Majorityrights News > Category: Regionalism

Haaretz, “China Reportedly Cracks Down on Ancient Jewish Community of Kaifeng”, 26 Sept 2016:

A SMALL GROUP of Jews in Kaifeng, the ancient Chinese imperial city on the Yellow River, are the latest target of a government crackdown on unapproved religions and foreign influence, the New York Times reported.

       
        (ILLUSTRATION: The painting “Kaifeng Jews,” by Yin Xin)

Established over 1,000 years ago, the Kaifeng Jewish community has undergone a rebirth in recent decades, with activists holding religious services, classes on Judaism and proposing to rebuild the community’s ancient synagogue. Some have even immigrated to Israel.

The municipality tolerated their activities for years, seeing the Jewish link as a magnet for tourism and investment, but that ended last year, when the crack-down began. Organizations that helped foster Jewish rediscovery have been shut down, Jewish residents were prohibited from gathering to worship Pesach and other holidays and relics of the city’s Jewish past have been removed from public places.

“The whole policy is very tight now,” said Guo Yan, 35, a tour guide who runs a small museum about Kaifeng’s Jewish past. “China is sensitive about foreign activities and interference.”

The number of active Jews in Kaifeng is minute — some 100 to 200 people, out of a Jewish community of about 1,000 in a city of 4.5 million people.

Quite why they are regarded as a threat is unclear, but since last year they have become subject to tight religious control by the government of President Xi Jinping. “They don’t understand us, and worry that we’re being used,” said a local businessman who supported the religious awakening.

Local Jews do not attribute the crack-down to anti-Semitism, which is relatively rare in China. “It is fear about religion, not just us Jews,” the businessman said.

But the current clampdown has gone much further than previous ones, residents said. Some blamed a report in the New York Times last year in which a city official attending a Pesach banquet spoke sympathetically about the revival, apparently violating government guidelines.

There were also rumors that a Jewish woman from Kaifeng had won asylum in the United States after claiming religious persecution.

Two Western organizations which had set up offices in the city and were offering classes in Hebrew, Judaism and Jewish history closed down after their local employees came under police scrutiny.

Even signs of the historical Jewish presence in the city have been erased. An inscribed stone marking the site of the old synagogue was removed from the front of the hospital that occupies the grounds an ancient well, said to be the last visible remnant of the synagogue, has been buried under concrete and earth.

Jews can still gather in small groups in their homes to pray, and there have been no arrests, the local Jews said. But they are being closely monitored by police and state security officers.

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Source: Haaretz

NYTimes, “Chinese Jews of Ancient Lineage Huddle Under Pressure,” 24 Sept 2016:

KAIFENG, China — The rooms where ruddy-faced Chinese men and women once assembled to pray in Hebrew and Mandarin are silent. Signs and exhibits that celebrated centuries of Jewish life have disappeared. An ancient well, believed to be the last visible remnant of a long-demolished synagogue, was recently buried under concrete and a pile of earth.

After locking down Buddhist monasteries in Tibet and tearing down church crosses in eastern China, President Xi Jinping’s campaign against unapproved religion and foreign influence has turned to an unlikely adversary: a small group of Jews whose ancestors settled in this now faded imperial city near the banks of the Yellow River more than 1,000 years ago.

A few hundred residents had staged a lively, sometimes contentious rebirth of Kaifeng’s Jewish heritage in recent decades, with classes, services and proposals to rebuild the lost synagogue as a museum. Some residents even migrated to Israel. For years, the city government tolerated their activities, seeing the Jewish link as a magnet for tourism and investment.

But since last year, the authorities have come down hard on the revival, in an example of how even the smallest spiritual groups can fall under the pall of the Communist Party’s suspicion. The government has shut down organizations that helped foster Jewish rediscovery, prohibited residents from gathering to worship for Passover and other holidays, and removed signs and relics of the city’s Jewish past from public places.

“The whole policy is very tight now,” said Guo Yan, 35, a tour guide who advocates a distinctively Chinese strain of Judaism and runs a small museum in an apartment filled with pictures of Kaifeng’s Jewish past. “China is sensitive about foreign activities and interference.”

Along with a terrific propensity for smashing Islam, China shows promise in dealing with Jews as well.

Although authentic, historic Belarusian nationalism has been distinct, bitterly opposed and brutally suppressed in war and conflict with Russia, the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is tightening alliance with Russia, claiming that “The Russians are our brothers, with whom we have been living for a very long time.”

By contrast, The Intermarium Project would like to have Belarus and Ukraine on its side (i.e., the countries between Russia and Germany). Belarusians are a distinct people from Russians (who comprise about 11% of the population of Belarus). Historically, Belarus has suffered horrific destruction - including quelling of its identity - they were “Lithuanians”, but had imposed upon them the Russifying name, “Belarus”; along with Russian language as opposed to Belarusian language; and worst of all, suffered horrific genocide of their people - no western nation suffered more in terms of casualties from the impositions prior to, but culminating in those of Peter The Great, The Northern War, Bolshevik Revolution, The Soviet Union… 

Lukashenko, famous for his many faux pas, has proclaimed that the Belarusian army is ready to die for Russia. Well, Belarusians have already died for Russia, by the tens of millions.

