Dalai Lama denied visa for South Africa peace conference

[Sheilbh]

I don't think he can.  It would be unconstitutional in South Africa to only slay gays, their constitution is possibly the only and certainly the first to ban discrimination on grounds of sexuality.

Yeah, because the rule of law is something you can count on in Africa.

I think South Africa has reached the state, in terms of what's said about it, that it's actually doing better than people's expectations.  Zuma could change that, though as I say the internal politics aren't finished yet.  I think there's still reason for hope there.

[Savonarola]

No Dalai No Peace!

S. Africa peace summit postponed after Dalai Lama (CNN) -- An international peace conference in Johannesburg has been cancelled after South Africa refused the Dalai Lama a visa to attend the event.


Archbishop Desmond Tutu said Monday he would boycott the conference.

Announcing the postponement at a news conference Tuesday, Irvin Khosa, chairman of the South African football league, did not offer an explanation.

A presidential spokesman, Thabo Masebe, said little.

"South Africa has made this decision," he said. "We stand by the decision."

The peace conference had been scheduled to start Friday. Officials said they would like to have a conference in the future, but they did not offer a specific date.

The conference had been organized by South African soccer officials, led by Khosa, and was billed as an opportunity to showcase South Africa's role as a human-rights champion ahead of the 2010 World Cup -- the global soccer championship the nation will host next year.

The presidential spokesman had said earlier that the Dalai Lama -- Tibet's spiritual leader and a Nobel Laureate -- did not receive a visa because it was not in South Africa's interest for him to attend.

Masebe said South Africa thinks that, if the Dalai Lama attended the conference, the focus would shift away from the World Cup.

"We cannot allow focus to shift to China and Tibet," he said. He added that South Africa has gained much from its trading relationship with China.

Khosa made the announcement at a news conference also attended by Chief Mandla Mandela, grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela. Mandla Mandela said it was a sad day for the country's democracy and the African continent that the South African government had denied the Dalai Lama a visa. South Africa should not succumb to international pressure, Mandela said.

A representative of the Dalai Lama said he was not surprised by the visa refusal. The Tibetan government in exile thinks that China has pressured many countries to refuse a visit by the Dalai Lama, according to Chhime Chhoekyapa, an aide in Dharamsala, India.

The Dalai Lama fled China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The peace conference was to bring together Nobel laureates and top soccer officials. Archbishop Desmond Tutu; former President F.W. De Klerk; laureates Nelson Mandela and Martti Ahtisaar; Seff Blatter, president of soccer's international governing body; and actress Charlize Theron were among those invited. The event had the blessing of the Nobel Committee.

A presidential spokesman had said earlier that the Dalai Lama -- Tibet's spiritual leader and a Nobel Laureate -- did not receive a visa because it was not in South Africa's interest for him to attend.

[jimmy olsen]

Good, I'm glad to see that people protested this decision and got the conference canceled.

[FunkMonk]

I'm going to invite the Dalai Lama to my peace conference.

[Siege]

If only he could be president again.  Especially considering the man next in line in the ANC is Jacob Zuma, a rapist who knowingly fucks HIV positive women without a condom.

He should make his 'last trek' to Perth along with the rest of his people.

I can only hope that after awhile African democracies will normalize.  The struggle against colonialism and racism seems to have made heroes of some incredibly insane and dangerous characters.  Eventually a new generation will actually have to show competency and sanity at governing in order to gain support.

Are you serious?
Are you really that positive?

[Cerr]

Seff Blatter, president of soccer's international governing body

Who wrote that piece?

[DontSayBanana]

South Africa: We want to show the world how humanitarian we are; let's have a PEACE CONFERENCE! Dish out the invites!

Dalai Lama: RSVP.

South Africa: Nah, we were thinking the theme should be more kinda, you know, soccer-ish. Get lost, grandpa.



EDIT: 'Shopping a more relevant picture myself.

[Savonarola]

South Africa: We want to show the world how humanitarian we are; let's have a PEACE CONFERENCE! Dish out the invites!

Dalai Lama: RSVP.

South Africa: Nah, we were thinking the theme should be more kinda, you know, soccer-ish. Get lost, grandpa.

He could have gone if it had a golf theme:

So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald ... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one – big hitter, the Lama – long, into a 10,000-foot crevice, right at the base of this glacier. And do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga ... gunga – gunga lagunga. So we finish the 18th and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

[dps]

You know, it seems like this was intended just to be a party to celebrate the World Cup.  They should have just called it the World Cup Party or something instead of pretending it was a peace conference of some sort, and then they could have just invited whoever they wanted and avoided the controversy