Red Rain

When speaking or thinking about unparalleled human atrocity against fellow human beings in the twentieth century, the names of three people instantly come to mind. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. While for the most part Hitler and Stalin have found their rightful place in history, Mao continues to be revered and celebrated in China as a leader unsurpassed. The 60th anniversary celebrations that took place on October 1st - orchestrated to a jaw dropping gaudy spectacle - showed the Communist Party come of age, by wiping and reshaping its dirty past and consolidating its grip over a new generation with the seductive promise of capitalism.

The 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples Republic of China were very tightly managed. Only a select 30,000 were invited to see it in person, the rest were ordered to stay home and watch it on TV. All dissidents were arrested a few days before the event and media access was closely monitored. Apart from the impressive and wasteful fireworks display reminiscent of the recent Olympic orgy, Tiananmen Square looked more like North Korea than China. Military hardware was on glorious display, soldiers by the thousands marched in impeccable symmetry and hordes of carefully picked Chinese men, women and children sang nationalist songs as they marched down the boulevard in unison. The cult of personality of the party bosses and its past leaders was on full display, as gigantic portraits of Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Jiang Zemin and others were paraded on floats. It seemed like there was a deliberate attempt to hark back to the glory days, to send a message that the Communist Party was still in charge and stronger than ever.

What was obviously missing were solemn pauses for the lives lost during the Communist Party’s rise to power — not for the estimated tens of millions who died during the civil war, nor the millions of landlords, Nationalist sympathizers and other perceived enemies who were exterminated during Mao’s drive to consolidate power. Not for the siege at Changchun where an estimated 160,000 civilians were deliberately starved to death by Mao's army. The 40,000 who survived did so by eating insects, leather belts and, in some cases, the bodies that littered the streets. And of course no mark of respect for the countless who died during the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen Square uprising. This incident has so successfully been wiped out of the Chinese consciousness that if one were to google the words " Tiananmen Square" in China, just a few images of the landmark would sift through while outside China all you would see are countless images of the anonymous brave lone man standing in front of a convoy of tanks.

History is always written by the victors for the victors, and often the vanquished are committed to oblivion. In the case of China a whole generation's memory has been successfully conditioned through censorship, to forget the moments in its recent history that truly made its red flag red with blood.

It is hard to believe that just twenty years ago one would risk severe punishment if not seen wearing a Moa suit. Today a few in China can afford to wear Gucci, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana. No country on earth has seen such a monumental change, in such a short time. At the same time somethings have not changed at all. China still puts more people to death than any nation in the world. Political dissent is not tolerated and human rights are ignored by giving enough of its people a chance to wear a western suit and a tie.

China will soon be the planets second largest economy and will solidify its unshakable influence on the globe and the Communist Party of China will take credit for it. So for this 60th celebration China showed its might by virtually controlling the weather. Clouds were artificially seeded and banished giving way to blue skies, the high command would not have it any other way. Rain was forbidden. As a sign of the times even the Empire State building in New York city, the erstwhile center of capitalism, turned its lights red on this day. It is what it is.