The Ugly Truth, “RUSSIA – Army of Belarus ready to die for Russia”, 8 Oct 2016:

PRAVDA – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the army of Belarus, the modernization of which was nearly completed, was ready to defend Russia in the western direction.

“We, together with the Russian people, the Russians, will defend our common homeland in the highly important for Russia western direction. We will be dying in this direction to defend Belarus and Russia,” Alexander Lukashenko said, RIA Novosti reports.

According to Lukashenko, the Army of Belarus will be able to show resistance to any aggressor.

“We can say that we have nearly completed the modernisation of the Russian army. We have adapted the army to the possible wars that can be unleashed against our state – from information warfare to hot war,” said Alexander Lukashenko.

Earlier, the Belarusian president, speaking to the parliament, said that he would not allow the country’s opposition to set up enemy’s image from Russia.” “The Russians are our brothers, with whom we have been living for a very long time,” Lukashenko said, TASS reports.

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Stefan Molyneux interviews an American EX-Pat, who lived in Germany, liked-it, wanted to stay, but returned to live in The U.S. after experiencing the deterioration of its way of life on behalf of obsequious accommodation of Islam.

TNO, “Abbott: Europe is Being Invaded”, 20 September 2016:

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has warned that Europe is being “invaded,” that white nations are “losing their character” through mass Third World immigration, and that the invasion needs to be turned back at the borders.

In addition, he said, Turkey’s leaders have urged Muslims to take back parts of Europe and among the invaders are “soldiers of the caliphate bent on mayhem.”

Making the direct comments during a speech to the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists—a group of conservative European parties—at their major annual meeting in Prague, Abbott asked, “why shouldn’t each country keep the final say over who can enter?”

“After all,” he said, “a country or a continent that can’t control who enters its territory will eventually lose control of its future.”

Auckland Chinese Lantern Festival: Lighting up the controversy over boundaries and limits in living space.

There needs to be more thought and discussion given to fair quotas in living space and enclaves between Asians and Europeans. It’s piquing as an issue in New Zealand.

NZHerald.co.nz,  “Auckland too much like China says Chinese immigrant and real estate agent,  14 August 2017:

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters last week talked about an email he had received from a Chinese real estate agent in Auckland about immigration and the housing market. Peters said the agent backed up his claim that speculation was rife. The agent has worked in the industry for three years. He expands on his views here.

 

I am a Chinese property agent working in Auckland. Recently I emailed the New Zealand First leader Winston Peters expressing opinions on the housing crisis and immigration policy.

I thought as I am an immigrant, who happens to have been sitting in the box seat of Auckland’s real estate scene, the rest of the country might find relevancy in what I have to say.

My family moved to central Auckland in 2001 from mainland China. We came here with the hope of embracing a new lifestyle as well as for the younger generation to receive a superior education.

We remember Auckland as being a city with a unique blend of European and native cultures that is termed “Kiwi”, while the influx of migrants from different ethnicities steadily added vibrancy, colour and prosperity to the city.

Years went by and something curious happened.

Instead of seeing a balanced ethnic mix, Auckland started to acquire an unwholesomely Chinese flavour.

These are the supplement shops, internet cafes, restaurants plus a few seemingly dodgy places that are catering exclusively to Chinese customers.

Most of them have part time Chinese students as sole employees.

A recent encounter with two young Japanese professionals in Tokyo amused me.

“Going to Auckland is like going to China” they said.

“You don’t hear English, you don’t see Kiwis, there is just Chinese, Chinese and Chinese.”

They felt disillusioned and bewildered. Similar voices are heard among local international students, “Are we here to study English or Chinese?”

The same relates to the real estate scene.

While the statistics show there has been 3-5 per cent foreign buyers in the market, is it what we have been seeing across the auction rooms or at open homes for the past half decade?

I remember seeing young couples with their hands clenched and eyes glued to the auction screen, only to find their first dream house outbid by someone screaming in mandarin.

I shudder to imagine their feeling when they see the very house they missed out back on the market within months, this time, with 200k added on top; meanwhile, a champagne is uncorked at another New Zealand property expo in China.

During a recent interview with Newshub, I was asked whether I was worried about Chinese domination. No, it is not, and never has been about any race dominating another. Otherwise it would be blunt racism.

It is about how do you want your Auckland and your New Zealand to be? Do we want trained, skilled professionals to bring our economy to the next level or all we want to see is another Chinese restaurant around the corner, or foreign visitors mistaking Auckland for China?

When New Zealand First’s Winston Peters said many immigrants choose New Zealand when they have failed entering Canada, US, UK and Australia he is right.

At least it is a well perceived notion among my fellow Chinese that only the “less fortunate” choose New Zealand.

As a consequence, we have been absorbing lower quality immigrants who neither have the intention to assimilate to our culture nor the intention to set up all inclusive businesses that provide jobs for Kiwis.

