The following consists of important issues and specific quotes that would only be obscured if I ran them through the puerile TMT filter. Hope you understand.
- Wikipedia (Kosovo context): Kosovo is a region in the Balkans, presently under the ad interim control of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo and protection of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Kosovo Force. Its Provisional Institutions of Self-Government have recently declared independence from the Republic of Serbia, which contested the act; as the Republic of Kosovo, it has received partial recognition.
- Wikipedia (Tibet context): The opinion of the PRC [People's Republic of China] is that the TAR [Tibet Autonomous Region] has ample autonomy, as guaranteed under Articles 111-122 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China as well as the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy of the People's Republic of China. However, many human rights organizations around the world accuse the Chinese government of persecuting and oppressing the local population
- IcelandReview (Kosovo): Iceland’s Björk, who is currently on a world tour promoting her latest album Volta, dedicated her song “Declare Independence” to Kosovo during her concerts in Tokyo on Tuesday and Friday, causing her concert in Novi Sad, Serbia, in July to be cancelled.
- Billboard (Tibet): Icelandic singer Bjork's first-ever concert in mainland China on March 2 may have been her last, after she chanted "Tibet" several times during "Declare Independence," the closing song in her set at the Shanghai International Gymnastic Center.
- Björk: i have been asked by many for a statement after dedicating my song "declare independence" to both kosovo and tibet ( amongst others ) on different occasions. i would like to put importance on that i am not a politician, i am first and last a musician and as such i feel my duty to try to express the whole range of human emotions. the urge for declaring independence is just one of them but an important one that we all feel at some times in our lives. this song was written more with the personal in mind but the fact that it has translated to its broadest meaning, the struggle of a suppressed nation, gives me much pleasure . i would like to wish all individuals and nations good luck in their battle for independence. justice !
- Mango Starr: I'm so in love with Björk.
