Suu Kyi of Burma (Myanmar)
It is hard to believe that Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Price Winner and head of the Burma (Myanmar) national movement for democracy is still under house arrest. It was 12 years ago on September 2, 1995, when I listened to her video speech to 4000 women and men in a packed main hall of the NGO Forum on Women at Huairou in China, a parallel event to the United Nations Fourth World Conference in Beijing. She said then that intolerance breeds insecurity and without security there can be no lasting peace. At that time, I thought, that after receiving a Nobel Peace Prize, soon she would be free. I join women and men around the world pleading for her freedom. We never thought that our global campaigning for her release still have to go on to these days without any success. After Ibrahim Gambari, UN Secretary-General envoy recent visit to her and to the members of Myanmar Military Government, negotiations between the two sides have resumed. The Military Government has set some conditions for her release but has rejected the demand from the Security Council to stop arresting people for wanting democracy, and has refused a visit by the International Red Cross official to talk to detainees. The situation in Burma (Myanmar) continues to be very bad for the people, not only inside the country but for its neighbors. It will not be improved without a stronger intervention from other members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China and India, which have benefit from trade relations with the Myanmar Military Regime. All these years, I don’t see how ASEAN could tolerate aggressive/suppressive behavior of one of its members towards their own citizens.
Filed under World Affairs | Comment (0)Well-Deserved Noble Prize
It is good week for those of us in the environment movement trying to educate the World of the danger of Global Warming and Climate Change. I am delighted in hearing the news that IPCC and Al Gore are the winners of the Noble Peace Prize this year. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), created by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has been working since 1988 to alert the World of the danger of global warming. IPCC team of scientists have presented us with facts and figures to convince us that climate change is human-made, therefore we can reverse the effects of it by changing behavior of human beings. I want to congratulate Rajendra Pachauri for his excellent work as chairman of IPCC in moving the international communities and governments to take action to deal with global warming, and Al Gore, for his life-long dedications to the global environment issues. He has convinced me of the danger of global warming by his excellent presentation of facts and figures in the film “An Inconvenient Truth”. I have changed my way of living after seeing the film. Al Gore and Davis Guggenheim, the film producer, have succeeded in getting people in the World to change their ways of living to reverse the effects of global warming. As part of a world communities that want to do things differently
to reduce global warming, I try to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in my day-to-day living by driving less. I try to reduce waste and the demand for fossil fuels; to use less heat and air conditioning; to buy energy-efficient products; and to replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs in my home and office. Beyond individual’s effort, there is a need for real action, such as emission reduction, by governments to avoid the grave consequences of accelerated environment deterioration and societal upheaval as a result of global warming.
Living Over The Store
As artist, my dream is to create a gallery for my computer arts and paintings exhibit, with a living quarter on a top floor. To do that, I need to have big space, which I don’t have right now. Reading an article by Pilar Viladas in the New York Time Magazine last week, Living Over the Store gives me idea for the future to make my dream comes true. I plan to pay a visit to Marianne Boesky’s new Gallery on West 24th Street, New York City. Now I can only see it in a set of slides shows. But I want to see with my own eyes the beautifully designed Gallery done by her friend, Deborah Berke, who is famous for designing houses and apartments for artists. Congratulations to both of them for excellent job. Together they have clarified for me the concept of the difference in texture between the gallery and apartment for artist: the gallery is about looking at art, but the apartment is about living with art.
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