In the event of any of the above-mentioned countries loosening their immigration policies, brace yourself for a downward ride: far fewer people will be willing to pay the same for your home or to lease your shop.

This is because while the property market has been reflecting an exhilarating population growth it is also fuelled by the widespread assumption that “the Chinese pay the most.” It is irrational exuberance at its worst.

It is time for us New Zealanders to rethink.

- NZ Herald

Visigrad Post, Dubrovnik, Croatia – A two-day forum was attended by Croatia with heads of state and officials from twelve countries of Central and Eastern Europe, all members of the European Union, to discuss common challenges to strengthen economically and politically the area between the three seas – the Adriatic, the Baltic and the Black Sea. This was the Three Seas Initiative.

“The area between the Adriatic, the Baltic and the Black Sea is the lifeblood of Europe,” said the host of the forum, Croatian President Grabar-Kitarović. Thursday, August 25, a round table gathered in Dubrovnik, on the cost of the Adriatic Sea, the presidents of Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovenia, as well as ministers and deputy ministers of Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia.

The region (BABS: Baltic – Adriatic – Black Sea) accounts for 28% of EU territory, 22% of its population but only for 10% of its GDP. Discussions about the economy have focused on the need to improve the infrastructure of the whole region and in particular energetic cooperation, mainly to promote the plurality of energy sources and reduce energy dependence. According to the Croatian President, 50 billion euros are needed to overcome the current shortcomings. However, she also drew attention to the major challenges of the region, namely the demographic decline and emigration.

Polish President Duda for his part stressed that cooperation should be extended to other areas to be sufficiently strong: culture and science as well as student exchanges must come to reinforce this cooperation. But the heart of this cooperation is the creation of a true north-south European axis, stressed the Polish president. In conclusion for his speech, Andrzej Duda announced that the next summit would be held in Poland in Wroclaw in June 2017.

Chinese and American speakers were also present. Chinese Ministerial Assistant for Foreign Affairs Liu Haixing in charge of Central and Eastern Europe region recalled that China was very interested in the development of the area. China believes it will serve her project of New Silk Road.

American General James L. Jones, president of Jones Group International and former adviser for the National Security of President Obama said that the development of the Three Seas Initiative must be an element not only for European development but also for security. General Jones stressed the use by Russia of her position as an energy supplier to increase her economic influence and to strengthen her geopolitical goals.

Visigrad Post, “Viktor Orbán: it is at the Bulgarian-Turkish border that the future of Europe will be decided”, 14 September 2016:

Bulgaria, Lesovo – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited this Wednesday, 13 the Bulgarian-Turkish border, where he was awaited by his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov to join together the barbed wire fence that will soon cover the 259 kilometers of border with Turkey.

Bulgarian Prime Minister had asked the European Commission an emergency aid of EUR 160 M to protect the border. Boyko Borisov would welcome a positive response from the Commission by Friday 16, day of the summit of the 27 in Bratislava. Orbán added that if the European Union could find EUR 3 B to ensure the assistance of Turkey in managing the migration crisis, it could perhaps give some to Bulgaria…

About 13,000 migrants have been recorded in Bulgaria since the beginning of the year, 4,000 illegal migrants have been arrested, with a influx that has doubled in August. Regularly illegal migrants cross Bulgaria, without being arrested. The Hungarian Prime Minister recalled how “naive” the Brussels EU wants to welcome migrants.

Also, Borisov jousted that the fence is not a protection against Turkey, whose men are cooperative on the ground and face the same problems, but against illegal migrants, and no solution in the long term could be envisaged without the joint efforts of all EU members. Orbán assured: “Borissov can count on us in Bratislava. Europe’s future is not decided in Brussels but here.”

Visigrad Post, “Norbert Hofer in Prague: Austria should join the V4”, 13 September 2016:

Czechia, Prague – President Miloš Zeman received the Austrian FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer on Monday, September 12. The “friendly visit” was concluded by the wish to strengthen Central Europe and enlarge the Visegrád group by including Austria, and President Zeman gave his support to Norbert Hofer in the Austrian presidential election.

On Monday, September 12, President Miloš Zeman received at the Castle of Prague the candidate Norbert G. Hofer, running for the presidential election of Austria. After the counting of the mail-in ballots, Mr. Hofer lost the second round of the election but this vote got eventually cancelled due to many irregularities. The vote is planned to be hold on December 4.

Mr. Zeman and Hofer discussed several topics as the Beneš decrees, which provided for the confiscation of the property of collaborators, traitors, ethnic Germans and Hungarians, except for those who themselves suffered under the Nazis. They also formed a basis for the transfer of the former groups from Czechoslovakia, recalled the Prague Monitor.

After their one hour-long discussion, Mr. Hofer said the meeting took place in a wonderful atmosphere, and he expressed his wish to enlarge the Visegrád group with the adhesion of Austria, once he’d be president. This would give more voice to Central Europe which should have more power, according to Mr. Hofer. The spokesperson of President Zeman, Jiří Ovčáček, declared that Mr. Hofer were pledging for “a Union within the Union”.