COMPARING MONGOLIA AND TIBET Mongolians, on the brink of abundant mineral wealth accumulation find themselves torn between doing it with the multinational giants of global mining, and going it alone. Mongolia’s deal with global major Rio Tinto, to exploit the massive Oyu Tolgoi deposit of copper, gold and silver is at last about to […]
Hewlett Packard is to publish a list of all the smelters worldwide which supply it with the metals used in HP products, according to the New York Times. HP is one of the first big companies to buckle under the global push to ban the use of “conflict minerals” dug from the earth by coercion, […]
“While greed and fear, trust and mistrust have an influence over the price of many assets, like houses and stocks, those ultimately produce some income, which provides a fundamental base from which markets can infer prices. Gold, on the other hand, neither toils nor spins, but just sits there looking pretty. That means gold is […]
JUST UPSTREAM FROM LHASA……… The disastrous waste of 83 human lives at China’s copper and gold mine in Tibet, at Gyama, is a reminder of China’s plans for intensive extraction of Tibetan wealth, for China’s lowland factories. So big was the landslide down the steep terrain of Gyama, the 83 mine workers may never be […]
Naming the key environmental issues in Tibet: a reflective blog on categories we use. What would you say are the key environmental issues in Tibet? Many say rivers: Chinese dams threatening huge populations downstream. Many would say railways that cut the earth, cause erosion and interfere with the annual migrations of wildlife. Many would say […]
SACRED SITES, WILDLIFE & BIODIVERSITY Blogpost 3 of 3 PRESENTATION TO TIBETAN YOUTH WORKSHOP ORGANISED BY TIBET INFORMATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA, JANUARY 2013 Each of the seven key challenges facing Tibet is a major problem, but solutions are possible. While the ultimate solution would be to restore actual autonomy, agency, and permission for Tibetans to form […]
CLIMATE CHANGE, MINING, POVERTY & INEQUALITY PRESENTATION TO TIBETAN YOUTH WORKSHOP ORGANISED BY TIBET INFORMATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA, JANUARY 2013 blog #2 of 3 Each of the seven key challenges facing Tibet is a major problem, but solutions are possible. These ideas were discussed by a new generation of Tibetan Australians gathered at a Tibetan retreat […]
EXCLUDING NOMADS, DAMMING RIVERS PRESENTATION TO TIBETAN YOUTH WORKSHOP ORGANISED BY TIBET INFORMATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA, JANUARY 2013 blogpost 1 of 3 Each of the seven key challenges facing Tibet is a major problem, but solutions are possible. These issues and the ongoing self-immolations in Tibet are not separate. The underlying causes of the protest burnings […]
#1 in a series of three blogs on self-immolation and the roots of the blindness of China’s central leaders Three existential questions gnaw at Tibetans and their friends worldwide. Why do so many Tibetans carefully and premeditatedly flame themselves publicly to death? Why does the world barely notice this unending chain of protest suicides? […]
#2 in a series of three blogs on self-immolation and the roots of the blindness of China’s central leaders The Tibetans are up against much more than the vestiges of Chinese communism. Modernity makes itself by its opposition to tradition, especially active, effective, transformative, traditions of enchantment. To be modern is to be disenchanted, to […]