Hardly a photographer, but... 3

Permit me to share more of the photographs which for one reason or another, are significant to me.
_______________________________________________________________________________
LOCATION:     YEAR:
India, 2009

THE sheer number of people who use the holy river Ganges is staggering. Assuming there is no religious festival taking place in which case the crowds swell further still, there remains thousands of people who make a daily pilgrimage to the river bank to wash themselves, their clothes or their livestock. And whilst the river sustains life, it is also the vessel of death.



This scene is repeated all along the banks of the Ganges.
The river is an invaluable part of thousands of people's lives.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



The location for this particular photo is Varanasi, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and each day countless rotting corpses float past the ghats which line the waters edge.

For those with a strong stomach, HERE is a link to some excellent photos of life on the Ganges. Be aware, a number of the pictures are a little unpleasant.




A LITTLE CLOSER: the Ganges - a huge part of daily life and
a perfect place to watch the corpses float by.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE

The time I spent in Varanasi happily coincided with a visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the nearby ancient holy city of Sarnath, and transport throughout India was straining under the increased pressure.

But such devotion to holy rivers in one religion and charismatic leaders of another places India as one of the most culturally diverse places on the Earth.

The river view as seen in the top photo took me by surprise as I looked out from the platform I was perched on. At this point the Ganges is incredibly broad and for the first time I was able to see just how wide it is. Thankfully I was able to keep the camera steadily enough to retain the distant detail. This is evident in enlarged prints of the picture.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Six Years On: Boxing Day, Aceh and tragedy

It's hard to imagine how to rebuild your life after it has been washed away from beneath you.

"It dragged my wife away, then my two-month-old twins," he said. "Then I watched my seven-year-old son drown."  - a Father in Sri Lanka

The 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, known as the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami killed hundreds of thousands of people in countries from Indonesia and Thailand to Sri Lanka and India. But while most have forgotten the incident, or think only of the videos that captured the impact of the dramatic tsunami, the political implications of such an event to millions of Indonesians were vast.

Aceh - the land which was
closest to the earthquake epicentre

The special Indonesian territory of Aceh is not an area of the world that most people in the west are familiar with. This part of the country is thought to be where Islam was first established in SE Asia, and to this day it retains the highest proportion of the faith. In 2000, the official census showed that 86% of Indonesians declared themselves as Muslim.

Six years ago, the Acehnese rebel movement, GAM, which had been fighting for independence against the Indonesian authorities for 29 years, effectively ended.

Former ambassador of Darul Islam, Hasan di Tiro had proclaimed Aceh Independence in 1976, and support for such a movement had been confirmed as recently as in 2000 when half a million people turned out for a referendum on the matter.

Though the government granted the province greater autonomy, such as the right to apply for controversial Sharia law (something it seems was done hastily and with little backing by the Acehnese themselves) and the ability to receive foreign investment directly, many in Aceh still felt angered by the governments repressive policies. In 2003, a state of military emergency was declared and the government gave the rebels an ultimatum - accept autonomy or face the consequences.

The rebels held their ground.

Having reached the end of her patience, on May 18, the President, Megawati Sukarnoputri ordered 40,000 armed soldiers into the area and told all non-governmental organisations and aid organizations to drop what they were doing and exit the country immediately.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country on the planet.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



And so, the indiscriminate killing of men women and children began.

By the middle of 2004, thousands of Free Aceh rebels had been killed or captured. Although the area was then downgraded to a state of civil emergency, it was estimated that at least 2,000 more people were killed after the supposed end of the operation.

Tragically, international human rights groups, including the government’s own human rights commission, maintain that most of the dead and tortured were civilians, not GAM combatants. But the 'war' continued, with rebels continuing to defy the government and campaign for autonomy.

Then something happened that nobody could have predicted, and it all changed.

As of Boxing Day 2004, for all intents and purposes, the Free Aceh movement ceased.

As a natural phenomenon, it was frighteningly impressive.

As a natural disaster, it was devastating.

A rupture 250 miles long and 60 miles wide, located 19 miles beneath the sea bed - the largest rupture ever known to have been caused by an earthquake - proceeded north westerly from the coast of Aceh at a speed of about 1.7 miles a second (or 6,300 mph) over a period of about 100 seconds.

