Ai WeiWei

It’s been a week of transition in the One Million Bones office and so my blogging schedule has been a bit off. 

Today’s post however, is quite important.  I hope you’ll take just a few minutes to lend your voice to the call for the release of Ai WeiWei.   Here’s some background on the situation:

Ai is well-known for the part he played in the design of the Beijing National Stadium, the Bird’s Nest for the 2008 Olympics.  What follows is an editorial he wrote and published in the Guardian, just prior to the opening ceremonies:

“This week, the world gathers in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games. This is the extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years.

People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China's relationship with the outside world. Under the gaze of the planet's population, China will melt into a wider whole, into humanity. The world suddenly feels smaller and closer.

It means a great deal to our nation because we have struggled to open up after decades of seclusion. For the past 30 years, we have dismantled barriers, opened doors and windows, been dazzled by sunshine and felt the wind of profound change. In the Olympics, we expect to witness new heights of effort and hope, speed and strength, that will inspire China to lift the pace of reform, to be more determined, more courageous, and more at peace with ourselves.

To reach this point, China has endured disasters, suffering, humiliation, and a darkness that made people hopeless. Almost 60 years after the founding of the People's Republic, we still live under autocratic rule without universal suffrage. We do not have an open media even though freedom of expression is more valuable than life itself. Today is not the time to dwell on our problems, but neither should we accept those who tell us these games are not political.

We live in a world where everything is politicised, but some people insist the Olympics should be different. They imply that this fortnight of sport is somehow disconnected from history and psychology, unrelated to theory and morality and on a more elevated plane than base human nature. They argue that anyone who links the games with politics has sinister ulterior motives, that they are anti-Chinese. But the real reason they don't like politics is because any discussion of the subject reminds people who was responsible for making China so detached from the rest of the world.

Today China and the world will meet again. People will see that the planet is now smaller than at any time in history, that mankind should bid farewell to arrogance and indifference, to ignorance and discrimination, and understand that we share the same small piece of land. It will be a time to rediscover each other, to share what is good in life, to look each other in the eye and link all 10 fingers.

The colourful festival is a time not just for celebration, but also for peace and friendship. To rediscover our future, we should say goodbye to our past.

We must bid farewell to autocracy. Whatever shape it takes, whatever justification it gives, authoritarian government always ends up trampling on equality, denying justice and stealing happiness and laughter from the people.

We should also leave behind discrimination, because it is narrow-minded and ignorant, denies contact and warmth; and corrodes mankind's belief that we can better ourselves. The only way to avoid misunderstanding, war and bloodshed is to defend freedom of expression and to communicate with sincerity, concern and good intentions.

The "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, which I helped to conceive, is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of "fair competition". It tells people that freedom is possible but needs fairness, courage and strength. Following the same principles, I will stay away from the opening ceremony, because I believe the freedom of choice is the basis of fair competition. It is the right I cherish most.

If we want it to be, today can be a moment of courage, hope and passion. This day will test our faith in the human race, and our determination to build a better future.”

This is the source of the article.

This blog has some great images of his work.

Here's the dilemma.  Change.org has a petition calling for the release of Ai WeiWei, but the outcry has so concerned the Chinese government that Chinese hackers have been attempting to disrupt the site.  Right now, the site isn't available.  This is a link to the main Change.org website. Keep checking to see when they get back online. As soon as I can, I'll post a direct link to the petition.

All of us at One Million Bones are hoping for the safe and speedy return of Ai to his family and friends, and marveling at the power of this brave artist.

Just in...

U.S. Campaign for Burma sent out an email today asking people to

E-mail Your Member of Congress to Support Senate Concurrent Resolution 12

This LINK is where you can get complete information on the resolution and action. 

It just takes a few minutes!

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is possibly one of the most well-known and beloved leaders in the world, and yet the campaign she leads is for one of the least understood conflicts happening today.  She is the spirit and symbol of the fight for freedom in Burma.

For more information and actions you can take right now we highly recommend you check out the website for the U.S Campaign for Burma at http://uscampaignforburma.org/

For A Brief History of Burma by Thomas R. Lansner, you can click HERE

This is a LINK to a biography of Aung San Suu Kyi’s life story.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, but being under house arrest at the time, her son accepted the award for her.  This is a short excerpt for the speech:

"Although my mother is often described as a political dissident who strives by peaceful means for democratic change, we should remember that her quest is basically spiritual. As she has said, "The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit", and she has written of the "essential spiritual aims" of the struggle. The realisation of this depends solely on human responsibility. At the root of that responsibility lies, and I quote, "the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end, at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitation... ". "To live the full life," she says, "one must have the courage to bear the responsibility of the needs of others … one must want to bear this responsibility." And she links this firmly to her faith when she writes, "...Buddhism, the foundation of traditional Burmese culture, places the greatest value on man, who alone of all beings can achieve the supreme state of Buddhahood. Each man has in him the potential to realize the truth through his own will and endeavour and to help others to realize it." Finally she says, "The quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle of a people to live whole, meaningful lives as free and equal members of the world community. It is part of the unceasing human endeavour to prove that the spirit of man can transcends the flaws of his nature."

The full text can be found HERE

And this is where you can find the address she made to the national Burma organizing meeting earlier this month http://uscampaignforburma.org/

If you feel inclined we ask you to support one of the ACTIONS listed on the US Campaign for Burma’s website. Help bring the situation in Burma to the light.  Help support Aung San Suu Kyi and her people make freedom a reality.

Seventeen years on...

Yesterday, April 7^th, marked the anniversary of the first day of the genocide in Rwanda; figures range from 800,000 to 1,000,000 people killed in 90 days.  For myself, I cannot imagine how individuals and the country could come back from that.  And yet, they are. 

With our focus on women this month, we offer this LINK as one example of what creativity, tenacity and compassion can make reality; the Gashora Girls Academy.

This is a LETTER from the head of the school.

And this VIDEO is by the architectural firm that designed the campus.  I share it because it shows a beautiful school, and we wish for all young girls and boys, in Rwanda, and elsewhere, to have schools like this. Education is the main tool we have to make a difference in the world.  It is the main tool we have to try to make sure that never again, means never again.

It seems to me that we must remember Rwanda's history and celebrate these girl's future, all together today.

Women for Women International

Women for Women is one of One Million Bones' beneficiary organizations.  The work they do is amazing and the founder, Zainab Salbi, is inspirational.  Two links for you today.  

This LINK will take you to Ms. Salbi's TED talk. It's long-ish, but quite wonderful.

This LINK will take you to a video showing some of the work they do, in this case in Rwanda.

Hope you’ll stop back on Friday.