History is full of oddities. In the 19th Century, Britain and other
European nations were trying to develop a healthy trade relationship with
China. Chinese ceramics, silk, and tea were in huge demand in Europe.
Britain sent a delegation to the Qing dynasty to show them some of Europe's
most exciting new technologies to be offered in exchange. The Chinese
were not impressed, and demanded silver instead. As supplies of
precious metals began to dwindle, the European nations settled on a
different product they wished to offer the Chinese. Wait for it:
opium. Yes, the British East Indian Company was your local drug
pusher.
Those crazy Chinese-- they didn't see the wonderful upside to this
innovative trade relationship, and decided to ban opium. This led to
the First Opium War, in which the European powers humiliated the Qing
dynasty and forced it to sign a humiliating armistice, the Nanking Treaty,
granting the European powers the right to brutally exploit Chinese markets
and labour. The treaty also ceded Hong Kong to the British, if you've
ever wondered why the British eventually ceded it back.
I'm always impressed by the righteous outrage expressed by oppressors when
their victims summon the courage to fight back. The Boxer
Rebellion was portrayed in the West as an attack on missionaries and
Christian Chinese. The missionaries themselves only seemed dimly aware
of their function as cultural emissaries of British and American
imperialism. They didn't see any problem with associating Christianity
with gunboat diplomacy.
June 22 1/2, 2010
Another historical oddity:
In 1945 when
Japan surrendered, Chiang's
Chongqing
government was ill-equipped and ill-prepared to reassert its authority in
formerly Japanese-occupied China, and asked the Japanese to postpone their
surrender until
Kuomintang (KMT) authority could arrive to take over. [From
Wikipedia entry on Chiang Kai-shek]
This is not the only time an ally--
a freedom-loving, democratic, liberal, enlightened, western power-- actually
asked the Japanese-- spawn of Satan just moments before-- to hold a
population down so a new oppressor could take over for the old oppressor
without the local people a chance to form a representative government.
Well, let's all not get patriotic here. This is what governments do.
They do it with far more sophistication and polish in the west, but
they do it nonetheless: pin you down long enough to have your pockets picked
clean. You can spot the patriots easily: they have flag pins in their
lapels. They get teary-eyed when you play the anthem. They
invite the press to view them touring the graveyards for the men they sent
to die for your sub-prime mortgage, your derivative, your Enron stock, your
gasoline.
You almost never find them in uniforms themselves.
The biggest Security Theatre show in the world
takes place in Toronto this week. The people who are supposed to
represent us, the voters, will do everything they can to keep as much
distance as possible between their lavish affair, their snack bars and
drinks, their banquets and soirees, and us, the smelly, worried,
unprivileged mob.
In fact, they clear the expressways so the cavalcade of
bullet-proof limos and security mobs can proceed from airport to conference
center without having to meet the gaze of frustrated travelers. You
wait so Obama can glide. You have to wonder if any of these leaders
have the slightest clue anymore of what real life is like for their own
citizens.
It's not surprising that some terrorists out there might think
it's a good target: the display of monumental privilege must surely excite
them. The fences and guns and helicopters -- it's all like a
wonderful, violent opera.
It also creates a perception among the easily persuaded that these
leaders are so important, so indispensable-- such marvels of brilliant
leadership and vision-- that no expense can be spared in keeping them safe.
In fact, every one of them is very dispensable-- the graveyards are full of
them, as De Gaulle observed. The security services don't mind
colluding with the politicians because, if politicians are important, the
jackboots protecting them are necessary.
If you think, well, it's a lot to
put up with, but, after all, these meetings are important. No, they
aren't. The idea of public disagreement is so horrifying to the
organizers that they have their cronies work out all of the language of all
the announcements weeks before hand. If there is real disagreement,
the announcements only cover the areas where they agree: we will improve the
environment, encourage economic growth, seek justice and purity and the
preservation of our bodily fluids. Amen. So, surrounded by
security theatre, we have political theatre.
Have you considered... how
come they don't shut down the nation's capital every time parliament is in
session?
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© Bill Van Dyk
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