Human Rights and Justified Sustainable Entrepeneurship China

Debate on this topic: 26 February 8 PM Auditorium, Minderbroedersberg 4-6 in Maastricht
Introduction by: Willem Offenberg, NRC Handelsblad and FEM Business Chairman: Stafford Wadsworth, Meuse-Rhine Journal, Maastricht.

Offenberg points out the position of China in the human rights discussion. In June of last year, the United Nations established a new Human Right Council, in which China is participating and the US is not! Due to the fight against terror, the traditional point of reference is slowly shifting from individual human rights to collective human rights. Is it time for a new moral leadership? Is China in the race? Since its reforms in 1978, China has succeeded in helping 200 million people to achieve a reasonable income. The realisation of the primary "right to development" seems to have been exemplary. Are socio-economic rights superior to individual rights? The introduction will be followed by a debate in which the relationship between the human rights and the booming economy in China will be discussed.

Nice theses, of which many things can be told. Also the relationship between China and Africa is interesting. They do only trade from oil to weapons. Without moral standards; just trade. Also interesting to see the Chinese influence in Sudan. Oil financed war in Darfur. But it is also true that many of the Chinese people do have an better life than many years ago. Many things can be said, but the Chinese have to decide. We can ask and demand more democracy, but China must make the change. We can ask them to respect the human rights of individuals. Like the journalist Shi Tao. I asked before, to get informed about him, by Amnesty International and other human rights groups.

China is in charge. I think you can make a compliment and in the same sentence also some regrets. In my way of thinking it is possible; Chinese people are intelligent. India is also a large democracy, especially by the number of inhabitants.

Recently, India and China have been characterised as the "rising Asian giant". But poverty and a class-system live in the same country as "Bollywood" and the Indian "Silicon Valley".
Western Europe and America are losing their grip on the world. And maybe it isn’t that bad. Because we have been selfish for many years.

The new world-powers will show a capitalistic neo-liberal way of living. And this way of life has also much problems from that we already suffer. But there are also large chances: a sort of welfare-state in these countries. Because people see how many is gained in trade, and also want their share. They want social security when they are ill or aged.

M.M.

Three poems of Shi Tao

From: For the Mothers of Tian’anmen Square
Here I will stand, as here I will be
the ambassador of a new spring
here I will guard in my intimate heart
the breath of all those children
and wherever you’ll look wild flowers
will bloom again in autumn’s white
and never my mother will stop to wait
in loneliness for him to come back
2 June 2004


June
My whole life
Will never get past "June"
June, when my heart died
When my poetry died
When my lover
Died in an abandoned pool of blood
June, the scorching sun burns open my skin
Revealing the true nature of my wound
June, the fish swims out of the blood-red sea
Toward another place to hibernate
June, the earth changes shape, the river falls silent
Piled up letters unable to be delivered to the dead
9 June, 2004


Pain
The portrait on the wall has lost its powers of reflection,
yet the wind at my window cannot stem this violence.
I torment you through one long night of passion
till we're both completely spent - two kites left in the rain.
Once, long ago, I was the star of a children's play.
Once, long ago, I used both my hands to teach children to sing.
Once, long ago, I heard two crows conversing, lit by the moon.
But the brute fact of cruelty
struck me down. Pain lacks the tenderness of moonlight.
Struggling, trapped in an iron box full of lies, I try to be a model patient,
to swallow a spoonful of spite down the throat of the motherland.
Taiyuan, 6 January 2004

These poems I did publish on this blog for the occasion of December, 10th (International Human Rights Day).

Devotion

Devotion

24 hours and 7 days a week
Someone prays for another one
God listens without a break
Reflection’s of live in a Mosque or Church
There is not many things which divides us from each other
But we are still learning to find the peace within...

M.M.

Yellow angel

Trains are leaving the platforms

Trains bring people to their work or holiday
Coming back with stories or depressions
Songs or monotony
Filled with people with their own stories
Stories they share with each other or which they try to forget
Together or alone
Or together but still alone
Train tell me your story, about our country
Yellow angel, which story did you heard lately
Tell to be not forgotten
Everyone is valuable in this world

M.M.

P.S.: This picture is made by my girlfriend Sally (freelance photographer).

If you're interested in this picture then send a mail to: powergirlxl@gmail.com

Beautiful rose...

Freedom

Stormy weather is outside my door
But the flower of purity blossoms freely
Freedom and Equality is been torn in the hearth
To often and to much
But like a flower can grow on a graveyard or on filthy soil, so it will also be with the truth.

M.M.

P.S.: This beautiful picture is made by my girlfriend Sally (freelance photographer)
If you're interested in this picture then send a mail to: powergirlxl@gmail.com