Diplomacy & Crisis News

Welcoming a recent draft bill to the Guatemalan Congress on constitutional justice reform, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today urged a rapid approval by the Government while voicing concern over the growing threats against judicial authorities.

Recalling the renewed focus on seas and oceans, including as illustrated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that as the global law of the sea continues to grow in relevance, so does its international tribunal.

Ahead of the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today released a report warning that the worldwide disparity between unpaid household chores assumed by girls aged five through 14 as compared to their male counterparts, amounts to 40 per cent more time – or 160 million more hours a day.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the attack against a security post at a refugee hosting area in Tazalit, in the Tahoua region of Niger, bordering Mali, on 6 October, in which at least 22 members of Niger’s security forces were killed and several others were injured.

Most civilians living in areas of northern Nigeria recaptured by the armed forces from Boko Haram since the start of the year still face serious protection problems and lack the most basic assistance, with women particularly at risk, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.

The top United Nations expert of free expression said today that reports that Yahoo complied with United States intelligence demands by searching the e-mails of hundreds of millions of customers “raise serious human rights concerns.”

Expressing concern at increasing unrest in several Ethiopian towns following deaths of a number of people in unclear circumstances in the country’s Bishoftu town, the United Nations human rights arm has called on protesters to exercise restraint and on security forces to conduct themselves in line with international human rights laws and standards.

« Sa Majesté le Roi préside la cérémonie de lancement du nouveau plan de réforme de l'investissement. » « S. M. le Roi inaugure l'autoroute de contournement de Rabat d'un investissement global de 3,2 milliards de dirhams. » « S. M. le Roi a inauguré un centre pour enfants abandonnés. » À parcourir les « unes » des principaux journaux marocains (Le Matin, L'Opinion et L'Économiste, francophones ; Al-Massae, Akhbar Al-Youm et Assabah, arabophones), il n'est question, chaque jour, que de tresser des louanges à « Sa Majesté le Roi » (Jalalatou al-malik en arabe), à ses actions en faveur du développement du pays, à sa générosité envers les pauvres. Pour ceux qui ne savent pas lire (le pays compte un tiers d'analphabètes), les chaînes de télévision diffusent les mêmes messages à la gloire du monarque et de ses admirables actions. Nulle part une opinion critique, jamais une enquête susceptible de vraiment déranger le pouvoir. La presse marocaine apparaît comme l'une des plus serviles du Maghreb. Et pour cause : après la disparition en 2010 du Journal, criblé de dettes, et la mise au pas, la même année, de l'hebdomadaire Tel Quel (et le départ aux États-Unis de son directeur Ahmed Benchemsi), le paysage médiatique est redevenu complètement soumis.

« Le Maroc a bénéficié d'une presse intéressante pendant dix ans, de la mort de Hassan II [en 1999] jusqu'à 2010, analyse Omar Brouksy, ancien rédacteur en chef du Journal. Nous pouvions publier des enquêtes plutôt politiques, et Tel Quel bousculait sur les questions de société. Mais les deux titres ont perdu de nombreux procès, et les annonceurs ont fait défection. » Après quelques années à l'Agence France-Presse, et toujours en proie aux attaques du gouvernement, le journaliste a jeté l'éponge, comme plusieurs de ses collègues. « La pratique d'un journalisme d'enquête indépendant est devenue impossible au Maroc. » Comment imaginer exercer ce métier dans un pays où le détenteur de tous les pouvoirs — le roi — refuse d'accorder le moindre entretien et, a fortiori, qu'on enquête sur ses affaires ? Les responsables intermédiaires tremblent à l'idée que leurs propos, publiés par la presse, puissent lui déplaire. « Même chez les intellectuels, le manque de courage est devenu affligeant », déplore Mohamed Madani, professeur à l'université de Rabat, un des rares à prendre publiquement position.

