Is not easy. It’s coming to terms with our fallibility, with our imperfections. Though most of us, in our more enlightened moments, will acknowledge that we’re flawed, in day to day life our unconscious is likely to trick us, leading us to believe that we don’t have any such flaws and if we do, they’re minor. It takes a determined effort to remind ourselves that whatever our flaws, they are always around the corner, ready to pounce. Thus, the importance of interaction, being open to other ideas and to criticism. No one likes being criticized but those who are open to it march a step ahead. Still, some things we just don’t see. I’m reminded of walking down a supermarket aisle with a small child. I’m more likely to see those items on shelves at my eye level. The child, on the other hand, having a different field of vision, will more easily spot things on the lower shelves. Admitting to our mistakes can be so difficult, that some people would rather keep building on a faulty foundation than to be open about it and scrap or modify the original idea. Any project that goes awry has had design flaws that some of the creators didn’t pause enough to properly analyze. So they cover up and cover up and cover up. We can’t get away with it. We become better human beings when we are open to admitting our mistakes as soon as possible. Life rewards us for being honest with ourselves. To say, ‘I’m not good at that, or that either. He/she are better at it,’ takes a measure of courage. But it’s easier to say to ourselves, ‘they got the job because they know somebody,’ which, in our complicated world, may sometimes be true. Being fully honest with ourselves opens new paths we hadn’t thought of. In structured settings, be they business or governmental, confronting flaws can be so difficult that the admission of it led to the whistleblower concept. A legal clause protecting those willing to tell the truth in exchange for a monetary reward. Hiding the truth is in every human activity. In politics it is rampant and sometimes deadly. Putin has gone to war with Ukraine after building an edifice of lies that no one around dared question. Thousands of lives have been lost and more will follow. Those who heard the lies first were unwilling to challenge them. So something started to rot. Has been rotting for years. Inside of China, too, as exemplified in the Communist party saying to the Chinese, ‘We have all the ideas needed for us to become the greatest nation on earth. Just trust us. We lead, you follow.’ They’ve been down that road for a while and we’re smelling the stench. It comes from the repression in Hong Kong, from the suffering of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province, the suffocating quarantines in the management of Covid. Democracy has many flaws and often harbors autocrats that must be smoked out, but it creates the conditions for the open interplay of ideas. Closed systems, like the Russian and Chinese, or any other dictatorship, rot slowly. It’s happened since our history started. The French kings didn’t listen to the common man until it was too late and heads rolled. Today’s kings – Putin and Xi – who are causing or supporting so much cruelty, also believe that they own the truth and so they trample on freedom of speech. Show me a country where freedom of speech is censored and we can point to a country where human rot is growing. Science has something to teach us to prevent such rot. In science, a person comes up with an idea to solve a particular problem, then someone else tests it to make sure it is good. Then another person does the same, validating the proposed solution. That is freedom at work. Of course, some issues may need decisions that cannot wait, but many issues should use more rigor to find the better solutions. To avoid the lies. To avoid the waste. To avoid the failure. To avoid the rot.
P – The West, they don’t get it… X – No, they don’t. P – The simple notion that people are more at peace when political thinking is left to others… X – I know… it’s like they all believe they could become leaders.
They laugh.
