Tag Archives: Giant’s Causeway

Titanic News:Titanic Belfast Up For Awards and a Human Rights Group Wants Premier Exhibitions Investigated

Mao Zedong announcing the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1 1949. Photo: Public Domain
Photo: Public Domain

1. A Toronto-based human rights group has requested a police and coroner’s investigation once the Bodies Revealed exhibition closes on 1 Oct. A disclaimer on the website is what led them to make the charge. That disclaimer can be found here and says:

This exhibit displays human remains of Chinese citizens or residents which were originally received by the Chinese Bureau of Police. The Chinese Bureau of Police may receive bodies from Chinese prisons. Premier cannot independently verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons.

This exhibit displays full body cadavers as well as human body parts, organs, fetuses and embryos that come from cadavers of Chinese citizens or residents. With respect to the human parts, organs, fetuses and embryos you are viewing, Premier relies solely on the representations of its Chinese partners and cannot independently verify that they do not belong to persons executed while incarcerated in Chinese prisons.

Which is to say, we have really no idea whether these remains are what they are represented to be. So we are going to trust an authoritarian regime in Beijing which has a long history of repressing dissidents and mass murder? Really? It would be like in the old days accepting bodies from the Soviet Union and taking their word they were not executed for crimes against the state rather than dying of natural causes.

Linus Hand, director of sales and marketing at Niagara Falls Bodies Revealed exhibit says it refers to a different exhibit. He might be right. The exhibitions listed do not include one for Canada so it is possible that none of the bodies at the Canada exhibition require such a disclaimer. Still it is very discomforting that the American ones have bodies from China. Trying to wiggle out of moral responsibility here cuts no slack from me. Imagine the outrage if they used remains from German concentration camps run by Hitler’s regime in their Bodies Exhibition. It would make front page news as they got denounced by everyone. But from China, not much of a protest.
Source:Human Rights Group Wants Body Exhibit In Niagara Falls Investigated(5 Sep 2014,Sun News)

Titanic Belfast (side view) Image:Prioryman (Wikipedia)
Titanic Belfast (side view)
Image:Prioryman (Wikipedia)

2. The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that Titanic Belfast is up for the Best UK Leisure Attraction Award and Giant’s Causeway is on the list for Best Heritage Attraction. The public is allowed to vote for their favorites at www.britishtravelawards.com.
Source:Titanic Belfast And Giant’s Causeway Are Up For Awards(4 Sep 2014,Belfast Telegraph)