Aujourd'hui, le dernier carré de journalistes rigoureux tente de trouver refuge dans les médias en ligne, avec des sites comme Lakome2.com, Alaoual.com, Ledesk.ma ou Badil.info. Mais il leur est très difficile de convaincre des annonceurs, et donc de payer les salaires de leurs maigres équipes, alors que la justice s'acharne contre eux. En 2013, Ali Anouzla, fondateur de Lakome.com, s'est retrouvé en prison pendant cinq semaines pour avoir placé sur son site un lien vers le quotidien espagnol El País, qui lui-même renvoyait vers une vidéo de terroristes destinée à illustrer un article. Un mois plus tôt, Anouzla avait fortement irrité Mohammed VI en révélant la libération par une « grâce royale » d'un pédophile espagnol, ce qui avait déclenché un mouvement de colère très important dans le pays. « Après l'interdiction de Lakome.com, j'ai créé Lakome2.com, raconte le journaliste. Mais je ne prends pas les mêmes libertés, je m'autocensure. La survie du site en dépend. » D'autant plus qu'il n'est toujours pas passé en jugement. « C'est comme une épée de Damoclès. »

Sept autres journalistes sont aussi en attente d'un procès. Parmi eux se trouve Maâti Monjib, un intellectuel souvent invité par des universités à l'étranger, capable de s'exprimer autant en arabe qu'en français ou en anglais. Ces journalistes sont tous accusés du même délit : « atteinte à la sûreté intérieure de l'État ». Leur crime ? Avoir reçu l'aide d'organisations non gouvernementales étrangères afin d'organiser des formations aux nouveaux outils (Internet, smartphones, etc.) nécessaires au journalisme d'investigation. Ils risquent jusqu'à dix ans de prison.

Pour salir ces hommes aux yeux de l'opinion, tous les coups sont permis. Hicham Mansouri, proche collaborateur de Maâti Monjib, est ainsi accusé d'« utilisation de son domicile à des fins de proxénétisme ». Un matin de mars 2015, son domicile a été forcé par une dizaine de policiers, qui l'ont trouvé en compagnie d'une femme. Le tribunal l'a immédiatement condamné à dix mois de prison. Six mois plus tôt, l'homme avait été agressé en pleine rue par deux malabars, qui l'avaient laissé gisant dans son sang.

On October 8, a song and dance performance commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Long March of the Red Army of the Communist Party of China will be presented at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse in San Gabriel, California. Organized by the American Chinese Culture Association (ACCA, 美中文化协会), the event is also being protested by local Chinese American human rights activists.

“I was one of the immigrants who fled China to be free of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution,” activist Rocky Chang told Christopher Yee of the Pasadena Star-News, “It’s shocking that they’re starting to infiltrate the Chinese-American community to promote communist ideologies.” Unlike China the United States does not practice censorship, so the show is unlikely to be cancelled, but seems certain to face further protest. Similar events in Australia marking the 40th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s death were cancelled by organizers in September following protest by human rights activists in the Chinese Australian community.

Publicity for Long March 80th anniversary gala (Chinese Daily USA)

Like organizers in Australia, those in Southern California have a clearly propagandist purpose and clear ties to Chinese Communist Party and pro-Beijing organizations such as the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (CCPPNR, 中国和平统一促进会) in Beijing. ACCA president and lead organizer Lin Xu (林旭, aka David Lin) had the following to say on the Long March and the purpose of its commemoration in Southern California (Chinese Daily USA; see also Channel G&E, International Daily News, World Journal):

“The spirit embodied in the Long March is the most core value in Chinese culture…. Eighty years ago, Red Army soldiers completed the Long March and shocked the world, opened up a bright road for China’s future, and laid the foundation for the birth of the People’s Republic of China. This great historical event is the pride of the Communist Party of China leading the Red Army of Chinese workers and peasants, the glory of the Chinese army, and the pride of the Chinese nation.

