Political

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Some Advice on Forging a Common Way Ahead | Commonway Institute

By Sharif Abdullah

MEMORANDUM
TO: BARACK OBAMA
FR: SHARIF ABDULLAH
DT: TODAY
RE: SOME ADVICE ON FORGING A COMMON WAY AHEAD

Yes, congratulations, you made history, yada, yada, yada.  Not to diminish your amazing accomplishment, but since you’ve heard it all so many times by now, I won’t dwell on it (although, if you and I had a few hours, I COULD!)

No, I would rather not take up your time on that.  I have a few pieces of advice for you.  If I had five minutes of your time, the following is what I would say to you directly.

But first, who am I to be offering you advice?  I have been exploring our need for a value-driven, inclusive and sustainable society for decades, including as Founder and Executive Director of Commonway Institute.  The title to my second book sums up my philosophy and my life goal: “Creating a World That Works for All”.  I offer my counsel to you.

ADVICE #1:  REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE

This part goes without saying: while you are in fact the first African-American President (Elect) of the US, that is an IDENTITY, it is not the core essence of who you are.  One day, even being President will be a past accomplishment.  You, however, will still be you.

You are the first President (Elect) of the 21st Century – I expect you to act like it. (We obviously aren’t going to count the last 8 years.  We are now seeing the close of the last Presidency of the 19th Century). As the first 21st Century President, you will set the model for all of the other Presidents to follow. Aim high.

Bill Clinton was a very admirable bridge between the 20th and 21st Centuries.  There are many advisors around you who would like to copy those times.  Don’t listen to them.  Your arc must be higher.

ADVICE #2:  BARACK OBAMA – CATALYST IN CHIEF

In our days of fear and ignorance, many Americans needed a “Commander in Chief”, the father figure to command and control their lives.  Now, we have just elected you, our first “Catalyst in Chief”.  We don’t need you to “lead” or “command”.  We know that the federal bureaucracy is virtually ungovernable and incomprehensible.  (Of course, we do expect you to do your job and govern as best as a human being can.)

We most need you to display the skills that you demonstrated so well during the primaries and election: the ability to inspire, to engage and to motivate an entire movement of people to act.

It is indeed comforting that your heroes are similar to mine.  I too am inspired by the words and deeds of Abraham Lincoln. He presided over the US when it underwent its most painful transition (to date).  Now seen as one of our greatest Presidents, he was HATED by half of the country – the half that could not face the future, the half that could not live up to the vision laid down by the Founders in the Declaration of Independence.

I remind you of Lincoln so that you can remember to inspire – even though many of our fellow citizens would rather revile you than listen to you. Right now, they CAN’T listen to you – they can’t get past the color of your skin.  However, they too will change.  They too are caught on the arc of history.  They will forget their hate – it simply is not sustainable.  We can wait them out – time is on our side.

ADVICE #3:  DON’T LET THE WEASELS GET YOU DOWN

You are a man, a model and a symbol.  You symbolize and personify our quest for a new vision for our society, a vision that is hopeful, practical, inclusive and sustainable.

You need advisors who hold all of the above qualities, who can think outside the box.

I know that you have many “real-world” political advisors surrounding you – they are needed, they are necessary and you could not effectively govern without them.  But, don’t let them be your sole source of advice – we didn’t vote for you so that you could fill the White House with the old political crowd (Democrats or Republicans).

You need advisors who can think outside the box (who actually don’t even recognize that there IS a box!)  Balance your team with visionaries, ones with some dirt under their fingernails from doing real work in the world.  There is a real difference between a visionary with achievements versus a visionary with just dreams.  You need doers, not just talkers.

ADVICE #4:  YOU ARE NOT A “CENTRIST”

Neither the “Right” nor the “Left” have the vision for an America that works for all.  Both the Left and the Right have flawed, myopic, partial viewpoints. But, paradoxically, both the Left and the Right hold key elements to the future of this country; they hold parts of the solution.  Neither side should be dismissed out of hand.

Your job is to get the dinosaurs to play well together.  Only together can those Left-Right viewpoints be transcended, harmonized, and resolved into one greater image.

You know that the traditional “Democratic” and “Republican” parties are outmoded and out of step with 21st Century realities.  You know that your campaign for the Presidency has ignited a passion for politics (with the small “p”) that the major parties cannot understand, let alone harness.  You know that you can harness this energy.

