atonement, step one

The American president is currently on a European farewell tour. Arriving in Germany, Mr. Bush said he “did not like war.” He cited a recent interview in the English Times in which he’d admitted that asking for terrorists to be caught “dead or alive” had given the (false?) impression that he was someone who wanted war.

In the age-old practice of atonement a person takes responsibility for their wrong-doing and then makes amends. President Bush still has a few months to demonstrate his sincerity. He could, for instance, put an end to Guantanamo and, as commander-in-chief, order American troops to leave Iraq. That would be a start.

source: Der Spiegel (my translation).

what to do (about burma)

In the aftermath of the cyclone, some 134,000 Burmese are now dead or missing - over 40 percent of which are believed to be children. The United Nations reports that less than 50% percent of the storm’s 2.4 million affected victims have received any humanitarian relief. While the United Nations Secretary General has received promises that relief workers would be allowed access to the Irawaddy Delta, some 1.5 million people have not seen any aid.

 

The rice paddies are contaminated with salt water and corpses, including the rotting carcasses of thousands of cattle and water buffalo, without which the planting cannot proceed. As always, the monks are at the forefront of serving their people. Some are running an underground supply chain operated out of one of the bigger towns and defying the ban on private relief operations by bringing in food and supplies at great personal risk.

 

It is important to keep the light of awareness on Burma now. The international response to the cyclone could have accumulating effects on the government. The junta is being forced to open its doors a little and this light shining in the darkness can be a great catalyst. Some things you can do:

 

Write or email the Myanmar Embassy expressing your compassionate concern for the Burmese people in this natural disaster, and sincere wishes that the Burmese government will devote its considerable military and civilian resources to rescue those trapped in the path of the cyclone. Ask the government to allow the free flow of international relief aid.
 

The Honorable Ambassador U Linn Myaing, Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
2300 S Street NW, Washington DC 20008; info@mewashingtondc.com; thuriya@aol.com

 

The Honourable Ambassador U Nyunt Tin, Embassy of the Union of Myanmar

Sandringham Building, 85 Range Rd., Ottawa, ON  KIN 8J6; www.myanmar-embassy-ottawa.faithweb.com

 

Write to the Secretary General of the United Nations asking him to endorse an arms embargo against Burma and to pressure the UN Security Council to consider introducing a long-overdue universal arms embargo. The Honourable Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations, New York, NY 10017; sgcentral@un.org

 

Write to the UN-appointed Messengers of Peace: Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Daniel Barenboim, George Clooney, Paulo Coelho, Midori Goto, Michael Douglas, Jane Goodall, Yo-Yo Ma. Email addresses at http://www.un.org/sg/mop/

 

sources: Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) and Internet

in memoriam (#84)

Capt. Richard Leary

a platoon commander of the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry regiment was struck when soldiers came under fire in the Panjwaii district. He was flown by helicopter to a multinational trauma unit where he died of his wounds. Eighty-four Canadian soldiers have now died in Afghanistan.

source: CBC News

what would you do with 1 billion dollars?

In their eagerness to win the presidential nomination for their respective parties, contenders John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Tommy Thompson and James Gilmore (Republicans), and Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel (Democrats) have so far spent a total of one billion dollars. This amount would cover the worldwide budget of the Red Cross for almost a year and that of Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders for two-and-a-half. 

 

sources: DER SPIEGEL and MSF

it’s a start

CBC News: More than 500 Australian troops stationed in Iraq will return home by the end of June, marking the end of Australia’s combat operations in the country. The troops held a ceremony that included lowering the Australian flag at the Tallil Airbase, about 300 kilometres south of Baghdad. Several hundred Australian troops will remain in Iraq to act as security and headquarters liaisons and to guard diplomats. Australia will also leave behind two maritime surveillance aircraft and a warship to patrol oil platforms in the Persian Gulf. 

in memoriam

 

Feng Jun carries a portrait of her dead son through the rubble of a collapsed school in Juyuan, in Sichuan. The boy was one of many students killed when the May 12 earthquake toppled the building. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

A letter posted at CBC News:

“This may sound silly to some, but I hope people realize they can do something very beneficial, very easily … on Saturday may 24, when all my friends were frantically trying to purchase tickets to the upcoming Madonna concert, I went into a local [bank] and donated my $200 ticket money to a Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund.

“I can do without one evening of musical pleasure, but there are tens of thousands of people in China, and Myanmar, that are suffering without food and shelter. My money has better use in China than it does elsewhere! I post this just so people who read it can think about donating money they would otherwise spend needlessly.”

