Asian Review of Books has
recently posted Ryan Brooks’ review of Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival by David Pilling,
which was our new and notable title for April.
Click here for the review.
Monday 26 May 2014
Tuesday 20 May 2014
Brave New Worlds: Digital Freedom in East Asia by Nathalie Olah
Jo Glanville with Gigi Alford, Giles Ji Ungpakorn, and Gus Hosein Photo: Rebekah Murrell |
The Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival in London has just hosted Brave New Worlds: Digital Freedom in East Asia. Nathalie Olah reports.
If surveillance is a major sticking point of
political debate in the West, it’s a reality for thousands whose lives have
been transformed at its hands in South East Asia. Far from being a hypothetical
threat - the subject of column inches whose affects are rarely felt -
governments in China, Vietnam, Thailand and of course, North Korea, are using
surveillance software not just in the name of upholding national security, but
to police and doctor freedom of expression.
Last week, the Asia House Literature Festival brought together three pivotal spokespeople to discuss the
issue of spy software and surveillance in East Asia. Giles Ji Ungpakorn is a former professor at the Faculty of Political
Science at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, who was forced into exile after
staging a protest in opposition to the military coup of 2006. Today he works as
an administrative clerk at a hospital in Oxford, while writing extensively on
the injustices of the Thai political system and rallying resistance to the
country’s oppressive censorship laws amongst its student population. Gigi Alford of Freedom House, a US-based NGO advocating freedom of expression,
democracy and human rights, joined him, as well as Gus Hosein of Privacy International. The talk was chaired by Director of English PEN Jo Glanville.
For the audience whose knowledge on this
subject seemed varied, Alford began by outlining the ten possible forms of
surveillance: firewalls; attacks against regime credits; lawmaking to prevent
political speech online; paid pro-government commentators; physical attacks;
take-down requests; forced deletions; blanket blocking of domains; campaigns to
‘clean the web’ and the threat of shutting down mobile Internet services. All
ten techniques are being used in China where conformity to the government’s
ethos is so pervasive that it has engendered a climate of self-censorship as widespread
and as damaging to transparency as that which is imposed.
And while the suppression of feeling
contrary to a government agenda is a flagrant assault on democracy, more
shocking are instances of entrapment. As in the case of Vietnamese human rights
lawyer Nguyen Bac Truyen, who gave free legal assistance to victims of land
grabs, and campaigned for multi-party democracy before realising too late that
his private correspondence with clients had been hacked. Bac Truyen was
attacked on his way to the Australian embassy in Hanoi and his house
subsequently surrounded by the city’s Dong Thap police.
Vietnam is second only to China in the
number of bloggers targeted in one form or another by authorities. Since Decree
72 came into effect last year, citizens have been banned from discussing
current affairs online.
To Alford’s initial list, Hosein added
three more techniques that are currently being developed by software companies
in the West and exported to Asia. These
included National surveillance centres, capable of monitoring information being
shared within and across a country’s borders; as well as IMSI-catchers –
wearable, fake mobile towers that act between the service providers’ own and
target devices to collect data. At just over US$ 8,400 it is one of the more
widely available forms of surveillance hardware on the market.
Finally Hosein cited FinFisher, the
software made notorious by Wikileaks and developed by Lench IT solutions, with
a UK branch Gamma International based in Andover. It enables users to access
calls, as well as switch on the microphone and camera of target mobile phones.
That the use of this software is being justified by governments as a means of
chilling dissident speech is frankly absurd, given users remain entirely
oblivious to the fact they are being targeted.
While the UK has granted asylum to activists
such as Ungpakorn, its role in the widespread use of surveillance technology
not just on home turf, but in the East, is considerable. And the same goes for
other Western states. After all, it is here that most surveillance software was
pioneered and continues to be developed, and it is here that the precedent of
questionable surveillance policies is being set. Think back to Nokia issuing
the Iranian government technology to monitor phone calls in 2009 and you’ll be
reminded of how Western techniques have been exported to the detriment of
innocent civilians across the world.
At the present moment, few solutions exist
to the problem of surveillance. Amazon web services offer users the possibility
of privacy with their ‘https’ service, although this is only permitted while
the company does not have a physical presence inside a given territory. With
the arrival of Amazon’s first China-based office later this year, it’s safe to
say that the services availability inside the country will soon be diminished.
