Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Lobsang Sangay the 42 year old Tibetan refugee and legal scholar has been elected the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government in Exile, although born in India and having never visited Tibet. Though Sangay will lead the exile government, the Dalai Lama having retired from active participation in Tibetan political affairs remains the ceremonial head of state. Sangay is currently a Senior Fellow at the Harvard University Law School, having received a doctorate for his dissertation ‘Democracy in Distress: Is Exile Polity a remedy?’ The Dalai Lama’s age at 75, despite being in good health, has become a significant concern for the continued struggle by the Tibetan people, with a need for a younger generation of leadership to take up the struggle and negotiation of the Tibetan communities’ status with China.

Inspired by Ashwani Sharma ow.ly/4KAf0 image source Wikipedia ow.ly/4KAeR

Cu Huy Ha Vu the 53 year old Vietnamese legal scholar, prominent government critic and human rights campaigner having been arrested and held in custody on charges of plotting to overthrow the communist government of Vietnam through propaganda against the state, has now been imprisoned for 7 years for spreading anti-state propaganda. Vu had mobilized broad support from the public and online supporters after posting critical articles on the internet. Vu currently has a legal suit against the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for his signing of a decree prohibiting class action lawsuits, and had previous unsuccessfully sued the Prime Minister on issues of national security, cultural heritage and environment damage resulting from a controversial Chinese build bauxite mining project.

Inspired by Seth Mydans ow.ly/4ylF3 image source gstatic ow.ly/4ylCI