News Nuggets

News from Darfur

  Human Rights First, a US-based human rights group, has accused China of contributing to the worsening violence in Sudan’s Darfur region by providing small-arms to Khartoum.
   While other countries were decreasing their arms sales to Khartoum, China stepped in to fill the void by providing Sudan with some 90 per cent of its small-arms during 2004–06. Human Rights First reports that between 2004 and 2006 China provided $55 million worth of small-arms to the Sudan regime, which in turn supplied them to Arab militias blamed for mass killing and privation in Darfur. Citing Agence France Presse it notes that  Sudan paid for the arms from the proceeds of oil sales to China.
   UN reports say the Darfur conflict has killed some 200,000 people and displaced 2.2 million, since 2003, following fighting between rebel groups.

Hu Jia’s arrest

Beijing has come under fire for cracking down on human rights activist Hu Jia. Hu was arrested last December and was subsequently indicted for ‘incitement to subvert state power’.
Hu was arrested soon after his live audio testimony before the European Parliament, where he hoped that 2008 would be ‘the year of human rights in China’. Earlier in September he and lawyer Teng Biao published an open letter, ‘The Real China and the Olympics’, calling for international public attention to focus on human rights concerns in China as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games.
They wrote, ‘When you come to the Olympic Games in Beijing, you will see skyscrapers, spacious streets, modern stadiums and enthusiastic people. Please be aware that the Olympic Games will be held in a country where there are no elections, no freedom of religion, no independent courts, no independent trade unions; where demonstrations and strikes are prohibited; the government is not willing to undertake any of its international obligations.’
Calling on the Chinese government to drop the charges of subversion against Hu, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked the International Olympic Committee and governments participating in the Games to speak out publicly and pressure the Chinese government to release him. HRW says its has also listed systematic repression by the Chinese authorities against activists and dissidents in recent months.
HRW has also urged the Chinese, Indian, and Nepalese governments to release Tibetans detained following protests in Lhasa, Dharamsala (India) and Kathmandu, to mark ‘Tibetan National Uprising Day’, the anniversary of the Tibetan rebellion against Beijing’s rule in Tibet in 1959.


Anupam Kher’s acting schools worldwide

Actor Anupam Kher is the brains behind the ‘Bollywood Rada’ acting school in London that is due to admit 60 students from September. Kher is setting up the Actor Prepares UK academy in collaboration with the Ealing Institute of Media and Heathrow City Partnership. Fees are estimated at £6000 for the three-month courses. The curriculum is based on Kher’s own drama school based in Mumbai. Faculty includes actors Boman Irani, Tabu and Urmila Matondkar, and film-maker Mahesh Bhatt.
   Kher, who is still remembered for his role in ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ commented, ‘The huge success of the movie shows what happens when you combine UK and Indian artistic talent.’ The course will lay the foundation for a self-fulfilling and meaningful career as a performer in any medium.’
   Kher also has plans to open branches in Durban and Sydney.

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