Your job is not to sit between these two warring camps.  Your job is to sit ABOVE them.  You are not a “centrist”.  You are a “trans-centrist”.  Let’s elevate the conversations beyond the uninspiring rhetoric that has been such a turn-off for many in the electorate.  (I quote in my book a line from the movie “Slackers”: “Withdrawing in disgust is not the same thing as apathy”.)  Your candidacy hit the “on” switch for tens of millions of us.  And, you can help keep us turned on.

Of course, you will have to drag the mainstream media, kicking and screaming, into this new viewpoint. They still can’t comprehend what your victory means for America.  Yesterday, CNN was reporting on how “black” churches were celebrating your election, completely missing the fact that there were at least a few “white” churches that were just as celebratory.  They can’t see it.  You can. WE can.  And the media will, too… eventually.

ADVICE #5:  YOU ARE THE LEADER OF A MOVEMENT

As you correctly stated, your job as President doesn’t start until mid-January.  (Do not deny Bush the opportunity to further lower his poll ratings or to increase his historic position as the worst president in modern history.  It’s his karma.)

However, you are not just “President” — you are also the leader of a movement.  That job started decades, perhaps centuries, ago – it has just reached a powerful nexus point.

I started in this movement to save our human family and our planet 45 years ago (yes, you were 2 years old). The movement will continue when both of us are dust.  This movement is the legacy that we leave to your daughters and my grandsons.

Unless there is a transformation in how we interact with each other, with our neighbors, with the Earth and with the Divine, those young ones have no future.  Once we make these transformations, the future for our children and grandchildren is limitless.

Your role in the movement is obvious: KEEP IT MOVING.  The politicos will want the people to sit down, shut up, and “leave it to the pros”. RESIST THIS.  The movement for an inclusive, sustainable and loving society will not wait.  Leading this movement is the single most important thing that you can do as President. It far exceeds any piece of legislation, any Executive Order, any policy initiative of your Administration.

Although you take the Oath of Office in January, you can stimulate and catalyze this movement RIGHT NOW. Don’t wait for the Inauguration – put us to work.

ADVICE # 6:  TAKE THE FIRST STEPS

What you can do, right now, is catalyze a community, regional and national dialog on the fundamental issues facing us as we enter the 21st Century.  (Given your present world stature, this dialog could be global.)  Ask us: what can we do, on the local level, to address our social, political, economic, ecological and spiritual mega-crises?

This dialog would NOT be: “What must government do for us?”  (You are about to find out how little government can actually do!)  But, by bringing the conversation to the local level, you can catalyze building the most powerful people’s movement America (and the world) has yet seen.

So, what are these first steps?

  1. Dialogs on Food, Water and Energy Security.  Every community should know where its food, water and energy come from.  Every community should launch discussions on how they can achieve sustainability on the local and regional levels.  From these dialogs, each community should develop plans for local sustainability for food, water and energy.
  2. Dialogs on the Future of Economics.  All of our media-driven discussions on our economics have been focused on fear and insecurity.  Most of our “rescue” attempts are aimed at reviving a system based in waste and greed. It’s time to re-define economics, to focus on hope, vision, and the realities human beings in the 21st Century.
  3. In my work with Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka, we are experimenting with something I’m calling “relational economics”.  The economics of people who are in actual relationship with each other.  Economics not controlled by individuals, corporations or by the State.  Economics at the community level.  (A side piece of advice for you: to stimulate a community-based relational economics, your stimulus packages should be based on community, not on individuals or governments.)
  4. Dialogs on Healing.  How do we heal our society?  After years spent in a wrong-headed and meaningless war, the men and women in our military are hurt, bruised, confused, angry and sick.  After decades of divisiveness, our politics is fractured and visionless.  Our legacy of slavery and American-style Apartheid continues to haunt us.  The pending economic collapse hangs over our head like a crushing weight.  We must atone for the pain and damage we have caused the Earth. In the face of this, healing is necessary.  We all share the pain and we all can, through the exercise of compassion, share in the healing.  Asking us to engage in healing dialogs can serve as a start to this long-term process.
  5. Dialogs on Our Vision for Our Society.  According to Thomas Jefferson, our present Constitution was meant to last only one generation.  He believed that every generation should re-write the Constitution.