P – It has taken us a long and arduous journey to get where we are now… all those difficult choices we’ve had to make… to finally be able to say to ourselves… we are the best of our people… and so it belongs to us to rule them… to tell them what to do and when to do it. The satisfaction is immense… well worth the sacrifice. X – Well said. P – I’m so glad to have got all the support you’ve given me in this war. X – My pleasure. P – Without you… things would’ve been even more difficult. So your support gives me the time to wait them out… because they will crack, I’m sure of that. X – I hope it’s soon… so you won’t suffer any more casualties. P – Russians know there’s a Heaven… free of pain. X – We differ on that… but the Chinese people are willing to sacrifice for the sake of a greater nation… that together with Russia, will rule the world. I hope to see it during my lifetime. P – Yes. I do, too. The day will come when we conquer the West. X – We don’t have to conquer them… just use them to our ends… and surpass them in every field. P – You don’t think we’ll have to invade Europe? X – No need. I’m certain that all their talk of freedom is simply poison, that it ignores the reality that most human beings prefer to be told what to do… to be given direction… in exchange for security… a job… then a pension at the end of the road… and someone to turn to when they’re in trouble. As my father used to say, men and women who moderate their ambitions live happier lives. Sleep better, too. P – Very good. X – By creating too many options, freedom confuses people. Look at all that violence in America… and all those homeless… it’s pathetic. P – They should be using all that money they’re giving to Ukraine to help them instead. I’m sure the homeless would be in favor. X – They don’t get it. P – How would you handle the homeless problem? X – Show up with a truck. Tell everyone to get in. That’s it. If you don’t get in, then you go straight to jail. P – ‘My civil liberties!’ they’ll start screaming… X – In the truck. Period. Or we’ll shove you in. P – They’re not in their right mind so someone has to think for them. X – Exactly. That’s where the party comes in. Structure. Obedience. Accept the fact that if you’re homeless you’re a failure as a human being… but the party is generous and will give you another chance. Feed you and clean you up. Teach you a skill. But you must obey. If you don’t, then straight to a reeducation camp… for however long it takes. P – People, at first, fight it, but with a little coercion… not much… they slowly give in. It is amazing how both you and I can control so many people with so few. X – It’s not an easy thing what you’re doing, Vladimir… getting people to surrender to you in Russia… but then summon their aggression to kill as many Ukrainians as possible. P – Thank you. I’ve been working on it for a while. Redirecting their aggression, I call it. It takes a deft hand. X – Excellent. P – You’ll have to do the same when you invade Taiwan… X – We are preparing… laying down the groundwork… reminding all Chinese that they are a superior people… like Russians are too… and that we deserve to rule the world… in fact it us our duty to do so. P – Do you really think we are superior? X – No… but as we keep saying it, people start believing it. It’s happening in your land and in mine.
Putin laughs.
P – I am very impressed with how much China has accomplished in just 40 years plus… since the opening. X – I’ll admit that, sometimes… I really think we are a superior race. P – Even better than us? X – No… not better than you. P – We have lagged behind you… X – True… but you’ll catch up. You’ve stumbled a bit in Ukraine… because the West has got so involved… but like we’ve said… that union will crack… and everybody will go their own way. Then they will insist on Ukraine negotiating for peace. Zelensky will scream and go crazy but in the end will accept. P – He’s tougher than I thought… X – Trust yourself… keep firing those missiles… P – It would help if Trump won the presidency again… then the war would be over. X – You think he can win? P – No. X – I don’t either. Too bad he failed in the assault on the capitol. P – It would’ve changed history. We would’ve made an alliance with the Far Right and we would all be happy. Missed opportunity. X – Sadly. P – Do you really think… that during our lifetime… we’ll get to rule the world? X – I really do. P – How come you’re so sure? X – Most people want bread and comfort… a warm place to be in… to get laid… to watch soccer games… and feel safe. All the talk about freedom is for the intellectuals… but they can be intimidated. And we know how to do that. P – Yes, we do. X – Our challenge is to get our people to be as well educated as possible… but to have them remain sheepish politically. One way or the other we have been doing it for years. We need to keep getting better at it. P – And maybe one day soon, we’ll rule the world. X – I’ll drink to that. P – I’ve got some vodka, just for this occasion.