“With the increase of China’s influence in the world and the progress of human history, the Long March of the Red Army will become the heritage of world civilization and will be recognized and respected by all mankind. Like the biblical Exodus, this story will be known around the world and immortalized in history. This is precisely the purpose and meaning of today’s commemoration of this history—it belongs to the future and to all mankind!”

Lin Xu (center) with Chinese vice-consul Wang Lei (left: Chinese Daily USA)

Lin Xu and co-organizers of the Long March event also organized a forum in June in Los Angeles to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Speaking at the forum, Liu Qing (刘青) of CCPPNR praised the Communist Party for its “great achievements” and stressed the importance of “united front work” in bringing Chinese people in China and abroad together under the party’s leadership. Ding Lixin (丁立新), president of Hollywood Chinese TV (HCTV, 好莱坞中文卫视), spoke on “expanding Chinese propaganda and enhancing the Chinese Communist Party’s international image.”

Hollywood Chinese TV president Ding Lixin (HCTV/DuXuan.cn)

In 2014 Lin with co-organizers Deng Guifeng (邓桂凤) of the Jiangxi Association of America (美国江西联谊会) and Li Lanping (李兰平) of the Shaanxi Association of America (美国陕西同乡会) appeared in a “Joint Statement of CCPPNR and Worldwide Overseas Chinese Associations”  (signatures #3, #54, and #113) condemning the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong, supporting the Chinese central government and its puppet government in Hong Kong, and opposing interference by “foreign forces” in “China’s internal affairs.”

Lin was an organizer for an anti-Japanese protest in Los Angeles on the occasion of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the United States in 2015; and in 2004 appeared in the Communist Party’s official newspaper People’s Daily speaking out in support of mainland Chinese claims on Taiwan and against Taiwan independence. Mr. Lin and his associates enjoy the right do all of these things in the United States, of course—a right denied to those in China whose opinions might differ.

The post Chinese Propaganda Comes to Southern California appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

A quick end to an election campaign marked by baffling twists and turns: António Guterres, former Portuguese prime minister, will be the new UN Secretary-General. With Ban Ki-Moon’s tenure due to finish by year’s end, a plethora of candidates had positioned themselves for one of the top jobs in international politics. Once the flush of victory subsides, Guterres will see himself confronted with a mountain of challenges.

While the U.S. presidential election has produced an unlikely surprise candidate in Donald Trump, the campaign to head up the world’s eminent international organization has been somewhat of a rollercoaster itself. For the longest time, two things seemed inevitable: the incoming Secretary-General was going to be a woman, and she had to be from Eastern Europe. Not so much, as it turns out.

Several straw polls held in the Security Council saw strong female candidates such as Helen Clark, Christiana Figueres, and Irina Bokova turn from favorites to afterthoughts. To add insult to injury, the Bulgarian Bokova was then dropped by her own government at the eleventh hour. Due to Bokova’s poor support among Security Council members, current EU commissioner Kristalina Georgieva then came forward to cobble together a long-rumored last minute candidacy.

By contrast António Guterres, starting out as an assumed also-ran, was able to curry the most amount of favor with the members of the Council. Having headed the UN refugee agency for ten years, he reportedly impressed with his eloquence and affable nature. In the end, he did not receive a single vote of discouragement. On paper, Guterres can make a strong case for himself. A former prime minister, he knows how to maneuver among political heavyweights. As a long-serving administrator at the organization, he probably also knows a thing or two about the behemoth that is the UN bureaucracy. Yet, the challenges are enormous.

The incoming Secretary-General will find a UN in turmoil. The organization has come under increasing pressure over its failure to take serious allegations of sexual abuse levied at peacekeepers. After years of denial, the UN has also had to acknowledge its involvement in spreading cholera in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake in 2010. Frustrations have grown over what many perceive to be a culture of impunity at the organization. Now, new reports have surfaced indicating that UN peacekeeping forces failed to protect civilians in South Sudan, abandoning their posts and allowing South Sudanese government troops to rape and kill scores of people.

