RFA Unplugged

Archive for June, 2007

Confessions of a karaoke addict: Three music videos for Hong Kong's anniversary

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bvb1dftB-0] “Because you are there” (in Chinese “You were always there”, and while it’s Hong Kong that was alluded to in the lyrics, one can’t help but read it as a paean to the Motherland.) It’s hard to describe this official theme tune for the 10th anniversary of the handover. My first thought was: “Ah, [...]

Historical video: Thatcher talks to Blue Peter about Cambodia

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G4dHRN2Dug] The UK children’s show, Blue Peter, attempts to explain the intricacies of Cambodian politics to its audience (aged 5-15) and follows it up with an interview with then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Posted on YouTube by 10 Downing Street.

Mandarin: The Internet and civil rights in China

RFA Mandarin service reporter Wu Jing is currently airing an eight-part feature series on the Internet in China (ZH), and its role in the country’s civil rights movement. Here, she summarizes her programs in English, beginning with Part 1: A magazine editor in Fujian province for example confesses that, staying online 12 hours everyday, he [...]

Comment: Sidik Hajji Rouzi on Uyghur youth

UYGHUR: Problems Facing Uyghur Youth (05-11-07) By Sidik Haji Rouzi Length:  4:50 Today, young Uyghur men are being sold to inner regions of China as slaves, and the young women as prostitutes.  Unfortunately, the young men have not been able to raise the question, asking why they should be sold as slaves. And the young [...]

Burmese: Buddhist monks under curfew in Rangoon

BURMESE:  Interview with Venerable Sayadaw (6/8/07) Reporter:  SKH Length:  6:00 Don’t run away.  Do what you have to do.  Don’t be afraid of anything.  Say what you have to say.  Be united.  I said, “I attack so that you won’t run away.”  We attacked the English so that they would run away.  I was part [...]

Panel discussion on press freedom and the Internet in China

Yin-Ting Mak: The Internet plays a large role in compelling the traditional media to change. Traditional media will feel the pressure if it fails to report what the Internet has reported. People won’t read newspapers and magazines if they do not report what the Internet has reported.  Cao Changqing: Newspapers have to cater to their [...]

50 Years On: China's 'rightists' remember

 The Anti-Rightist Movement (反右派运动) of the People’s Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s consisted of a series of campaigns to purge alleged “rightists” within the Communist Party of China and abroad. The campaigns were instigated by the Chairman, Mao Zedong. – Wikipedia “At that time there were huge struggle meetings with more [...]

Bao Tong on the 50th anniversary of the Anti-Rightist Campaign

This essay was broadcast exclusively on RFA’s Mandarin service June 14 under the title, 论反右派斗争的非法性-为反右派斗争五十周年作: On the illegality of the anti-rightist struggle–written on the 50th anniversary of the Anti-Rightist Movement. By Bao Tong What sort of a crime is denying the leadership of the Party or reversing the direction of socialism? Citizens have a right [...]

Newsdesk: Laura Bush 'praying' for Aung San Suu Kyi

An Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) delegation led by Dr. Salai Lian Hmung went to the White House at the invitation of First Lady, Mrs. Laura Bush to talk about Burma’s political situation. He told RFA: [Mrs. Bush] listened very intently, and said she did seriously take into consideration Burma’s 50 year civil war, as well [...]

Confinement and Discrimination: Disabled in North Korea

Based on accounts by North Korean defectors, it appears that the disabled are one of the most vulnerable categories within a general population that has long been suffering from severe food shortages and the de facto collapse of the health system. According to the defectors, the disabled are held in contempt, marginalized, and often confined [...]