Six degrees
Olivia Rosenman
Wei Jingsheng, the Chinese human rights activist, was released from jail on this day in 1997 and promptly deported to the United States on medical parole, never to return to China. His controversial essay, “Fifth Modernisation”, posted on Beijing’s “Democracy Wall” – a street that became politically significant in 1978 – saw him convicted of counter-revolutionary activities and he subsequently spent 18 years in jail. Just months after he arrived in the US, he suffered chest pains while visiting Montreal, Canada, and had to seek treatment at the city’s Saint-Luc Hospital, named in honour of the patron saint of doctors, Luke the Evangelist …
Born in the ancient Syrian city of Antioch, Luke the Evangelist is believed to have been a doctor and author of the Gospel According to Luke and Acts of the Apostles. In artistic depictions, Luke is usually accompanied by a bovine creature, often an ox or a bull with wings. As well as looking out for doctors, he is also the saint of artists, students and butchers, some of whom give their thanks each year on his feast day, October 18 – the birthday of another god (to some): actor Jean-Claude Van Damme …
Born in 1960, the beefy Belgian is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the Capcom video-game hero, Guile, in the movie interpretation of Street Fighter. Van Damme had a successful career in kickboxing and karate before becoming a Hollywood heartthrob. The “Muscles from Brussels” – who has a home in Kowloon – was passed over for the extraterrestrial lead role in Predator because of how he looked in the bodysuit. The armoured creation had been inspired by a conversation the costume designer had had on a flight, when he found himself sitting next to James Cameron …
The Canadian film director, producer and deep-sea explorer has history in the extraterrestrial field, having hit the big time with his 1986 film Aliens. Cameron is reportedly working on a live production of his mega-hit Avatar with Cirque du Soleil, his second collaboration with the circus, after Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, in 2012. Cameron is a vegan and an environmentalist, and is outspoken in his beliefs. He has strongly criticised hydroelectric dams in the Amazon basin, the construction of which has been championed by the recently re-elected Dilma Rousseff …
The first woman to occupy Brazil’s presidential office, Rousseff has a reputation for reducing inequality in the country of 200 million people. Rousseff was a Marxist guerrilla in the 1970s, her university days, and was imprisoned for two years by the ruling military regime. Her government has offered great support to the tiny island nation of East Timor, based partly on their shared colonial history. However, Rousseff did not attend a Community of Portuguese- Speaking Countries’ summit in the Timorese capital, Dili, in July, causing offence to the country’s prime minister, Xanana Gusmao …
The former militant has led the country since 2002, initially as its first president and now as its fourth prime minister. Xanana is a moniker, taken from the name of an American rock band from the 70s, Sha Na Na. Like Rousseff, Gusmao was imprisoned by a rival political faction. During the struggle for East Timorese independence, he was a leader of the resistance and played an important role in alerting the world to the Indonesian massacre in Dili in 1991. In 1999, he was awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which three years earlier had been bestowed upon Wei Jingsheng.
