Calling All Puppets

Wow. This anti-China campaign is really something ain't it? Who knew the Tibetans were, as the American ABC news said, so 'highly organised'? They're amazing. London, Paris, San Francisco, the Tibetans have put together a stunning media campaign. They should set up an international consultancy. Imagine the wonders they could do for other oppressed people around the world. Think what they might do for the Palestinians! Ha ha ha ha ha - I crack myself up.

But seriously, aren't we all puppets? Perfectly well-meaning friends of mine are concerned about the wickedness of China. They send me emails I'm meant to sign and send to somebody or other. But that ain't nothing. All manner of people are all manner of revved up, hitting the streets, hell-bent on publicly embarrassing the Chinese government. How did this happen? Did they all wake up and individually decide that they must climb out of bed, make a sign, dress in the right gear, make their way across town, and lo-and-behold, there's a thousand other like-minded people there joining them? With the media all wide-eyed with wonderment, surprised and glad that they were lucky enough to catch the action?

Hardly. But let's ask them. I address (uselessly of course) those people who are hitting the streets -

Who organised you to do this? Do you really know what they're on about? Or more crucially what they're not on about? Do you personally give a shit about the people of Palestine? Are you aware of the shit they've copped? Shit that makes what the Tibetans have suffered look like the smallest of small potatoes? And the people that organised you - what actions, what stunning media campaigns, have they organised to help those most fucked-over of people? Anything that wasn't completely fucking useless? Perhaps you did and I blinked and missed it.

If I was to say that you were a puppet of people who will ensure that Israel gets a free ride, do you think that any arguments you might offer would last more than two minutes in the face of the obviousness of what's on the TV and what ain't? Is it possible you're a puppet? Well-meaning, but whatever... Try these simple questions - Who directs your attention? Who directs your actions? Have you any idea?

Ask yourself - Do the Chinese tear up Tibetan orchards? Do Chinese settlers have pogroms beating up Tibetan kids on their way to school? Do they smash Tibetan windows and spray 'Tibetans to the gas chambers' on their houses? Do they shoot Tibetan kids as they sit in school, sleep on their roof, play in a vacant lot? Do they drop thousand pound bombs on apartment buildings full of Tibetans? Do they steal Tibetan water and dump their sewage on the Tibetans living below? Do they bulldoze Tibetan houses with the residents inside? Do they hold 10,000 Tibetans in jail on no charge? Do they have separate roads marked 'Chinese Only'? Do they hold sick Tibetans at internal check-points and deny them medical care until they die? Do they starve Tibetans and crack jokes about 'putting them on diets'? I could go on all goddamn day.

The answer is - No, nor anything like. I'm not going to paint the Chinese a halo. They are guilty. They're guilty of flooding Tibet with Chinese immigrants who have a stranglehold on commerce and view Tibetans as lazy bums good only for a tourist industry that will put foreign currency in Chinese trader's pockets. But between that, and what's going on in Palestine, you hit the streets to protest Chinese mercantilism?

I expect you despise the media. I expect you think they're biased, and really they ought to do something about Palestine. Well, they don't need to. They know perfectly well that you'll be sent out to protest everything but Palestine. Perhaps you'll wonder - maybe the media isn't so bad after all? They did a great job on Tibet. Of course, that's the idea. And you did your bit. Meanwhile, those perfectly racist, murderous fuckers in Israel continue killing more people in a week than the Chinese kill in a year. One more time - Are you a puppet? And to whose tune are you dancing?