It was the third largest earthquake in history, with faulting itself lasting for around ten minutes - the longest ever recorded. It is supposed that the sheer scale of the earthquake actually caused the entire planet to vibrate by as much as 0.4 inches (around a centimetre!).



Banda Aceh before the Tsunami struck

People in fourteen countries were killed, with as many as 220,000 dead in Indonesia alone. Boxing day lunch was interrupted for many around the world as images of the destruction reached the west, prompting the donation of a total of $14 billion in humanitarian aid from the worldwide community.  Many in Aceh believed that the Tsunami was religious punishment, and attention was drawn away from the struggle for Independence.

Homes were washed away, towns destroyed and families torn apart.  While Thailand gained the most news coverage, containing as it did a large number of western tourists, it was Indonesia which really suffered. It is estimated that around 2% of the population of Indonesia were killed.

Banda Aceh after the disaster

Both the Free Aceh movement and the government called a ceasefire to allow aid to reach the affected, but still disputed area.

The following year on August 15, chief Indonesian negotiator Hamid Awaluddin and GAM leader Malik Mahmud signed a peace treaty. Both sides agreed to cease all hostilities immediately, with GAM disarming and the government agreeing to remove all non-local military and police by the end of the year.

Aceh-based political parties were allowed into the government and it was agreed that seventy percent of the income from the areas natural resources would stay within Aceh. On December 27, almost exactly one year to the day since the Tsunami destroyed the area, the Free Aceh movement announced they would be disbanding their military.

Since then, organisations such as Flower Aceh have been set up to protect the rights of people in the wake of the state violence which occured during the 2003 crackdown.



The Indonesian flag which flies in Aceh
can be seen flying over nearly 18,000 islands.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



But as the reconstruction of the area continues, so do the cries that the Indonesian government has little time for those in Aceh. Reports that the government has torn down newly constructed 'earthquake proof' homes to make way for their own infrastructure projects have not, according to Aceh residents, conveyed the right message to them.



Some say that while the Tsunami ended the violence, it may just have given the government the excuse to exert more power over the area through building and redevelopment projects.

The Free Aceh movement achieved a lot towards the end of its thirty years of rebellion - but unless the government does more than simply stick to the agreement - unless it shows more sensitivity towards the area, the underlying feelings which died down in the aftermatch of the boxing day catastrophe, much like the towns themselves, may well rise up from the rubble once again...

"Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - China's 'Newspeak'.

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?… Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050 at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?…The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." - Syme - 1984

AND so, we come to it...

Adhering in it's own most reliable way to a self-defined pattern of "one-step-forward, two-steps-back", China has, this week, left the world in very little doubt indeed about two things; The first and most troubling is that the government is, still, attempting to narrow the minds of the Chinese people and actively pursue the indoctrination of them, despite it's desire to publicise the supposed advances in human rights it claims to have made.

The second thing which the evil (and I use that word in all confidence) government has proved, is that Eric Arthur Blair, (otherwise known as George Orwell) was indeed an exceptionally perceptive chap.

Yesterday, China's state press and publishing body said that any words used in it's media which were not Chinese were sullying the purity of the Chinese language. The People's Daily newspaper said that use of foreign words, particularly English had "seriously damaged" the purity of the Chinese language and resulted in "adverse social impacts" on the cultural environment.

Of course, they feel the fact that foreign English language websites are far more accessible than the Chinese translations of them, and the strange tendency for facts in international media to differ greatly to the 'facts' which the Chinese government prints is mere coincidence(!)

Why then has China encouraged so many English teachers into their glorious motherland for the past decade? Why does the government run an English language news channel (the embarrassing CCTV 9)? And if the English language is such a blight on the purity of the Aryan Chinese language, what are we supposed to think of the Chinese propaganda which recently went on sale in our very own WH Smith?!



A screenprint from China's state-run English
language news website, Xinhuanet at
the time the news was announced.
There was no mention of the new
policy on here.



Some may claim that it is right and fair for the Chinese to want to protect their own language and identity in the fear that it will become diluted irreparably. In much the same way, we wish to defend our own traditions from the politically correct madness which seems to be sweeping the UK. But let me explain: Firstly, the Chinese are themselves guilty of destroying language, culture, identity and life in Tibet. On a scale beyond forgiveness.