The problems, however, go deeper. The standoff over Syria appears to be just another reminder that when push comes to shove, the great powers often leave the United Nations with little room to maneuver. Marginalization is a state of affairs the UN finds itself in all too often. With an international system that seems ready to abandon the idea of multilateralism, Guterres will have to show exceptional qualities to re-establish his organization as one of the central players in international politics. Add to that the perennial issue of a shortfall in funds, and the Portuguese has a full plate already.

As far as climate change and the UN’s mandate to further global development are concerned, the table is pretty much set. With the United States, China, India, and now the European Union having ratified last year’s Paris agreement, the next few years will likely see the United Nations return to more of a management role on climate change. A more decisive role of the private sector is to be expected.

Likewise, Guterres will have to oversee the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, launched at last September’s General Assembly. These are the areas in which the quiescent Ban made his mark, having been put in his place early by the great powers. It will therefore be interesting to see how Guterres aims to make a name for himself.

The Secretary-General post requires three things at once: Guterres needs to be a diplomat, a bureaucrat, and a politician. By all accounts, Ban struggled in all three roles. A natural communicator, Guterres should at least be able to make a more convincing case that we do need a strong UN. Can he return the organization to past glory? Maybe.

One thing is clear, however. The chance to hand the reigns over to a female Secretary-General was missed. Ban himself had indicated that he wanted his successor to be a woman. Another thing we also know: the UN will only be as strong as its most powerful members allow it to be. Whether male or female, the Secretary-General is too often at the mercy of the great powers. And that is the great challenge, making the UN fit for purpose in a 21st century world. Here comes António Guterres.

The post Can António Guterres Save the UN? appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

The late Jordanian writer, Nahed Hattar.

Understanding the religious passions dominating the Middle East’s political sphere seems to be a prerequisite for testing the spread of democratic institutions and the norms necessary to support them. King Abdullah II of Jordan (a direct descendant of Prophet Mohammad) repeatedly says that the war on terror is foremost a war inside Islam. Recently, he visited the family of the late writer Nahed Hattar to pay condolences, affirming that Jordanians “denounce the cowardly criminal act” that targeted him on September 25.

In his initial confession to Jordanian police, the killer, who was known for his extremist thoughts and behavior, said he targeted Hattar “after hearing that he posted an offensive caricature on his Facebook page and decided to kill him.”

One of the central features of civilized behavior is that one should not use violence to solve conflicts. It seems the Middle East, where debate, argument, and dialogue are rare as instruments of the intellectual dialect, did not read the speech of King Mohammed VI of Morocco (another direct descendant of Prophet Mohammad) addressed to the Moroccans on August 20, when he reminded the citizens of the problems plaguing the region, such as succumbing to extremist and terrorist groups: “Is it conceivable that God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, could order someone to blow himself up or kill innocent people?” King Mohammed VI stressed that those who call for murder and aggression, those who excommunicate people without a legitimate reason, those who interpret the Quran and the Sunnah to suit their purposes “are actually lying to Allah and His Messenger.”

He also asked his people this pivotal question, which was ironically not irrelevant to the theme of the cartoon which Hattar has shared on his Facebook: “How could anyone of sound mind believe that the reward for jihad is a number of virgins? How could one possibly accept that anyone who listens to music will be swallowed by the depths of the earth, and other such lies? As attested by the history of mankind, it is impossible to achieve progress in a society which is plagued by radicalism and hatred.”

Hattar, who was facing trial for sharing a cartoon on his Facebook page, was on his way to attend a court hearing when he was shot dead. The cartoon featured an illustration of God under the title “God of Daesh,” using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. Right after sharing the cartoon, the Jordanian Prime Minister, Hani al-Mulki, ordered his interior minister to summon the writer and to initiate legal proceedings against him. The cartoon has sparked outrage in social media and the Jordanian Ifta’ Department issued a statement criticizing “the insult to the divine entity, Islam, and religious symbols.” Meanwhile, several Twitter users called for legal action to be taken against Hattar: “He should be imprisoned,” “killed,” “executed.”