As the year draws close to its end, it is clear how 2022 came to be dominated by brutality. A year haunted by horror. The steady brutality of Putin – with the consent of the majority of Russians, willingly or unwillingly – and the shame they will have to endure for the rest of their lives. A year haunted by the absurdity in the neutrality of nations who use such stance to cover their fear of the wrath of the Russian dictator. A year haunted by China’s rulers’ increasing despotism and naked ambition to dominate the world. By Iran’s clerics, who in the name of god, keep unleashing their violence upon their own, and on citizens of those countries which they have infiltrated. A year haunted by Myanmar’s military’s massacring their own with impunity. A year that has seen, once again, primitive regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, continuing to cruelly tyrannize their peoples, leading to punishing poverty and mass emigration. No, it has not been a good year. And yet, Ukraine has shined. Their sacrifice in pursuit of their freedom has drawn an unmistakable distinction for others to follow. Their example tells us that this is not a time to waver. I’m reminded of a statement by a leader of Singapore, who said his nation should not be forced to choose. But this is a time to choose. The cruelty of Putin is the cruelty of Hitler, nothing less. With his repeated attacks on Ukraine he keeps telling the world, ‘Go screw yourselves! We will take what we wish when we wish.’ The cry of a desperate man, who’s slowly cornering himself, yet a man who could disguise himself well enough to have fooled Germany and many in Europe that he could be relied upon as a source of steady energy supplies. It is not the first time Europe is fooled. We all hope it will be the last. Still, the cry of the Ukrainian sacrifice is heard all over the world. Tell me, reader, do you not hear it, too? When will it end? Their pain, their anguish? Ukraine keeps dying, every day, dying for their freedom and refusing to submit to the atrocities that Putin and his supporters keep inflicting on them. Now that Ukrainians have made gains in the battlefield, there are those who are rushing in to ask that negotiations be started with Russia to end the conflict. But Ukrainians do not want to negotiate. They want their land back. All of it. What Putin took at the start of this invasion and what he took in 2014. And they want Crimea back, too. And why not? It is theirs. Cries will be heard in the West complaining that we have sacrificed enough. But we have not. The problems we had not solved with the resources we have given to support Ukraine, will get solved, but today is Ukraine’s day. For they keep doing the daily dying. The daily sacrifices that have shone a light for the West to find its way. Ukraine has united us. The blood they have shed keep reminding us that theirs is the noblest of causes, and that together we shall march forward as one. There is but one choice to make. The torch we keep lit will spread its light to every corner of the world. For there is but one way forward. Not two or three or four. Only one. The way of freedom.
Because we’re not doing our homework. Not coming into our own powers. It’s something all of us must do. A task all human beings are confronted with. Each one of us has to think hard on it and choose how to get there. To not come into our powers or not be on the road to do so is to flunk out of life. Coming into our powers also requires taking time to form political opinions about the world we live in and who is ruling us. When Putin ordered the conscription of hundreds of thousands of his citizens to go and kill Ukrainians he was counting on people who, for one reason or another, had put off doing the homework of coming into their powers. Tens of thousands, maybe more, saw the conscription order coming and fled. They did so quickly because they knew that the invasion of Ukraine was Putin’s war, not Russia’s war. They acted promptly because they were accustomed to thinking, and to a Russian who does so, the war on Ukraine doesn’t add up. Ukraine had been fighting Russian sympathizers in the East – the Donbas area – since 2014, but they were fighting in their own land, to reclaim their stolen territory. Ukraine was not a threat to Russia itself. But Putin needed a war. He needed a war to soothe his aching ego, aching because he had failed to lead his country to a position of world leadership, in spite of having ample natural resources and human capital. Frustrated with his lack of capacity to lead as a statesman, he decides that occupying a neighbor nation will grant him world standing. No need to discuss it with his people. On his own, he decides what the fate of hundreds of thousands of his citizens should be. Prior to the war there was no open discussion of what problems Ukraine may have posed. When you’re a dictator you skip the consultation and discussion part. You just do what you feel like doing. Russian lives were and are at his disposal. And so an officer assigned to do the enlisting knocks on the door of the home of a potential recruit. ‘Where’s Ilya?’ The potential recruit’s mother answers. ‘He’s at work, learning to be a carpenter. Why do you ask?’ ‘His country needs him.’ ‘I had heard you might be coming… and Ilya and I discussed it. He’s only 21 and loves building things… creating things. Look, on the shelf behind me, those figurines… I love the ballet dancer, it’s a copy of a famous sculpture by Degas, the French sculptor, which he saw in a museum in St Petersburg. I took him there. He never forgot it. He carved it out of wood. Isn’t it beautiful? He’s so young. He’s just coming into his powers, but he’s not interested in politics. Not yet.’ ‘His country needs him.’ ‘Russia needs carpenters, too.’ ‘Madam… I’m just following orders. Ukrainians don’t want to surrender so we need to force them.’ ‘Putin says that, I know. But what did they do to us?’ ‘Madam, I don’t have all day, I have other people to see and recruit.’ ‘I think there should be courses on political education starting in grammar school… so children learn early on how to choose a political leader. Do you have children?’ ‘I do.’ ‘How old are they?’ asks Ilya’s mom. ‘He’s nineteen.’ ‘Will he be enlisting, too?’ ‘No, madam. He’s enrolled at university.’ ‘Does that make him better than my son? Russia needs carpenters, too.’ ‘Look, madam, I don’t have time to argue with you, Putin says Russia needs Ilya to go into Ukraine. I’m going to leave you the address where he must go. If he doesn’t show up he’ll be in violation of the law.’ ‘Every country needs political education early on… so we choose better leaders.’ ‘Madam, I’m just following orders. Tell Ilya Russia needs him now. And to show up tomorrow to the recruitment center. Do not disobey this order.’ Ilya’s mother nods distractedly. ‘Is that all?’ ‘Yes. You need to tell him, understood?’ She nods again. ‘Will he be there?’ ‘It’s up to him.’ ‘If he doesn’t show up he’ll be in violation of the law and will be imprisoned.’ ‘Better to be imprisoned than being shot at.’ ‘This is an order from Putin. Ilya must comply.’ She looks off as she nods. ‘Is that all?’ ‘Yes. Have a good day.’ He leaves and she closes the door. She stands there for a moment, then says, ‘I never thought I’d ask my son to leave Russia.’
In America, to consent to be ruled by a man like Trump is to not have exercised our powers to think. To consent to his rule is to have been intimidated by a blow hard and his accomplices.
In America’s state of Georgia’s election for the Senate, taking place today, Raphael Warnock will beat Herschel Walker, former football player and Trump avatar. (This one is easy)
The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms as being necessary to the security of a free state, but today, such security is well provided by our armed forces. Therefore, today’s insistence on the right to bear arms appears to be an effort to address people’s personal insecurities. In everyday life, we’re always assessing threats to our wellbeing. In the process we may properly estimate our value and that of others or just be wrong about it and end up instead overvaluing or undervaluing all concerned. Personal insecurities come with being human. Events in our lives may exacerbate them and thus must be properly addressed. The current insistence on the right to carry weapons stems from unaddressed personal insecurities and carries far more risks than benefits. Furthermore, it delays the process of self scrutiny to remedy what flaws feed our personal insecurities. It is not an easy task to address such flaws. It takes diligence, attention to detail and a measure of emotional strength to start. The rewards, however, are enormous. One such reward may be identifying what activity bring us the most emotional satisfaction. Do what we love most and we will be better able to value ourselves and others. We will be better anchored and less envious. Envy is a hard nut to crack but it can be managed effectively if we feel grounded as a person. All of us are flawed. Those who manage to pull ahead have identified their strengths and are able to manage more effectively what flaws they have. Therefore, they will be less likely to need a gun at their side. Grandiosity is a personality trait that will distort how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. The quicker we’re able to identify it, the quicker we can check it. Grandiosity is more apt to show up if we fail to properly assess what strengths we have. It acts as an ego protective mechanism, aiming to compensate for perceptions of low self worth but is not helpful in the end. We have several examples of grandiosity in full display in today’s current affairs. It has impaired Putin’s and Xi Jinping’s judgments with horrific consequences. But neither man is a properly developed individual. Just like Trump in America. The person so insistent on carrying a weapon perceives the weapon as an equalizer. They believe they need the protection when interacting with others. ‘Look, I’m carrying, so watch out.’ Some take it a step further. Years ago, while working in a prison, I met an inmate serving a sentence for shooting another man. He wounded him. He’d had an interaction with the victim and felt demeaned as a result. But seeing that the victim was a stronger man, he chose to shoot him instead of fighting him or resolving the matter by other means. The hard tasks that lie ahead for the nation call for all of us to do more introspection. To learn about our emotions and to express them properly. The right to bear arms contributes nothing to that task. It delays our individual development. Want to hunt? Get your gun. Want to evolve as a human being? Put it down.