Secondly, this is but a well recycled excuse by which they will sell such a policy to the masses. The Chinese government does not care about culture. After all, they are personally responsible for destroying it, back in the 60s and 70s, and continuing to this day. 

By limiting the language used to only words they can control - to words which they have even been able to alter the meanings of over the past 60 years, they will reduce the amount of 'reactionary' ideas the people are exposed to. The Chinese will then remain cocooned within the safety of their own language, cut off from any English words which are likely to put ideas into their heads, or which may conflict with the official party line, delivered oh so convincingly, by the state's own China Daily.

Lets pluck an example which is aptly on-topic.

In English, the word 'propaganda' is loaded with negative connotations. One would never refer to a simple fact as propaganda, irrespetive of it's actual definition. The word 'propaganda' has a sinister and manipulative meaning in English.



In Chinese however, propaganda (宣传) is thought of as an innocent and totally acceptable description of information. Of course the actual meaning is the same, but it is used without any negative connotations at all. Such implied meanings of the word have never made it into the Chinese language - for, what should be, obvious reasons. In English, to describe a BBC report as propaganda would be to attack them. In Chinese, to do similarly would be very much the same as to refer to the report simply as news.

If it is still not clear, please click on this Newspeak dictionary, and allow the prophetic writings of George Orwell to explain it far better than I can.



Eric Arthur Blair,
better known as George Orwell.



Words which the government of Ingsoc eradicated from use included: 'bad', 'democracy', 'innuendo', 'freedom', 'lie', and 'thought'. It will be interesting to see which are the first to suffer in China. Although by wiping out all foreign languages, the casualties will be great.



Perhaps we should look upon this horrific move by the Chinese government with hope. After a massive push in schools to teach students English, and the continually improving accessibility of the country to English speakers, maybe those in Beijing have gone too far. It is possible they have, in their eagerness to educate people their way, unleashed a dragon which they cannot contain. Could this be a desperate attempt to rectify the influx of information which they have mistakenly allowed in via the beauty of the English language?



Winston, as played by John Hurt in the
film version of George Orwell's 1984



I hope so. If this is the case, and the Chinese have unknowingly been absorbing English as a weapon with which they can arm themselves in a fight for truth, then perhaps the pen is truly mightier than the sword.

In any case, George Orwell saw it coming. I only hope it all ends better for the Chinese than it did for Winston.

Doubleplusungood indeed...


[Update: a former student of mine in China just sent me this link which may be of interest]
http://news.qq.com/a/20101222/000763.htm

Hardly a photographer, but... 2

Permit me to share more of the photographs which for one reason or another, are significant to me.
_________________
LOCATION:     YEAR:
Tibet, 2009

THERE are very few ways for those of us who care to actually make a difference in Tibet. That's not to say we can't make a difference, only that great caution must be exercised. Not only for our own safety, but for those whom we interact with.

There are so many interesting stories I have concerning things told to me while in Tibet, and yet unfortunately a lot of them will remain unsaid, as writing them would have great consequences for those involved. People that I am on record as having been in contact with can be swifty traced and punished by the Government. My name, along with those of everyone who has ever entered the troubled Shangri-La, is etched into record by the Chinese, as are the official movements I made within the area. The places I stayed, the families who fed us - all of them connected back to me.

For their sake, one must be careful when one speaks about Tibet.



The military presence in Tibet is overpowering. Here a Chinese soldier can be seen atop a
Tibetan arts shop located around Barkhor Square.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



And yet it is impossible to ignore the discomfort which surrounds you, and even harder to put it out of your mind once you've left.

 The above image helps people who have not experienced the restrictions in Tibet to begin to understand a little of what life there is like on a daily basis. The tension felt in the streets is not for nothing.


A CLOSER LOOK - Armed Chinese soldiers patrol the
rooftops of Lhasa. Photographing them is strictly prohibited.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



Above the shops and marketplaces, just out of sight but never out of mind lies a terrifying reality. Armed soldiers - their guns trained on you and me - patrol the rooftops, their beady eyes scanning the crowds below for any signs of dissent.

When such measures are taken to repress a people, those who do speak out are brave indeed.

Imagine if every time you walked up the high street to get your groceries, popped up the road to the pub, or needed to go out and post a letter, your every step was watched through the sight of a gun - by someone who has been conditioned to hate you for what you are.



