[Marxism] (Fwd) Dalai Lama controversy: "Marxist monk" won't bed at Hotel Michaelangelo, agh shame

[Patrick Bond <pbond@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Damn these Pretoria subimperialists, seeking only profit from Chinese 
trade - uh oh, reality check: HUGE trade deficit with China! - in this 
tawdry example of bambi-shooting. Following the revo, when Marxist monks 
overpopulate our new Sandton monasteries, I predict that cdes Blade, 
Nkosazana, Kgalema and Trevor will be compelled to sit in musty old 
six-star hotel rooms reciting Das K until they drop dead of ideological 
exhaution. After all, "Marxism, as an ideology, takes care of the 
welfare of its employees", as some wiseass cracked last year, and those 
sycophantic employees of Beijing in Pretoria should be given every 
chance for rehabilitation.)

Sunday Times

Foreign Minister slams Dalai Lama fans
Mpumelelo Mkhabela and Prega Govender Published:Mar 29, 2009

Minister of foreign affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has lashed out at 
several prominent South Africans over their defence of the Dalai Lama.

Dlamini-Zuma said the barring of the Tibetan spiritual leader was a 
foreign policy decision over which Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former 
president FW de Klerk, minister of health Barbara Hogan and 
Constitutional Court Justice Kate O’Regan had no authority.

“Tutu does not run government. Remember, he said he was not going to 
vote. If it were up to him, there would be no elections next month,” 
said Dlamini-Zuma.

She said Hogan had made “rather unfortunate” comments when she publicly 
criticised the government’s ban of the exiled spiritual leader.

Justice O’Regan also came under fire for publicly supported Hogan.

“It’s not for judges to decide on foreign policy. They don’t run 
government and they don’t run foreign policy,” said Dlamini-Zuma.

“There is separation of powers. They run the judiciary. I don’t comment 
on the judiciary,” she added.

The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had been invited by South 
Africa’s Nobel laureates on behalf of the organisers of the 2010 Fifa 
World Cup Peace Conference that was to have been held in Johannesburg 
last week.

Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Chief Mandla Mandela, said the government was 
aware that the Dalai Lama had been invited weeks ago.

“They could have stopped us from sending out the invitations, because 
they were provided with a list of the invitees weeks ago,” he said.

Dlamini-Zuma said the government decided in 1998 to foster diplomatic 
relations with the people of the Republic of China and to have a 
one-China policy.

“We were not bullied by China to take that decision.”

On Friday, former president Nelson Mandela — also a Nobel laureate who 
had welcomed the Dalai Lama to South Africa when he was president — told 
his grandson that it was unfortunate that the Dalai Lama was not able to 
attend the conference.

Mandla said: “He said it’s unfortunate that the Dalai Lama was not able 
to come to South Africa, but he understands that it is the Chinese that 
had exerted pressure on our government.”

China is South Africa’s fifth- largest export partner and second-largest 
import partner.

South Africa’s exports to China totalled R28-billion in 2007 and 
R7.9-billion in the first three months of 2008.

Imports from China totalled R60.2-billion in 2007 and R16.9- billion for 
the first three months of 2008, according to a spokesman for the 
department of trade and industry, Sidwell Moloantoa Medupe.

Just days before the Dalai Lama was barred from entering the country, 
government ministers, ANC heavyweights and business leaders rubbed 
shoulders with VIPs from China at a bash in Johannesburg to unveil a 
5-billion Chinese investment package for the continent.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the peace conference that didn’t happen 
lost R10.5-million as a result of the cancellation of international 
flights for guests and the shelving of a television documentary. On 
Hogan’s public statement that government should apologise for preventing 
the Dalai Lama from visiting, she said: “We can’t all conduct foreign 
policy.” She concurred with government’s statement that Health Minister 
Barbara Hogan’s comments were “rather unfortunate”.

On Judge O’Regan’s public support of Hogan’s stance against government, 
she said: “A judge is not supposed to do that. It’s not for judges to 
decide on foreign policy. They don’t run government and they don’t run 
foreign policy. There is separation of powers. They run the judiciary. I 
don’t comment on the judiciary.”

On Tutu’s initial threat to boycott the peace conference if the Dalai 
Lama was banned, not allowed into the country, Dlamini-Zuma said: “Tutu 
does not run government. Remember he said he was not going to vote. If 
it were according to him there would be no elections next month.”

Dlamini-Zuma stressed that the government has an exclusive right to 
conduct foreign policy taking into account the national interest.

