In Tiananmen Square
On September the 3rd, two days past, was a meeting in Tiananmen square between Vlad, Xi & Kim. Those three decided the time was right to launch their new world order, the rebirth of authoritarianism which in turn would vanquish freedom.
Vlad who blackmails the most powerful in his country into subservience, talking them into jumping out a window if they don't obey. Who is fighting a war of aggression in Europe for vanity and for slightly better pawn structure in the power game. Kim whose population is one of the most oppressed of all time. Whose people starve as he bathes in riches, unaware of the reality that exists outside of their borders. Not even aware of the reality within their borders. Not forgetting Xi, who is perhaps the most powerful man in the world at present. Yes the United States may still have the edge as a state and miliatry, but no one is in control of that ship, whereas Xi has his state in an authoritarian stranglehold. They chose Tiananmen Square for their power optics. It's a harrowing image but one with a ray of hope.
I've always held Tiananmen Square and the massacre as close to my heart. It sounds weird right. An atrocity. But it was the resistance that has always struck a cord with me. In face of certain of death one person stood along against a behemoth of a state apparatus. Yes, the power of the Chinese Communist Party was arguably faltering and yes many other protestors rose up and died outside the frame of that photo. But that image always stayed with me.
Their life mattered less than their convictions and this should always be a source of hope.
People can't be entirely subjugated if they are willing to die for what they believe in. The methods of control that autocratic states rely on, rely on assumed truth, that their subjects want to live. They aren't willing to resist and risk their life. A life of misery is better than no life. But they can't control us if we aren't willing to tolerate their exploitation and instead we chose freedom despite exposure to the risk of losing our life.
So on the day where dictators united, to discuss immortality through organ transplants, among another list of presumably heinous topics. It's worth remembering that they chose Tiananmen Square as the location for this soirée. It's a reminder that power wanes, no empire has lasted into perpetuity and all iron like grips falter. Xi chose the location where one man stood alone against the tanks as the place to show off his new tanks.
I'm very fortunate to have grown up in a "Western Democracy". The paltry freedom that the West glorifies has never satisfied me and has always felt a sham. I've always felt that my freedom has been inhibited by a desire to protect the freedom of the market. That my freedom comes at the expense of the exploitation of others. That I can't opt out from the systems that govern and control us. But I've always been aware that even as a relative peasant in our current age, I'm probably one of the freest peasants in recorded history.
As the West falters we forget the values that should matter. Freedom has always been a little bit of a lie. It's not about the power of the market. Nor is it about the ability to take what you want and exploit who you want. It also isn't about an ability to say exactly what you want and do exactly what you want. We've seen scattered, incomplete descriptions of freedom throughout centuries of Western thinking. These 6 principles I feel are still valuable today. They overlap and relate, but haven't been penned together often:
- Freedom from coercion - not being forced to act against your will - John Locke and John Stuart Mill
- Freedom from arbitrary authority - protections from those acting without lawful limits - John Locke
- Freedom from interference - ability to make choices without others interfering - John Stuart Mill
- Freedom from oppression - the absence of domination by a class, ruler, system or ideology - Cicero, John-Jacques Roseau
- Freedom from want - economic security to live free from want - Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Freedom from fear - free from violence, security and war - Franklin D. Roosevelt
These 6 things together, globally, seem like a utopia that could never be achieved. But we've come so far. I'm not meaning to preach, but I always find it so hard to understand why we don't recognise that meeting these criteria would make everyone's lives better. It's like we've given up being ambitious as a species. We've given up the promise of collective human security.
I want to briefly close by speaking about the last of those 6, freedom from fear. Peace. We all most likely have only one life and we don't know what happens when we do indeed die. We will all die, despite the mutterings of two powerful madment. Life therefore is so very precious, that is why the actions of the man who resisted in Tiananmen Square are so powerful, because it's finite and once that process ends it can't be reversed. Our existence is such an improbability. Yet perched on our little rock on the edge of the universe, we continue to fight each other over made up constructs. Yet the peace movement has faltered. In the 1960's it seemed to be about real peace. People wanting to lay down arms and turn away from violence. Now we are not only in a real arms race again, but also in an arms race of polarised ideas. The powerful picking sides, allied with China or the United States. But the population are also keen on picking one of two sides, rather than opting for peace and neutrality.
Israel Vs Palestine. Russia Vs Ukraine. You are with us or you are against. When in reality isn't their a third path? Isn't that the path of peace? As I look at the image of Tiananmen Square, I know that if the time comes to pick sides and fight. I will chose the third path, and elect to strive for peace, even if it means that my life becomes forfeit.
