Ten Thousand Things
Multicultural Webfinds

"Ten Thousand Things" is a Buddhist expression representing the dynamic interconnection and simultaneous unity and diversity of everything in the universe.

Cyberspace Graveyard for Disappeared People & Another Year of Living Dangerously for Tens of Thousands of Human Rights Activists in the Philippines and throughout Asia

Following Columbia, the Philippines is the world's second most lethal nation for labor activists. Similarly to Columbia, Filipino state-sponsored violent repression utilizes death squads and disappearances.

This, of course, is not a coincidence.

President Bush referred to the Philippines as the model for the U.S. relationship with Iraq according to Heather Gray's 2003 article "Resistance to US Military Occupation: The Case of the Philippines." Gray describes how, starting in 1901, the Philippines served as the first U.S. laboratory for "low-intensity conflict," a "practice the U.S. continued to implement throughout the 20th century in Vietnam, Angola, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Columbia and elsewhere."

Since Gloria Arroyo became president, human rights organizations have reported that over 800 political activists, human rights workers, trade union officials, lawyers and judges have been murdered throughout the country, according to the University of Pittsburgh legal journal, The Jurist. In 2007, New York University law professor Philip Alston reported that the Philippine military committed many of the killing, and that the existence of such killings is "corrosive" and "severely undermines the political discourse which is central to a resolution of the problems confronting this country."

On January 8, 2008, family and friends of peasant leader Nilo Arado commemorated his fortieth birthday and the 271st day since his disappearance with fellow activist, Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado.

The Asian Human Rights Commission's "Cyberspace Graveyard for Disappeared Persons" memorializes Nilos Arado, Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado, and other disappeared people in Asia.

The Asian Pacific Post, British Columbia's award-winning English-language Asian newspaper editorial provides a succinct overview of violent state repression by Asian nations in 2007:

Dec.20, 2007: Editorial "Year of Living Dangerously"

"The year 2007 will be remembered as a year when tens of thousands of Asians risked their freedom to march for human rights in Asia.

"It will also be a year that will go down in history as one where Asian leaders resorted to draconian laws and violent suppression to quell the cries for basic rights, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

"From Burma to Pakistan, the Philippines to South Korea, and throughout the rest of Asia, human rights eroded steadily as a result of repressive policies.

"The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in its latest annual report said conflict and gross rights violations persisted as a way of life, despite the superficial workings of elected governments in many Asian nations.

"The Philippines saw a continued failure to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, which has caused the situation of human rights in the impoverished southeast Asian nation to go from bad to worse. Human rights defenders, labour unionists, peasant leaders and others continue to face grave threats to their lives. The police have been a major impediment to human rights, both through their acts and omissions.

Investigations are poorly done or are not impartial. Witness protection is for all intents and purposes non-existent.

"Myanmar’s monkhood, which has a long history of political activism, took the lead in organizing peaceful protests against drastic fuel hikes announced in mid-August, as well as the country’s deteriorating economic conditions. The demonstrations culminated in tens of thousands taking to the streets of Yangon in increasingly aggressive protests against the military, which has ruled the country for the past 45 years. The junta finally cracked down Sep 26-27 with batons and bullets, killing at least 15 people and imprisoning more than 3,000. The actual death toll and the number of people still in prison in Myanmar remains a mystery.

"The mass protests in Myanmar (formerly Burma) during August and September have shown that there is a wide consensus for a transfer of power from the military regime to a civilian government.

"During 2007 in Cambodia, criminal lawsuits and arrests continued to be used as tools for political repression, particularly in land and labour disputes. There were also many restrictions on freedoms of the press, of expression and of assembly. Land grabbing was rife and remains one of the most serious economic and human rights issues in the country today. Cambodia continues to exhibit hostility towards UN human rights mechanisms.

"The lack of political will in Indonesia has stalled reforms within the country’s police.

"Torture has not been criminalized, while the military continues to be the dominant institution in many regions where historic injustices have not been righted. Impunity remains the key feature of law and order, for torture and for other gross abuses of human rights.

"In South Korea some major human rights concerns persist over laws relating to, and treatment of, migrant workers; the rights of “irregular” workers; restrictions on freedom of assembly, and the continued use of the National Security Law.

"However, the proposed revision of the Criminal Procedure Act in the Republic of Korea sets in place many new measures to prevent abuses during criminal investigation, including provisions for non-custodial inquiries and rights to an attorney.

"Thailand’s military decisively reasserted its prerogative to determine the shape and direction of the nation following the coup of last September. The army has awarded vast increases in funding to itself with no outside accountability, and reestablished a cold-war era command to oversee domestic affairs. And while it announced investigations into the human rights violations of the former government, it firmly blocked efforts to investigate killings, torture and other abuses committed under its administration, particularly those of soldiers.

"Malaysia has resorted to its draconian Internal Security Act, which provides for detention without trial, to quell segments of its restive population. At least 23 human-rights lawyers, activists and opposition politicians were arrested.

"On November 25, an estimated 30,000 ethnic Indians from across the country converged in Kuala Lumpur to highlight what they perceived to be systematic ethnic marginalization and religious discrimination by the government. Many believe the embattled premier is on the brink of ordering a major crackdown against dissent.

"In South Asia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India all suffered human rights setbacks.

"China continued its top ranking as the world’s bad boy when it comes to human rights abuses. China today is the world’s biggest prison for journalists (33 detained), cyber-dissidents (49 detained) and free speech activists. In all, about 100 of them are currently serving prison sentences in appalling conditions after being convicted on charges of political dissent.

"The world’s rights violator [sic] remains a member in good standing in the United Nations as it shows off its economic prowess to mask the prevalence of human rights violations.

"When it came to human rights of our fellows in Asia, 2007 was a year of double standards.

"We in North America portrayed ourselves as global defenders of human rights. But the litany above shows we did very little."

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