The price of vacillation
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)
And in that spirit:
First they came for Tibet, but it is far away and anyway, who cares?
Then they came for the Uighurs, bringing genocide and “voluntary education” but the Olympic Games Must Go On – mustn’t they?
Then they deleted democracy, free speech and media freedom in Hong Kong, and we felt sorry, but …
And because there were really no consequences, and because their might had grown, they went for Taiwan. And then they ruled half the world and threatened the other half.
But wait, because we haven’t yet learned that …
First he went for Crimea.
Then he went for Belarus, giving it the benediction of a puppet government. And bonus, he could use it to stage troops to …
Invade Ukraine. Like the Windigo, always needing more and
… easy peasy, because Ukraine wasn’t part of NATO and the finger-wagging across the world was amusing.
And then he went for the Baltic States: Lithuania. Latvia. Estonia. And not yet sated, he turned on Finland, home of the brave, and …
Canada is his neighbour across the Arctic pond.
Joyce Green
ʔa·kiskaqⱡi?it – (where two creeks meet)/Cranbrook