Time is running out for Tibet. The less we do, the more the Chinese justification for what they are doing grows.

 
Link to: Courage in Journalism Award winner Tsering Woeser's blog

_______________________________________________________________________________

The bigger man...?

Has North Korea finally won itself some respect?

Interestingly, although the military exercises in South Korea went ahead today, it has been reported that the North claimed they were "not worth reacting" to - the reason for it's failure to retaliate, and the reason why the snow here in the UK remains top of the news, instead of the outbreak of a second Korean war.


Was war averted due to some uncharacteristic 
sensible actions from the North?
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE


Perhaps the North knew that they were being taunted - coerced into striking hard so that the South, with the help of the US would have ample justification to strike back harder.

The North have, cleverly, been using this as a propaganda victory, saying: "The world should properly know who is the true champion of peace and who is the real provocateur of a war."

And indeed, this will be seen as a victory for the North. The US has been keen to avoid rewarding their beligerance in the past, and now that they have effectively 'been the bigger man' and stepped back from the brink, surely now the US will have to reward them for their positive actions today.

But will they?

And how will they?

Could it be that Sarah Palin was right all along?(!)

One thing is for certain - the people in Seoul and indeed the rest of the country, can breathe a little easier as they tuck themselves into bed tonight.

Korea - the way I see it...

...a few minutes ago, South Korea announced that military exercises on Yeonpyeong Island are to begin within hours...

The islands in the Yellow Sea which are dotted along the
disputed North-South divide have been the
site of inter-Korean strife in the past.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE

Let's take this time to briefly assess the situation.

But first - those crazy guys in the North...

At this years Shanghai World Expo, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to look around the North Korean pavillion - the first time the secretive state has been present at an Expo. What I found inside was interesting, a little creepy and incredibly bizarre.

The walls were painted in rainbows, and pretend rivers had been constructed - over which ran the 'bridge of reunification'.

Images of smiling children could be seen in every corner of the odd building, along with multicoloured water fountains. Infact the entire pavillion reminded me of something out of a slightly sinister, Asian production of The Wizard of Oz.

What I did manage to find, however, was a fascinating array of books on sale - all of them propaganda of the most ludicrous kind - which I bought nonetheless. These publications offered a truly warped insight into the type of mentality the people of the North are exposed to. I have included a selection of quotes from the publication: Kim Jong Il: Day of having Korea Reunified.

"Kim Jong Il thinks it would not be strange if the ceasefire is switched to a state of war at any moment, so long as US soldiers armed with nuclear weapons stay in south Korea, violating the armistice agreement and refusing the conclusion of a peace treaty. He views coolly the stark reality in which about 2 million heavily-armed soldiers, including US troops equipped with nuclear weapons, stand face to face. It is unprecedented in history that a ceasefire agreement has been in effect for so long.

"If a second Korean war breaks out, what kind of military action might north Korea take irrespective of it's reasons? [edit]


The capital city Seoul itself is within
range of Kim Jong Il's artillery.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



North Korea does not conceive of the fighting lasting for even several years or several months. It's first concern it not the southward advance of it's armoured units. It aims to destroy south Korea within two or three days through a concentrated fire of long-range guns, rockets and ballistic missiles, followed by air bombing. Then, it's special forces and armoured troops will push ahead, it's ground forces occupying south Korea within a week and realising north-south reunification. [edit]

Presumed scenario: Stage 1: b)

Almost all areas of south Korea are destroyed on the first day of the attack by hundreds, nay, thousands of ballistic missiles raining down."

While all this is clearly posturing and rhetoric aimed at their own people, it does show very clearly how North Korea wishes to be perceived by the rest of the world - as someone to be feared.



Military tensions are at fever pitch in the Yellow Sea -
 a busy shipping lane, used by both Korea and China.
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



Countries in the region are scared, and the very recent developments may prove to be very good reason for such worry. With Russia 'concerned' by the exercises, an emergency UN meeting called, and China seemingly less willing to support their neighbours - it seems anything can happen.

South Korea has, over the past few weeks, been making itself ready for this. The resignations of both chiefs of the army and the navy hint at great changes in their attitude to the North. Infact even the people of the South have critiscised the way President Lee Myung-bak handled the previous incidents of the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong - leading to alterations in their rules of engagement, enabling more deadly counter-strikes in the event of North aggression.