The appalling hate speech in social media platforms deserves a moment of contemplation of the reality of Middle Eastern societies, with the spread of extremist dialect sweeping through for decades. Before turning himself in, Hattar published an apology and an explanation on his Facebook page, saying that he shared the cartoon to mock the terrorists and how they view heaven and that it was not meant to insult God. As a matter of fact, social media accounts were celebrating Hattar’s death, saying he deserved it for blasphemy, and right after the assassination, people started tweeting: “He deserves being killed this Christian pig,” “God’s revenge took his life,” “We will not accept anything other than this.”

Hattar’s assassination sheds light on virtual media and how it is used as a weapon by the terrorists to promote their ideologies of extremism. It also marks a new challenge for the state: terrorists are not only on the borders with Syria and Iraq, but amongst Jordanians themselves, inciting the murderer of Hattar, as well as rejoicing the crime. In fact, Jordan’s police has declared it arrested several people accused of circulating videos and posts on social media “promoting hate” days after the assassination, including a relative of the shooter who created a Facebook page called: “Yes to Free the Killer of Hattar.”

Seeking toleration in the Middle East for a greater range of speech and lifestyles will be hardly obtained and this sense of hate speech makes it harder still to grasp the possibility of social cooperation. Moreover, convincing hate promoters to view their interactions with the other as positive-sum processes is rather a joke as there is much more to terrorist forms of violence than just terror: intellectual terror, propaganda, hate speech, political mobilization, and destruction of peaceful economic structures, are all but few examples. Meanwhile, the state is not clear about where it stands, what message it wants to convey, what efforts have been made to confront and remedy social division and extremism, and the role of media in rebutting the fanatic discourse to maintain moderation, if any, especially putting an end to extremism and hate speech toward the other.

Middle Eastern societies do not tolerate freedom of expression, experimentation, falsification, and theory formation to nation building. They do not accept doubt and dispute as centerpieces of a functional democracy. They think of democracy in the same way that they think of belief—as a moral judgment, as assertions; not as science—as a method of trial and error, and as a public marketplace of ideas. This brings us back to issue of responding to political violence and how to convince these societies that violence is immoral, fruitless, or both.

I do not see how we can reach a “common interest” with the extremists as our vision of toleration, pluralism, and political stability may not be the mirror image of their own vision. Settling the nature of the game will take hard political choices, whose costs will be significant. And this is exactly why the King of Jordan, for instance, says that the war on terror requires both military and ideological measures.

The post The Semantics of God in the Middle East appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Avant de se déclarer candidat à l'élection présidentielle, M. Donald Trump ne cachait pas son scepticisme face au réchauffement climatique. Ce concept « a été inventé par et pour les Chinois, afin de rendre les industries américaines non compétitives », écrivait-il sur Twitter le 6 novembre 2012. Face au tollé soulevé par cette déclaration, le milliardaire new-yorkais expliqua qu'il voulait simplement plaisanter, mais, le 29 janvier 2014, il remettait le couvert sur les réseaux sociaux : « De la neige au Texas et en Louisiane, des records de froid à travers le pays et au-delà. Le réchauffement climatique est un canular ruineux. »

Ruineux, il pourrait l'être, mais un « canular » ? Dans le monde des affaires, et en particulier dans le secteur des assurances, rares sont ceux qui partagent ce point de vue. Sécheresse en Californie, inondations en Louisiane, tempêtes en Floride, les caprices de la météo produisent déjà des effets tangibles, qui nécessitent de coûteuses indemnisations. Dès 2009, le président-directeur général du trust Lloyd's of London, l'un des leaders mondiaux de l'assurance, qualifiait le changement climatique de « problème numéro un » du secteur.