The big guy decides to squash the little guy and he gets a surprise. No! Says the little guy. But lacking enough resources of their own, the little guy turns around and says to the world, ‘I need help fighting this big guy who wants to walk all over me. We’ll do the fighting. We’ll do the dying. We’ll do whatever it takes to get their stinking boots off our throats, but we need guns and lots of tactical and economic support. Will you lend us a hand?’ And the West said yes. It wasn’t easy. The West had to overcome internal differences, with one side saying, ‘do we really need to help them… won’t it inconvenience us too much?’, and another side answering, ‘will you not lend a hand to your brother or sister if they were reaching out to you to pull them out of the mud pit they were sinking in?’ And the side willing to commit to help prevailed. And it did because we could see in their faces, that they really were our brothers and sisters, that they really were being threatened with slaughter and that we had the means to assist them. Imagine that we had chosen to not help and then see Putin stand in Kyiv and proclaim to the world that Ukraine was now another of his satellite republics. How would we have felt? It has cost us billions. Yes. And it will cost us even more. But helping the little guy has had a transformative effect on the West. We are pulling together and discovering strengths we didn’t think we had. China, a problem? We’ll handle it. Taiwan wants to stay free? We’ll back them up, too. Climate change forcing us to adapt? We’ll do it. Iran getting close to producing nuclear weapons? Go right ahead. We’ll deal with you when the time comes. Or, quite possibly, the brutal clerics who, in the name of God have been killing their own people, will be removed from power by a popular uprising that will vault women to positions of leadership in a new government if not to the very top of it. The daily accounts of Ukrainian bravery have inspired the West and the clear minded peoples of the rest of the world. There is no turning back. Through the tremendous courage of the Ukrainian people Putin is being defeated and the Russian people will step forward to unseat the man who is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and enormous destruction of property. China, next door, is beginning to awaken. The White Paper protests against overly strict covid restrictions are only the beginning. Chinese people need to breathe and are realizing the communist party is vested in repressing their freedom of thought. Xi Jinping thinks he is God. That won’t do. A new power alignment in the world is being hatched. Ukrainians’ determination not to be trampled on started it. The West’s willingness to support them keeps pushing them on. In America, president Biden has been a forceful agent for change. He is in office, able to do what he has done, because the American people realized in the 2020 elections that America mattered in the world and that Trump’s sectarian leadership would lead us to defeat. Internationalism is winning the day. As to the glitches, we will work them out.
Sitting at his desk in the Oval office, Joe Biden puts in a call to Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago. The call is made via a confidential zoom link, managed by the White House and the Homeland Security Agency (HSA). Trump, who had agreed to the talk, picks up right away. We only see the two men in their respective screens.
Biden – Good morning to you. Trump – And to you, too. I just came from the golf course… missed a hole in one by 2 inches… that’s the kind of shape I’m in. Ready for another 4 years. Biden – That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Trump – My golf game? I’m incredible. I keep getting better and better. Just the way I’m built, I suppose. So, what’s on your mind… Mr President? For a moment there I almost called you Sleepy Joe, but I caught myself. So, how are you? Biden – Doing just fine, which is quite remarkable, considering all the people who’re convinced I’m in the early stages of dementia. Trump – That’s what I’m told. You’re not? Biden – I’m not. I remember everything, including those things I’d rather forget. Trump – But your motor skills… I mean, when you were in Indonesia the other day, you stumbled on a step, and if it hadn’t been for their president walking alongside you and holding your arm, you would’ve fallen on your face. Would’ve knocked your teeth out, too. Biden – I would’ve caught myself, I’m sure. Trump – Time to retire, Joe. You shouldn’t wait until the end of your term. You’re liable to trip while coming down the steps from Air Force One and break your neck. Just let Kamala take over. Biden – You’re always filled with soothing words for me. Will think about it. The reason I’ve called you is because I have a deal for you. Trump (laughs) – You… you have got a deal for me? Biden – I do. Trump – Incredible. Go ahead, I’m listening. I have a meeting coming up for a new Trump Tower I’m thinking of building in the Gulf. Biden – Hope it goes well. Look, man… how about, in the interest of the nation… that neither you nor I run for President.
Trump is silent.