“Nobody’s a good guy anymore.” Gus told us.
“Intelligence agencies in the UK, in America, and soon elsewhere, can now mimic
the user interface of companies such as Facebook and Linkedin without users
knowing."
Then there’s the worry of tech-savvy
activists eventually applying their expertise to exacerbate the situation
further. Let’s not forget, that many of those who set up the Stasi, went on to create
the sorts of companies that they once fought to resist.
With the 25th anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square protests now upon us, anti-government feeling is expected to
arise in a big way across China. Blocks are inevitable and the feelings of many
will be suppressed, hidden and deleted from the annals of micro-blogging sites.
Awareness can get people so far, but the systems at work to prevent freedom of
expression are becoming increasingly impenetrable. In 2011 Egyptian activist Wael
Ghonim said during a CNN interview days before President Mubarak was toppled, “If
you want a free society just give them Internet access.”
Make that a free Internet, for the web is
becoming a form of incarceration whose long term effects can likely be
predicted by observing the activity that is already taking place across so many
Eastern states.
Follow Nathalie @NROLAH
Wednesday 14 May 2014
500 Words From Ann Bennett
500 Words From...is a series of guest posts
from authors, in which they talk about their newly-published books. Here Ann Bennett explains the
background behind Bamboo Heart, published in paperback today by Monsoon Books.
Ann Bennett is a UK-based novelist and
lawyer.
Set in South East Asia both in the present and before and during the Second
World War, Bamboo Heart captures the
suffering and courage of prisoners of war of the Japanese. It tells the story
of Tom Ellis, a prisoner enslaved on the infamous Death Railway in Thailand,
and charts the journey of his daughter, Laura, who turns her back on her comfortable lifestyle in eighties London to investigate her father's wartime experience.
So: 500 Words From Ann Bennett
At the end of the Second World War allied intelligence services surveyed newly-released prisoners of war with so-called liberation questionnaires. My novel, Bamboo
Heart, started life when I discovered my father’s liberation questionnaire in Britain's National Archives. It was an amazing moment when I first saw it;
written in his perfect copper-plate hand, it answered so many questions I would
like to have asked. From that moment I knew I had to write about his
experiences as a prisoner-of-war on the Death Railway in Thailand.
This
discovery was the culmination of a lifetime’s quest to find out what had
happened to my father during the war. He died when I was only seven, and
growing up I became increasingly interested in his past. He hardly spoke about
the war, having started a new life with my mother on his return to England in
1945. I was interested enough to travel to Kanchanaburi to see the railway in
1988. On that trip I fell in love with South East Asia, but found out very
little about what had happened to my father there.
I
took the tragic events Dad described in his questionnaire as the basis of Tom’s
story in Bamboo Heart. I wanted to write about those events from the
perspective of one man, within the framework of a fast-moving narrative. My aim
was to bring those events alive without it feeling like a history lesson.
The
events I was describing were harrowing. So to lighten the mood, I broke it up
with flashbacks to Tom’s pre-war life in colonial Penang, where he fell in
love. I also introduced a parallel modern plot, the story of Tom’s own
daughter’s search for the truth about the war. For Laura’s story I drew upon my
own life as a disaffected young lawyer in the eighties, and upon my memories of
those times. The novel touches on the Wapping Riots, famous in the UK, which I remember well. Co-incidentally
the first day of serious rioting was 15th February 1986, the
anniversary of the Fall of Singapore.
I
tried to tell a story of hope and survival, to examine the reasons why some
survived the worst of ordeals and others sadly did not. I also wanted to show
what an important role history plays in all our lives; how powerfully our
family’s past affects our own choices and values.
My
research for Bamboo Heart taught me so much more about the war in the Far East
than I had expected. I had not previously known how civilians suffered; about
starvation and massacres, about bravery and sacrifice. It inspired me to
explore those events from other angles and through other peoples’ stories.
Bamboo Heart is the first novel in a planned trilogy. I
have just finished writing Bamboo Island, about Juliet, a plantation owner’s
wife, who
has lived a reclusive life since the war robbed her of everyone she loved. The
sudden appearance of a stranger disrupts her lonely existence and stirs up
unsettling memories.