The North has pledged to attack, should the South go ahead with their military exercises. The South has pledged to striked back with more force, should the North attack, and so, at this point, it is hard to see a diplomatic solution emerging.



Bombs, it seems, will fall. Unless China and Russia intervene exceptionally quickly, the escalation looks to continue. And it could all turn very ugly, very soon.

The next few hours will be interesting indeed...



Disputed waters of the Yellow Sea:
Is this the calm before an almighty storm?
Picture by: JOE BRISCOE



Hardly a photographer, but...

HAVING been fortunate enough to travel to a significant number of incredible places in the world, there are many moments which have stayed with me until now, and will likely do so for the rest of my life.

A trusty IXUS 50 Digital Camera -
 All you need!

Though most of the time these instances are too fleeting or personal to allow a camera to steal them, occasionally I have been able to trap a brief instant between my shutters.

I shall occasionally post a short selection of a few moments which - for one reason or another - I felt demanded to be caught.

I would greatly appreciate comments or suggestions on this one...
All pictures: JOE BRISCOE

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________



India, 2009:

WHEN arriving at a place as famous as the one featured in this photograph, the temptation to shoot it from every possible angle grabs you, and you spend a good hour taking virtually the same picture again and again. After the initial urge to do this passes and you feel confident with your 'safety' images, then you begin to look around.

Suddenly the area ceases to only contain the world's most famous building, and as if by magic all the life around you appears. Families, workers, security guards, children playing, people looking lost - even lovers gazing at each other.

And before you know it, you're looking at an incredibly touching moment, a defining second in the life of a small child. Their first trip to the international symbol of their country. A day which will be burned into their memory for the rest of their life.

A family in India stares upon the Taj Mahal for the first time.
I could see the little girl would remember this day for the rest of her life.
All pictures: JOE BRISCOE

And as the family of three stepped through the gates and were confronted with their first view of the world's most famous monument to love, I raised my camera and caught it forever. Though only I saw the face of the little girl as her eyes gradually settled on the landmark, hopefully from this picture you can imagine the sparkle in her shining little eyes too.

I am not ordinarily one for deliberately out of focus photographs, but in this case I very quickly decided that the building itself remained instantly recognisable when out of focus. I took a number of similar pictures both in and out of focus, but this one seems to retain the scale and dominance of the Taj Mahal the best.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Tibet, 2009:

HOW to photograph the repression of a people? When cautiously exploring Tibet, a place which feels every bit an occupied country, chances to speak to people freely are few and far between. Most will not say anything at all, and those that do are guarded and vague. Add to this the fact that one is accompanied, supposedly at all times, by a 'minder' appointed by the government. Although my colleage and I did managed to give said 'guide' the slip for a while, the massive police and military presence on every street makes one constantly think twice about doing anything undesireable.

And so, for the most part, I was reduced to shooting the things which our guide pointed to.

The video footage I gathered whilst in Tibet however remains a source of much amusement to me.  Each time an armed guard or sniper hidden among the rooftops noticed I was filming him, his expression would change to a look of terror and shout at me while waving his hands frantically. I of course would slowly point the camera away, trying to make it seem like I had simply been panning past him all along.

A Tibetan mother and daughter are fascinated by the first 'westerner' they've
ever seen. Behind them, the infamous Sera monastry - nestled
beneath the mountains which encircle Lhasa.
All pictures: JOE BRISCOE


The above picture though, is a still I managed to take while attempting to get inside one of the buildings of the infamous and now dangerously symbolic Sera monastry - one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, and particularly famous for nurturing rebellious monks.
As I looked around the exterior of the old Tibetan building and beyond to the mountains I caught sight of a mother and daughter, secretly watching me. As is often the case in Asia, a moment passed between us, I snapped the picture and we shared a smile.

Although the reasons for the devout buddhists attempting to enter the monastry couldn't have been more different to those of this old British atheist, for a second we were all just people trying to enter a very special and symbolic place.



The sun, symbol of Tibet, streams down through the roof of Sera monastry,
 illuminating the dust which has remained trapped in the gloom for an age..
All pictures: JOE BRISCOE


Once inside, the monastry was otherworldy. When within the main hall, I was transfixed by the devotion of the monks and tried desperately to store every second of their heart-trembling chanting in my memory - thinking perhaps that I could store such raw energy and peaceful defiance deep inside for myself.

