Letter to the Editor

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,” otherwise known as Cranbrook

Article Share