I’m also working on a
third novel: Bamboo Road, about of the daughter of a member of the Thai
resistance which tells how the influx of prisoners-of-war into that remote
jungle region affects her life.
Click here for Ann’s
website.
Saturday 10 May 2014
Published Today: Singapore Noir edited by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Akashic Books in New York
publishes a series of City Noir books,
each a multi-author anthology of crime short stories. Today, the
Singapore-based company, Monsoon Books, is publishing for the local market the
latest title in the series, Singapore Noir.
Beneath Singapore’s sparkling
veneer is a country dark with shadows rarely revealed in literature. Singapore
Noir explores the city-state’s forgotten back alleys, red-light districts, gambling
dens, and kelongs - floating, off shore fishing platforms with a
shady reputation. The anthologised
authors include: US-based director, writer and illustrator Colin Goh; UK-based
author of novels depicting the experiences of gay men, Johann S. Lee;
Bangkok-based author Lawrence Osborne; Hong Kong-based author of the Feng Shui
Detective series, Nury Vittachi. Of the
Singaporean authors, three are past winners of the Singapore Literature Prize:
Simon Tay; Colin Cheong; Suchen Christine Lim. Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, the editor,
is a US-based Singaporean.
The anthology is divided into
four sections: Sirens; Love (Or Something Like It); Gods & Demons; The
Haves & The Have-Nots. Each story is
set in a particular location in Singapore, so, for example, Colin Goh’s Last Time is set in Raffles Place, and
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s Reel is set at
Changi
Singapore
Noir is published in
paperback. It is available from all leading bookstores in
Singapore, and the South East Asia region.
Priced in local currencies.
Wednesday 7 May 2014
The Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival
The Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival has just opened in London, and
runs until May 21. This is the only
festival in the UK dedicated to writing about Asia and Asians. The theme this year is changing values across Asia.
For the
past 8 years Adrienne Loftus Parkins has been the Director of the Festival.
After a
successful career in marketing, Adrienne left her native Canada and started
living, working, and reading in Bombay, Bangalore, Singapore, and Shanghai. She then moved to London, where, in 2002 she
established a literature programme at Asia House. In 2006 she founded the Asia
House Festival of Asian Literature, now sponsored by the Bagri Foundation. Adrienne
also co-founded Anamika, a women’s educational group in India, and works
closely with the Pan Asian Women’s Association to promote Asian women writers.
After 8
years in the role, Adrienne has decided to step down as Director of the Asia
House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival, although she will stay involved as
an advisor and looks forward to seeing the Festival grow.
Adrienne
gave me an interview via e-mail, from London.
How and why did you come up with the theme changing values across Asia? How do you
think the theme is reflected in the programme?
I moved
to India in 1992, when the economy of that country was just starting to open up to
foreign investment. While there we often heard colleagues and associates
tell us that globalisation wouldn't work in Asia because their lives and
businesses were conducted according to Asian values. These, they said, were
never going to be compatible with the Western values that made multinational
companies work. Asians in general built their societies around working
for the benefit of the family, holding true to tradition, and repressing the
desires of the individual.
Now, 22
years later, those companies that we saw open throughout Asia in the ‘90’s are
still there and they have been joined by many more. The
globalisation of business, manufacturing, retail and communications has reached
unprecedented levels. Financial growth gave birth to the term Asian Tigers and many of those Asian
friends who were so sceptical have thrived amidst the new realities that these
businesses have brought with them.
With this
growth has come a sea change in societal values. To the outside
observer there appears to be more emphasis on making money, on owning Western
status symbols like cars, designer clothes, glamorous vacations and the latest
electronics. Across the world, political upheavals have overthrown despotic
regimes, giving a new confidence to citizens that want to overthrow governments
and dictators that are holding them back.
Over
the years that Asia House has been producing the Literature Festival, the
number of books addressing the conflict between traditional values and modern
ideas has grown. We decided to explore what has happened to values through
focusing on writing that looks at these changes and how Asian values have
reconciled with Western ones, and vice versa.
Some
events such as the Yiyun Li / Tash Aw conversation, Changing Sexual Mores,
Burma: a work in progress, and Brave New Worlds: digital freedom in
East Asia address changing values as expressed in writing in a
straightforward way, while others like North Korea: threat or bluster,
Cracking Up: the evolution of British Asian humour, The Shroud and New
Pan-Asian Fiction, touch on the theme more indirectly. Changing Sexual Mores is one I'm
particularly looking forward to as it will directly address a topic that until
now has not generally been discussed in literature.