Soon however, my colleage and I evaded our minder and strayed out - poking our noses around the restricted areas of the monastry. Restricted by the Chinese government, that is.

One of the wonderous little places we stumbled upon is featured in the above photo. An absolutely incredible little room which, as I recall, produced all the food for the thousands of monks who could be staying at the monastry at one time. But the room was so much more than that. It was a snapshot of a different age - littered with ancient Tibetan artefacts and kept in a way that could only have been done in Tibet. The smell of butter lamps soaked out of every wall, and, like the most wonderful film set, the sun splashed down through the roof, making the centuries old dust dance and swim. The ancient, musty air itself alive with the memory of happier times and the experience of tragedy.

While a photo can never contain all that, this one at least puts the basic image into your mind.

_______________________________________________________________________________


Indonesia, 2010:

AS always when travelling, the people you meet are always the most interesting thing. But sometimes, simply watching people without talking to them, and observing their actions - trying to guess where they are from and what they are all about - is just as rewarding as speaking to them.

A lone woman, accompanied by nobody, yet basking in the
intense rays of one of natures most spectacular shows.
All pictures: JOE BRISCOE

As hundreds descended onto the beach at Bali to watch the world renowned sunset, I instead turned my attention to the many who, like me, were watching the spectacle by themselves.
Alone with their thoughts, living their own adventure and yet surrounded by so many strangers.

The sunset, needless to say, was awe-inspiring, but not half as beautiful as the incredible mixture of cultures and nationalities which joined together each night to share the same experience.

I snapped many pictures of all kinds of people over those nights, but the one I have included above is one of the better composed images. Although shooting sunsets is relatively easy, the lone woman I had been watching, seemingly in her own little world with something on her mind, stepped into the sun at precisely the right moment.

And I grabbed it.
_______________________________________________________________________________


China, 2007:

IN a country where gaudy nationalistic monuments and historical shrines to a long-dead culture exist on every street corner, it is something of a rarity to be impressed by them in China anymore. And yet the sheer scale and simple brilliance of the Xi'an city walls still manage to make me smile.

Imagine an entire modern city, surrounded by vast battlements which encircle the entirety of it. While outlying districts have sprung up on the other side of the wall, Xi'an can still be easily negotiated by simply knowing where you are in relation to the wall. There are only a few entrances and exists to the city, meaning that even today, the city could be defended in exactly the same way as a thousand years ago.

And while the walls have of course been rebuilt many times since then, they remain grand and imposing during the day.



But, as the Chinese have a bad habit of doing, by night they are illuminated by somewhat tacky, red (of course) lights. But for once, rather than turning away from them, I was momentarily taken by the resulting affect.



The South gate to the city walls of ancient Xi'an.
Imperialistic, imposing and enchanting.
All pictures: JOE BRISCOE



The picture above is a section of the South Gate, taken a few weeks before Chinese new year in early 2007. If nothing else, I was quite pleased with the way the colour turned out, especially considering the camera used and the fact that it was taken at night.

Who would have thought that Chinese imperialism could be so pretty...



_______________________________________________________________________

On it's 60th birthday, UN Refugee agency pleads to Cambodian government..... while 62 Vietnamese pray...

Of all the countries in South East Asia, it is Cambodia which stays with you longest after you leave.

The time I spent there sent me head-over-heels in love with the place.



Small border towns like this one straddle the hardly
distinguishable line between Vietnam and Cambodia.
All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE



The muted tranquility of the jungle, and the mysterious lawlessness of the towns hint at both great danger and excitement - surrounded by a deeply compassionate people.

Internationally, the country seems to somehow exist outside the rest of the world, and when speaking to the ordinary people who live there, one can sense that they each carry a weight of personal grief on their shoulders.

Although Cambodia rarely makes it into the headlines, it is a country where the tragedies of it's past remain inseparable from it's politics of today.

Any news which does reach 'western' ears usually concerns the ongoing attempts to bring the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge to justice.



Despite being poor, places such as the Angkor temples have helped
Cambodia nurture a notable tourist industry.
All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE



The head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, nicknamed 'Dutch' was recently tried, and the occasional articles written on the country almost always deal with how the country is still wrestling with the atrocities of it's past.