We are long overdue.

We obviously cannot start with a Constitutional Convention – that would be suicidal.  Most Americans have spent so much time as “consumers” instead of “citizens”, we no longer recognize the principles that lie at the foundations of our society.  (This is why President Bush could get away with using the Constitution like toilet paper – most of us didn’t know what was in it to begin with.)  We are going to have to start over again – to teach ourselves to become the intelligent, informed citizenry that Jefferson and the other Founders envisioned.

We can start with an interactive national dialog on “American Vision and Values”.  According to the Bible, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29: 18).  You can catalyze a dialog process with teeth – the people need not perish.

ADVICE #7:   DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE.

I strongly encourage every person who works with me to have a daily meditation practice.  It is the best (perhaps only) way to stay focused on the long haul, to not get caught up in the swirling madness of our times.  It is the best way to stay true to our common mission: to create a world that truly works for all beings.

Peace,
Sharif Abdullah
PS:  Incidentally – if you are interested in my help with any of the above, please do not hesitate to call.

Resources:
Commonway Institute

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The Day After the Election – USA

POST-ELECTION BLISS

Today we’ve elected a new President of the United States of America and the tides of change are upon us. After listening to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech last night I was touched and inspired by new possibilities. I couldn’t remember ever having such a good feeling after an election in my entire lifetime. I was elated at this victory and hopeful.

I witnessed plentiful tears in the eyes of the people in the crowd cheering him on in Chicago last night. I caught a glimpse of Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey in the crowd with a look of astonishment in their eyes. To have finally elected a black man to the White House was an achievement few of us thought possible in our lifetime. Tonight I was proud to stand here as an American and sing with them, “Yes, we can.”

Obama gave thanks to his supporters and friends. He acknowledged McCain as a great leader who’d sacrificed much for his country. He pledged to “renew this nations promise” and open doors of opportunity. He recognized the youth for their enormous activism and for rejecting the myth of apathy. He told the story of a 106 year old woman from Atlanta who’d cast her ballot and lived through so much change in her lifetime. He said our “destiny is shared with the world”.

VOTING

This is the first time I’ve voted in a Presidential election since 1972. I didn’t pay much attention to 21 months of campaign rhetoric and media commentary. I knew intuitively though this was an important turning event for the country and the world.

I was confident Mr. Obama would get elected if indeed we could have a fair and honest election. Of course I don’t really know if my vote was counted or shredded given the evidence of vote manipulation and fraud. Apparently on this occasion the will of the people prevailed. In my opinion the better of two men got elected.

TRANSFORMATION AND SHIFT

In the long distant past I got disillusioned by the electoral process when McGovern was defeated by Nixon in 1972. Of all the Presidents I liked Jimmy Carter the best. At least he saw the necessity of funding renewable energy projects during his term. I’d seen Clinton speak on the campaign trail in Oregon, but got disillusioned later on after his mishandling of Waco, the Oklahoma City bombing and signing off on the anti-terrorist laws which have been disastrous for our civil liberties (particularly rewriting the habeas corpus laws).

The Bush years were disastrous for the country. No further attention will be given them except to unravel and correct the damage done.

Now this is an opportunity for a shift in consciousness, to move beyond the despair, cynicism and jadedness many of us have felt for decades. Having been a political prisoner incarcerated for advocating accountability in government and sovereignty for all the people, this election was a healing for me – an opportunity to step away from the past and move into the future with a fresh viewpoint while “reality asserts inself.”

ORGANIZING COMMUNITY

As of today I’m willing to turn over a new leaf and re-pledge my efforts, not to the political process or what government can do for us, but what I and this local community can do for yourselves so we are no longer reliant and dependent upon others to run our lives (food, water, energy, shelter, etc.).

In my opinion, regardless of what the federal government does over the next four years from the top-down, it’s still essential each of us takes complete responsibility for building our own self-reliant, local community infrastructure in all areas of our lives. So let’s dig in, get to know each other and work together. That’s what the Ashland Resource Center was designed for!

Edtor’s Note: For continued live and archived news coverage from an independent perspective we’ve embedded “The Real News Network“. This is a international organization worthy of your support.