Biden – The reason is… Trump – No deal, Joe. That’s the end of that. Biden – Look… it’s not your age… at 76 you’re in great shape… but it’s the stuff you’ve done. Trump – I haven’t done anything against the law, nothing. The capitol riot was their idea, I did not incite them, but you democrats want to demonize me. I won’t have it. Biden – You have divided this country like no one else has, and we’re in great need of coming together to face China and Russia. Trump – Let me stop you right there. I put those tariffs on the Chinese and I got their respect. And you haven’t lifted them because they work. And all those things you’re doing now to stimulate our industry, I was going to do in my second term, which was stolen from me. Biden – I got 7 million more votes than you did, so stop the nonsense, Trump – It’s not nonsense. As far as our country needing to come together to face China and Russia, if I had been president, there would’ve been no war with Russia. Nothing. Why? Because Putin and I have a good relationship. If he had felt anxious about NATO being too close, he would’ve picked up the phone and called me. And I would’ve told NATO, ‘step back, okay,’ you’re making Putin uncomfortable. Biden – And if Putin had said, I need another chunk of Ukraine, in addition to the chunk we now have, then you would’ve said, ‘Okay.’ Trump – Joe, you tell me, what has Ukraine done for us, lately? Nothing at all. Zero. Just give us headaches. And you and your pals, have been giving Zelensky billions and billions of dollars to fight a war that didn’t need to happen. Billions and billions that our people could use to make America great again. Let’s face it, Putin needs his space. Now, you were VP when Obama was president in 2014 and he didn’t lift a finger to stop Putin from taking over Crimea. Am I wrong? And you were right there at those meetings. Did you say anything? Biden – I stood against the invasion. And so did Obama. But the internal conditions in Ukraine were not set to oppose Putin militarily in Crimea. The focus was on the East and we put sanctions against Russia and helped arm Ukrainian soldiers. The Ukrainian people have evolved politically since then and are fighting heroically to defend their land. You do not recognize their effort. Trump – Oh, I do, I just don’t think they should be relying on so much stuff from us. Biden – If we hadn’t been there for them, they would’ve been overrun long ago. Trump – Life is tough. Biden – You miss the point that Ukraine is fighting for all peoples committed to freedom. Trump – Make America great again, Joe. Everybody has to take care of themselves. Now, about the deal you’re proposing, I don’t get it, what’s in it for me? Biden – You’re a divisive force in our nation. We don’t need that. Today, Europe and America are working together like we haven’t in decades. And central to continuing to do so is having Americans united. You did nothing to strengthen those ties. I beat you soundly in 2020 and will beat you again if I choose to run once more. I will, though, admit my flaws, and advancing age is an issue. I would be 82 at the start of a next term. It is of concern. But back to you. You will do nothing to unite the country if you’re reelected. You’re all about you and you and then you. You’re not equipped to help build bridges between Americans, which are essential to face the conflicts that lie ahead. Trump – No deal, Joe. You’ve got no deal for me and are wasting my time. Run if you want to or not. I will beat you or Kamala or Gavin. Biden – Here’s what my offer would do for you. Trump – Go ahead. Biden – Spare you the embarrassment of losing in the primaries. Trump – You’ve got to be kidding? Biden – You had your moment. You did what you did and now it’s over for you. The results of the midterm elections speak loudly. Your people were mostly defeated, and in Georgia, Warnock will beat the football player. Trump – You should worry about you losing the primaries. Not me. Biden – Look, man, think long term for a moment. You had your moment and you screwed it up. You didn’t educate your people. Didn’t say to them, ‘we got in and now we’ve got to work together with our fellow Americans.’ Trump – My people know that. Biden – They’re not acting like they do. As for me, I’m having a great moment. I’ve helped strengthen the western alliance and its support of brave Ukraine. Because of it, the winds of freedom are blowing. Blowing to Iran, blowing to China. I have no regrets about pulling out of Afghanistan. It was time. And I have made climate change a top priority of my administration, unlike you. Trump – I hear you, Joe… and I thank you for thinking of me… that’s very kind… but I will not lose the primaries and will go on to a second term as President. Biden – Mark my words, if by a miracle you become the Republican candidate, you will lose the general election. I’ve come to you because I think that, by together choosing to not run for another term, we could energize our nation in a positive way, and set the tone for an electoral contest that will bring out the best in both parties. Joining me in such gesture, will enhance your standing and your legacy as a political leader. Trump – Thank for your thoughts but no. Biden – Please reconsider my offer. We still have time. Best to you and family. Have a good day.
