.. . in commemoration of the euphoria and the exuberance of the celebration
of world-leading democracy that was mounted by the Chinese Communist Party
in
Tiananmen Square between 15 April and 4 June 1989.
The rumor is that on the auspicious date Friday 8 August this year mere
military tanks, automatic rifles and armored personnel carriers, firing
real
bullets, will pit their puny hardware against the eventually superior
might
of unarmed men, women and children.
The rumor says the exquisitely choreographed display of martial arts will
help to unveil the glorious events of 1989 to the youth of China, who
nowadays mysteriously seem to know nothing about them.
For sheer drama and breathtaking (!) realism, says the rumor, the display
in
Tiananmen Square will eclipse the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which will
have
started on Friday 1 August and will finish on Saturday 23 August.
Of course, it's only a rumor, and I believe not one word more of it that I
do
the much-publicised fairytale about the discovery, in the last couple of
days, of a terrorism plot in China's Xinjiang region. If the Chinese
Communist Party can expunge all mention of a massacre from the cavalcade
of
history for domestic consumption then it can certainly invent a
sympathy-inducing terrorism plot designed to distract the world's
attention
away from Tibet, Sudan, the Olympic torch circus and so on.
--
Arfur Moo
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