This time it featured photos documenting war (not in a sequential
manner over time, but grouped by “moments” in a war – from preparation to
aftermath of a conflict). It’s a travelling show and was put together by the
Houston Museum. Some of the photos are classic ones – for example the shot of the
Vietcong being executed with a revolver shot in the head by a South-Vietnamese
military : I remember seeing actually the video of it all(at which time the
executioner was identified as the mayor of Saigon, as I recall)! But several others, focussing on the distress
created by wars – on civilians as well as on combatants.
There is also a film interview with 6 photo-journalists telling
their stories, covering past and current conflicts – very poignant!
Dinner at a Japanese restaurant, the Ki Ra La, nearby – a recommendation
from the hotel concierge – excellent sashimi!
Two stories, unrelated…
First, the plan China has to build hydro-electric dams on
the Nu River, in the south of the country (it starts in Tibet, and then goes
through Sichuan and Yunnan), that would also affect Burma and Thailand, as the
river carries on to the sea (the Andaman). The article in the week-end NYT
raises several questions about the plan (the first dam, in Sichuan, is already
apparently under construction): ecologically – the place is still “pristine”
for tourism and for the fauna (of course more hydropower-generated energy would
reduce pollution created by China’s reliance on coal!); politically – this is “ethnic minority” country; and internationally
– this is one of the 13 major transnational rivers in China (the Chinese have
not signed the UN water-sharing treaty) and the ecosystems and resources of
countries downstream would be apparently irremediably affected (notably because
of silting occurring at the dam that prevents seasonal nutrients to replenish
soil down steam!) Not to mention the international repercussion, spread out by
global ecologists and advocacy groups…I am pretty sure that they are the ones
that have put the NYT on this, that has obviously espoused the cause. In China
though, I would vote that the Government will have its way…
The issue is actually illustrating very well the foreseeable
battle about water, globally. The Chinese former minister of Water Resources
has said it very eloquently, setting the nation’s water policy: “To fight for
every drop of water or die”, as quoted in the NYT article! Should the
management of rivers that have consequences for downstream countries be left to
one country? I don’t think so. How should it be managed though – I guess that
is what that UN water-sharing treaty was all about…God knows what “compromise”
they have come up with!...
The other big story, that is on the news on American TV: the
death toll in Bangladesh has reached now close to 650 people in the crumbling
of a garment factory there. We all know what they manufacture in such facilities:
garments produced at very low cost for western markets and foreign-owned companies.
The West is guilty but what is there to be done? Stop shopping and buying lines of products that
are made in such facilities? It does do something about “bad conscience”
indeed; but is this the answer? Western companies ceasing to manufacture in
these countries? (Disney is said to have pulled out – the earlier the better for
the company, I’d say)! US politicians are calling for some common approach
between government and industry to address this… You hear quite a lot about the
poor working conditions that prevail there, and the very low wages…yes, but it
is not easy to correct these without addressing much larger issues…locally and
internationally… It’s “free trade” against “fairness” again, but to whom and at
what cost (for westerners as well as for people in so-called under-developed
economies)?
Meanwhile the National Front ruling coalition in Malaysia
seems to have won the election yesterday, but by an ever-reducing margin,
against the opposition that seems to be growing in strength under (guess who?) Anwar…
Los Angeles, May 6, 2013
