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Burma Out! Jiang fanz rock on for



Subject: Burma Out!  Jiang fanz rock on for an increase in HR abuse

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                          http:www.theonion.com

 Above: Fans join Chinese superstar Yu Zhonghui onstage in a concert to
raise money and awareness in the fight against human rights.     

  BEIJING--A group of Chinese rock bands collectively known as Artists
For Oppression held a benefit concert in Beijing's Tiananmen Square
Saturday to raise money for the struggle against political dissent in
China. 
      The historic five-hour concert, which drew an estimated
crowd of 250,000, generated more than $3 million for the Chinese army
and secret police. 
      In addition to raising funds for such items as bayonets and
leg shackles, the concert also helped raise awareness of the
oft-overlooked problem of human rights in China, organizers said. 
      "Yes, there are a lot of innocent people wasting away in
Chinese prisons for crimes they did not commit," Artists For Oppression
organizer and Rocking Hard Boys lead singer Li Han said. "But what many
people don't realize is that for every person jailed unjustly in China,
another innocent person is set free because of foreign threats of
economic sanctions against China or a weak-hearted provincial judge.
People need to realize that not every political prisoner is being
tortured and executed, and they need to ask start asking themselves,
'What can I do about this problem?'" 
      Continued Li: "We simply cannot afford to take the brutal
repression of basic human rights for granted. We cannot assume that
people like University of Shanghai professor Peng Chiang, who in 1978
was caught distributing pamphlets critical of the government and the
legacy of Mao, will always receive sentences of life imprisonment," Peng
said. "We must remain ever-vigilant if such gross violations of
international law are to endure." 
      In addition to featuring a line-up of 15 of China's top rock
bands, the Artists For Oppression show offered booths where concertgoers
could do everything from sign up to join the army to throw bricks at
pro-reform journalists. Volunteers also circulated among the crowd,
collecting signatures on petitions calling for the execution of various
political dissidents. 
      In perhaps the concert's most moving moment, the band Flying
Rocket Ship asked audience members to hold lighters aloft in honor of
Chinese Minister of Military Affairs Wu Mingxia. Wu, who died last
Thursday at age 81, was the man behind the crushing of the massive
pro-democracy demonstrations that occurred nine years ago at the very
site of the concert. As a result of his orders to send tanks into
Tiananmen Square, thousands of student protesters were killed or
injured, ending all calls for political change and preserving oppression
in China. 
      "It is for men like Minister Wu that we rock tonight. He is
the reason we are here," Flying Rocket Ship guitarist Zhonghou Chen said
prior to the band's final song. "Now, are you ready to do some more
rocking? All right, let's tear the house down with some loud guitar
sounds!" 
      Audience members, who were overwhelmingly in their teens and
early 20s, said the concert was fun but also educational. 
      "I had a blast at the Artists For Oppression show," said
Beijing 15-year-old Kunming Hong. "But I also learned a lot. This show
really opened my eyes to the importance of maintaining order through
military force, and to the importance of not giving people a taste of
freedom, because then they'll just want more, and, eventually, all of
society will collapse." 
      "This was music with a message," said 17-year-old Xiamen
Chung. "It moved my feet, but it also moved my iron heart." 
 
© Copyright 1999 Onion, Inc., All rights reserved.


Follow the plea by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the appreciations 
of HH the Dalai Lama, the Shan Democratic Union,  film maker John 
Pilger, the Free Burma Coalition,  author Alan Clements, Dennis 
Skinner MP, Tony Benn MP, Ann Clwyd MP, Congress-woman  
Maxine Waters,  Socialist Workers' Party,  Dr and Welsh rugby  
star JPR Williams, Hendrix  bassist Noel Redding,  S African jazz 
pianist Abdullah Ibrahim,  All Burma Students Democratic 
Organisation,  All Burma Students Democratic Front, Tasmanian 
Trades & Labour Council, Tim Gopsill, editor. 
The.Journalist@xxxxxxxxxx, and numerous others.   

Supporting a Genuine war upon drugs and human rights abuse.
Sydney 2000 : Burma Out! 
http://www.mihra.org/2k/burma.htm

Music Industry Human Rights Association
http://www.mihra.org / policy.office@xxxxxxxxx 

Rachel and James http:www.mihra.org/2k/rachel.htm
Union Action http://www.mihra.org/2k/Union.htm

Founded during UN50. Mihra's roots are in music and anti-racism and 
was first in line in calling for a sports boycott of Burma for the Sydney
2000 Olympic Games. Mihra also advances protection of creators rights 
in an anti-cultural market, currently 93.8% monopolised by the recording  
/ publishing Grand Cartel. 

Major solo work "Piece of Mind". With orchestra, Holland 69. same  
time as Beatles "Abbey Road".   http://onlinetv.com/rogerbunn.html
                          ========================