I think we are being a bit hasty to condemn China.
Are we happy about the "democracy" we have installed in Iraq?

Is Muslim fundamentalism ant better than secular dictatorship?

Do the people really know what they die for?


By Tommaso Campanella

(Italian philosopher, 1568–1639. Translation by John Addington Symonds)

THE PEOPLE is a beast of muddy brain
That knows not its own strength, and therefore stands
Loaded with wood and stone; the powerless hands
Of a mere child guide it with bit and rein;
One kick would be enough to break the chain,         5
But the beast fears, and what the child demands
It does; nor its own terror understands,
Confused and stupefied by bugbears vain.
Most wonderful! With its own hand it ties
And gags itself—gives itself death and war         10
For pence doled out by kings from its own store.
Its own are all things between earth and heaven;
But this it knows not; and if one arise
To tell this truth, it kills him unforgiven