night that moved smoothly from the
quietly transcendent -- and there is no other word for the otherworldly
chanting of the monks from Drepung Gomang Buddhist Monastic University
-- to the deeply sensual sounds of Brazilian singer Virginia Rodrigues,
who looked, moved and sounded like a French Quarter priestess.
Over two-plus hours on Saturday night, only a few moments were less than
excellent. Cape Breton fiddle phenom Ashley MacIsaac displayed none of
the flashy, psychedelic panache touted in a recent New Yorker profile;
instead, he moved the audience with a deep, nontechnical "Slow Air &
Reels." Taking things in the opposite direction, West African soul diva
Angelique Kidjo commanded the audience to "clap with conviction" during
a song about a woman who marches up to the man she loves and tells him
she'll only marry him.
A pair of numbers featuring Tibetan flutist Nawang Khechog and
Navajo-Ute flutist R. Carlos Nakai sustained the most beautiful moments
of the night. Master of ceremonies Philip Glass said he believed it was
the first time the Tibetan flute and the American Indian flute had been
played together onstage. (The two musicians are working on an album to
be released later this year.) Whether or not he was right, "Universal
Peace" and "Meeting Place" brought an awesome hush upon the sellout
crowd.
Better-known faces delighted as well. David Byrne, in a flowing,
untucked tuxedo shirt, performed a yet-to-be-released number alone,
doing his best Roy Orbison imitation as he warbled about love and
longing. And Rufus Wainwright previewed his next album with "Poses," a
roiling piano song about a "young man who moves to the city and
basically prostitutes himself and becomes really ugly and nobody wants
him anymore." By way of further explanation, Wainwright disarmingly
offered this: "Basically, someone who didn't want to date me. So this is
my revenge."
Yet it was Smith who stole the show, as she did last year. She came out
midset for what has become a standard reading from Allen Ginsberg's
"Howl." When she finished, she spit on the stage. It was one of the few
seemingly extemporaneous moments on a night when the artists were, for
the most part, seized with reverence.
Later, Smith returned for a miniset with her longtime backing band and
exchanged playful quips with the audience, establishing a rapport that
was missing from the night's clichéd, "it's one of the honors of my
life" pronouncements. When a stagehand (in a jacket and tie, no less)
came out between songs to adjust one of her microphones, Smith muttered,
"the power of the unions," before rolling her eyes. More than 20 years
after she won over the New York intelligentsia, the grande dame of
American punk still has one of the most commanding stage presences in
music, whether she's squealing away on clarinet or shouting to the
world. Her band, including Lenny Kaye on guitar and Jay Dee Daugherty on
drums, did its best with an acoustically challenging situation. The
cavernous stage made the drums sound as if they were being played in the
back of a barn.
The night ended with a Smith sing-along. "The people have the power,"
she exclaimed, backed by Anastasio, Byrne, Rodrigues, Kidjo and
Wainwright, "to redeem the work of fools." To even ask whether Tibet
House, a New York charity dedicated to preserving Tibetan culture in the
face of the continued Chinese occupation of Tibet, will be able to
redeem the work of fools -- to say nothing of overcoming the hunger of
totalitarian regimes or the fury of deep-rooted ethnic hatreds -- is a
utopian question. But Saturday night, at least, it seemed like the right
one to ask.
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4. Studio chiefs battle China syndrome
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By Christopher Stern
WASHINGTON, Thursday February 10, 2000 (Variety) - Hollywood's studio
supremos are banding together to clear the way for widespread
distribution of U.S. features in China.
The China Trade Relations Committee includes moguls such as Walt Disney
Co. chairman Michael Eisner, News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, MGM
chairman Alex Yemenidjian, Sony Pictures chairman John Calley, Seagram
Co. CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr., Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone, Time
Warner chairman Gerald Levin and former MCA Inc chairman Lew Wasserman.
The goal of the committee is to lobby Congress to support permanent
normal trade relations with China and thus ingratiate the studios with
the Communist government.
Hollywood's top lobbyist, Motion Picture Assn. of America president Jack
Valenti formed the committee as part of his effort to open the huge
Chinese market to American film. ``We believe it is in the long-term
interests of our country that we put in place a sensible, enduring
relationship with the largest nation on earth,'' said Valenti.
That position is at odds with some in the Hollywood community who oppose
China's occupation of Tibet and are critical of the country's record
when it comes to human rights issues. Among the most vocal opponents is
Richard Gere, who is active in support of Tibetan freedom and who
starred in the MGM flop ``Red Corner,'' which offered up a harsh view of
the Chinese justice system.
Despite the opposition of such well-known talent, the studios are
determined to do their best to break down the Great Wall, at least when
it comes to film distribution.
Until recently there was an informal quota of only 10 major studio films
released each year in China. As part of the World Trade Organization
negotiations conducted last November, China agreed to increase the
number of U.S. films it would allow in to 20. But the conditions for
entry are severe. The Chinese government claims the lion's share of the
box office generated by the U.S. films. The eight major studio films
that were released in China last year generated less than $4 million in
revenue, according to the Motion Picture Assn., the international arm of
the MPAA.
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