Chinese people's protest

cahalfinbarr

Is it the time of night or am I wrong in thinking the standard is descending towards, if not quite to last nights level. Apart from personalities there are serious matters to discuss.

In particular in this instance

A) Freedom of Speech and the responsibility of the press.
Impartial reporting.
C) Democracy

In general there are the wider issues of (1) sports and politics (2) human rights (3) Tibet (4) Darfur

A) Freedom of Speech and the responsibility of the press.
The Chinese in Ireland have a right to express their opinion. It does not have to be reported upon. However when almost everyday we get news bulletins about anti-Chinese protests, when every second chat show has experts telling us about the sins of the Chinese government, it would seem only fair that the opinions of ordinary Chinese might be touched upon.

Impartial reporting
We do not expect the private press to be impartial. Newstalk is owned by a private individual and will, per se, reflect his view of the world. To report on a demonstration of 150 persons and ignore one of several thousand is however a bit rich. The national broadcaster however is supposed to be impartial. It has been decidedly anti-Chinese with no attempt whatsoever at balance. That it reflects the views and ignorance of us Irish is true, but surely they have a duty to go further.

C) Democracy?
We used to regularly have pictures of the Shah and his Princess in our papers. We never referred to the fact that he was a cruel tyrannical dictator, whom the west had imposed on Iran after having overthrown its democratically elected government.
Our press hailed Boris Yeltsin as a democrat. That he sent troops to storm parliament and made himself a virtual dictator by giving himself power to dissolve the Duma is glossed over.
When I was young black people in America didn’t have the vote. 2/3 of soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan who voted for Kerry had their votes disqualified. Is this democracy?
What is Democracy? The rule of the people, by the people, for the people.
If the Chinese wish to elect their Government in a different manner to us, they have a right to do so. The British do.

Reporter

Letter to the Irish Times today:

Madam, - Your edition of April 14th reports that an Irish protester was "jeered and had his poster grabbed before gardaí intervened" at a rally officially sanctioned by the People's Republic of China in support of the Beijing Olympics. That protester is a good friend of mine, and his version of events is extremely worrying.

My friend happened to be passing when he noticed this sham event. Motivated by a sense of justice, this brave young man decided to make a counter-protest. Without provocation or malice he held aloft a makeshift banner declaring support for the oppressed people of Tibet. The crowd turned on him; he was suddenly kicked and punched by a mob. They may not do free speech in China, but I thought we did in Ireland. Instead of arresting the violent members of the mob, the gardaí arrested my friend.

The Chinese regime was founded by the greatest mass murderer of the 20th century, Mao Zedong. This is a regime that has caused the deaths of more than 60 million people. This is a regime that most Western countries fear to condemn for fear of being excluded from trade. Irish people and the Irish Government need to grasp the full implications of the Chinese rally held in Dublin and our relationship with the regime. - Yours, etc,

Cllr JOHN KENNY, (Progressive Democrat), Monkstown Valley, Co Dublin.


Anyone care to explain?

Same thing happened in the ralley in Toronto:
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-3-30/68263.html

I dont blame the Chinese people. The communist party is a bloody cult that has brainwashed the Chinese people for years. Its moto is propaganda, violence, oppression. People brought up in that culture will be affected. Any comments.

Recommended reading:
http://ninecommentaries.com/
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/4/12/13/n746020.htm