After two years at our 1109 M Street NW location in Washington, DC, our burgeoning operations are decidedly out of space. Our Laogai Musuem has outgrown the first floor of our building, our summer interns were practically crawling over each other in the upstairs loft, and our Laogai Archives are literally spilling off the shelves.
As such, the Laogai Museum and the Laogai Research Foundation will be moving to 2000 S Street NW in Washington, DC's Dupont Circle neighborhood (yes, this is the DC Real World house). To prepare for some big changes, the Laogai Museum will close this October while we move our offices and construct the new museum. Visit the Laogai Museum Blog: "Breaking Ground" to learn more about the plans for the museum, track our progress, and learn about ways you can contribute - we couldn't do any of this without all of generous supporters!
On Wednesday, the Laogai Museum was honored by a visit from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We were of course overjoyed, but at the same time disappointed that President Obama did not see fit to meet with the Dalai Lama at this time. As we saw from the press this morning, the Chinese still kicked off about the fact that the “reviled” Dalai Lama received an award in Congress.
Obama may have thought that by not meeting with the Dalai Lama before his upcoming trip to Beijing, he would somehow gain favor with the Chinese government on other issues. In reality, they’ll leverage this decision by pressuring the Obama administration to lower the bar even further when it comes to human rights. Back in the spring during her trip to Beijing, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said human rights would not be allowed to “interfere” with other strategic issues like climate change or the financial crisis. But what good is a climate change agreement in a world where the Chinese government routinely imprisons environmental whistleblowers? And what good is a Chinese-led solution to the global financial crisis without a free press to make sure that the financial sector is transparent?
On Wednesday, the Laogai Museum was honored by a visit from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We were of course overjoyed, but at the same time disappointed that President Obama did not see fit to meet with the Dalai Lama at this time. As we saw from the press this morning, the Chinese still 