Death penalty

So the UN General Assembly voted 99-52 for the adoption of a non-binding resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. This moratorium was adopted with a view on the eventual abolition of the death penalty as a form of criminal justice. Thirty-odd other countries abstained.

1984-ville, not surprisingly, voted against the adoption of this resolution. In fact, some news wires reported that the UN representative of 1984-ville led the group of 52 nations who voted nay.

A 99-52 margin is not even close. In fact, it's almost 66-33 in terms of percentages. In any electoral process, that wide a margin is considered a thrashing. To put it in context, the Prime Minister of 1984-ville, considered one of the more popular MPs, barely achieved that kind of margin in his own constituency a year ago.

Which begs the question: Is 1984-ville a pariah state?

Hardly. That's because the United States government is a firm supporter of the death penalty. But then again, one could argue that a post-9/11 US is a pariah in the world community.

Progress in this area is slow. Like the abolition of slavery, apartheid and other such things, changes take time. The hangman's (or firing squad, lethal injection etc) count will continue to increase until humanity finally sees the light. But given the sad state of human affairs, I'm not optimistic.

Update: Here is the BBC report. And it quotes the 1984-ville UN representative, "They (countries that voted for) claim to support freedom of expression, but vote to deny it to others." Since when was the death penalty a form of expression that needed protection?

The 25k project

So we looked up the process of applying for Permanent Residency in Canada. It's a lot less bureaucratic than that for Australia. The only thing holding me back now is the proof-of-funds. The Canadian government requires a C$19k prood-of-funds. Basically to ensure that we don't fly over and live off welfare for a while. The CIC website doesn't mention what this C$19k (roughly S$25k) is about. I'm thinking, maybe I can show the valuation of my flat. That'll settle things, after all, the last transaction for a similar flat in my area was 470k. But anyway, where can I raise 25k?

__________
emigration

The end of the innocence

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by

..and so the first four verses of the song by Don Henley goes. I fear the end of the innocence for Faith has begun.

Losing sight of the reason

Sometimes we lose sight of why we do certain things. For example, people form organized groups for a purpose. But very often it feels like the organization exists as an end to itself and not for its stated purpose.

We will form a group known as XXXX because...

How you complete the above statement will determine if your group has a reason to exist.

Military junta 2, Burmese people 0

Source: www.irrawaddy.org

It's a sickening feeling. First 1988, then 2007.

The BBC World Service was dissecting the failure of street protests in bringing about immediate political change. One analyst was predicting that future protests might see more violence coming from the people because of the realization that the military regime understands only the language of violence. The response from a Burmese exile was that violence would breed more bloodshed and peaceful demonstrations are far more powerful methods.

It is a sickening feeling indeed. How many more peaceful Burmese need perish before a change happens.

And what next, if the military junta falls?