“Foreign policy has to be discussed and has to be understood. But at the 
end of the day we can’t all conduct foreign policy. I’m not casting any 
aspersions on anyone. But the truth of the matter that foreign policy 
has to be conducted at one level and has to be co-ordinated,” she said.

The presidency and the department of foreign affairs are so far the main 
drivers of South Africa’s foreign relations.

Although South Africans were not prevented from taking initiative, 
Dlamini Zuma, said the government has to be properly consulted on issues 
“which are really critical for the country.”

The Sunday Times has reliably learned that President Kgalema Motlanthe 
and Dlamini-Zuma were miffed by the organisers of the peace conference 
who invited the Dalai Lama without authorisisation and consultation.

Motlanthe had given the conference his blessings and undertook to meet 
guests including Nobel laureates who were also due to attend the Nelson 
Mandela Challenge match between Bafana Bafana and the Norwegian side.

But on realising that the organisers, led by 2010 Local Orgnising 
Committee chief Irvin Khoza, had invited the Dalai Lama, the government 
moved to block the visit.

Officials say this was done to prevent Motlanthe from being put in a 
position where he would have met the Dalai Lama, giving him an 
unprecedented diplomatic status in contravention to South Africa’s 
One-China policy.

Such a step, noted one government official, would have amounted to 
“kicking China in the teeth” -a stance the government would not dare 
contemplate given its dire need to nurture relations the world’s 
populous economic super power.

It could have put at risk the multi-billion trade and investment 
relations between the two countries.

The Chinese government is opposed to the Dalai Lama’s campaign against 
China’s poor human rights record in Tibet and his lobbying for Tibet’s 
sovereignty from mainland China.

It’s understood that had Motlanthe met the Dalai Lama or accorded him 
the 2010 Soccer World Cup platform, he would have been put in a similar 
position as French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who sent an apology to 
China following the Dalai Lama’s visit in France.

Dlamini-Zuma said although the South African government does not hide 
its plans to nurture relations with China, it had never been bullied by it.

“China cannot bully us. But of course, they also have their own 
interests. As a country, they will further their own interests. But we 
are not hiding the fact that we want to have good relations with China – 
like everybody else in the world,” she said.

On concerns that South Africa’s foreign policy was failing human rights, 
she said: “Human rights are also about jobs, education and shelter. You 
can’t divorce economic interest from human rights. Our [Bill] of rights 
is much more broader than that of many countries.”

The government, she said, has not adopted an exclusive rands-and-cents 
interests approach on foreign policy.

“It’s not just about interests. It’s also about principles and 
friendship. The Dalai Lama is not banned in South Africa.

“But when we took a decision on his visit we looked at what is the 
national interest -which includes making sure that the country runs, 
human rights, in the broad sense, are protected, people have food, 
shelter and jobs. What brings stability is the combination of each of 
all these rights.”

Meanwhile, chairman of parliament’s portfolio committee on foreign 
affairs Job Sithole has called on government to force Hogan to publicly 
retract her statement. He also called on O’Regan to stay out of politics 
or face the prospects of being treated like a politician.

Buthelezi

IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has filed papers at the Cape High Court 
where he will seek an interdict on Tuesday to compel the government to 
grant the Dalai Lama a visa to enter South Africa.

He is bringing the interdict against President Kgalema Mothlanthe, Home 
Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqukula and Home Affairs director 
general Mavuso Msimang. Buthelezi wants the court to make government set 
aside their "political decision" and allow the man he regards as "a 
spiritual and political leader" entry to South Africa.

In a 20-page affidavit, Buthelezi said with his experience as the 
longest serving Minister of Home Affairs of the democratic South Africa, 
he could attest that the barring was "an exclusively political 
decision", as there were no legal grounds barring the Dalai Lama from entry.

"If such grounds do exist there are plenty of legal avenues for the 
Minister of Home Affairs to allow his entry irrespective of such 
grounds. I am bringing this application to review and set aside such a 
political decision."

He said the decision made mockery of South Africa’s democracy, 
denigrated the national image in eyes of the world and went against the 
values contained in section 1 of the Constitution.

"Had I still been the Minister of Home Affairs, I would have not have 
allowed politics or policy to influence the application of the law…"

The matter is set down to be heard on Tuesday.

***

Prega Govender

Meanwhile, organisers of this week’s aborted peace conference lost 
R10.5-million through the cancellation of international flights for 
guests as well as the production of a television documentary.

Some of the VIPs, who had already arrived in the country hours after the 
event was postponed, included Hollywood actress and UN peace ambassador, 
Charlize Theron, and Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdullar.