Biden hangs up.
Trump looks down at the ground for a moment.
Trump (to himself) – There’s nothing to think about. I will run and I will win. I will beat whomever the democrats throw at me. And what a moment that will be. Just incredible. I can see the parade of people coming down Pennsylvania Avenue to cheer me on. Happy people, people exulting in their confidence. What an amazing sight that will be. Extraordinary. So… four more years… and then… who knows?
There was something vulgar about the way Chinese police detained a protester, as seen in a widely circulated video. A young man, he was carrying a sign that said, ‘Chinese people need to be braver.’ Three security agents apprehended him and dragged him into a police vehicle. I wonder how long it will be before he resurfaces. Demonstrations against the strict Covid quarantines continue in various cities and the communist party will do whatever it needs to suppress them. That was the bargain the Chinese people made with their rulers. You, the party, ensure us a measure of prosperity and we will surrender our voices. But the Chinese people weren’t counting that the time would come when the communist party would say to them, ‘this is how it’s done, whether you like or not.’ And add, ‘we are the governing class. We get to decide what direction your life should take. Not you.’ Under the severe strictures of quarantines, the Chinese have had time to think. ‘Just what is so special about Xi Jinping and his followers? If Chinese people’s labor, intelligence and creativity have lifted the nation, why should we not get more credit for it? When difficult matters come up, why shouldn’t our voices be heard? Didn’t we just launch a rocket that will take Chinese astronauts to our own space station? That was Chinese brains and muscle doing the work, not the ideology of the communist party, or Xi Jinping’s Thought (the widely distributed booklet about the pure wisdom of the nearly celestial leader).’ ‘Chinese people need to be braver’ said the sign carried by the protester. It hit home with his fellow citizens. And so they are asking themselves, shouldn’t we have the right to have our own ideas as to how to govern ourselves? Why can’t we have elections like other developed nations? And just what has Xi Jinping done to deserve to be our leader? The Chinese people are starting to think politically. They are squaring with the fact that they are at the mercy of the Chinese communist party. Why should they surrender their voices? Why shouldn’t their opinions be heard, or written in the blank, white sheets of paper that have become the emblem of the protest. Communist party ideology now has it that China should rise to rule the world. But first they should take over Taiwan so that they can be whole as a people. But taking over Taiwan won’t make China whole. Just like taking over Hong Kong doesn’t either. There is nothing the Taiwanese are now doing that is interfering with the development of China. Nothing at all. The Taiwanese are just busy living their lives. And the small island is enjoying the distinction of being one of the world’s leaders in the production of microchips. They are no threat to any nation at all. But because the Chinese in the mainland have surrendered their political minds to Xi Jinping and his henchmen, the communist party can make the conquering of Taiwan an absolute necessity. It is all lies. So why did the courageous demonstrator hold up the sign saying, ‘Chinese people need to be braver,’? Because he wanted his fellow citizens to think. And he has risked his life for it. We may never see him again. He will probably be sentenced to years in prison or end up in a reeducation camp, like Uyghurs in Xinjiang province, until he withers away. But his fellow citizens would do well to remember his heroic act, and to ponder what he had written on the other side of the sign, the side we didn’t get to see because the goon squad took him away. ‘Chinese people need to be braver,’ said one side, ‘So we can find our freedom,’ said the other. The winds of freedom are blowing. They are blowing from Ukraine. They have reached Iran. Now China. Fight on, brave Chinese, for the world is counting on you.