Very rarely however, do positive reports of the country make it into the papers. Absent are stories of  Cambodia's growing backpacker industry, fuelled by large numbers of visitors from China and Thailand. Little too is ever mentioned of the government's continuing efforts to stamp out sex-tourism and child prostitution.

In the eyes of the media, it seems Cambodia is destined to remain the downtrodden, war-torn underdog that it so comfortably sees itself as being.

But as Cambodia struggles to find it's place in the world, contrary to it's representation in the media, it is becoming increasingly influential amongst it's neighbours, standing up regularly to the unreasonable demands and bullying tactics of Thailand on a number of issues.

Today however, Cambodia has caused considerable controversy with the news that it is closing a centre in Phnom Penh, set up for Vietnamese refugees who are at risk from their own government. After the Vietnamese government cracked down on protests against land confiscation, many escaped over the border and sought refuge in neighbouring Cambodia.



Sadly, sanitary conditions in Vietnam remain poor. These children live
along the Mekong River, close  to the border with Cambodia.

All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE

Among the refugees are also groups who claim they will face religious persecution if forced to return to Vietnam.

It will seem a particularly unpleasant coincidence to the UN that this news was released today - exactly 60 years to the day since the creation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The UN Refugee agency was created in the wake of the Second World War to help the 40 million people in Europe who had been displaced by the conflict.

It was only expected to remain in existence for a short time - and yet sixty years later, it continues to help people from all nationalities who are, for whatever reason, without a country to return to.

The war in Bosnia brought about the first time that the UNHCR assisted people actually during armed conflict, and they have, over the years, been the recipient of two Nobel Peace Awards.

The organisation was clearly surprised by Cambodia's decision to close this particular refugee camp, clearly aware of what type of reception the Vietnamese government would give those 62 people, should they be forced to return.

Kitty McKinsey of the UNHCR told the BBC: "We have asked the Cambodian government to give us more time to find a long-term solution for these 62 individuals who are at that site, and we hope that the Cambodian government will give us a favourable reply,"

But the Cambodian Foreign Ministry seems to be serious about its intentions. It was quoted as saying:

"If we don't tell them to close the site, the work of the UNHCR will be prolonged endlessly."



Even in Saigon many still struggle
to make a living on the street.
All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE



While this is a pragmatic and unfortunately fairly accurate appraisal of the situation, it is surprising that a country so experienced in the realities of fear and repression would seek to send innocent people back to certain misery.

 I myself can often be heard to praise the government in Vietnam . This is probably because they seem unwilling (or unable) to restrict their people to quite the frightening extent that the governments of both China and North Korea do, despite all three countries having once been cut from the same ideological cloth.

The stark reality is that the fate which would await those innocent families would not, to put it lightly, be a nice one. 



Traveling through Vietnam is an eye-opening experience. Alien landscapes surround you and poverty - the equal to that in Cambodia - is seen all over, be it in the villages in the centre of the country, or on the street corners in Saigon. Although the countries larger cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh seem more affluent and are undoubtedly more developed than Phnom Penh or Siam Reap across the border, the quality of life which you encounter throughout both subtropical paradises is equally abysmal.



Many families rely on the polluted rivers of Vietnam.
Few are ever likely to escape these conditions .
All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE



And while Cambodia suffers from constant allegations of corruption within the government, at least it is, to some extent, answerable to it's people. Vietnam, for all it's bars and nightlife, remains a secretive state - it's rulers deciding laws behind closed doors, and it's hold on the people unfaltering.



To march those poor souls a few hundred metres across the border and into Vietnam would be irresponsible and unforgiveable, and I can only guess at why Cambodia has decided to do this. In an attempt to project it's small but steadily increasing power in the region, the government has decided to put its foot down on this matter, attempting to hoist Cambodia's image into that of a hard, worthy opponent. Presumably in the hope that Thailand is watching.

But is sending good vulnerable people towards their death and turning your back to it really something that Cambodia of all countries should be doing?

Vietnam surely hopes so.

 

The tension which exists between these two outcast countries is palpable, with each country's distaste for the other startlingly obvious in conversation. The complicated relationship which they share stretches back many years, the distrust ingrained. While it was Vietnam who ultimately cleared up the mess left by the Khmer Rouge, effectively 'liberating' Cambodia, most Cambodians see the resulting period as highly unfair and the influence of the government in Hanoi as extremely repressive.

