Speaking of police and hyperboles, it’s becoming something of a dilemma whether or not it’s appropriate to post photographs of the security forces in Lhasa online. These consist of paramilitaries [People's Armed Police], city police, and plainclothes PSB agents. One is not supposed to take pictures of these individuals (if you are seen doing so, they will seize your camera and not return it). Since sponsorship is required for foreign nationals to go to most places in Tibet, it’s not simply a personal decision; which comes up against a contrary feeling that an (in effect) occupation of a provincial capital as the status quo is somewhat odd and should be publicized. Given the biased rhetoric that comes from both Chinese and Western sources with regards to Tibet, more information seems useful.

It is difficult to take lots of pictures (especially in the Tibetan/Muslim areas of the city) without catching the security forces peripherally – the patrols are often that dense. I’m somewhat sympathetic to the restrictions on outright voyeurism. There are definite concerns about identifiably photographing these individuals, as they could potentially become targets (unlikely but one never knows.)

The paramilitaries were, for the most part, rather genial (especially when the officers aren’t around). They do interact with the community – it’s unfortunate, for example, that I couldn’t take a picture of a little girl wearing a butterfly costume drawing in a coloring book with two PAP guards. The juxtaposition was so very China, and priceless. (That or a really good PR setup.) The soldiers barter alongside tourists, which seems a much better state of affairs than the alternative – at least they are less likely to (in theory) shoot into a crowd. They are mostly young, and don’t really want to be there. They are extremely handy if you want directions, as they can be found at most major intersections in the city.

While I feel as though I’ve self censored plenty of things I might have written (though more for personal rather than political reasons); the (superficial) exposure to this type of Orwellian reality produced more anxiety than I thought it would. The notion that a photograph could endanger someone else’s livelihood (either the soldiers or local guides) is sickening but ultimately necessary, given the current situation.

Kitschy non-political pro-China-everyone-happy photos to be uploaded soon.

Blogging has been on hold due to work being busy and planning a trip; and posting will likely be infrequent for the next few weeks.

The first result is Baidu, Google’s former mainland rival. I suppose this would be a bit like Google returning Bing or Yahoo in a search for “STFU” or “f*** you.”

Ancient philosophers meh: Hunan claims to have mist-covered picturesque mountains similar to those featured in Avatar (English here), using the resemblance to draw tourists. The city of Zhangjiajie has renamed even named a local peak Avatar Hallelujah Mountain, the first two terms being phonetic transliterations (阿凡达哈利路亚, Afanda Haliluya) which just seems sort of wrong, though not quite Starbucks in the Forbidden City wrong. Popular culture will of course be interpreted in a local context, and instead of assimilation one should view these things as fusion. Perhaps we only wish the interpretations weren’t so crass. HT Ellie.

The blue lines are shipping routes; apparently Shanghai is the third most central port in the world (after the Suez and Panama Canals).

Bearing this important narrative mind, I asked a Shanghainese pro-d0mme friend over noodles how she felt about the new rules. Surely her scheduling methodology would be affected. She replied: “since most of my clients are from the US and Europe, I don’t care. I can still use English” [the filters not being calibrated to reign in worldly, cosmopolitan smut, as it were.]

道德？你西方人甭跟讲道德！就像网上年轻人所说的：你从世界各大洲除了欧洲都卷了铺盖，你就有道德了。

Morality? You Westerners shouldn’t even bother speaking with me about morality! It’s like that netizen said: ‘[if] all of you pack up and leave all of the other continents (except Europe), then you will have morality.

This comes from Wang Xiaodong (albeit in one of the more vitriolic essays) where he refers to a comment made by a Chinese netizen that ‘Westerners should pack up and leave North America, Africa, and Oceania, and all return to their ancestral homes in Europe. Then they can talk with us about leaving T1bet.’ Another essay, 美国不是纸老虎，是“老黄瓜刷绿漆” (America isn’t a Paper Tiger, but rather an old cucumber painted green’) strikes a similar tone.

The book received a lot of attention from Western media, for being ultra-nationalist, and espousing tenants of a new political philosophy – 新爱国主义 (‘new patriotism’) that advocates the aggressive use of soft power in foreign policy, and reduced reliance on Westerners (culturally, economically, and technologically). Though I personally mostly agree, I also think it would be very wrong to characterize these opinions as being shared by everyone here – especially those in power. My experiences with party officials is that they are more critical than the average Chinese, though in a much more nuanced way. That’s unsurprising, considering they have to deal with whatever problems exist within the bureaucracy.

This is all anecdotal of course, and risks ignoring the ephemeral (but palpable?) sense of populism / nationalism that you get glimpses of. As of writing, Chinasmack, an amazing website that catalogues popular / controversial stories in China is under a Denial of Service attack. It would not be surprising that this is being done by ‘new patriots’ who feel the website portrays China in a negative light, especially right before the 20th anniversary of 6.4 – the notion that they are probably drawing attention to the very site they are trying to shut down seems not to have occurred.

Many of the essays in the book talk a lot about how Chinese, especially youth, must rise up and be strong, like when ‘young nationalists’ organized boycotts of Carrefour after Olympic Torch protests in Europe last year. This ‘defense of national honor’ is exactly the sort of activity that the authors would approve of, but stinks of the very same [unwarranted] inferiority complex that ‘new patriots’ take issue with. The biggest risk for people like me is misconstruing that such views are homogenous – even within ‘nationalism,’ there’s a large variety of views. Rather than risking polarization, discussion of these issues are an important avenue forward.

It’s too bad Obama support stopped being edgy some time ago. Now I must resort to contrarian arguments about America being led down the inevitably destructive path of crowd politics:

As the late Nobel laureate Elias Canetti observes in his great book, “Crowds and Power” (first published in 1960), the crowd is based on an illusion of equality: Its quest is for that moment when “distinctions are thrown off and all become equal. It is for the sake of this blessed moment, when no one is greater or better than another, that people become a crowd.” These crowds, in the tens of thousands, who have been turning out for the Democratic standard-bearer in St. Louis and Denver and Portland, are a measure of American distress.

Maybe? Should he win the expectations seem too high. Regardless, I have plans to eat pizza and drink wine early in the morning as I hit refresh on a browser watching election results come in.

More here.

In his ruling, Judge Nicholson mentioned that President Thabo Mbeki may have inappropriately interfered in the case- a suggestion that now has many calling for Mbeki’s resignation.

If Mbeki leaves office, either the speaker of parliament or Zuma would lead the country. Zuma is already the favourite in next year’s presidential elections. He is the current President of the African National Congress (ANC) (in the South African system you can be president of a political party but not necessarily President of the country).

The ANC is meeting to discuss the matter. They could force Mbeki to resign.

True, an independent judiciary is crucial to a democracy, and if Mbeki did interfere in the case, he should resign. But this is only an allegation.

What I do not understand is how Zuma continues to be a national hero, the victim. Nevermind the 16 charges against him: one count of racketeering, two counts of corruption, one count of money laundering, and 12 counts of fraud.

This is also the man who raped a woman who is HIV positive and then said that he took a shower to ensure that he did not contract the disease.

That such a man will most likely become President of South Africa next year is frightening.

Note:  I had mistakenly referred to Zuma as VP; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the current Vice President. 

Check out the Star or Mail & Guardian for updates.