Chinese people are defying the rigid mandates of Xi Jinping to contend with the spread of Covid. And with good reason. The long quarantines have severely restricted mobility and curbed economic activity. They are choking the Chinese. In Urumqi, in Xinjiang province, a province notorious for the repression of the Uyghur population, 10 died in a fire last Thursday, November 24th. The building was under quarantine and they couldn’t get out in time. There is a beauty to seeing Chinese people protesting against their despotic regime, shouting proudly their opposition to their government’s draconian policies. The demonstrations, which started in Urumqi, have spread to Shanghai and Beijing. The Chinese have reason to ask why their leadership has not used the better vaccines produced in the West with MRNA technology – a point of pride getting in the way of the welfare of the people. And so, a full three years after the outbreak of the pandemic in Wuhan, not enough Chinese have been vaccinated which would have raised the level of immunity of the population and reduced the need for the overly restrictive quarantines. The limitations of movement that come with the communist party’s zero covid policy have only been possible because of the severe curbs on freedom of speech. There is no dialogue between the citizen and the government and the absurdity of their policies against covid is but one example. The chosen symbol of the protests, a white sheet of paper, I take to symbolize that Chinese people feel they have no voice whatsoever. They are expected to obey and obey. The leadership has got all the answers. But the protesters are stepping out in large numbers and saying, ‘enough is enough’. Will this lead to even larger demonstrations? My hope is that it will. If so, they need to brace themselves for brutal retaliation. Xi Jinping and his supporters are now devising ways to crush dissent. ‘How dare this rabble raise their voices, how dare they think they even have a voice? I am their voice,’ will say the chairman. The protests speak loudly of how the Chinese people have connected with their political courage. How they wish to exercise freedom as an essential means to counter excesses. How without such freedom the whims of those in power do not get scrutinized and questioned. Some demonstrators may, perhaps, be satisfied with what measures are proposed to lessen the length and scope of current quarantines, but this movement, even in its early stages, is about much more than covid. It’s about asserting people’s rights to be heard and to select who will govern them. The communist leadership sees that and it is frightened by it. Who knows how far this movement will go but it is a start and the world needs to be fully supportive of it. The winds of freedom are blowing. They are blowing from Ukraine. They have reached Iran and now China. Putin may have already called Xi Jinping with words of advice. ‘Jinping… listen to me, I have experience. Repress… repress… and repress again. Like you did with the Uyghurs, like you did in Hong Kong, like you will do in Taiwan. Fear is good. It works. Please, no dialogue. I need you.’
We wake up in the morning and if our minds are open to the flow of past memories, something shows up that wants our attention. A project we didn’t complete, mistakes that were made, opportunities that weren’t taken, things that weren’t said or were said. Regrets. And we think, was courage absent? Did we give it our best? And if not, why not? Were we living on the edge? If not, why not? Were we communing with ourselves? Or were too busy for that priceless dialogue? Ever doubt that we have courage? Look again. It’s there. Anxious to be called forth. Just waiting to be summoned. Ready to spring into action. We all have courage. We come with it. It’s part of the equipment that nature gives us to do battle in our lives. Like muscle, if we don’t use it, it withers away, may even go into hiding, but it never disappears entirely. So long as we have breath. And what a joy it is to see it step forward. In our daily battle for existence, all steps require some degree of courage to say ‘I’m here. I am alive.’ If we make mistakes, let’s fix them and learn from them. Courage will be the first to admit that exercising it comes with mistakes. To not exercise it daily is to bury ourselves, little by little. We can call courage by another name, say affirmation. I prefer the word courage. It’s raw, summons defiance, quiet or loud, small or large, shy or outrageous. As the river that each of us is streams through life, courage is the force that defines us. ‘He/she did this. He/she did that.’ Each act of creation an act of courage. And every day of our lives demands acts of creation or else we atrophy, shrivel, devalue our possibilities. There’s too much to do in life. Too much injustice, too much ignorance, too much violence, too much indifference, too much conceit, for us to remain aloof. The river that each of our lives is needs to flow to enrich other lives and by that measure our existences will be judged to have been worthy or not. Because there is that possibility, isn’t there? The possibility that our lives will amount to nothing at all. To have existed and done nothing. To have benefitted from other people’s efforts but contributed zero to the human project. Every morning, upon awakening, life demands that we be courageous. That we improve our existences and impact that of others. Succumb to fear or face it. Facing our past mistakes is facing our history. The book of our life opens a page every morning. So let us read it. It is there to show us the path forward. There, for us to write in our choices.
Oscar Valdes 