Source: Ashland Resource Center

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Beyond Win-Lose Political Drama | Transpartisan Alliance

Dear Fellow Concerned American:

Out of the pain and frustrating dysfunction of the current win-lose political drama, a serious constituency is growing for a political system based in well tested win-win principles and practices (similiar to those adopted by large businesses over the past couple decades to reconcile the divergent interests of management, labor, and other “stakeholders.”)  This constituency isn’t waiting for the political professionals to agree — its unlikely they ever will — it’s being driven by citizen leadership.

My faith and commitment to such a difficult to imagine transformation from win-lose to win-win politics is rooted in personal experience.  In 2001 after spending the first half of my life as a strident hater of liberals, I left Republican politics exhausted and disillusioned to reflect in a cabin in the mountains of rural Virginia. At the age of 39 I was in personal crisis.  I had recently lost a risky bid for Congress.  My marriage, business and political reputation had disintegrated.  After struggling with and for political power for almost a decade, fueled by an undercurrent of anger and righteousness, I had hit a wall.

No longer feeling so sure of myself or my worldview, and having been humbled to the point of living well below the poverty line, life delivered an unlikely set of teachers (for someone whose nickname in the military had been “starch”)…a community of hippies.  The small town I had chosen for retreat was a haven for 1960’s and 70’s back-to-the-landers.  Over time, I began to discern and respect the underlying values that motivated their behavior — sharing, interdependence, equality, compassion for the weak, a strong sense justice, freedom, creative self-expression, and a reverence for nature.  I realized these complemented rather than contradicted my conservative values of accountability, order, hard work, security, protection, respect for the individual, and respect for authority.

This simple insight – that liberal and conservative values systems have a natural, complementary relationship – was a breakthrough in my life and has become the basis of my work since.  One set of values is softer, more nurturing, more emotional, and the other set is harder, more responsible, more rational.  When integrated, they mutually support each other in a similar way to the parents of a healthy family.  To be a whole, balanced, well functioning person I need to integrate the values of my mother and father. To be a whole balanced well functioning nation, it seems to me, we need to honor and integrate these values as well.

Based on this premise, the support of a foundation willing to fund “forgiveness,” and the contribution of a diverse group of mediators and systems thinkers from the little known field of “integral politics,” the work of Reuniting America emerged in 2004. Over three years we convened 144 leaders of groups like MoveOn.org, Christian Coalition, Common Cause, Americans for Tax Reform, Code Pink and Heritage Foundation. These “transpartisan leadership retreats” tested the premise that with a safe welcoming environment, clear ground rules, and a transparent process that allowed rather than denied conflict, trust, respect and communication emerge.  We have seen unexpected cooperation among people who thought they were enemies on issues ranging from open government, election integrity, civil liberties, protecting the U.S. Constitution, net neutrality, national service, climate change and dialogue with Iran.

Inspired by this beginning and in an effort to extend this work to the grassroots, in October of this year the Transpartisan Alliance was organized — an informal network of networks that will serve as the convener of the American Citizens’ Summit, the first ever Transpartisan National Convention.  This is an ambitious undertaking that is requiring vision, careful citizen diplomacy, and immense cooperation. It is intended to reduce tensions, build trust and facilitate cooperation on our most pressing national concerns…and its not just for political insiders, activists or organizers.  It’s for average people whose voices are rarely heard.  It’s for formal and informal leaders looking for new allies.  It’s for innovators with ideas that our country needs.  It’s for facilitators, mediators and bridge builders. It’s for businesspeople, artists, religious and non-religious.  It’s for insiders and outsiders.  It’s a “We the People” convention to restore integrity to the phrase government of, by and for people.

Consider joining us February 11-15, 2009 in Denver…what more effective service can you render right now?  Register now, learn more or join the Alliance!

Sincerely,

Joseph McCormick
Co-founder
Reuniting America

Resources:
Transpartisan Alliance
Network

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Hal Turner Shows New AMERO Currency

New currency being secretly minted at Denver Mint, to replace US Dollar, Canadian Dollar and Mexican Peso in the new NORTH AMERICAN UNION to be established after a phase of martial law after the coming massive Dollar collapse!

Video Source: Disclose.tv

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Remembering the fallen: To those who paid the ultimate price for their journalism

Frontline Club logo

By Robert Fox, 22 Jun 2008

The dedication of Jaume Plensa’s giant glass vase ‘Breathing’ on the roof of the BBC at Portland Place as a memorial to all who have fallen in the cause of news and reporting  was moving, fitting and strangely remote.