And though the UNHCR is currently pleading to the Cambodian government for more time, it's possible that they either know something we don't, or have faith in Cambodia, much as I always have.

"They haven't sent them back yet, so let's not get ahead of ourselves"  said Kitty McKinsey of the UNHCR.

Culturally Diverse News Anchors!!

Ronny the Yank and Mrs. Zhang read the news at ten!
Just don't mention Liu Xiaobo!!!

China and India have a little chat about.... politics...

A little video I made. I hope it gets the point across...
Please tell me your thoughts below!

Who on Earth is Carl von Ossietzky?

You're watching BBC news and suddenly the TV screen goes blank. You flick over and the other channels are working. You get to Channel 4 news and suddenly - blackout again.

Carl von Ossietzky - 1915

 You sit down at the computer, bring up your favourite news website and for some bizarre reason it says the 'connection has been reset' and refuses to take you there. How strange - it was working fine yesterday.

Welcome to China.

A good friend in Washington contacted me yesterday to point me in the direction of an article in the Washington Post. Although the article was interesting and pretty on-the-money, buried in the text was a small piece of information that most other news corporations either didn't know about, or had neglected to mention. It concerned a man by the name of Carl von Ossietzky.

[NB. the Media have since picked up on it]

I will reveal the significance of this little-known German a bit further down.

In a few hours, the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony will be held. It will not however be handed out to winner of the award Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, as he remains in a Chinese prison - and will do for many more years.

China has recently been outraged by the decision to award Mr. Liu the honour, even going so far as to try and discredit the Nobel committee by creating their own 'Confucious Peace Prize'.

But is the situation in China really all that bad?

As dissident Ai Wei Wei said on the BBC yesterday "People can be monitored, their phones can be tapped and you can be followed. They can find you, they can intimidate you or scare you - or wrongly accuse you," he added.

In THIS previous post, I talked about the petty childish actions of the Chinese government, and the events of the last twenty-four hours have proved me right. The hilariously shambolic Confucious Peace Prize which the Chinese Government cobbled together did make me laugh for a long time, whilst also saddening me by how pathetic it was.

 

An unnamed girl dubbed the angel of peace accepts the Confucious Peace
 Prize on behalf of the winner Lien Chan who didn't attend the ceremony
and said he only learned of the award through media reports.

 While the BBC website's Chinese version has always been blocked within China, the main English site was made available a few years ago. It was subsequently blocked during the Beijing Olympics, and became available again soon after.

But yesterday the entire BBC online service, along with BBC World News (only available via satellite anyway) was blocked throughout China. One person I spoke to in Shanghai, who did not wish to be named, told me what they thought this means: "Sometimes things like this happen in China, but Shanghai is usually the last place for websites to stop working. This time it happened at the same time.

"I use the BBC website every day and find it a very useful way to hear about news which China doesn't think is important.

"The reason BBC and other news websites have stopped working is because the government feels embarassed about Liu Xiaobo. He has become famous by revealing the truth about the government. But they can just cover it up and lie. Most people don't know."

So while Aung San Suu Kyi offers sympathy to Mr. Liu, the BBC works its diplomatic magic, and the organisers of the Nobel Prize attempt to clarify their position, China will just have to sit and watch uncomfortably as the governent loses face in front of the world later today.

Another Tiananmen Square veteran, Wu'er Kaixi will collect the award on behalf of Mr. Liu, and there's nothing that the Chinese government can do.

It's just a damned shame that Liu Xiaobo won't be able to collect the prize himself.

 

So now, the question you've all been waiting for...

Who on Earth is Carl von Ossietzky?

 In 1935, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky. Sadly the laureate was unable to attend the ceremony to collect as he was in prison.

When Liu Xiaobo doesn't attend the ceremony today, it will not be the first time a laureate has been unable to collect.
And who was it that had imprisoned Mr. von Ossietzky - the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace?
The Nazis, of course.

 

Carl von Ossietzky -
Nobel Peace Prize winner 1935
Pictured in a concentration
 camp in Esterwegen, 1934



Liu Xiaobo - Nobel Peace Prize winner 2010
Currently imprisoned in China.



CONGRATULATIONS LIU XIAOBO!
WINNER - NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2010