With Nary A Blush
The An Yue Jiang has been dubbed "the ship of shame". Well, one supposes that to be a fitting sobriquet.Yet it was the St.Louis, carrying Jewish refugees from Europe fleeing doom and finding no nation willing to accept the desperately hapless Jews, that truly represented that label. Forced to return from whence it came, its hopeless cargo returned to carefully designed death. There is a certain simile, but one must strain at it.
Still, the Chinese vessel carries with it, admittedly not a shipload of human beings desperate to escape a horrible death sentence, but the means by which a hatefully totalitarian regime can dispatch the nuisance of those of its citizens fulminating against a continuation of that same regime.
A cargo of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortar rounds. A lot of damage to human flesh can result from the determined use of these enablers.
China, however, must not lose face. Its face has been far too blemished in the international sphere of late, in any event. Its ship was "engaged in perfectly normal trade", insists the Chinese Foreign Ministry. And aren't they perfectly right, after all? This shipping of armaments to a country incapable of feeding its populace, but intent on obtaining weapons is perfectly normal.
And most countries of the world - and not only China - face no internal moral conflict about providing weaponry, sophisticated and reflective of the highest standards of warfare potential to any country desiring them, cash ready in hand. Fact is, national funds can always be found for truly vital options, such as armaments.
It's a simple matter of priorities and realities.
There is a glimmer of hope, however. It's not only South Africa's stevedores who have refused to offload the ship of its cargo for overland transport into Zimbabwe, but Mozambique and Angola have refused to permit the ship to dock there, alternately. And in the latter two instances it is the governing bodies of those countries declining.
A fleeting glimpse of humanity resurgent.
The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches have issued a joint statement: "Organized violence perpetrated against individuals, families and communities who are accused of campaigning or voting for the 'wrong' political party ... has been unleashed throughout the country.
"We warn the world that if nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa."
A Requiem for Africa as frail humankind stumbles from crisis to crisis, succumbing ultimately to mass bloodshed yet again. While other sectors of the human community look on aghast, wringing hands, waiting for governments to react, and international humanitarian intervention.
Labels: Political Realities, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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