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The Dalai Lama, the Torch and Steve

John Kelly  —  20th March 2008

Two days after I posted our modest proposal that Gordon Brown meet the Dalai Lama, Buddhist eco-capitalist Steve Varon and his very lovely partner, Beth, happened to drop by the Prospect potala on a brief visit to London from New York. He’s a remarkable man with a vision (in fact, he literally had a vision) that the Dalai Lama should be invited to carry the Olympic torch on a part of its journey to Beijing. I think it’s a great wheeze (so will the Dalai Lama if he has to carry the flame up Mount Everest). Steve has produced a video, which is well worth watching. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to see the deeper logic of Steve’s suggestion. Pass it on (like the torch).

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Comments (6):

  1. St Trinians says:
    March 20, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    Very well done the Steve – good man! – and very well done Prospect for spreading the gospel, as it were..

    Last night on C4 News the Dalai Lama’s adorable representative in the UK, Tsering Tash, and film of Tibet’s own countryside alliance
    ( all 8 of them…bless ) cavalry trotting down from the Gansu hills to help fly the flag , reminded us of the innate innocence that is the defining character of Tibetan people ( and indeed many who live in harmony with nature, rather than at the gunpoint of a get-thick-quick-schemed state ) as something we need to vigourously defend from the demented ‘progress’ perverts among the world’s reprobate political mafia

    Those of us who witnessed at first hand the brutal violence that riot police were ordered by New Labour to inflict upon our UK Countryside Alliance in Parliament Square not long ago, were at least in the public eye ( albeit including those cowardly career politicians who crowed down from the House of Commons roof ) and in a relatively ‘ free country ‘; shiver in absolute horror for the fate of the Tibetan prisoners, shown today signing “confessions” who the Chinese say will be ” dealt with harshly” behind locked doors.

    A chilling comment in today’s Telegraph sums it up :

    ” China’s political system is unable to accommodate
    dissent ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/03/20/dl2002.xml

    And yet, I still remain optimistic. The young Chinese are incredibly intelligent, and already show signs of rejecting their at very best misguided government’s one-size-fits-all communist bosh

  2. St Trinians says:
    March 20, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    Just scrolled back to find the blog in which Steve left a contact
    e mail address – but the big Bulgarian umbrella must have eaten it ?

    Steve, if you see this, and have not already done so, was wanting to
    suggest you show your film to UK film bloke David Puttnam, perhaps ? He might be inspired to help by the link to his film debut Chariots of Fire… who knows he may even make a film of it to lure Chinese ?

  3. St Trinians says:
    March 21, 2008 at 11:41 am

    JK, Blimey – has yer man been on the ’shrooms ( ” My friend Katherine Hamnett “.. who doesn’t know KH is the question ) ?

    Nobody suggested Prospect was the Bulgarian Umbrella. However, your 2nd Big Brother attempt to emulate the Chinese whom you wrote are great ( sadly since proved by the entire UK media not to be the case ) within the same week to influence we ‘ freedom of speech ‘ contributors via direct e mail makes us begin to wonder

    It is reassuring to read that Prospect protects the e mail ID of
    blog contributors. Steve Varon put his e mail address on the blog – twice – it subsequently vanished – ‘enddov’

    In the opinion of fellow St Trinian-minded readers ( all three of them – who have written in person by way of good cheer ) a little blogfoonery – albeit oft giving the impression of being a fellow inhaler – amid the career-minded grey sea of New Labouresque tosh made a welcome change

    The idea of a David Puttnam picking up the Torch has already been applauded by one channel director chum – as the Wailers’s would say
    let’s hope it ” catch a fire ”

    ( The Modern Review failed for a good reason – as a broadsheet hack remarked at the time : ” life couldn’t be easier .. all the people one wants to avoid – all in the same magazine ” )

    Btw, we once had an adorable honey-coloured French Lop Ear rabbit called Ned ( after Ned Lambton )

    Happy Easter

    http://www.vivien-leigh.com/peterrabbit.html

    Subject: Steve Varon’s email address
    From: John Kelly

    It’s not a question of Bulgarian umbrellas or anything of the sort, as I hope we’ve established by now, merely that we cannot and routinely don’t put email addresses in full view on the blog for the safety of bloggers themselves – they could lead to malicious spamming. Robot programs scan the web for exactly these addresses and send viruses, spam and all sorts of nasty material to those who post their addresses. I respect your enthusiasm but I’m sure you understand that we really can’t act as a bulletin board, and nearly all our readers don’t want us to.

    Have a lovely weekend, John

    John Kelly
    Publisher, CEO
    Prospect Magazine
    2, Bloomsbury Place
    London WC1A 2QA
    United Kingdom

  4. john kelly says:
    March 21, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    I’m afraid this thread appears to have degenerated into personal insult, for reasons that escape me. It’s a shame, but I’ll need to withdraw from comments or posts in the interests of my colleagues and other readers. My apologies to Mr Varon, with whom I discussed taking down his email address in the interest oif safety, not censorship. I’m sorry you see fit to insult my son on account of his name, but we’ll try and live with it.

    So – I’ve been censored. Probably for the best. John

  5. St Trinians says:
    March 21, 2008 at 2:30 pm

    JK, Au contraire – Ned Lambton is a great chap. Perhaps you’ve not yet met him. JSYK, we adore the name Ned. You cannot turn this around John – it was you who attempted to censor St Trinians, twice.

    Never a good idea, unless prepared for a Toots ” Don’t mess with I locks ” quip . We did not think Steve’s email address had been censored. It was a joke, though you may have temporarily misplaced your sense of humour on this one, perhaps ?

    There are quite possibly other readers who at times also disagree with your quasi back-seat editorship ; but might not feel as free or able to take our Ali G approach : ” They can take away our trees – but they can’t take away our FREEDOM “.

    We may have to reach a Good Friday agreement on this one – esp as I am being called down to lunch. However, as one of the last bastions of independent intellectual debate, Prospect benefits from diversity any which way it comes. Stop sulking and keep blogging !

  6. The Bolter says:
    March 27, 2008 at 10:30 am

    Steve Varon’s idea is an inspirational. Perhaps Prospect will award the Dalai Lama and Mr Varron both complimentary subscriptions by way of a Prospect Peace Prize ?

    Perhaps US congresswoman Nancy Pelosi too , a long-time supporter of the Dalai Lama , for her astute observation at her meeting with the DL last week :

    ” If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China’s oppression in China and Tibet , we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/21/wtibet321.xml

    Tibetan current affairs will be further explored in a C4 Dispatches documentary ( for which the makers recently spent three months under cover in Tibet ) to be screened next Monday at 8 o’clock

    ( 31 March 2008 – or watch again for free: http://www.channel4.com/4oD )