| the ax files |

March 23, 2008

First, there was Shock and Awe…

Now comes Crush and Smash!

COURTESY OF THE PEOPLE’S DAILY,

organ of the Chinese Communist Party: “China must resolutely crush the conspiracy of sabotage and smash ‘Tibet independence forces.’”

If crushing won’t do it, smashing will.

Sounds like we have the makings of a summer blockbuster. China after all is a blockbuster, which was a bomb used by the Royal Air Force, with enough explosive power to demolish a city block. Only China’s block is an entire country.

THE WHOLE WORLD’S WATCHING

Has civilization really not progressed since the Romans “assimilated” the Etruscans? For China to respond to worldwide calls for restraint in this manner is unspeakably disrespectful and foolish. Is this their idea of damage control? To think I had expected more of China! Gavin Rabinowitz of the Associated Press wrote that “Nearly six decades of struggle against the might of China has taught the Tibetans one thing: Ask the world for little, expect less.” I am overcome with sadness.

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS,

blame the Dalai Lama. Premier Wen Jiabao issues propaganda accusing the Dalai Lama of holding the Olympics hostage. “There is ample fact — and we also have plenty of evidence — proving that this incident was organized, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique.” Can’t you just see the Dalai Lama with his “clique” in some back room rubbing their hands together, mapping out the plan like a football game? To accuse him of instigating the protests that have killed dozens of his own people, is, as SF Chronicle columnist Mark Morford put it, “a bit like Dick Cheney accusing a butterfly of murder.”

LET’S HOPE THE WORLD,

this time, does not once again disappoint. Let’s hope San Francisco, the representative for all of North America in the torch relay, does not disappoint, as the attention of the entire world shifts briefly to our door. We can’t expect much from our own Chief Exec (who after all appointed Supervisor Carmen Chu, wielder of the Daly fish knife in the ~~back~~*). What are the chances of a protest rally on the steps of City Hall? Or perhaps those steps do not constitute a “Free Speech Zone”? That’s the Gav’s brilliant idea—to pen us off like noisy animals at a safe distance from the torch route. The “torch of torture,” as Dance Mission Artistic Director and Women Warrior Krissy Keefer put it, “China’s Propaganda Torch,” (http://www.bhopa.com/home.shtml). This web site features the text of Supervisor Daly’s original resolution alongside Supervisor Carmen Chu’s hatchet job of same.

* Correction: It was his gut, says Daly, not his back, that took the knife. We regret the error. - Ed.

I SMELL A BOYCOTT COMING.

Shame to any world leader who attends those Opening Ceremonies. But I can already see George Bush waving from his place of honor. Then again perhaps by August this mess will have “blown over,” just like America quickly enough forgot the way Bush abandoned New Orleans. And yet the man is still President.

REMEMBER OUR OWN CRACKDOWN?

In 1970, the National Guard shot down Kent State war protestors, bright youngsters in the prime of life, killing four and wounding nine, one of whom was paralyzed for life. Wikipedia reports, “Some of the students who were shot were protesting the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. However, other students who were shot were merely walking nearby or observing the protest at a distance.” Protesting is a dangerous business, not for the faint of heart. May 4th will be the 38th anniversary of that debacle. Remember them—Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder.

ALWAYS READY, ALWAYS THERE

That’s the motto of the National Guard. “There” apparently includes Iraq. Exactly how ready will they be when the alarm goes off back in the States? And yet the man is still President.

LET’S HOPE

since we can’t expect much from our own Chief Exec, or from the Olympic International Committee, that the world accepts this “challenge to [our] moral conscience,” as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it. “If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China’s oppression in China and Tibet,” she said alongside the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, “we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world.” She’s good for something after all!

LET’S HOPE

the world does not once again give less than the Tibetan people ask for—their freedom.

AND AS LONG AS WE’RE HOPING,

let’s hope that this is Tibet’s golden opportunity to conquer Chinese oppression and reclaim itself. Perhaps its day has finally come.

LET’S HELP

http://www.tibetnetwork.org/
http://www.tibetanfreedomtorch.org/
http://www.c100tibet.org/
http://www.savetibet.org/index.php
www.humanrightstorch.org/

Happy Easter Sunday. Resurrection Day.

Peace.

www.tibetanfreedomtorch.org

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Short Attention Span Poetry Corner

It’s a small world
But not if you have to clean it

It’s a brave new world
But not if you fear it

It’s a kind loving world
But not if you hate it

It’s the end of the world
If we don’t protect it
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San Francisco, let's not blow this, now.
3/23/08

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