Kindly check my post on May 21 for list of aid organizations ready to receive your donation.

yes to dialogue

Speaking in Berlin, the Dalai Lama repeated his call for non-aggression to resolve international conflicts. He reiterated his wish for a peaceful China and called for the suspension of all Tibet/China protests as a sign of respect for the victims of the earthquake catastrophe in Sichuan Province.

“We don’t want separation,” he explained once more; Tibetans ask only for religious and cultural autonomy within China. “We support the great country represented by the red flag of China. The flag of Tibet is not a protest flag.”

Standing in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of Germany’s non-violent reunification in 1989, the Dalai Lama called for the 21st to be a “century of dialogue.”

source: German news magazine DER SPIEGEL, my translation.

hugged a dictator lately?

Compassion, a word with Latin roots (com- “together” + pati “to suffer”) means to suffer with, to feel another’s pain. Most of the time I feel compassion for someone I like, even for people I barely know. But what if I dislike or strongly disapprove of someone’s actions and character? Can I learn to feel compassionate towards them, wish them relief from fear and anxiety, pray for their happiness?

A while back, during a tele-conference, Ram Dass told us that on his altar he kept a photo of his beloved teacher and one of Saddam Hussein. His point was to remind us that compassion does not discriminate. It’s not something to be portioned out according to personal preferences, based on some personal rating of someone’s worthiness.

Practicing compassion takes me to the edge of my human imperfection; it tests (and grows) my resolve to be a caring person. The Bible and the Torah direct us to “love your neighbour as yourself,” that is every neighbour. Buddhist practitioners subscribe to (and chant) a vow each day, the first line of which reads as follows: Beings are numberless, I vow to free them. Lofty sentiments, but impossible … right?! As our teachers point out, what matters is intention, our sincere effort to do the right thing. It means taking baby steps: fall down, get up; try and try again. 

“The universal inclusivity of freeing every single being in space and time may make this vow inconceivable or simply irrelevant to our own lives,” writes Zen scholar Taigen Dan Leighton. “But if we contemplate saving only a smaller sampling, say all of those who live in the same neighbourhood, or all the people with whom we work, or perhaps just those in our immediate family, we may realize that this task is far from simple, perhaps … inconceivable.

“Opening up to the infinite scope of all beings allows us to relate cooperatively with particular, familiar beings, but also to see our vital intention as directed to the wider unlimited context. This spaciousness helps us to interact more clearly in our ordinary realm.”

source: Leighton. T.D. (2003). Faces of compassion: classic bodhisattva archetypes and their modern expression. Boston: Wisdom Publ., p.33. image: General Than Shwa [Shwe], Chairman, Myanmar State Peace and Development [sic]. source: SPIEGEL/DPA.

kyay zue tin ber tal

Canada will grant honorary citizenship to Burma’s detained dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday in recognition of her tireless struggle for human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

The military regime in Burma, also known as Myanmar, has kept the Nobel Peace Prize recipient in prison or under house arrest for much of the past 18 years, and has refused to recognize the election win by her party, the National League for Democracy, in 1990.

Last October, Canadian politicians passed a motion in the House of Commons to make Suu Kyi an honorary citizen, which has only been granted to three other people: former South African president Nelson Mandela, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg and the Dalai Lama.

source: CBC News; kyay zue tin ber tal means “thank you” in Burmese.

what if there were more women in politics?

Would governments take a gentler approach to resolving conflict … caring for this planet … tackling diseases, hunger, housing, education, and economic imbalance … planning for the future … including so-called minorities …? Just look at the figures below, the percentage of elected women in country known to be at war or to manufacture weapons big time.

What do you think? 

               

Three of the 17 women who hold cabinet posts in European governments (left to right): Nyamko Sabuni (39), minister of intregration, first black member of Swedish parlament, married with twins in elementary school; Maud Olofsson, Swedish minister of economics; Rachida Dati, French minister of justice. Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel has five female ministers; the cabinets of Finland and Spain comprise more women than men. source: SPIEGEL

Percentage of women among elected to Lower Houses (parliaments, assemblies) worldwide: Data from 188 countries compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union as of 29 February 2008. My excerpts. 