It is fitting and timely because reporting is an increasingly dangerous business. The grim numbers of the killed and wounded and disappeared among reporters and news people of all kinds in conflicts from Iraq, Afghanistan, to Darfur, Zimbabwe and the Caucasus are testimony enough to this.

The sense of remoteness of the BBC memorial ceremony was encouraged by the fact that the giant sculpture is way up on a roof. The public can’t see it close-up to read the names and James Fenton’s verses on the fallen of  the ranks of journalism.

In some ways this is a metaphor. We all see the fruits of journalism in increasing volume and intensity, through TV and radio, print, the blogosphere, telephone text and video, Youtube and MySpace. But the essence of what is going on in, say, remoter Zabul, Bulawayo, the water wars of the Fergama valley and Darfur is perennially baffling. As Gordon Burn writes in his wonderful fable ‘Born Yesterday’ (last year’s news a novel) of “the feeling we all increasingly have of seeing everything but of being able to do nothing.”

Remembering the fallen and the wounded in body and spirit of the craft and calling of news reporting touches the core of  Frontline. Prominent in our memory are our fallen friends and comrades, Rory Peck, intrepid cameraman and Kurt Schork, king of the agency correspondents, Nick della Casa, who with his wife Rosanna and Charles Maxwell were murdered by their guide in northern Iraq in 1991, Carlos Mavroleon died in his Peshawar hotel in 1998, Roddy  Scott, ambushed and killed by Russians in  Chechnya (2002), James Miller cut down by the IDF in Gaza in 2003, and Richard Wild, murdered in Baghdad in 2003.

Most of these were not salaried, insured and protected correspondents of a large news organisation, but worked by the piece and day, freelance or on short contract. They did what they did because they believed in what they were doing, and telling a story that was vital.

They were prepared to go to the dark and dangerous places, on the map of the world, and into the darker inner map of human minds. So much of the news coverage in the most difficult but crucial zones of conflict depend on the freelance going the extra mile, or in most cases extra hundreds of miles, to get to the story.

In this motley crew of the non-staffers the vital links, the turn-keys of the whole enterprise, are the fixers, drivers, interpreters and helpers. They have no insurance policies, or regular income to support them when one of theirs is killed or wounded – and of course there is no safety in hazardous environments procedure, or health and safety regulation to protect them. Nearly all of us owe our lives, and our stories, to this strangely uplifting band – who do not seem  to know the meaning of the word ‘whinge’.

Some 21 years ago I was wandering the shores of the Mediterranean for a book when I went down to Tyre, to look, among other things, at the remains of the Roman circus (which was used in the Charlton Heston movie of Ben Hur). Under one of the arches of the auditorium I interviewed a bunch of ‘soeurs Islamiques’ supporters of Amal, when my companion and driver Abed spotted some Hezbollah gunmen going down for a spot of target practice. Realising they hadn’t seen me, he neatly diverted them with a torrent of  aimless conversation. Abed and his family worked for the BBC for decades, particularly for Jeremy Bowen. He was killed when Israeli gunners deliberately targeted his car in southern Lebanon a couple of years ago.

The Frontline Club’s Fixers Fund is a vital line to the families, often pretty extended, of those stringers and fixers  who are killed and injured – or simply never come back.  I would hope something can be done for educational facilities, just things as simple as books and DVDs are welcome, both for the young interpreters and their families.

As the news world becomes an ever expanding and fragmenting universe, we should remember the pioneers and bold spirits who did, and said something new – though their bosses didn’t want it. Ernie Pyle lived the life of a soldier on the frontline in Normandy, Belgium and the Pacific, telling the story through the words of his archetypal hero, GI Joe. He was killed in Okinawa in the last weeks of the Pacific war in 1945 – when the Japanese took back the island recently, his was one of only three American memorials they allowed to stay.

We should remember other bold spirits who showed courage in a different way in bringing us the news deemed unfit by the bosses  to print or broadcast, yet they believed it should – people like I. F. Stone and Ed Murrow.

From the roof opposite Jaume Plensa’s memorial sculpture Murrow made live broadcasts in the Blitz to a reluctant audience in America.

Source: Frontline Club

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Beijing 2008 – Olympic Prisoners

Scores of Chinese journalists, bloggers and human rights activists were arrested, put under house arrested or expelled from Beijing before and during the Olympic Games. The Games have now finished and we call for their release.