Parmi les différents périls qui guettent les États-Unis, il en est un qui inquiète tout particulièrement : la montée du niveau de la mer. D'après une récente étude du géant de l'immobilier Zillow, si les océans s'élevaient de deux mètres avant 2100 (1), 1,9 million de résidences se retrouveraient sous les flots aux États-Unis — en Louisiane, en Caroline du Sud, en Virginie et surtout en Floride, qui abriterait une habitation sinistrée sur huit (2). Des millions de personnes seraient déplacées, avec à la clef des pertes se chiffrant en centaines de milliards de dollars.

Face à la menace, les États concernés ne proposent aucune solution de long terme. Ils préfèrent s'en remettre aux compagnies d'assurance, qui inventent des produits financiers sophistiqués (« dérivés climatiques », « obligations catastrophe »…) — pour faire porter à d'autres les risques encourus (3) — et misent sur le miracle autorégulateur du marché : chaque année, elles augmentent copieusement leurs tarifs dans les États côtiers et annulent (ou refusent d'octroyer) des polices aux personnes installées dans les zones exposées. La société Allstate, par exemple, qui comptait 1,2 million d'assurés en Floride voilà quelques années, n'en a aujourd'hui plus que 400 000, avec l'espoir de réduire ce nombre à 100 000 d'ici peu. Ainsi, imaginent les assureurs, les Floridiens partiront d'eux-mêmes, et le problème de la montée des eaux s'en trouvera résolu.

(1) Avancée par des scientifiques dans la revue Nature no 521, 31 mars 2016, cette estimation table sur une diminution insignifiante des émissions de gaz à effet de serre.

(2) Brady Dennis, « As sea levels rise, nearly 1.9 million US homes could be underwater by 2100 », The Washington Post, 24 août 2016.

(3) Lire Razmig Keucheyan, « Quand la finance se branche sur la nature », Le Monde diplomatique, mars 2014.

Following the awarding of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Peace to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that the award is a timely message to all who have strived hard for peace, and that it provides needed hope and encouragement to all Colombians.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) today announced a new partnership with the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM), aiming at adopting sustainable water bird hunting management to protect wetland resources in Africa’s Sahel region which are crucial for food security and economic development.

After deploying field teams to Caribbean countries affected by Hurricane Matthew, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) are today heading to Haiti, where they are preparing for a major upsurge in cholera.

Detailing the bloodshed in eastern Aleppo, where in the last two weeks, 376 people – half of them children – have been killed, 1,266 injured, hospitals destroyed, and “all sorts of ammunitions” and weapons used, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria underscored today that this part of the iconic city may be totally destroyed in two months, leaving thousands dead and forcing countless more to flee.

Citing a lack of progress on the peace process in Mali, the United Nations peacekeeping chief today warned that the UN mission there would not be able to fully carry out its mandate as long as the signatories to the peace agreement do not resolutely engage in its implementation.

In the wake of the recent disclosure of leaked Bahamas tax haven data, United Nations human rights experts today urged governments to work together on liquidating offshore tax avoidance and establishing tougher financial regulations.

A man places a flower on a Colombian national flag during a march along the streets of Cali, Colombia, on July 15, 2016, in support of the peace talks between the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC guerrillas (AFP Photo/Luis Robayo)

In 2016, leaders and elected officials, often called “elites” by their political opponents, have seemed to been out of touch with large groups in their own communities. The Brexit vote was an example of a large division in British society not being seriously recognized by its leaders. It resulted in the resignation of a Prime Minister and the eventual exit of the UK from the EU.

Explanations against the result of the referendum often take the same line of logic, explaining away valid and invalid issues that motivated the Leave camp to vote for Brexit. A continued push against the result of the referendum has created greater divisions as referendums themselves are now being seen on as bad policy, despite having many of the same structural issues as democratic elections themselves.