More than 200 international journalists from news networks including 
CNN, Sky News, Reuters and Al Jazeera had been granted accreditation to 
cover the three-day event.

The Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton had offered the organizers rooms at 
drastically reduced prices. Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu 
was to have stayed at the Michelangelo.

According to a source within the Professional Soccer League, the 
organizers were given the exclusive, 24-suite Saxon Hotel in Sandhurst, 
Johannesburg, “practically free of charge for five days”.

Suites at the Saxon Hotel, including breakfast, costs R6 400 per night 
while the three presidential suites and the platinum suites are R13 700 
and R25 600 respectively.

Queen Rania and her 23-member entourage as well as Theron were to have 
been booked in at the Saxon.

The Dalai Lama and his eight-member entourage would have stayed at a 
luxurious residence on the grounds of the Saxon Hotel.

Car hire company, Avis, had agreed to provide five Mercedes Benz S-class 
sedans and eight luxury buses for transporting guests to the different 
venues.

The Saxon Hotel was to have hosted a dinner for 60 guests, including the 
Nobel laureates, on Thursday night. A gala dinner for 300 guests had 
been planned for Friday night at Summer Place.

On Thursday, guests were to have been taken on a tour of Soweto, 
visiting former president Nelson Mandela’s house, the apartheid museum 
and the Hector Petersen memorial.

The tour was to have culminated in a symbolic penalty kick-off ceremony 
at Soccer City to mark the opening of the peace conference.

The PSL’s Irvin Khoza was to have been the goalkeeper and Professor Geir 
Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the goal kicker. 
Deputy Constitutional Court judge Dikgang Moseneke was chosen to act as 
referee.

Friday’s conference at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg would have 
included speeches by the Dalai Lama and other Nobel laureates as well as 
a question and answer session chaired by Tim Modise and SABC 2 Morning 
Live presenters, Vuyo Mbuli and Leanne Manas.

During breaks, video footage of the country’s tourist attractions as 
well as progress on the building of the 2010 world cup stadia was to 
have been showcased.

The source said the conference would have ended with the adoption of a 
football for peace statement that was to have been written by the Nobel 
laureates and the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Mpueleng Pooe, spokesman for the Royal Bafokeng, the main sponsor of the 
event, refused to confirm or deny that R10.5-million had been lost as a 
result of the function not taking place.

On Friday, former president Nelson Mandela added his voice to the chorus 
of condemnation against the government’s refusal to allow the Dalai Lama 
a visa.

His grandson, Chief Mandla Mandela, who visited him, said: “He says it’s 
unfortunate that the Dalai Lama was not able to come to South Africa but 
he understands that it is the Chinese that had exerted pressure on our 
government.”

Lundestad said his committee could not accept any effort by outside 
governments, in this case China, to isolate one of the laureates the 
Nobel Committee itself had selected.

“We are disappointed that the South African government did not stand up 
to Chinese pressure, particularly bearing in mind the strong support the 
ANC got from abroad and the Norwegian Nobel Committee in its historic 
struggle against apartheid.”

***

I am a Marxist monk: Dalai Lama

Posted: Jan 19, 2008 at 0158 hrs IST

Ahmedabad, January 18 Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama calls 
himself a Marxist monk, because “Marxism is more ethical, unlike 
capitalism”.

At a gathering at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), 
he said: “I am a Marxist monk, a Buddhist Marxist. I belong to the 
Marxist camp, because unlike capitalism, Marxism is more ethical. 
Marxism, as an ideology, takes care of the welfare of its employees and 
believes in distribution of wealth among the people of the state.”

Delivering a lecture on Ethics and Business, the Tibetan leader-in-exile 
said the global economy has created vast economic differences in every 
country of the world. “In the absence of ethical handling of money, the 
whole community suffer from a sense of insecurity. Exploitation of 
workers is maximum in developing countries. There are very high degrees 
of exploitation in India and China, similar to the exploitation during 
industrialisation of Western countries a century ago,” he said.

Ethics, the Dalai Lama said, could be categorised as theistic, 
non-theistic, and secular, and need not be based on religious faith.

“In all the three cases, the definition of ethics remains the same. Both 
theistic and non-theistic religions advocate love, forgiveness, 
tolerance and compassion. Secular ethics, on the other hand, is based on 
the realisation of the same ideas on the basis of common sense and 
individual experience.

“Trust and openness should be the foundation of business ethics. Even 
according to modern scientific research, warm heartedness is important 
for the happiness, well-being and health of a person. Consequentially, 
it forms a sounds base for a happy society,” the Dalai Lama said.



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