Hu Jia

Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on 3 April 2008, for posting articles on websites and giving interviews to foreign journalists. He had criticised the poor state of freedom of expression before the Games. Hu was arrested on 27 December 2007, for “inciting subversion of state power” before being tried by a Beijing court on 18 March. He was transferred on 8 May to Hubai prison in Tianjin, 200 kilometres east of the capital, where he is being held in harsh conditions. His wife, Zeng Jinyan, and their young daughter are under house arrest in Beijing.

Sign the petition for his release.
Yang Chunlin

Main mover of the campaign “We want human rights not Olympic games”, Yang Chunlin was sentenced on 24 March 2008 to five years in prison, followed by two years loss of civil rights by the intermediate court of Jiamusi, in the north-east, for “inciting subversion of state power”. He was maltreated during the early period of his detention.
Yu Changwu and Wang Guilin

Activists Wang Guilin and Yu Changwu are in custody for having taken part in Yang Chunlin’s campaign “We want human rights not Olympic Games”. Wang Guilin was sentenced on 28 January 2008, to 18 months re-education through work, while Yu Changwu continues to be held secretly.
Dhondup Wangchen and Jigme Gyatso

Dhondup Wangchen, director of a documentary on Tibet, and Jigme Gyatso, his friend and cameraman, have been held since March 2008 for interviewing Tibetans, particularly in the Amdo region. The film about the work of Dhondup Wangchen and Jigme Gyatso is a 25-minute short entitled Leaving Fear Behind (www.leavingfearbehind.com), which was shown during the Olympic Games. In it, Tibetans in the Amdo region gave their opinions about the Dalai Lama, the Olympics and Chinese law. Dhondup Wangchen is believed to be held in Ershilipu prison, in the city of Xining, where his brother-in-law tried without success to see him. Jigme Gyatso was reportedly seen for the last time in a detention centre in the town of Kachu, in Ganzu province.
Chen Guangcheng

Blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng is serving a prison sentence of four years and three months in Linyi prison in Shandong province in southern China. He was sentenced for bringing a law suit against the local authorities in connection with a campaign of sterilisation and forced abortions. On the eve of the Beijing Paralympics, the Chinese authorities blocked the mobile phones of Chen’s associates and family members. This police action affected the residents of his village and his lawyer, Li Fangping. Several foreign journalists were prevented from meeting his family.
Du Daobin

Writer Du Daobin was arrested in Yingcheng on 21 July 2008 by the authorities in Hubei province, central China. Local police were apparently reacting to his stance ahead of the Games. He was found guilty of “inciting subversion of the state” and sentenced on 11 June 2004 to three years in prison, followed by four years house arrest. Du Daobin posted a number of pro-democracy articles online and some urging greater freedom of expression in China. He actively called for the release of Liu Di, a young student imprisoned in 2003 for pro-democracy articles she posted on Internet forums.
Wang Guilan

Petitioner and human rights activist, Wang Guilan, was sentenced to 15-months re-education through work on 28 August 2008 for agreeing to a telephone interview with a foreign journalist the previous month. Wang had been arrested in Beijing on 28 February 2008, after writing an open letter on human rights ahead of the Olympic, which attracted more than 12,000 signatures. From 17 April, she was placed in a prison in Hubei to prevent any activities during the Olympics. She is currently being held in Enshi, Hubei. She has been arrested several times since 2001.
Zhang Wenhe

Pro-democracy activist Zhang Wenhe waved a banner in Beijing streets in October 2007, that read, “We want human rights and democracy and not the fascist Olympic Games” that led to his arrest and forced incarceration in a psychiatric hospital.
Zheng Mingfang

Human rights activist, Zheng Mingfang, was sent to a re-education through work camp for two years at the beginning of April 2008, because of an open letter she wrote about the Olympics. She was arrested by the authorities in Beijing on 29 February 2008, shortly before a parliamentary session. She is reportedly being held in Xian district in Tianjin, east of the capital. She is beginning to go blind and was reportedly ill-treated during her period in detention. Her husband has spoken about the methods used by the authorities since her arrest to prevent her from communicating with foreigners “a central condition of Zheng’s release”, according to district police officials.

Source: Reporters Without Borders