An agreement to end the longest war in Latin America was recently presented to the people of Colombia. President Santos asked the Colombians to vote on whether or not to accept an agreement to end the conflict between Colombia and the FARC rebel group. The peace agreement—four years in the making—sought to end hostilities between the FARC and Colombia, but was rejected by a slim margin of voters.

The movement against the current deal was partially motivated by former popular President Alvaro Uribe, a survivor of an assassination attempt himself, who was seen by many Colombians as having fought hard against the FARC and ELN during his term in office. After so many years in conflict and hundreds of thousands of causalities, the FARC is seen by many in Colombia as a narco-terrorist group that would have faced no real consequences or pay for its crimes committed over decades under the current peace agreement.

Having those same people within the democratic process in Colombia without any reconciliation process, or proper constituency in Colombian society to represent, should have been acknowledged during the peace process and negotiations. The result of the ‘No’ vote has made President Santos recognize that the process should have acknowledged the concerns of many Colombians that were not engaged with sufficiently in the peace process. Whether it will result in a more inclusive agreement for Colombia will be determined, but all parties will need to be engaged with in the process for it to have a chance at success.

To have ill will against a referendum or to excuse away the results of popular votes does little to re-enforce democratic values or to create a coming together of communities when the losing side attempts to de-legitimizing the side that won. As it would not be acceptable to give greater powers to groups that did not earn it by the popular will, elections and referendums are subject to checks and balances.

The legal structure of a society as well as the power of a parliament or legislature governs how democratic countries operate. Language that presumes that checks and balances do not exist after a vote or referendum loss directly alienates voters as it shows that their vote, their ideas, their community, and themselves do not count in determining their country’s future.

The post The Popular Will and Colombia’s Referendum appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Mayor Ed Lee (left) and PRC consul-general Luo Linquan (2nd from left) raise the Chinese flag over San Francisco City Hall (Xinhua, Oct. 1)

Question: When was the last time the mayor of a major Chinese city attended an American Independence Day celebration or raised an American flag over the city hall? Answer: Never.

San Francisco mayor Ed Lee and other local politicians, however, pulled out all the stops to pander to China in observance of National Day, the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Among other highlights, Chinese history since 1949 has left us with the chaos of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, the massacre on Tiananmen Square, the imprisonment of countless dissidents and human rights activists, forced live organ harvesting, the slow death of Hong Kong under mainland Chinese control, and the current tension in the East and South China Seas due to mainland Chinese territorial greed: hardly cause for celebration in the United States.

Nevertheless, in a video posted by the Communist Party’s English-language mouthpiece China Daily, (0:20-0:24), Mayor Lee can be seen with other notables holding his hand over his heart as the Chinese national anthem is played at a Sept. 28 National Day event hosted by the PRC consulate-general in San Francisco. Lee’s attendance at the event was not reported by any local San Francisco or other domestic U.S. media, nor was it mentioned on @MayorEdLee‘s Twitter page or his official website. After all, some San Franciscans might wonder why the mayor of an American city would be holding his hand over his heart for the national anthem of a foreign dictatorship with one of the world’s worst records of human rights abuse.

State-run Chinese media, on the other hand, reported the mayor’s presence at the event with glee. Under the headline “San Francisco’s Chinese Community Celebrates the 67th Anniversary of the Motherland,” the Communist Party’s official newspaper People’s Daily featured photos of Mayor Lee, PRC consul-general Luo Linquan (罗林泉), and other notables including San Francisco businesswoman Florence Fang (Fang Li Bangqin / 方李邦琴), previously noted at this blog for her pro-PRC activities particularly regarding Taiwan. In Chinese media Fang has expressed her undying patriotism for China despite living in the United States since 1960 and serving as a U.S. federal official, vocally supported mainland Chinese claims on Taiwan, and called Taiwan a “fake democracy.”