Top 15 

1.       Rwanda  48%

2.       Sweden  47

3.       Cuba  43.2

4.       Finland  41.50

5.       Argentina  40

6.       Netherlands  39.3

7.       Denmark  38

8.       Costa Rica  36.8

9.       Spain  36.6

10.    Norway  36.1

11.    Belgium 35.3

12.    Mozambique  34.8

13.    Iceland 33.3

14.    New Zealand  33.1

15.    South Africa  33.3

 

Assorted major players 

17.   Germany  31.6

29.   Australia 26

30.   Canada  21.3

52.   China  20.6

59.   United Kingdom  19.5

63.   France  18.3

70.   United States  16.8

82.   Israel  14.2

83.   Russian Federation  14

 

Percentage of women members of Lower and Upper Houses combined (such as Parliament-Senate/House of Lords, Bundestag-Bundesrat, House of Representatives-Senate): 17.8%.

 

Current elected heads of state (such as prime minister, premier, chancellor) 

Michelle Bachelet (Chile),

Helen Clark (New Zealand),

Luisa Diogo (Mozambique),

Zinaida Greceanîi (Moldova),

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia),

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Argentina),

Angela Merkel (Germany),

Yulia Tymoshenko (Ukraine).

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ray of hope: china willing to talk

Excerpt from this morning’s CBC News:

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The Chinese government is preparing to meet with a private representative of the Dalai Lama, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday. The meeting will happen “in the coming days” and is the result of “requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks,” an official told the news agency. Conditions for the talks must include “credible moves” by supporters of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to abandon violence and protests, the official said. 

 

But the prime minister of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile said he had not received any official Chinese confirmation of the Xinhua report and sounded a cautious note on any potential talks. “The Dalai Lama is always open to have a dialogue but the present circumstances in Tibet do not appear to be an appropriate platform for a meaningful dialogue,” Samdhong Rimpoche told the Associated Press at the government-in-exile’s headquarters in the town of Dharmsala.

 

The announcement from Beijing also called for an end to “activities aimed at splitting China,” and urged Dalai Lama supporters to “stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games.” Beijing has consistently blamed the Dalai Lama for orchestrating a violent protest in the middle of March in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

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1.66 million signatures … still climbing

Update: by Monday April 28, 1,663,600 people had signed the petition. Can you ask one more friend to sign?

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Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao: As citizens around the world, we call on you to show restraint and respect for human rights in your response to the protests in Tibet, and to address the concerns of all Tibetans by opening meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Only dialogue and reform will bring lasting stability. China’s brightest future, and its most positive relationship with the world, lies in harmonious development, dialogue and respect.

you be the judge

Excerpted from an article in THE INDEPENDENT (U.K):

 

An American expert in torture techniques has denounced his government for allowing “waterboarding” to be practiced against terror suspects. Malcolm Nance, who trained hundreds of US service personnal to resist interrogation by putting them through “waterboarding” exercises, demanded an immediate end to the practice. President G.W. Bush recently vetoed a Bill that would have outlawed such methods of “enhanced interrogation,” refusing to describe it as torture.

 

Mr Nance said: “You have a purpose-built table … so that people can be strapped and unstrapped quickly. The head is elevated so the water goes down the esophagus. It is poured carefully over the nose – you keep a constant pour. You are drowning in water but you don’t have the ability to hold your breath. You feel the water going in, you understand that water is filling your lungs.”

 

Amnesty International is leading the campaign to persuade the US to abandon the practice – a form of torture used as long ago as the Spanish Inquisition – and is stepping up its efforts with the release of a disturbing advertisement. It will be shown in 50 cinemas in the UK next month. For further information and/or to view, go to the article in THE INDEPENDENT or click for the Amnesty International site. Caution: very graphic!

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touché

While French President Sarkozy is in Beijing mending fences over anti-China sentiments (such as the pro-Tibet demonstrations during the Olympic torch relay), the Paris city council has awarded honorary citizenship to HH The Dalai Lama and Mr. Hu Jia, the recently imprisoned human rights advocate (photo).

source: DER SPIEGEL; see also my post ‘(not) enough dissention’ dated April 4.

is it ever right to go to war?

The BBC Religion & Ethics forum addresses three basic questions: Is it ever right to go to war? When is it right to wage war? What is the moral way to conduct a war?

A discussion of the ethics of war starts by assuming that war is a bad thing, and should be avoided if possible, but it recognises that there can be situations when war may be the lesser evil of several bad choices. War is a bad thing because it involves deliberately killing or injuring people, and this is a fundamental wrong - an abuse of the victims’ human rights.

The purpose of war ethics is to help decide what is right or wrong, both for individuals and countries, and to contribute to debates on public policy, and ultimately to government and individual action. War ethics also leads to the creation of formal codes of war (e.g. the Hague and Geneva conventions), the drafting and implementation of rules of engagement for soldiers, and in the punishment of soldiers and others for war crimes.