Do you try and present writing
from all of Asia, or do you focus on specific countries, or regions, within the
continent?
The
Festival has always focused on a broad expanse of Asia. The 2013 Festival had
events highlighting writing from Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, China, South
Korea, Nepal, Burma, Malaysia, Palestine and the Middle East as well as South
Asian and British Asian writing. In 2104 we've added to that list:
Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan and North Korea. Each year we endeavour to
discover writing about a broad spectrum of Asian countries. We are still the
only festival in the UK dedicated to writing about Asia in the broadest
context, from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Pacific.
Asia
House participated in the British Council Korean Cultural Focus. (Click here for the relevant blog post.) Could you comment?
The event featuring Man Asian Prize winner Kyung-sook Shin and Krys Lee from Korea, along with Qaisra Shahraz from Pakistan, was very well received - we had a sell-out audience and audience and speakers alike seemed deeply interested in the topic. The discussion took a more personal than political direction with each of the writers either experiencing a personal separation from their home culture because they have moved to a different culture or, in Kyung-sook's case, a separation from the other speakers because she has not left her home country. Kyung-sook, who was speaking with the help of a translator, felt that language and the translation of spoken and written words creates its own kind of separation. (The Asia House website has an article about the event, including some audio and video, click here to watch and listen.)
The
Korean influence continues when John Everard, former British
Ambassador in North Korea and author of Only Beautiful, Please: A British Diplomat in North Korea, joins Paul French, author of North Korea: State of Paranoia, to
analyse the threat posed by that country. What are you hoping for from
that session?
This
should be a highly topical discussion of the threat that North Korea may pose
to its neighbours and the rest of the world. The speakers have both spent
extensive time in North Korea and have studied and analysed the political
situation there. They will be looking at the current state of affairs in
the country and, based on their knowledge of the situation, expressing their
thoughts on the motives behind what Kim Jong-un has done and said in recent
months.
Several
authors are launching books at the Festival. Could you give details of new
titles beyond what's on the website?
We're
delighted to be able to host 3 authors who will be debuting their novels in the
UK. They will provide mini-interviews, in sessions called Extra Words, as a bonus to longer events scheduled with more high
profile authors.
The first
Extra Words, on 8 May, will
be with Omar Shahid Hamid, whose debut novel The Prisoner was a runaway hit at the recent Karachi Literature
Festival. As a former Karachi policeman, Omar has a unique view of what
happens behind the scenes when the force is called upon to solve crimes. The
Prisoner is a gripping read, one that left me wanting to know if he
was planning a sequel.
Nepalese
Indian author, Prajwal Parajuly, was part of the 2013 Festival when he spoke
about his first book of short stories, The Ghurkha’s Daughter. This
year he comes back with his debut novel, Land Where I Flee, about a
family gathering in Gangtok, Sikkum from across the globe to
celebrate their grandmother's landmark birthday. Prajwal was hailed at the
Jaipur Literature Festival as one of the brightest young talents coming from
South Asia. His book is thoughtful and entertaining, and he himself has
great insight into the clash between traditional family values and the modern
world.
Finally,
we are happy to have Tew Bunnag as our last Extra
Words author. Tew has published several previous books, but Curtain
of Rain is the first to be published in the UK, so he is new to our
audiences. His books deal with the contradictions between
traditional values and consumerism in modern Thailand.
Censorship is a bigger issue in Asia than in the
UK. What do you think will be the main talking points at the digital
freedom event? How do you think events held in the UK, but highlighting free
speech in Asia, can help authors in Asia?
One of
the Festival's objectives is to promote understanding of Asia cultures and
societies both here in UK communities and in Asia. This discussion of
censorship of the Internet in some Asian countries raises awareness and helps
Western audiences to understand some of the challenges to free expression that
may be present in other societies. I expect the discussion to address how the
Internet has opened up communication in some ways, but made it more difficult
in other ways, and how writers are working within the parameters set for them,
to express their opinions in as free a way as possible without fear of
recourse.
To Participate From Asia
If you
wish to participate in the Festival from Asia, click around on the following
links:
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