There Are Some Things You Should Get Pissed Off About

Things don't get much sicker than this. I thought that, since it's the year 2009, and we're all civilised human beings and that, that the modern countries didn't do this sort of thing. I'm naive and I was wrong. Now, Britain is a sort of economic ally with China because they have money and we don't, and they put on a nice Olympic light show for us all. For these reasons - I can't see many others - we/our government puts up a blind eye to all the human rights abuses that go on there; ever heard of the Tiananmen Square masssacre? Oh, wait - we forgot about that, didn't we? Well, here's a quick recap. Peaceful protesters staged a massive demonstration in Bejing's famous plaza. After days of calling for freedom, accountability, democracy, the Chinese government brought in troops to the city. About 20,000 people were killed that day - shot, bayonetted or crushed by tanks. In China, the event officially never happened. This is also the same nation that maintains the annexation of Tibet, restricts internet access, birth, and religion. Basically, all the stuff Iran gets up to but, somehow it's okay because they trade with us, and they're not in the "axis of evil". Since they were the prime antogonists behind Copenhagen's failure, therefore condemning hundreds of thousands to death through the effects of climate change, there's no reason why the Chinese government should not be labelled war criminals.

Not much news gets out of the communist state, but I did a little bit of research. I say a little bit, because I only have my computer and the internet - a combination that usually would allow me to see anything in Britain (thankyou, Labour, for the Freedom of Information Act). However, WikiLeaks is overloaded and nearly all figures about capital punishment in China are state secrets. According to Amnesty International, China executed 6,000 people in 2006; estimates say upwards of 8,000. They also found out that at least 1,718 executions took place in 2008, though the figure is again thought to be much higher. To put this into perspective - since 1976, the US has executed 1,188 criminals, with 3,302 prisoners currently on "death row".

And Gordon Brown's response to this terrible crime against one of our own citizens - a mentally disabled man, opposed by a flawed case? "I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms, and am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted. I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken." Then this, from Dave Milliband: "The UK is completely opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances. However I also deeply regret the fact that our specific concerns about the individual in this case were not taken into consideration despite repeated calls by the Prime Minister, ministerial colleagues and me. These included mental health issues, and inadequate professional interpretation during the trial." Not a wink from anyone else, no comment from either of the opposition parties, except the EU (who ever listens to them?) and an ambiguously concerned message from the UN Human Rights Council. Oh, and let's not forget the BNP, whose dickhead Legal Director Lee Barnes displayed the darker side of his personality.

And China's response? "Nobody has the right to speak ill of China's judicial sovereignty" - in political terms, "fuck off". So this is what we boil down to? Britain, once the greatest empire the world has ever seen - reduced to issuing impotent, worried missives to superpowers who shoot our citizens at will. The worst of it is that nobody seems to give a damn.