Trafalgar Square suffers not only from the fact that it is a nice open space in the heart of London ideal for holding rallies. Because it starts with a T, it is very tempting to redefine it as the English version of a few other famous squares.
Thus it rolls off the tongue of British far-left imbeciles with delusions of grandeur: people who think the occasional (and occasionally justified) hissy fits of a free people in a liberal democracy equate even remotely to the life-and-death struggles of people suffering under dictatorship.
By way of example, you may recall the imbecilic utterances of Ken Livingstone on his visit to China. Let the BBC remind you:
Ken Livingstone has compared events in China’s Tiananmen Square to the history of protest in London’s Trafalgar Square during a visit to Beijing.
China’s human rights record was raised as he went to the site of the 1989 massacre. London’s Mayor said his city also had an “interesting history”.
Yes indeed. Ken compared a protest in London to one where tanks and troops were brought in and thousands died.
And now the idiocy continues on Comment Is Free with a story comparing a ‘cuts’ protest with the events in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, another place where protesters have taken on a dictator and his tanks.
What is it with this stupidity?
One expects the kids and tinfoil hatters at Indymedia to run around shouting “fascist state!” and “police brutality!” when they have no experience of what real brutality and real fascism looks like. When mainstream politicians and newspapers fall into these hallucinations, it really is quite worrying.
For example, at last night’s Index on Censorship Awards, the Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award went to Gao Zhisheng, a most deserving recipient. He was not able to accept it because he had been “disappeared”. His wife accepted it on his behalf via a video link. It was an agonising 2 minutes as she outlined his story. Here it is from the IoC press release:
Gao Zhisheng has been persecuted by the state for speaking out on human rights issues. Gao, a self-taught lawyer, forged a career representing the underdog in cases involving medical malpractice, land redistribution, employment disputes and forced sterilisation.
He has also defended journalists and religious minorities including Christians and members of Falun Gong. In 2005, he resigned from the Communist Party and wrote an open letter to President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, documenting the suffering of Falun Gong practitioners and calling on the leaders to end their “large-scale, organised” abuse.
Security forces took Gao from his home in Shaanxi province on 4 February 2009. Gao claimed the security forces tortured him. The state denied any knowledge of his whereabouts until January 2010, when a foreign ministry official said the lawyer was “where he should be”. Gao disappeared again in April 2010, and the Chinese state has refused to register him as a missing person.
It comes as a great relief that he won. But he was nominated with David Coombs, the defence attorney for Bradley Manning. In what sense is Coombs brave and deserving of an award? Is he at risk of being “disappeared”? Is his family under threat? Does he fear being arrested, much less “censored”? No. He’s just doing his job. Unmolested. Vocally. He is able to openly and loudly advocate for his client in a free society. He is praised and held in esteem for his work. Nor has his client been “disappeared”. He’s been appointed an attorney: David Coombs.
Activists and campaigners in the West fight battles for all sorts of things, some serious, some less so, some downright foolish, but we must disabuse ourselves of the thought that our ‘struggles’ for amendments to minor civil rights, economic entitlements, and changes in policy even approaches the bravery and sacrifice people facing off against dictators, warlords and despots.
Trafalgar may soundbite nicely next to Tiananmen or Tahrir, but any other comparison simply doesn’t square up.
Edmund Standing adds:
What events in Tiananmen Square are we talking about?
