Topic: Abolition of Statism
Polish Jews and Tibetan Monks How the truth of the right of self-defense shines down through the ages.by Carter Braxton
(Libertarian)
Monday, April 14, 2008
Compare the following stories (one from April 19, 1943 and one from April 14, 2008) and ask yourself if the same facts are being plaid out in both cases. In each case an oppressed population arms itself in anticipation of the need of self-defense and eventually reacts with resistance.
Jews arrested during the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland by the SS, sent to be gassed at Treblinka extermination camp.
The Warsaw Ghetto
The Nazis invaded Poland in September of 1939. By October of 1940, they had confined nearly 400,000 Jews in a 3.5 square mile area of Warsaw which normally housed about 160,000. The area was surrounded by a wall 10 feet high and was sealed off on November 15, 1940. Jews were forbidden to go outside the area on penalty of being shot on sight. No contact with the outside world was allowed.
Hans Frank, the Nazi Gauleiter (governor) of occupied Poland, declared in 1941, "I ask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear."
Thus the Nazis refused to allow enough food into the ghetto to keep the Jews healthy, forcing them to survive on a bowl of soup a day. Soon, 300 to 400 persons died each day in the ghetto from starvation and disease. By July of 1942, about 80,000 Jews had perished.
On July 22, 1942, the SS, on orders from Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, began a massive "resettlement" of the Jews, taking them out of the ghetto to extermination camps (mainly Treblinka) where they were to be gassed. The Jewish Council in the ghetto was ordered to deliver 6000 persons a day for deportation. In just two months, a total of 310,322 Jews were sent to their deaths in Nazi extermination camps. By the end of September only 60,000 Jews remained.
In January of 1943, Himmler ordered the SS to remove the remaining 60,000 Jews from the ghetto by February 15.
However, the remaining Jews knew by now that deportation meant death and chose to resist. A Jewish Fighting Organization, ZOB, had been formed, consisting of 22 groups, each having 20 to 30 men, boys and some women. The group had sent desperate appeals for weapons to anti-Nazi Poles outside the ghetto and were supplied with enough weapons to successfully resist deportation by attacking from rooftops, cellars and attics. As a result, 20 Germans were killed and 50 wounded.
The Jewish resistance, combined with the severe winter weather and a shortage of trains, prevented the SS from meeting Himmler's February deadline.
In the spring, Himmler ordered the SS to conduct a "special action" against the Jews that would clear out the entire ghetto in just three days. By now, the size of the ghetto had been reduced to an area measuring only 1,000 yards by 300 yards.
On Monday, April 19, 1943, the Jewish feast of Passover, over 2000 Waffen SS soldiers under the command of SS General Jürgen Stroop attacked with tanks, artillery and flame throwers. A fierce battle erupted between the heavily armed Germans and 1200 Jews armed with smuggled in pistols, rifles, a few machine guns, grenades and Molotov cocktails.
The first attack by the SS was repulsed by the Jews, leaving 12 Germans dead. The Germans renewed the attack, but found it difficult to kill or capture the small battle groups of Jews, who would fight, then retreat through a maze of cellars, sewers and other hidden passageways to escape capture.
On the fifth day of the battle, an infuriated Himmler ordered the SS to comb out the ghetto "with the greatest severity and relentless tenacity." SS General Stroop decided to burn down the entire ghetto, block by block.
A report filed by Stroop described the scene: "The Jews stayed in the burning buildings until because of the fear of being burned alive they jumped down from the upper storiesWith their bones broken, they still tried to crawl across the street into buildings which had not yet been set on fireDespite the danger of being burned alive the Jews and bandits often preferred to return into the flames rather than risk being caught by us."
The burnings and renewed German attacks continued, but the Jews in Warsaw resisted for a total of 28 days.
On May 16, 1943, amid the relentless German assault, the Jewish resistance finally ended. Stroop sent a battle report stating, "The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence. The large scale action was terminated at 2015 hours by blowing up the Warsaw synagogueTotal number of Jews dealt with: 56,065, including both Jews caught and Jews whose extermination can be proved."
Polish sources estimated 300 Germans were killed and 1000 wounded.
Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:38am EDT
By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese forces found firearms hidden throughout a Tibetan temple in an ethnic Tibetan area of southwestern China which has been the scene of anti-Chinese riots in recent weeks, state television said.
And Chinese police detained five air passengers, possibly Tibetans, whose "suspicious remarks" prompted the return of their flight half an hour after take-off from the southern city of Shenzhen, a newspaper reported.
Police, responding to what they said was a tip-off from the public, found 30 firearms in the monastery in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province last month, state television said in a report, a transcript of which was posted on its Web site (www.cctv.com).
"At the time these firearms were scattered around, some were where the monks keep the scriptures," policeman Lan Bo told the program. "They were modified semi-automatic weapons."
Aba has seen confrontations between police and Tibetan protesters who, along with Tibetans in Tibet proper, have been protesting against China's rule and calling for the return of the exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama.
Protesters have also disrupted the global torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the torch passed through Tanzania's commercial capital of Dar Es Salaam peacefully on Sunday.
The official People's Daily newspaper accused Western media of distorting protests against the relay and playing up their scale.
It also lashed out at the European Parliament for failing to condemn the "Dalai clique", which China accuses of being behind March 14 riots in Lhasa in which it says 19 people were killed. Exiled Tibetans give a far higher death toll.
"People cannot help but ask: the European Parliament always brags about human rights and freedom, so why does it turn a deaf ear to the serious human rights abuse of attacks on and killings of innocent people in Tibet?"
RIFLES AND KNIVES
China's ambassador to Ireland walked out on a speech on Saturday in which Environment Minister John Gormley accused China of human rights abuses in Tibet. And visiting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf opposed the West's "superimposition" of democratic values and human rights on China.
"We condemn any attempt by anyone to undermine the process of Olympic preparations, especially the Olympic torch (relay)," Musharraf told the China Daily.
He ensured students and academics in Beijing the torch would be safe when it reached Pakistan. "Tibet is an inalienable part of China," he said in a speech.
The temple in which state television said the weapons were found was named by the program in Chinese as Geerdeng.
In a recent visit to western Gansu province, officials showed reporters a film including weapons seized from demonstrators, including a few hunting rifles, many Tibetan knives, and lassos. No demonstrators shown on the films were armed.
China has tightened security of its airways ahead of the Olympics and says it foiled a plot last month by Muslim Uighur separatists to blow up a plane.
The Southern Metropolis Daily said on Monday police detained five passengers whose remarks prompted the return of their flight after take-off in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen en route to The five talked in a language "others could not understand", the newspaper said on its Web site (www.nddaily.com). A caption said police were checking "several Tibetans who made the remarks".
One of them smiled at a flight attendant and said to her "Read the news tomorrow", it quoted a witness as saying.
"Perhaps it was this sentence that caused alarm among the crew," the witness was quoted as saying.
China has accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the violence in Tibet and other Tibetan areas of the country.
But the Dalai Lama has rejected the accusations, speaking out against the use of violence, calling for talks with China and backing the Beijing Olympics.
Chinese media has mentioned the Dalai Lama's announced support for Beijing holding the Olympics, but has then immediately condemned him for being insincere.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, additional reporting by Lucy Hornby and Guo Shipeng; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)
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2008 Carter Braxton, all rights reserved.
Published: Monday, April 14, 2008
Last modified: Monday, April 14, 2008
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Posted By: Jake, the champion of the constitution
Date: 2008-04-14 06:56:26
Dear Carter,
Thanks for the thoughts. Despite the title, I really thought this article was going to turn ironic and talk about the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip instead of the Tibetans. Perhaps that is the third paragraph to add.
The Tibetan Monks want a totalitarian Budist Theocracy complete with eye gouging, torture, and death for disobediance. An independent Tibet would not be a free Tibet.
Source: Penn And Teller's Bullsh*t! Season 3 Episode: Holier Than Thou.
Maybe by paying attention to the patterns of government presented - slavery vs. freedom (totalitarianism vs. libertarianism) - we can attempt to have some positive influence over the future.
And Damn those slant-eye-gouging Tibetan (Monk) Terrorists. The world ought to stand up and DO something about them. Running around with their religion and clothes! Who do they think they Are?
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2008 Carter Braxton, all rights reserved.