- The Chinese state-run propaganda machine is cashing in
on the terror attacks in New York and Washington, producing books, films
and video games glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant
nation.
-
- Video discs filled with lurid images along with dramatic
opera music and even the theme from Jaws have flooded the nation's markets
in the wake of the attacks.
-
- Disc after disc bear the imprimatur of the Communist
Party-controlled media. The most popular DVDs have been produced by the
Xinhua information agency, Beijing Television and China Central Television.
-
- Communist Party officials say President Jiang Zemin has
obsessively watched and re-watched pictures of the aircraft crashing into
the World Trade Centre. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, workers
at Beijing Television worked round-the-clock to produce a documentary they
called Attack America.
-
- Scenes from Hollywood films have been spliced between
shots of the events of September 11, including footage from the 1998 remake
of Godzilla, in which a monster destroys New York buildings.
-
- As rescue workers pick through the rubble of the twin
towers, the commentator proclaims that the city had reaped the consequences
of decades of American bullying of weaker nations.
-
- He said: "This is the America the whole world has
wanted to see. Blood debts have been repaid in blood. America has bombed
other countries and used its hegemony to deny the natural rights of others
without paying the price. Who until now has dared to avenge the hurts inflicted
by unaccountable Americans."
-
- Officials at Beijing Television defended the video as
an educational film that will meet market demand. A producer said: "There's
this need for more information on world terrorism in the market, so we've
got to meet it."
-
- At the country's most respected bookstore, Xinhua Book
Shop on Beijing's busiest shopping street, Wanfujing, crowds jockeyed around
a table to buy discs. According to staff, thousands of copies of the video
have been sold in the past month.
-
- The shop assistant said: "Before people were interested
in the movies but this is more compelling. What happened in New York could
have happened in a movie but this is real life. It's better."
-
- The many shops that stock pirated DVDs compiled in China
and Hong Kong report that their most popular products are similar productions
that use video graphics to show the United States suffering other damaging
attacks on its tallest buildings and military installations.
-
- On the unofficial films the commentary is even more callous:
"Look at the panic in their faces as they wipe off the dust and crawl
out of their strong buildings - now just a heap of rubble. We will never
fear these people again, they have been shown to be soft-bellied paper
tigers."
-
- Elsewhere music shops are selling out of a bootleg version
of the summer's top pop hit. The amended song implies that America deserves
to suffer for its disregard for the point of view of countries weaker than
itself.
-
- The refrain says: "We guys are all Americans, our
government is used to bullying people. We guys always have our hands on
too much, this time our own people got hurt." ___
-
- Originally published 11-4-01
- http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.
|