Florence Fang (right, in white) joins San Francisco mayor Ed Lee and PRC consul-general Luo Linquan to celebrate Chinese National Day (China Daily, Sept. 30)

Ed Lee is a noted beneficiary of mainland Chinese money. Lee was a close associate of recently-deceased San Francisco power broker Rose Pak, who maintained deep ties with the PRC government and moneyed mainland Chinese interests as an overseas executive director with the China Overseas Exchange Association, a foreign affairs organization under the direction of the PRC State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. Pak’s activities on behalf of Beijing included blocking persecuted Falun Gong practitioners from participating in the annual Chinese New Year parade she controlled as “de facto head” of the city’s Chinese Chamber of Commerce

In 2013, complaints were filed against Lee with the San Francisco Ethics Commission and the California Fair Political Practices Commission for potentially illegal travel gifts linked to Rose Pak totaling $18,000 to cover expenses for a trip to China. Among Lee’s benefactors for trips to China in addition to Pak are the Wuhan Municipal Government in China; and PRC “power couple” Gordon Tang and Huaidan Chen, who funnel contributions to U.S. politicians through their San Francisco-based company American Pacific International Capital (APIC). In August this year, a complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission against Tang, Chen, and APIC for allegedly illegal campaign contributions to Jeb Bush’s “Right to Rise” PAC totaling $1.3 million.

Among others in attendance at the National Day event according to People’s Daily and China Overseas Network was California state assemblyman and former San Francisco supervisor David Chiu, like Mayor Lee a beneficiary of Rose Pak’s dubious largesse for trips to China; and who like Lee made no mention of the event on his official webpage or his @DavidChiu Twitter page. Lee, Chiu, and others in attendance at the event listened attentively as the PRC consul-general praised the leadership of “Comrade Xi Jinping,” China’s most authoritarian and most anti-American leader since Mao.

A further associate of Rose Pak’s at the event, according to pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily, was Chi Honghu (池洪湖), likewise noted previously at this blog for his pro-PRC activities including persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in San Francisco. As noted, Chi is the founding chairman of the San Francisco Bay Area Committee to Promote the Reunification of China (旧金山湾区中国统一促进会, CPRC-SF), an overseas chapter of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification in Beijing; and served with Pak as a consultant with the China Overseas Exchange Association.

Chinese National Day activities in San Francisco also included a Chinatown flag-raising ceremony on Sept. 26 and a National Day dinner on Sept. 27, likewise emphasizing mainland Chinese patriotism, Xi Jinping’s authoritarian “Chinese Dream,” and support for mainland Chinese claims on Taiwan and the South China Sea. Featured at the dinner was a singing of the Communist Party anthem, “Ode to the Motherland.” As if these events were not enough, the PRC consul-general and mayor Lee met again on Sept. 30 to raise the Chinese flag over San Francisco City Hall.

This year’s flag-raising over city hall also went unreported by local San Francisco media. In 2014, however, Lee was strongly criticized for raising the PRC flag over city hall as pro-democracy demonstrators were being tear-gassed in Hong Kong. The previous year, the mayor of suburban San Leandro halted plans to fly the PRC flag over his city hall following protest by human rights activists. Nothing stops Ed Lee from pandering to China, however, and he again flew the flag over San Francisco city hall in 2015 and 2016.

In Vancouver this year, a pandering display of the PRC flag and red scarves by city officials for National Day angered many Chinese Canadians. “My family and I suffered greatly under that national flag,” said former mayoral candidate Meena Wong, “During the infamous Cultural Revolution, the red guards wearing red scarves came to our home and took everything valuable. They abused my aging grandmother and threatened my parents.”

Events in commemoration of Taiwan’s “Double-Ten” (Oct. 10) National Day are also planned by the Taiwanese American community in the San Francisco Bay Area. In contrast to mainland China, Taiwan is a democracy and a friend of the United States with a positive record of respect for human rights. Unlikely to do anything that might upset his pro-Beijing benefactors, however, Mayor Lee is not expected to attend any of these events or to raise the flag of Taiwan over San Francisco City Hall.

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